Don (title)

“ And when Don had seen the last of the supers' costumes on the hooks, the room deserted, and the lights out—lingering over his duties as if he thought in that way to postpone the fact of his dismissal—he met her at the stage entrance with such a look of guilt and apology and broken appeal against her blame that it went to her heart like the sight of tears. "Oh, Don," she cried, "why, why did you bother with me? Why didn't you let me go home? I—I've only made trouble. I——"
"Wait," he said, hurrying her out to the refuge of the darker street. "Don't. . . . It's nothing. We're all right." ”

“ He gave it in his gentle voice that had for Don such a fascinating note of wisdom and experience; and Don felt that here was a man who could solve all his problems for him. He tried to put in words the effect which the Bowery had had on him and the questions which it had aroused in him; and "Tower" listened to his stammering explanations, nodding across the blundering pauses and keeping his eyes on the sunlit driveway with a thoughtful attention.
"Why do we know these people are wrong—living that way? ”

“ She was strikingly dressed in shades of brown—even to her parasol, her veil and her russet shoes—and every passer-by paid her the tribute of an admiring stare. She appeared so unconscious of this that Don was free to enjoy it for her, to be flattered for her, and to enjoy also the feeling it gave him of passing, distinguished but indifferent, above the gaze of the world. ”

“ In another four years even Don-Don would be grown-up--Don-Don who was such a long time getting older that at fourteen, only two years ago, he had been capable of sitting in her lap, a great long-legged, flumbering puppy, while mother and son rocked dangerously together in each other's arms, like two children, laughing together, mocking each other. ”

“ It was all very innocent and friendly—though Don had some bewildering moments when his heart seemed to swell with a choked longing in his chest. Then, two days of wind and rain kept her in the house, where he could only speak with her under conditions of strained formality—for he was at the age when the usages of indoors are an oppression on the spirits—and their return to their haunts gave him the feeling for her which a bright-coloured toy had used to raise in him, a desire to fondle it and rub it against his cheek. ”

“ You must turn to the left when you have passed Dan Potter's saloon; that is right in the middle of the town, so you can't miss it. What do you want the doctor for? Is anyone bad?"
"We have come to live with him; we are his children, you know," explained Don, with the engaging frankness which he could display sometimes, although as a rule he was more reserved with strangers than Rumple or Billykins. ”

“ It is not in action, but in the intervals of thought, that character grows; and for the next few days Don went about in a quiet muse that aged him more than he knew. He shunned the ravine; he worked with a sort of stupid diligence; and not until Saturday did he even so much as read anything but a school-book. But on Saturday morning he took up his "Faerie Queene " again, and with the first words of the poem a terrible longing gripped him at the heart. ”

“ He lifted his noble forehead towards me, as if to answer, “Nay, I will not”: but the words he spoke were these:—
'Don,'—for he could never say 'John'—'oh, Don, I am so glad that nasty naughty man is gone away. Take me home, Don. Take me home.'
It has been said of the wicked, 'not even their own children love them.' And I could easily believe that Carver Doone's cold-hearted ways had scared from him even his favorite child. No man would I call truly wicked, unless his heart be cold. ”

“ For some minutes the friends sat in silence.
"But, Don," said Shock at length, "you can not go on this way. Your whole life is being ruined. You cannot draw off from God. You have been keeping Him at arm's length. This will not do."
"It is no use, Shock," said The Don bitterly. "My head is all right. I believe with you. But I cannot get over the feeling I have for that—" He broke off suddenly.
"I know, I know. I feel it, too, old chap, but after all, it is not worth while. And besides, Don, forgive me saying this—if it had not been true about you he could not have hurt you, could he?" ”

“ Long before noon Don's head was aching and his wrists were weak, but his hands were beginning to move deftly, his voice came calm, and he had moments when he gained that mental detachment of the expert ticket seller who can do two things at once and watch himself doing them as if the thought and the action were the functions of two separate minds. ”

“ Don backed up against the geraniums. "Keep away from me."
Conroy raised a derisive shout. "Do you want to fight?"
The young David swallowed slowly and shut his teeth on the pale-lipped mutter of a prayer. His cousin crept in on him, grinning, and crouched—intending to wrestle him and roll him on the grass—playfully. Don caught him in the mouth with a blow that knocked him off his balance. He jumped to his feet, white; and Don was waiting for him.
They fought in a boyish fury, wrestling, kicking and scratching; Don even bit his cousin's hand. ”

“ She liked him, and she knew it. On her way out with Conroy she had been wondering whether she would like him. She was glad that she did.
As for Don, he had no feminine introspection, and his happiness held him in a dazed silence. He was conscious only that a young divinity—for she was already more than a girl to him—had come glowing and beautiful out of dreamland, and sat beside him in an odour of violets, and talked to him with a musical, soft voice. ”

“ Lately he had had a "run of bad luck," and he had been left for the summer with nothing to do but this "boosting" and "spieling" at Coney Island or on the Bowery. He had been going the round of the employment agencies on the morning he met Don, afraid that in his work at the musees he might meet his brother. "As soon as the theatrical season opens," he said, "I'll be all right."
"It's mighty hard to find work, isn't it?" Don sympathized. ”

“ When, at last, I saw him, we were some distance from shore; and he was standing on the dock looking after me, with my satchel in his hand! We both had forgotten it—and there was nothing for me to do but to sail on to America without it."
"Were the things in that satchel?" cried Don. "Where is the man? Is he living?"
Her eyes filled with tears. "No, I shall never see him again in this world," she said.
Her grief was so evident that Donald, whose disappointment struggled with his sympathy, felt it would be cruel to press her further. ”

“ With the complexity of a brain that was trained to cheat itself with its own make-believes but still was never ignorant that it was being cheated, Don was aware that his relations with her were not to be simply those of blind worship and accepted love. Her frightened confusion, when his voice had betrayed him, warned him, now, that mere ecstasy and ardour would only drive her from him; that he must be politic; that she was a human being judging him in accordance with the conventions of human society, and not as clairvoyant as a goddess or as untrammelled as an ideal. ”

“ While Don's friend was upon the tour of inquiry to ascertain the identity of the handsome young lady, Don sat alone upon a log, and said mentally, “A woman may draw me out of the sea ten thousand times, and she would never look like that young lady. O! God, who can she be! Perhaps out of my reach.” Don's friend returned smiling. “Lucky, lucky,” and Don's friend concluded with a laugh. “What now?” said Don, impatiently.
“That lady is the girl that drew Don Carlo out of the river, her name is Suza Fairfield, and she is the belle of Port William. ”

“ One couldn't carry on life comfortably without a little blindness to the fact that everything has been said better than we can put it ourselves. But talking of Dons, I have seen Dons make a capital figure in society; and occasionally he can shoot you down a cartload of learning in the right place, which will tell in politics. Such men are wanted; and if you have any turn for being a Don, I say nothing against it. ”

“ Never forgetting the absolute necessity for using the greatest caution, Don turned his glass on the balloon. He gave a little gasp of astonishment. By the aid of the powerful binocular he could even see the observers in the basket suspended beneath the great, unwieldy monster, and in his eyes those faint and tiny specks assumed a most tremendous interest and importance. It was not very often, he reflected, that Germans were seen as foemen, at liberty and engaged in their work. ”

“ Neither does Don."
"That's so, Uncle," said Donald, emphatically; "we feel sure there is something that gives you trouble. Why not let us share it with you? Remember, we are not little children any longer."
The uncle looked quickly from one to the other, mentally deciding that the children could be told only the facts that were positively known to him; then seating himself on the corner of a large chest, he drew Don and Dorry towards him.
"Yes, my children," he said, in his own hearty way, as if already a load had been taken from his mind, "there is something. ”

“ Through the greyness we see him very well beyond it in the glow of the fire. He sits on the settle and tries to read his [Pg 139] paper. He breaks down. He is a pitiful lonely man.
In the silence something happens. A well-remembered voice says, ‘Father.’ Mr. Don looks into the greyness from which this voice comes, and he sees his son. We see no one, but we are to understand that, to Mr. Don, Dick is standing there in his habit as he lived. He goes to his boy. ”

“ With that confession as a bond of sympathy between them, the rest of their conversation was easy; and Don, seated beside him, on a bench that faced the driveway, learned more of "Tower" than he had ever expected to know.
He was one of those wanderers who leave their homes to try their fortunes in large cities and who go from place to place with no certain means of earning a living, but with a resourceful knowledge of how to support themselves from day to day. He had begun life as a hotel clerk, and had left his desk to sell tickets in the box office of a theatre. ”

“ Don wondered when the unknown had drawn and opened the knife. It seemed that the rascal had scarcely been given time to accomplish such an action after Don’s entrance, for the boy had kept him busy, and he had struggled madly to free himself and escape. ”

“ Don, an’ I’ll tell ye what’s the gospel truth. Lester, he told me that Dave was bringin’ in right smart of money for his pap every month, an’ I told Barlow of it, an’ Barlow he said he’d like to have some of it so’t he could live like rich folks do. That’s all I done, Mr. Don, sure’s yer born—honor bright, an’ hope to die if it aint. ”

“ Though she never dreamed of setting him above her hero, she felt compelled to admit that he must be a great deal better than Don, for Don had lately scouted the idea of being a minister. She felt herself highly privileged to be the friend of such a man. ”

“ He wondered if he and Dunstan would be called out at such a time. Don did not shrink from any task which he might be called upon to perform, but nevertheless he could not help heartily wishing that the night might pass without a summons.
"It will be a positive wonder, though, if there isn't something doing," he muttered. "The firing is growing heavier and heavier, and guns of all calibers seem to be at it."
He heard the sound of a step and a cheery voice calling:
"Hello, Don! Where are you?"
"At the observation post," returned the aviator's son.
"And I'll be there in another moment." ”

“ There was a flurry of paws and the gersal struggled up to its haunches, then sat up, its brilliant red eyes fixed on Don. It stretched out short forelegs in seeming supplication, then batted futilely at the punching staff end.
Disregarding the pleading attitude of the beast, Don continued to punch at the squirming body till it was obvious that no vestige of life could remain. Then, he looked at the other man.
The fellow had managed to get to the center of the path before he had collapsed. He half sat, half lay against his pack, breathing raggedly. Sweat stood out on his forehead. ”

“ Do you ever talk to yourself about a man named Osbert Garet or Hector Civek?" Thebold looked at a big map of Superior that had been pinned to the wall, thus giving Don the benefit of his strong profile.
"Hector's the king now," Don said. "Things got pretty bad before that but we got enough to eat now."
"Where did the food come from?"
Don shrugged.
Thebold drummed his fingers on the desk. "You're not exactly a fount of information, are you? What do you do for a living?" ”

“ Nobody would be really interested in such a thing except himself, and he was no writer. But it looked as if he might have found a real hobby, Don told himself. Why, he didn't even miss television.
The thought of television reminded him of the money, and the questions. The air and an occasional swim, and the food, had all combined to give him a feeling of health and relaxation. He felt supremely confident; he knew he could cope with the questions. And the time must be growing short. The plane should be arriving any day. ”

“ The events of the day had worn him out, and he slept soundly. It was daylight when he awoke, and his first sensation upon awakening was that of hunger.
A faint light entered the room from a very high and dirty skylight, and Don saw at once that there was no use in looking in that direction for a possible outlet. The skylight was too high for him to reach and there was nothing to stand on. His impressions of the previous night were confirmed, the room was empty and had no windows. It had evidently been a small classroom at one time, for two sides of the wall were composed of blackboards. ”