Frederick Orin Bartlett

“ A salary of twelve hundred a year was enough for the necessities, and yet small enough to give his wife an opportunity to help.
“When the big success comes,” she had said to him, “then Frances can feel that it is partly her success too. A woman doesn’t become a wife by just marrying a man, does she? It’s only when she has a chance to help that she can feel herself really a wife.”
As she said it he felt that to be true, although to him it was a brand-new point of view.
And Sally Winthrop had given him, in her own life, a new point of view on woman. ”

“ To her they seemed farther away than ever.
“Maybe Frances is looking at those same stars,” he said.
She resented the suggestion. She turned her eyes back to the street.
“Where’s the star I gave you?” he asked.
“It’s gone,” she answered.
“Have you lost it?”
“I can’t see it.”
“Now, look here,” he chided her lightly. “I don’t call that very nice. You don’t have a star given you every night.”
“I told you I didn’t need to have them given to me, because I could take all I wanted myself. You don’t own the stars too.” ”

“ Don returned to a consideration of Barton’s proposal. He was forced to admit that the old lawyer had an irritating knack of ignoring all incidental issues and stripping a problem to a statement of irrefutable fact. It was undeniable, for example, that what Don might desire in the way of salary did not affect the truth of Barton’s contention that twelve hundred dollars was a great deal more than nothing. With a roof over his head assured him, it was possible that he might, with economy, be able at least to keep alive on this salary. ”

“ For the first time in a long while she found herself inclined to accept a man for just what he appeared to be. It was difficult not to believe in Pendleton’s eyes, and still more difficult not to believe in his smile, which made her smile back. And yet, if she had learned anything, those were 65 the very things in a man she had learned to question.
Not that she was naturally cynical, but her downtown experience had left her very skeptical about her ability to judge men from such details. Blake, for instance, could smile as innocently as a child and meet any woman’s eyes without flinching. ”

“ She thought her father had already decided this question. However, she said nothing. In something of a 248 daze, she allowed herself to be led on toward the park––at night a big, shadowy region with a star-pricked sky overhead. Like one led in a dream she went, her thoughts quite confused, but with the firm grip of his hand upon her arm steadying her. He did not speak again until the paved street and the stone buildings were behind them––until they were among the trees and low bushes and gravel paths. He led her to a bench.
“See those stars?” he asked, pointing.
“Yes, Don.” ”

“ Halliday, before she dies she’s going to say yes.”
Mrs. Halliday nodded approvingly. She went further; she placed a thin hand on Don’s shoulder. It was like a benediction. His heart warmed as though it had been his mother’s hand there.
“Don,” she said, as naturally as though she had been saying it all her life, “I don’t know much about you in one way. But I like your face and I like your eyes. I go a lot by a man’s eyes. More’n that, I know Sally, and there 300 was never a finer, honester girl made than she is. If she has let you go as far as this, I don’t think I’d worry myself to death.” ”

“ There’s not a whim in the world she can’t satisfy. And the man who marries her must give her every single thing I’m able to give her––and then something more.”
“In money?” asked Don.
“The something more––not in money.”
He rose and stood before Don.
“I’ve been frank with you, Pendleton, and I’ll say I think the girl cares for you. But I know Frances better than you, and I know that, even if she made up her mind to do without all these things, it would mean a sacrifice. As far as I know, she’s never had to make a sacrifice since she was born. It isn’t necessary. Get that point, Pendleton. ”

“ He saw her at her desk every morning when he came in, and she always looked up and nodded––as she did, for that matter, to every one, including Blake. Then she turned to her work, and that was the end of her until the next morning. As far as he was able to judge, Miss Winthrop had completely and utterly forgotten the preceding weeks and even the incident that led to this disastrous climax.
But the situation that left her so unaffected got on Don’s nerves. He was by nature too much of a social being to endure being left to himself very long. ”

“ She was about to marry not only a lover, but a man whose future was to be in her keeping. Among other things he was to be a future partner in the firm of Carter, Rand & Seagraves, and that meant several years of very hard work ahead of them. Then there 317 were the secret responsibilities––the unborn responsibilities. These were not very definite, to be sure, but she felt them, timidly, gravely, in queer little tuggings at her heart.
When finally she stood in front of the clergyman with Don by her side, she felt, not that she was in a bower of wild flowers, but before an altar. ”

“ He looked at the stars, and the little star by the Big Dipper was shining steadily at him. He passed his hand over his forehead.
“If she were really in me, she’d go with you to-morrow,” Frances ran on excitedly. “She’d want to get into the game. She’d want to be hungry with you, and she wouldn’t care about anything else in the world but you. She––she’d want to suffer, Don. She’d be almost glad that you had no money. Her father wouldn’t count, because she’d care so much.” ”

“ Here one might lunch in as complete seclusion as if in the Canadian woods or in the heart of Africa.
She was as eager to have him pleased as if this were some house of her planning. “It’s a better dining-place than any in town, isn’t it?” she asked.
“I should say so,” he nodded.
With her permission, he lighted a cigarette and, stretching himself out on the grass, enjoyed it as only a man can who has limited his smokes to so many a day. She sat near the brook, and she too was quite content and very comfortable.
“I don’t see why you didn’t tell me about this place before,” he observed. ”

“ Don had always been a buyer––a talent that required neither preparation nor development. Money had always passed from him to some one else. This was pleasant enough, but undramatic. There was no clash; it called for no effort on his part. To reverse all this and watch the money pass in the other direction––from some one else to him––impressed him as a pleasant variation.
At seven o’clock Don replaced his circulars in his pocket and went downstairs. Wadsworth passed him, and for a moment Don was tempted to stop him and try out his knowledge of bonds on him. ”

“ The corollary is equally true: in order to eat it is necessary to pay.
Yet until now Pendleton had been in a position to ignore, if not to refute, the latter statement. There was probably no detail of his daily existence calling for less thought or effort than this matter of dining. Opportunities were provided on every hand,––at the houses of his friends, at his club, at innumerable cafés and hotels,––and all that he was asked to contribute was an appetite.
It was not until he had exhausted his twelve dollars and sixty-three cents that Don was in any position to change his point of view. ”

“ Until now she had had the excuse of ignorance; but there was still another month before Don’s fiancée would be back. 197 And this month would count a whole lot to him. It was the deciding month. Farnsworth had been watching him closely, and had about made up his mind; but he was still on the alert for any break. He had seen men go so far and then break. So had she. It was common enough. She herself had every confidence in Don, but she was doubtful about how long it was wise to leave even him alone. Men could not stand being alone as well as women. ”

“ But she did not wait for her éclair, and went back to the office in anything but a good humor.
On the whole, Miss Winthrop was rather disappointed in him as a result of this last interview––the more so because he had begun the day so well. Her hopes had risen high at the way he approached Powers, and at the seriousness with which he had listened to what Powers had to say. He had acted like a man eager to learn. Then he had spoiled it all by placing undue emphasis on the salary end. ”

“ I know a bunch of men who don’t earn it.”
“Then they must be very stupid.”
“No; but somehow dollars look bigger downtown than they do uptown. Why, I know a little restaurant down there where a dollar looks as big as ten.”
“Don, dear, you’re living too much downtown,” she exclaimed somewhat petulantly. “You don’t realize it, but you are. It’s making you different––and I don’t want you different. I want you just as you used to be.” ”

“ He now had the privilege of announcing to his friends that he was in business in New York––in the banking business––with Carter, Rand & Seagraves, as a matter of fact. He walked with a freer stride and swung his stick with a jauntier air than he had yesterday.
He was full of this when, a few minutes before dinner, Frances swept down the stairs.
“I’m glad you could come, Don,” she said. “But where in the world have you been all day?”
“Downtown,” he answered. “I’m with Carter, Rand & Seagraves now.” ”

“ There stood Sally herself––her cheeks very red, with a bit of a frown above her eyes. It was Mrs. Halliday who saved the day.
“Here, now, you two,” she stormed as she went back to her biscuit board. “Both of you clear out of here until breakfast is ready. You belong outdoors where the birds are singing.”
“I’ll set the table, Aunty,” replied Sally grimly.
“You’ll do nothing of the kind,” replied Mrs. Halliday.
She crossed the room and, taking Sally by one arm she took Don by the other. She led them to the door. ”

“ A man who would return the loan of a two-dollar bill in five dollars’ worth of roses was not the sort of man one expected to have a vaulting ambition for thousands for their own sake. One thing was sure––he was not the type of man who ought to occupy so much of her attention on a busy afternoon.
At a few minutes before five, just as Miss 91 Winthrop was jabbing the last pin into her hat, a messenger boy hurried into the office with a parcel bearing a noticeable resemblance to a one-pound candy box. ”

“ The trouble with us is, we’ve thought too much about other people and––other things. It’s certain that after we’re married people aren’t going to worry much about us, so why should we let them worry us before that? No, it’s all our own affair. As for the salary part of it, we’ve been wrong about that, too. We don’t need so much as we thought we did. Why, do you know you can get a good lunch downtown for fifteen cents? It’s a fact. You can get an egg sandwich, a chocolate éclair, and a cup of coffee for that. ”

“ That mourning has artistic possibilities is a happy fact that has brought gentle solace to many a widow.
On the whole, Barton could not escape the deduction that the son reflected the present rather than the past. Try as he might, it was difficult for him to connect this young man with Grandfather Pendleton, shipbuilder of New Bedford, or with the father who in his youth commanded the Nancy R. But that was by no means his duty––as Don faintly suggested when he uncrossed his knees and hitched forward impatiently. ”

“ He started to leave, but at the door turned again.
“If you should want me during the day, you’ll find me at my office with Carter, Rand & Seagraves. Better write that down.”
“I will, sir.”
“Good-day, Nora.”
Don took the Subway this morning, in company with several hundred thousand others for whom this was as much a routine part of their daily lives as the putting on of a hat. He had seen all these people coming and going often enough before, but never before had he felt himself as coming and going with them. Now he was one of them. He did not resent it. ”

“ He would not tell him why, even if Don inquired. So, with everything almost within his grasp, Pendleton would go. Of course, he might land another place; but it was no easy thing to find the second opportunity, having failed in the first.
Yet this was all so unnecessary. Mr. Pendleton had in him everything Farnsworth wanted. If the latter could have heard him talk as she had heard him talk, he would have known this. Farnsworth ought to send him out of the office––let him get among men where he could talk. And that would come only if Mr. Pendleton could hold on here long enough. ”

“ Even Miss Winthrop receded until she became scarcely more than a figure behind a typewriter. When he was sent out by Farnsworth, he made as long an errand of it as he could. He was gone an hour, or an hour and a half, on commissions that should not have taken half the time.
It was the week of the Moore cotillion that Miss Winthrop observed the change in him. She took it to be a natural enough reaction and had half-expected it. There were very few men, her observation had told her, who could sustain themselves at their best for any length of time. ”