Robert W. Chambers

“ At last Braith reached over and shook the ashes out of his pipe. Rex lighted a fresh cigarette at the same time, and their eyes met with a look of mutual confidence and goodwill. Braith spoke again, firmly this time.
“God keep you out of the mire, Rex; you’re all right thus far. But it is my solemn belief that an affair of that kind would be your ruin as an artist; as a man.”
“The Quarter doesn’t regard things in that light,” said Gethryn, trying hard to laugh off the weight that oppressed him.
“The Quarter is a law unto itself. Be a law unto yourself, Rex—Good night, old chap.” ”

“ The speck of yellow was almost imperceptibly approaching their knoll, but so slowly that Ruth almost doubted if it moved at all.
Sepp had the glass, and declining the one Rex offered her, she turned for a moment to the superb panorama at their feet. East, west, north and south the mountain world extended. By this time the snow mountains of Tyrol were all lighted to gold and purple, rose and faintest violet. Sunshine lay warm now on all the near peaks. ”

“ The wind had blown up cold from the east and the young man shivered as he closed and fastened the windows. Then he sat down, his chin on his hands, and gazed into the glowing grate. Mrs Gummidge, who had smelled the sardines, came rubbing up against his legs, uttering a soft mew from sheer force of habit. She was not hungry—in fact, Gethryn knew that the concierge, whose duty it was to feed all the creatures, overdid it from pure kindness of heart—at Gethryn’s expense. ”

“ Braith read it eagerly, and looked up with a brighter face than he had worn for many a day.
“By Jove!” he said. “By Jupiter!”
Rex smiled sadly at his enthusiasm.
“This means health, and a future, and—everything to you, Rex!”
“Health and wealth, and happiness,” said Gethryn bitterly.
“Yes, you ungrateful young reprobate—that’s exactly what it means. Go to your Arcachon, by all means, since you’ve got a fortune to go on—I say—you—you didn’t know your aunt very well, did you? You’re not cut up much?” ”

“ When they took their dripping heads out of the wooden trough into which a mountain spring was pouring and running out again, leaving it always full, and gazed at life—between rubs of the hard crash towel—it had assumed a kinder aspect.
Half an hour later, when they all were starting for the top, Ruth let the others pass her, and pausing for a moment with her hand on the lintel, she looked back into the little smoke-blackened hut. The door of the inner room was open. She had dreamed the sweetest dream of her life there. ”

“ Braith stamped impatiently.
“Lisette,” said Clifford, sweetly. “Why should I not refresh my drooping spirits by adoring Lisette—Cos—- ”
“Oh, come, you said that before,” said Gethryn. “You’re getting to be a bore, Clifford.”
“You at least can no longer reproach me,” said the other, with a quick look that increased Gethryn’s embarrassment.
“Let him talk his talk of bewitching grisettes, and gay students,” said Braith, more angry than Rex had ever seen him. “He’s never content except when he’s dangling after some fool worse than himself. Damn this ‘Bohemian love’ rot! ”

“ But Rex did not see Braith’s face as he walked away.
Braith felt helpless. The thing he most dreaded for Rex had happened; he believed he could see the end of it all, and yet he could prevent nothing. If he should tell Rex that he was being ruined, Rex would not listen, and—who was he that he should preach to another man for the same fault by which he had wasted his own life? No, Rex would never listen to him, and he dreaded a rupture of their friendship.
Gethryn had made his debut in the Salon with a certain amount of éclat. ”

“ Colonel Dene rose up presently and relighted his cigar; then he flicked some dust from the new tweeds, picked a stem of wild hyacinth, and began to whistle. “Pshaw! I’m not so old as all that!” he murmured, sauntering along the pleasant wood-road. Before long he came in sight of Ruth and Gethryn, who were waiting. But he only waved them on, laughing.
“Papa always says that old wound of his does not hurt him, but it does. I know it does,” said Ruth.
Rex noted what tones of tenderness there were in her cool, clear voice. ”

“ She was beginning to feel such a happy confidence in Rex’s presence.
They were in the forest now, moving lightly over the wet, springy leaves, probing cautiously for dangerous, loose boulders and treacherous slides. When they emerged, it was upon a narrow plateau; the rugged limestone rocks rose on one side, the precipice plunged down on the other. Against the rocks lay patches of snow, grimy with dirt and pebbles; from a cleft the long greenish white threads of “Peter’s beard” waved at them; in a hollow bloomed a thicket of pink Alpen-rosen. ”

“ Only Rex saw it. Yes, one more: Ruth saw it.
“Mademoiselle has studied seriously since I had the honor—”
“Oui, Monsieur.”
Her faint voice and timid look were more than Ruth could bear. She leaned forward so as to shield the girl as much as possible, and entered into the lively talk at the other end of the table.
Rex spoke again: “Mademoiselle is quite strong, I trust—the stage—Sugar? Allow me!—As I was saying, the stage is a calling which requires a good constitution.” No answer.
“But pardon. If you are not strong, how can you expect to succeed in your career?” persisted Rex. ”

“ The incurable “Sehnsucht” of humanity found not its only expression in that great Symphony where “all the mightier strings assembling, fell a trembling.” Ruth heard it as she leaned back in the deep shade and listened to those silvery melodies and chords of wonderful purity, coaxed from the little zither by Loisl’s strong, rough hand, with its tender touch. To all the airs he played her memory supplied the words. Sometimes a Sennerin was watching from the Alm for her lover’s visit in the evening. Sometimes the hunter said farewell as he sprang down the mountainside. ”

“ But Elliott only laughed and said:
“No; waltzes are all I care for. No quadrille for me—”
The crash of the orchestra drowned his voice, and Clifford, turning and bowing gravely to his partner, and then to his vis-à-vis, began to perform such antics and cut such pigeonwings that his pigeon-toed partner glared at him through the slits of her mask in envious astonishment. The door was dotted with numerous circles of maskers, ten or fifteen deep, all watching and applauding the capers of the hilarious couples in the middle. ”

“ Gethryn and Ruth were soon far ahead. The colonel sauntered along, switching leaves with his rod and indulging in bursts of Parisian melody.
“Papa,” called Ruth, looking back, “does your hip trouble you today, or are you only lazy?”
“Trot along, little girl; I’ll be there before you are,” said the colonel airily, and stopped to replace the wild hyacinth in his coat by a prim little pink and white daisy. Then he lighted a fresh cigar and started on, but their voices were already growing faint in the distance. Observing this, he stopped and looked up and down the road. No one was in sight. ”

“ And then with a little effort and a slight flush she added:
“I don’t think it is good for men when too many excuses are made for them. Do you?”
“No, I do not,” answered Rex, and thought, if all women were like this one, how much easier it would be for men to lead a good life! His heart stopped its heavy beating. The memories which he had been fighting for two years faded away once more; his spirits rose, and he felt like a boy as he kept step with Ruth along the path which had now turned and ran close beside the stream.
“Now tell me something of your travels,” said Ruth. ”

“ The first glance gave him a hasty impression of a white lace-covered bed and a dainty toilet table on which stood a pair of tall silver candlesticks; and then, as the soft voice spoke again, “Will Monsieur be seated?” he turned and confronted the girl whom he had helped in the Place de la Concorde. She lay in a cloud of fleecy wrappings on a lounge that was covered with a great white bearskin. Her blue eyes met Gethryn’s, and he smiled faintly. She spoke again:
“Will Monsieur sit a little nearer? It is difficult to speak loudly—I have so little strength.” ”

“ Gethryn winced. “I’d rather—I think”—he began, slowly—
“Excuse me—it’s not my business,” growled Braith, throwing himself into a seat and beginning to rub Mrs Gummidge the wrong way. “Confound the cat!” he added, examining some red parallel lines which suddenly decorated the back of his hand.
“She won’t stand rubbing the wrong way,” said Rex, smiling uneasily.
“Like the rest of us,” said Elliott.
“More fool he who tries it,” said Braith, and looked at Gethryn with an affectionate smile that made him turn redder than before. ”

“ Rex sprang up beside the driver.
“Allons!” he cried, “to the Obelisk!”
“But, monsieur—” expostulated the cabby, “it is today the revolution. I dare not.”
“Go on, I tell you,” roared Rhodes. “Clifford, take his reins away if he refuses.”
Clifford made a snatch at them, but was repulsed by the indignant cabby.
“Go on, do you hear?” shouted the Colossus. The cabman looked at Gethryn.
“Go on!” laughed Rex, “there is no danger.” ”

“ In the winter the students are too busy to notice a newcomer, except to make him feel strange and humble by their lofty scorn. But in the autumn, when the men have returned from their long out-of-door rest, with brush and palette, a certain amount of friskiness is developed, which sometimes expends itself upon the luckless “nouveau.” A harmless search for the time-honored “grand reflecteur,” an enforced song and dance, a stern command to tread the mazes of the shameless quadrille with an equally shameless model, is usually the extent of the infliction. ”

“ If he, Rex, had had a sister, would he have liked her to be on a Bavarian mountaintop in a company composed of a gamekeeper, the manager of a Paris theater and his wife, and a young person who was about to make her debut in opera-bouffe, and to have no better guardian than a roving young art student? Rex felt his unfitness for the post with a pang of compunction. Meantime he rubbed his head, and Monsieur Bordier talked tranquilly on. But between vexation and friction Gethryn lost the thread of Monsieur’s remarks for a while. ”

“ The Jaeger nodded, “Quick!” A shot echoed among the rocks and the chamois disappeared.
“Is he hit? Oh, Rex! did you hit him?”
“Ei! Zimbach!” Sepp slipped the leash, the hound sprang away, and in a moment his bell-like voice announced Rex’s good fortune.
Ruth flew like the wind, not heeding their anxious calls to be careful, to wait for help. It was not far to go, and her light, sure foot brought her to the spot first. When Rex and Sepp arrived she was kneeling beside the dead chamois, stroking the “beard” that waved along its bushy spine. She sprang up and held out her hand to Gethryn. ”

“ Gethryn came back and sat down, and Braith took a seat beside him, but neither spoke. Braith had his pipe and Rex his cigarette.
When the former was ready, he began to speak. He could not conceal the effort it cost him, but that wore away after he had been talking a while.
“Rex,” he began, “when I say that we are friends, I mean, for my own part, that you are more to me than any man alive; and now I am going to tell you my story. Don’t interrupt me. I have only just courage enough; if any of it oozes out, I may not be able to go on. Well, I have been through the mill. Clifford was right. ”

“ They started in great spirits, a happy trio. Rex was touched by Ruth’s deep delight in his success, and by the pride in him which she showed more than she knew. He looked at her with eyes full of affection. Sepp was assuring himself, by all the saints in the Bavarian Calendar, that here was a “Herrschaft” which a man might be proud of guiding, and so he meant to tell the duke. Ruth’s generous heart beat high.
Their way back to the path where they had separated from Colonel Dene was long and toilsome. ”

“ Ruth had not seen Gethryn’s face.
“Bonne nuit, mon ami!” Those tender, half forgotten—no! never, never forgotten words! Rex threw himself on the hay and lay still, his hands clenched over his breast.
The kindly colonel was sound asleep when Sepp came in with a tired but wagging hound, from heaven knows what scramble among the higher cliffs by starlight. The night air was chilly. Rex called the dog to his side and took him in his arms. “We will keep each other warm,” he said, thinking of the pups. And Zimbach, assenting with sentimental whines, was soon asleep. ”

“ She captured Clifford by suffering him to play his banjo to her piano. Rowden liked her because she was pretty and witty, though he never got used to her quiet little digs at his own respected and dignified person. Clifford openly avowed his attachment and spent many golden hours away from work, listening to her singing. She had been taught by a good master and her voice was pure and pliant, although as yet only half developed. The little concerts they gave their friends were really charming—with Clifford’s banjo, Gethryn’s guitar, Thaxton’s violin, Yvonne’s voice and piano. ”

“ Gethryn shook him off as he would a fly, but the last remnant of self-control went at the same time, and, wheeling, he planted a blow square in the fellow’s neck. The man fell like an ox. In an instant the mob was upon them. Thaxton received a heavy kick in the ribs, which sent him reeling against Carleton. Clifford knocked two men down in as many blows, and, springing back, stood guard over Thaxton until he could struggle to his feet again. Elliott got a sounding thwack on the nose, which he neatly returned, adding one on the eye for interest. Gethryn and Carleton fought back to back. ”

“ Supper was over, evening had fallen; but there would be no music tonight under the beech tree; the sky was obscured by clouds and a wet wind was blowing.
Mrs Dene and Ruth were crossing the hall; Gethryn came in at the front door and they met.
“Well?” said Rex, forcing a smile.
“Well,” said Ruth. “Mademoiselle Descartes is better. Madame will bring her down stairs by and by. It appears that wretched peasant who drove them has been carrying them about for hours from one inn to another, stopping to drink at all of them. ”

“ Braith so seldom swore, that the round oath with which he broke into their vocal exercises stopped them through sheer astonishment. But Clifford, determined on self-assertion and loving an argument, especially out of season, turned on Braith and began:
“Why should not Youth love?”
“Love! Bah!” said Braith.
“Why Bah?” he persisted, stimulated by the disgust of Braith. “Now if a man—take Elliott, for example—”
“Take yourself,” cried the other. ”

“ And who is Braith?”
Ruth turned smiling to meet him, restored to herself and thankful for the diversion.
“Braith,” said Rex earnestly. “Braith is the best man in this wicked world, and my dearest friend. To whom,” he added, “I have not written one word since I left him two ears ago.”
Ruth’s face fell. “Is that the way you treat your dearest friends?”—and she thought: “No wonder one is neglected when one is only an old playmate!”—but she was instantly ashamed of the little bitterness, and put it aside.
“Ah! you don’t know of what we are capable,” said Gethryn ”

“ In ten minutes, all trace of the row had disappeared, excepting that one gentleman’s collar looked rather limp and his hair was uncommonly sleek. The men worked steadily. Snatches of song and bits of whistling rose continuously from easel and taboret, all blending in a drowsy hum. Gethryn and Elliott caught now and then, from behind them, words of wisdom which Clifford was administering to the now subdued Rowden.
“Yes,” he was saying, “many a man has been injured for life by these Frenchmen for a mere nothing. ”

“ But Mr Blumenthal’s opportunities of observing Miss Dene had been limited.
The “gams” had disappeared. Miss Dene was looking down the road that leads to Schicksalsee. There was not much visible there except a whirl of dust raised by the sudden evening wind.
Sometimes it was swept away for a moment; then she saw a weather-beaten bridge and a bend in the road where it disappeared among the noble firs of a Bavarian forest.
The sun sank and left the Trauerbach a stream of molten lead. The shadows crept up to the Jaeger’s hut and then to the little chapel above that. ”