Ellis Parker Butler

“ Lorna had not reached the house yet, but Gay had come over. Henrietta embraced her gayly.
“You dear!” she said. “I just want you. I'm going over to see Judge Bruce about Lem and I want you to go with me. It will be like taking him a rose moist with dew. I can't imagine how you ever manage to come from a day of teaching so bright and beaming.” ”

“ Rudeness, even when coming from a man as evidently out of sorts as Freeman was, kills lively spirits. Henrietta came to the rescue.
“Did you ever see a lovelier day?” she asked. “Just see the sun on that vase of syringas! This is the sort of day I wish I was a Maud Muller. Lem, it is a crime to be in school a day like this, isn't it?”
“Yes'm,” said Lem. “I guess so.”
“So we won't make you go,” she said gayly. “Lorna and I are poor slaves. We have to go whether we like it or not.” ”

“ She told Gay it gave her a creepy feeling, like finding one's self suddenly and unexpectedly on the edge of a deep, dark pit.
Mystery is usually linked with strange creatures who come out of dark rooms, garbed in strange gowns, to steal out at night, and who say mysterious things. Lorna had not thought of mystery in connection with a person so visible as Henrietta, who wore shirt-waists that cost two dollars at Graydon's and who darned her stockings on the front porch in full daylight. ”

“ In Riverbank there is a phrase, used when small boys like Lem take a huge helping of food and fail to consume it, to the effect that their eyes are bigger than their stomachs. Henrietta's desire for romance was bigger than her facts. She was a romantic liar, filling in the gap between what was true and what she wished was true with details that were not true. In other words, Henrietta was a born romancer.
There are many such, and it is remarkable how many escape discovery and humiliation. It is always a little regrettable when one of the pleasanter of the kind is discovered and humiliated. ”

“ If idle hands are the only hands for which the devil finds work, Lem was in little danger of doing the devil's work during those days. He was too busy doing Miss Susan's. The great stove in the kitchen seemed to swallow wood by the cord during those hot days, and Miss Susan, for economy's sake, was burning pine slabs from the sawmill, and they had to be chopped. The big, drab-painted wood box always needed filling. It was always empty to the last handful of pine bark, Lem thought.
The boarding-house dishes, too, seemed to breed in great masses, like sturgeon eggs. ”

“ Some whole-souled, brazen, cheerful liars are among the best-loved men in the world. We know we are being lied to, but we are also being charmed, as the innocent bird is charmed by the serpent.
Although Henrietta never understood it, the ease with which she made herself believed was one reason why she continued to be such a liar. Her eyes compelled belief. No one ever doubted her lies at the moment they were being told. ”

“ Harvey considered that his peculiar position in life, now that he had given up the junk business, gave him exceptional opportunity to be a saint. For one thing he had no wife, and a wife is often a real impediment in the path of a man who wants to be a saint. He had no business cares to distract his thoughts from the higher things, and he had twenty-five dollars a month, less what he might find it necessary to pay Susan on account of the note. In many ways, as Harvey recognized, a small but regular income might be of great assistance to one who wished to be a first-class modern saint. ”

“ None who knew Johnnie ever believed he would let even a penny that belonged to him go astray.
That Freeman could dress as he did and board at Miss Redding's—which was not the cheapest place in Riverbank—and have silver dollars to dink in his pocket, and do it on what Alberson paid, was manifestly impossible. The answer that most of those who thought they were knowing gave was “poker.” Even the other “dressy” youths said, “Poker.” Freeman played a careful, not showy, game and did win now and then. No one ever bothered to foot up his winnings and compare them with his losses. ”

“ To the mind of youth the strange foreigner seems a thing to be jeered and hooted in the open day, but in the homes and churches and synagogues of the foreigners are believed to lurk strange mysteries; deep, unfathomable, blood-curdling, weird ways and doings, especially dire when wrought upon boys. Lem, in Shuder's grasp, did not see the poor shack with its grotesque furnishings rescued from purchases of offcast second-hand things. ”

“ CHAPTER X When Henrietta Bates told Miss Susan that Freeman Todder was her husband, she told the truth, with the sole exception that her name was not Henrietta Bates nor his Freeman Todder, but all her other stories regarding Freeman and the mythical Billy Vane were lies. Henrietta was not a wicked woman; she was the kindest-hearted woman that ever lived; always ready and eager to do a kindness and full of pity for those who, like Lem, seemed to be in trouble. ”

“ What could be done with such a man? There was nothing Henrietta could do. She had no money to repay what he had paid Miss Susan, and she did not know where Freeman had gone. Nevada might mean Reno, but old Judge Bruce was no fool, and Nevada might not even mean Nevada—probably did not. She stopped short where she stood. Johnnie tipped his hat politely and went on.
Later that day Henrietta sat in the cool parlor of the boarding-house trying to think what to do. She had gone over her slender assets and had found them all too scant to permit her to leave Riverbank, taking Lem or not taking him. ”

“ I know Freeman stole it.”
Lem lay as inert as a corpse. If he heard he gave no sign.
“Listen, Lem,” Henrietta continued. “What I want to tell you is that you must not run away, if you were thinking of running away. That was why I had you brought here, so I could tell you that. You understand, don't you? You must not run away; not to-night, anyway.”
There was still no sign from the boy on the bed. “I 'll tell you why,” Henrietta went on. “If you do, every one will always think you are a thief, and all your life you will have trouble and misery and unhappiness. ”

“ In the matter of being unable to tell a lie Lem was not to blame; he was born that way.
Neither should we be inclined to blame Henrietta too severely if she romanced frequently, with eyes that looked frankly into other eyes while she was telling whoppers. Henrietta was a mature woman, healthy and attractive, but her ethical development had been arrested when she was about five years old, while her romantic imagination had continued to grow. Henrietta was, in this one respect, abnormal.
We all know, or have known, girls or boys of seven to sixteen years who tell awful lies. ”

“ He makes love to her. He hurries her and drives her from defense to defense. She loves Love's attacks, as all women do, but she more than most. You must not expect to win by a siege when she is being won by another's bold charge. You can win if you charge, too, Carter.”
“She likes him best. I'm out of it,” he said.
Henrietta let her hand drop from his shoulder. She looked around. Gay was still at the far end of the porch, keeping studiously aloof. When Henrietta looked at Carter Bruce again, the light of frank truthfulness that always shone in her eyes when she was lying was in her eyes. ”

“ Such things would turn three more pints of Susan into vinegar. And you 'll nag Lem, and there will be three more pints of vinegared Susan. Do you know what I've noticed, Susan?”
“What?”
“I'm like soda to you. When you're sour a good spoonful of me makes you fizz and boil, but when you finish fizzing and boiling you are as sweet as honey. I take the sour out of your vinegar.”
“Yes, you do so,” said Susan, sighing. “That's why it is so hard on me to have to not like you. I wish you was a different sort of woman.”
“I am!” said Henrietta eagerly. “I am, and I mean to be. Try me! ”

“ It is the duty of every man, in making a bargain, to make a good bargain—in fact, the best possible bargain—and Shuder began to fear he had not done that. Saint Harvey had accepted his offer almost too promptly.
His knowledge of values quieted this fear somewhat. The junk he had bought was worth more than he had paid for it, he knew, and the yard was worth more than one hundred dollars per year. Suddenly the awful thought came to him that, although he had paid Saint Harvey cash money, he had nothing to show for it. ”

“ Gay said, “but Lorna and I have been wondering if there is a Bill. We wonder if Henrietta is n't just pretending there is a Billy Vane—and all.”
Freeman seemed more bored than interested.
“Why should she pretend a thing like that—a crazy thing like that?” he asked indifferently.
“Don't you know how girls love to wear rings on their engagement fingers?” asked Gay. “It's that sort of thing, Lorna and I think. It gives her a romantic hue. She thinks it makes us feel she is fortunate. Is n't it killing!” ”

“ But I have a feeling that Lem's theory of rights will be hard to make clear to Miss Susan.”
“Well, I'll get even with her, all right,” said Lem, nodding his head. “You wait an' you'll see! She can't make my father leave me here an' then go an' tell old Schulig to put me in jail. I'll get even, you bet!”
“Listen, Lem,” Henrietta said, taking his hand. “You must not feel that way.”
“Well, I do, just the same,” he said.
“But you must not. Your Aunt Sue likes you—”
“In a pig's eye, she does!”
“Yes, she does. She loves you, Lem. We all love you. ”

“ With about twenty-five dollars a month, a comfortable rocking-chair, a good-enough shack, and a sunny ex-junkyard, being a saint would be a pleasant job. Later came the thought that it would be doubly pleasant to be known, to all Riverbank, and in time to the whole world, as “the good Saint Harvey of Riverbank.” ”

“ Miss Susan often said, “that no man has grabbed her long ago. If I was a man I'd marry her in a minute. She's the best there is, to my notion.”
Miss Susan had rejoiced openly when Henrietta's news came from Spirit Lake.
“Well, I'm glad!” Miss Susan said. “If ever a woman deserved a fine man, Henrietta does.”
As a rule Henrietta was cheerful. She would play the ancient piano any time she was asked, or sing in her very fair voice. She was always ready to make up a set at croquet; she even tried tennis, but had to give it up. ”

“ I'm not going to marry any one. I'm going to have Lem. I'm going to make Miss Susan give me Lem, and I'm going to live with Miss Susan, and we will all be as happy as the day is long.”
“I think Johnnie likes you awfully well,” Lorna ventured.
Henrietta gave Lorna's waist a little squeeze. “I know he does,” she admitted cheerfully, “but I'm Lem's, and Lem is going to be mine.” They found Gay in a tremble of happiness, for Carter Bruce had written other things in his letter than the mere report that Freeman would surely have his divorce in a few days. ”

“ But Miss Susan did not show the delight Henrietta had hoped to see. She wiped her hands on the roller towel and turned to Henrietta a somber face.
“I want to talk to you, Miss Bates,” she said. “I've been waitin' all day to. I don't, mind you, think no evil, but I guess you'll have to find a boardin'-place elsewhere. A boarding-house-keeper that tries to run a nice home, like I do, has to be careful, even if it does mean she has to be harsh sometimes.” ”

“ You don't understand the first principles of bein' a saint, Susan Redding, an' you've got no right to criticize one. I've been one, an' I know. You're a nice one to talk about Lem, when all the time I've been wearin' my brain to a frazzle tryin' to figger out what would be best for him, goin' an' mortifying my flesh so I could be a saint an' he could be proud of me, an' goin' into the junk business an' out of it an' into it again. Don't you talk about saints! Why, dod-baste it, Susan! I'm more of a saint now that I ain't one than I was when I was one. ”

“ There are women—and men—who live their entire lives in a golden haze of untruths, who do no one any great harm and who get immense momentary pleasure (and whole ecstasies of pleasant pain of conscience) out of their romantic prevarications.
Most often it is no one's particular business to grasp one of these lies and by unpleasant cross-questioning and investigating prove the romancer a liar. The one who does such cross-questioning is usually a most disagreeable person—the sort of nosey, rudely inquisitive person none of us likes. ”

“ It was then her famous Billy Vane first appeared in her lies.
Lying—whole-souled, brazen lying—has a strange, half-hypnotic effect on many hearers who are by nature truthful and kind-hearted, as quite a few human beings are. When a man looks me full in the eyes and lies to me, I have a feeling of shame. ”

“ CHAPTER XXII Moses Shuder, having paid Saint Harvey of Riverbank his good money, went back to his own junkyard feeling high elation. The great ambition that had urged him ever since he had begun, a raw immigrant, was consummated. He was the mightiest Junk King of Riverbank. He need fear no paltry competition. He could put prices down and he could buy or refuse to buy, and he could put prices up, and no one would interfere. ”

“ But a liar and a thief and a young rowdy I can't abide and I won't have.”
“Lem is not a liar,” said Henrietta quietly. “He tells the truth. Wasn't that the trouble, Susan? You questioned him and he told the truth and it made you angry. Now I never make that mistake,” she continued gayly. “I 'm quite a reprobate. I only tell the truth when it pleases everybody, and if something else pleases better I tell something else.”
Lorna gasped mentally at this surprising frankness. Later in the day she tried to explain to Gay the strange feeling that took possession of her at that moment. ”

“ Did Freeman, here, put the money in your pocket?”
“I won't say. I tell you I won't say. Nobody can get me to say.”
“Lem,” said Henrietta seriously, “you don't understand what all this means. I'm trying to help you. If Miss Susan keeps on thinking you stole her money she will send you away. She'll send you to jail and to reform school and you'll be sad and unhappy all your life. I want you to be happy—”
“I 'll bust out of jail if she sends me, drat her old hide!” Lem declared.
“No; you can't. You'll be watched every minute. Boys never do break out of jail, Lem. ”