Marjorie Benton Cooke

“ They were just human beings, not a jury to try her. She waived the chairman aside, when he tried in vain to introduce her. The crowd indulged in what might be termed "a mob fit." [Pg 157]
They yelled, deepening waves of sound; they stood up and waved handbills, with a crackling like flames; they stomped with their boots and whistled on their fingers. Bob watched and listened a moment, then her clear laugh rang out above the roar. She held up her hand and absolute quiet fell on them, as if a lid had been shut down on a bubbling pot.
"Boys and girls, do be still!" called Bob. ”

“ Taxis honked, policemen shouted; bareheaded women and tall-hatted men hurried to the restaurants, [Pg 50] the maelstrom of Broadway, nearing midnight, was in full tide. Bob turned from it toward the shadowy stretch of the avenue.
The moon was clear and round, the heavens a blue plush vault. The broad shining street swept its gleaming length, with the misty lights reflecting themselves. Uptown the cathedral spires pricked the skyline, downtown was lost in grayness. Bob hesitated at the corner to buy an extra from a brass-lunged newsy, then stood an instant deciding which way to go. ”

“ So until morning she lay on one side, and Paul on the other, while he tended the fire that was between them. [Pg 92]
PART III
All days are alike in the mountains, all days are marvellously different. It seems sometimes as if a giant hand must push the great hills into new positions and relationships. Then the sky artist makes such daring experiments in shape and colour, as no Cubist ever dreamed of. People say they tire of the mountains and prefer the sea, because it is ever changing, but no man with the seeing eye ever makes that mistake. ”

“ Bill and a cowboy assistant served a breakfast that no New York hotel could surpass; the mountain air gave a zest that no hothouse fruit ever produced, as appetizer. They ate like hungry hounds, and an hour later, all packed and mounted, they said good-bye to the cowboy chêf and started on their way.
Bill rode well in advance, then Bob, then Paul. Bob's pony was a constant amusement, he was too nervous for the average, inexperienced rider, so he had not been ridden much. He had a distinct suspicion of rocks, overhanging trees, and things that darted across the road. ”

“ Trent occasionally sent Barbara a package of newspapers from the smaller towns in the state and she read in one of Paul as "the embodiment of youth and courage, the two qualities most needed in the new governor. Full of enthusiasm for reforms that mean greater efficiency in our state government, yet tempered by a calm judgment and the experience which came to him in his brilliant [Pg 142] career in the law." Next she read: "Paul Trent is the tool and mouthpiece of rampant reform. Once in the governor's chair, he will prove a dangerous factor to be dealt with by the people when it is too late." ”

“ She said to herself over and over as she dressed for the street, "I know he won't come to-night—he's too busy to remember." But when she stepped into the hall and looked for his tall figure, she felt a swift disappointment. She sent her maid on to the hotel alone, on some excuse, and she determined to walk herself.
It was a cold, crisp night. Broadway was a blare of light, as poignant as a din of sound. ”

“ We want the Governor's lady!" they chanted. The place was a roar of sound. Bob's heart clamped tight with terror. She turned a white face to the chairman, who stood with raised hand, trying to quiet them. It was like pushing back the waves of the sea, the sound surged higher and more tempestuous. Into Bob's atrophied mind pierced the thought that [Pg 156] this was her chance to help Paul, that she could play her own popularity to forward his cause, if she had the nerve.
She had never made a speech in her life. She was trained in an art which makes no extemporaneous demand on the artist. ”

“ The earth was blotted out in blackness, as of the void before [Pg 118] God spoke. They made for a rock a few feet from the cabin, and stood peering off into opaque nothingness. Barbara felt for Paul's hand and clung to it. They stood so for a space of time, silent.
"I'm ready now to go back down. There's nothing more to learn up here. I know His peace and His wrath," she said at last.
"Life seems simpler, somehow—and greater, much greater," he answered her.
II
Monday found them back in New York. As they drove from the station to the hotel they watched the passing panorama in silence. ”

“ She went to her own sitting-room which Trent was supposed to use during her absence. She ventured into his rooms, which looked unused and cheerless. She had a bath, dressed with unusual care, dined alone in her room studying Paul's itinerary between bites. Eight meetings announced him as headliner, with Cooper Union as the climax. She shook her head over it; he would be dead of weariness. ”

“ They endowed charities for newspaper writers and interior decorators—they planned a retreat for indigent magazine writers and an asylum for editors. Life was a joyous thing, stretching out ahead of them, full of colour and success, and then, on the very eve of the production of Bob's play, daddy died. ”

“ Barbara's laugh greeted the phrase and Paul stalked in on them.
"How is the little feller?" he asked. [Pg 109]
"He has to stay in a barrel till his duds dries out," said Bill. "He furgot to hang his clothes on the hickory-nut limb."
"I've had the time of my life, listening to Bill. He knows more good stories than anybody in the world."
"Listen at her! She's stringin' ye, Mr. Trent." He strode off to take in the clothes, big with pride.
"Think you'll take cold?" asked Paul.
"Cold? The only way a cold could get me would be to bite me. I'm the wellest thing on earth." ”

“ They made the circuit of their new domain, and laughed.
"Are you frightened?" he asked her.
"Not of this shack, nor the big mountains, nor you. It's fun."
"I can get along, of course, but you don't seem to fit."
"Wait till I get on my mountain clothes, then I'll fit. These Fifth Avenue things look so ridiculous. But you're not to fret about me, Paul. I've had plenty of roughing it. I have faced life without a bathroom before. If I'm not a good enough Roman to stand it, I'll go back east." ”

“ I'm more interested in this political meeting than any I ever went to, because I'm more interested in the candidate for governor, and I want every man in this audience to vote for Paul Trent to-morrow on my say so."
They expressed themselves on that point in the usual vocal way. Bob [Pg 159] reached for the chairman's gavel, with a "Give me that thing!" which made them all laugh. She beat the desk until there was silence.
"I think a man who is courteous, high minded, unselfish, and dependable in his relations with women is the kind of man to be dependable in his political relations. ”

“ She used her brain on the problem of success. When the manager of the shop put her in charge of their booth at the Arts and Crafts Exhibition, because, as he said, "you can attract people," she recalled the consensus of editorial opinion, and made up her mind that personality was her real gift. The stage was the show window for that possession, so thither she turned her face at eighteen, and in due course of time joined the great army which follows the mirage of stage success. ”

“ Did I miss anything?"
"A million-dollar panorama."
"Don't you let me sleep like that again, Paul Trent. I can sleep in a New York hotel to the tune of the Elevated. Did you sleep?"
"Yes."
"That helps some."
They rode through the late afternoon, when the air was like amber; through the time of the setting sun, when the world was like a glass prism of many colours; through the shadow time, when long bars of blue lay below [Pg 85] in the valley to mark the mountains. Then, just before the red disk burned into the mountain top and disappeared, Bill announced camp for the night. ”

“ I'm going to New York to help get my husband elected governor. If you've got the sense God is supposed to have given your race, you'll play it up big in the papers and make capital out of it. There aren't so many actresses married to governors, you know. ”

“ She worked hard, she learned the trade of the theatre. She studied her audiences, noted their likes and dislikes, what they laughed at, and when they wept. Then once again she took up her abandoned pen and began to work on a play. She and daddy talked it, played it, mulled it over every waking hour for months. Then one historic day Bob read it to an [Pg 8] audience of daddy and a manager—that was the beginning of the last lap of the race. The manager accepted it and left father and daughter in a state of ecstasy. ”

“ He was usually a silent man, but once or twice over the fire at night they had succeeded in unlocking his lips, and from that time on his [Pg 108] colourful cowboy language had delighted Barbara. At first he had been a little shy of her, but now they were fast friends. He always mentioned her to Trent as "the little feller," and he admitted that "she was the best all-round woman exhibit he ever saw."
He had just reached the climax of his adventure when Paul came into camp. Barbara, wrapped in a blanket, sat beside the fire, while her clothes hung on the line behind her. ”

“ Not he. The mountains are made for tourists, tourists are made for guides. As for sunset, well, that means time to sleep."
"Oh, Paul," she protested. [Pg 102]
"It's true. Your 'plain man of the soil' is a hero only in novels. In real life he is apt to be a grub."
"I'd rather be a grub than a Broadway Johnny."
"Oh, let's talk about a man," he suggested, smiling.
"But where will you find him?"
"Somewhere between your two extremes. A man's sensibilities have to be opened to nature by training, as his mind is to books. ”

“ Why could it not always be as simple and natural as it had been in the mountains? Monday was too busy for thoughts, rehearsal in the new theatre, getting settled in the new hotel, followed by a first night as climax.
When she arrived at the theatre she found her dressing-room full of Killarney roses, with a telegram from Paul: [Pg 128] "Irish roses have to do. I wish I could fill the room with mountain laurel." ”

“ It takes nerve to state your intentions and invite the party to stay in or go out. The public cares more for nerve than party, I think." [Pg 54]
They walked and talked until the black mass of the Park blocked the way. Paul told her of the reform bills he wanted to get put through, bills that would cost him dear, because there were big vested interests in opposition. Bob listened, commented, urged him to fight on principle, not politics. They were so absorbed in themselves that the midnight crowds scattered and left the world to them. ”

“ If when you go to the polls to-morrow you think it is for the good of the State of New York that I should try to direct its government for two [Pg 161] years, vote for me, and I'll thank the Missus. Mind you, I don't promise any miracles, but as far as any honest man can see what's right, I'll do it. Good-night to you."
"Bob and Paul stood bowing and smiling"
Cooper Union has seen some exhibitions of excitement, but this was a prize example. Bob and Paul stood for ten minutes, hand in hand, bowing and smiling, before the crowd began to break up. ”

“ You said you'd rather marry a stranger than a man you were merely fond of—so would I. I've felt this loneliness you speak of. I'd like to make this experiment. We are neither of us handicapped by sentiment—we start even. ”

“ Bob looked at her watch. [Pg 146]
"I don't intend to miss my train. Do I come back or not?"
"Oh, damn it, yes. Now get out."
"You're a most obliging little man, Wolfson, but your temper is unspeakably bad."
She smiled sweetly at him, and tripped out.
All the way on the train she devised new ways of appearing to Trent. He had no least suspicion of her plans, and she intended to make the most of the dramatic possibilities of the situation. Her train did not get her into New York until after six. She knew Paul was to address half a dozen meetings, ending with the biggest of all at Cooper Union. ”

“ He must find some way to rest his tired brain. He pretended that he was sitting in the theatre in Boston watching Bob's play; he repeated the midnight walk they once took up the avenue. He wished he might ask her advice about the speech at Cooper Union. It would count a good deal, and her experienced knowledge of the psychology of audiences had helped him out many times before. She would know just the most effective thought to leave in the minds of the men who were to answer him at the polls to-morrow. ”

“ They started for the corral back of the ranch house, where the ponies were grazing. They had to step off [Pg 73] the road several times to let parties of laughing men and girls gallop past. A cowboy volunteered to bring in some ponies, and while they waited, a big, loose-jointed man sauntered over to them.
"Howdy?" said he.
"Good evening."
"Strangers, ain't ye?"
"Yes, we've just come."
"East'ners?"
"Tenderfeet from New York," laughed Bob.
"We're gettin' used to you folks out here. Purty nigh all Noo Yawk State has been out here. Them your ponies?" he added, as the cowboy came up. ”

“ Trent?"
"I'll roll up here by the fire."
"I'll take the cabin myself, then. Can ye keep awake till I clean up camp, or shall I shake down some beds now?"
"No, no, you go ahead with the [Pg 87] housekeeping. We won't go to bed for hours," Bob answered.
She led the way up the trail a bit, Paul following.
"Bill has real tact—he's there when you want him, and only then."
"It is as near ideal as it can be," Paul assented. "You and I, and the world away," he added.
"There isn't any world—there's just earth and sky and God," said Bob softly.
"What about us?"
"We aren't us. We're blue shadows ”

“ Lord! that sounds self-satisfied. I don't mean it that way. I mean that developing as an artist is a peaceful process, rather. The days when I had [Pg 137] to fight for my chance, fight for my part, fight the stage manager to let me do it my way, fight the audience to make it like me—oh, those were the days that counted! Daddy and I used to talk things over nights. He was cautious. He'd say: 'Well, ye' lose yer job if you do that,' but when I had done it, he used to laugh and say: 'Bob, son av battle, shure enough'."
Paul laughed. ”

“ They rarely came to the cabin after this except for supplies and fresh clothes. Day after day they spent in the saddle up on the heights. Bill found them insatiable, they gave him no rest. Barbara was introduced to a trout line and a mountain brook trout of her own catching. After that she insisted on visiting all the streams for miles around, where trout were to be found.
"Talk about a taste for whiskey, it's nothing to a taste for trout," said Bob.
"More exclusive, too," Paul added. "You can get whiskey on every corner in New York, but real fresh mountain trout you travel for." ”