Halfpenny

“ But could he for a moment hesitate, if he really loved that sick child? is asked. Yes, he could hesitate, and yet love the little sufferer; for to one of his order of mind and habits of acting and feeling, a self-indulgence like that of the pipe, or a regular draught of beer, becomes so much like second nature, that it is as it were a part of the very life; and to give it up, costs more than a light effort.
The penny was between his fingers, and he took a single step toward the ale-house door; but so vividly came back the image of little Lizzy, that he stopped suddenly. ”

“ Two inches lower, Master Penny, and he would have been a dead man.”
“I couldn’t help it!” drawled Jack Penny. “I thought he was a savage coming to kill us. I’m always doing something. There never was such an unlucky chap as I am!”
“Oh, you meant what you did for the best!” said the doctor, laying his hand on Jack Penny’s shoulder.
“What did he want to look like a savage for?” grumbled Jack. “Who was going to know that any one dressed up—no, I mean dressed down—like that was an Englishman?”
“It was an unfortunate mistake, Penny; you must be more careful if you mean to handle a gun.” ”

“ Howat Penny had a sudden, startling sense of his utter loneliness; there was absolutely no one, now, to whom he could turn for the understanding born of long and intimately affectionate association. Mariana was lost to him in her own poignant affair ... No children. So many, so much, dead. His countenance, however, grew firm with the determination that age should not find him a coward. He had always been bitterly contemptuous of the men that, surfeiting their appetites, showed at the impotent last a cheap repentance. ”

“ I remembered that I had compared Miss Penny's tinkling ear-rings to skeletons hanging in chains.
"And then, finally, and to begin with—Alpha and Omega—there's ourselves, two professionals gloating, with an absolute lack of sympathy, over a seduced nun, and speculating on the best method of turning her misfortunes into cash. It's all very curious, isn't it?—when one begins to think about it dispassionately."
"Very curious," I agreed. "But, then, so is everything else if you look at it like that."
"No, no," said Miss Penny. "Nothing's so curious as our business. ”

“ But—so blind sometimes are parents—neither Mr. nor Mrs. Palfrey suspected that Penny would have anything to say to a tradesman of questionable rank whose youthful bloom was much withered. Young Towers, they thought, had an eye to her, and that was likely enough to be a match some day; but Penny was a child at present. And all the while Penny was imagining the circumstances under which Mr. Freely would make her an offer: perhaps down by the row of damson-trees, when they were in the garden before tea; perhaps by letter—in which case, how would the letter begin? “Dearest Penelope?” ”

“ Penny shifted from one position to another, growing more impatient. Every time the man came toward the cabinet her heart beat a trifle faster. She was quite sure the Hodges had not yet returned home, and should Al Gepper discover her, he would not treat her kindly.
The medium finished his supper and stacked the dishes in the closet without washing them. Then he started to get ready for the night’s séance.
Peeping from between the cracks of the curtain, Penny saw him seat himself before the easel. With painstaking care he painted a picture of a woman, using a photograph as a model. ”

“ The future! It was that, he now discovered, which occupied him, rather than the past. A new need had become apparent, a restless desire analogous to the urge of seeking youth. Jasper Penny was aware of a great dissatisfaction, a vast emptiness, in his existence; he had a feeling of waste growing out of the sense of hurrying years. Somehow, obscurely, he had been cheated. He almost envied the commonality of men, not, like himself, black Pennys, impatient of assuaging relationships and beliefs. ”

“ Howat Penny couldn't. "I'm not to blame for that old mess any more than you. And it's not my fault if something of—of which you think so much came to me by the back door. I've always wanted what Mariana is," he burst out, "and I have never been satisfied with what I could get. And when I saw her, hell—what's the use!
"Any one in Harrisburg will tell you I am a good man," he reiterated, at a slightly different angle. "When you kick through out of that racket of hunkies and steel you've done something. Soon I'll be getting five or six thousand." ”

“ Mrs. Penny was talking with charming earnestness to the man on her other hand. The amber radiance flickered over the beautiful curves of her shoulders and cast a warm shadow at the base of her throat. She smiled at her son; and her face, in spite of its present gaiety, held a definite reminder of her years, almost fifty; but when she turned again her profile, with slightly tilted nose and delightfully fresh lips and chin, was that of a girl no older than Caroline. Howat had often noticed this. ”

“ Penny began to stammer.
“You thought that because I gave up my own paper I might not wish to see the building used by another?”
“Something like that,” admitted Penny.
“I try not to think about the past,” said Mr. Judson quietly. “Long ago I made my decision, and now must abide by it. I realize that I never can publish the Press again. I’m broken, beaten!”
The old man spoke with such bitterness that Penny glanced quickly at him. There was an expression in his dark eyes which startled her.
“Surely one can’t be defeated as long as he’s willing to fight,” she ventured. ”

“ When we recovered from this shattering explosion of Penny's books, a little quiet work would have begun, had not Doe, with his romantic imagination lit by the glow of Penny's audacity, started to crave the notoriety of being likewise a leader of men. He rose from his desk, approached Mr. Cæsar, and extended his hand with a belated "Good morning, sir." ”

“ Parker. Several times Penny called the police station and also talked with Mrs. Weems. The housekeeper, fearful that the girl would become ill, insisted upon bringing a hot evening meal to the office.
[80]
“Penny, you’ve been here all day,” she chided anxiously. “You must come home with me.”
“I can’t just yet,” Penny replied. “There’s too much to do. By tomorrow, if Schirr doesn’t make trouble, things will smooth out.”
“You’re working so hard you’ll be sick abed!”
“I want to work,” Penny said grimly. “It keeps me from thinking. Anyway, Dad would want me to do it.” ”

“ The reporter slumped into a chair, and picking up a sheet of copy paper, began to read what Penny had composed.
“I’m not working,” he replied absently. “Just killing time.” With a yawn he tossed the paper on the desk again.
“Is my stuff that bad?” inquired Penny.
“Not bad at all. Better than Miss Hilderman writes. But society always gives me a pain. Not worthy of your talents, Penny.”
“I wish you would tell Dad that, Jerry. I’d love to work on a big story again—one that would rock Riverview on its foundation!” ”

“ These mediums are a clever lot, Penny. They prey upon the superstitions of their intended victims.”
“I wish you would let me work on the story, Dad.”
[30]
“No, Penny,” responded her father. “You attend to your society and allow DeWitt to worry about the Celestial Temple crowd. Even if I should launch a campaign, I couldn’t allow you to become mixed up in the affair.”
The telephone bell jingled. With a tired sigh, Penny reached for the receiver.
“Society desk,” she said mechanically.
“I am trying to trace Mr. Parker,” informed the office exchange operator. “Is he with you, Miss Parker?” ”

“ But, at the same time—you comprehend: folly not to push the boy on fast as possible. No reason for us all to go through with the hardships of the first Gilbert and his times. Must have been fatiguing, the wilderness and English troubles and all that."
"Splendid, I should say," Jasper Penny replied. He repeated satirically the conversation he had heard above. "Makes me ill. You will remember there was a Howat, son of our original settler—now he must have been a lad! Married some widow or other; wild at first, but made iron in the end." ”

“ And then suddenly we became aware that Private Penny was mourning gently to himself over a dough-nut.
"Pore chap!" he was muttering, "pore young feller—'e don't know. None of 'em knows till it's too late, and then they finds their mistake. No good to tell 'em—pore chap, pore chap—so pleased over it, too!"
"What's that you're saying?" the youth cut in anxiously.
"Young man," said Private Penny very solemnly, "if you'd take my advice—the advice of one that's served his country twelve months at the Front—you'd let the Army Service Corps alone. ”

“ It is not to be surprised, therefore, that Penny should hold her pretty head rather high. No mere plowman would dare to aspire to the hand of a landlord's only daughter, and no marriageable farmer to whom Penny might aspire was to be found in the neighborhood. As to the military—Penny would have scouted the idea of wedding a common soldier, and was sensible enough to turn a cold shoulder upon the undisguised glances of admiration of youthful and impressionable officers. ”

“ But Jack Penny had a smile of his own, a weak inane sickly smile that irritated instead of pleasing you, and made you always feel as if you would like to punch his head for being such a fool, when all the time he was not a fool at all, but a thoroughly good-hearted, brave, and clever fellow—true as steel—steel of the very elastic watch-spring kind, for the way in which he bent was terrible to see. ”

“ Penny objected. “In fact, we’re not making much progress in running down any sort of story. I do wish we could have heard more of that conversation.”
“And get thrown out on our collective ear before we even have a chance to snap a picture of the blushing bride!”
“Pictures! Pictures!” exclaimed Penny. “That’s all you photographers think about. How about poor little me and my story? After all, you can’t bring out a paper full of nothing but pictures and cigarette ads. You need a little news to go with it.”
“You like to work too fast,” complained Salt. ”

“ Why, you always do."
"Dir-dirty liar!"
"Ha-ha!" laughed Penny. He saw that he had been successful in his latest thrust, and set himself to push home the advantage. The dominance of his position must be secured at all costs. He let down his heavy-lashed eyelids, as though, for his part, he only desired a peaceful sleep, and said: "Ha-ha! Ray, that friend of yours is losing his temper. He's terribly vicious. Mind he doesn't scratch."
Doe's parted lips came suddenly together, his face got red, and he moved impatiently as he sat. ”

“ This fellow Penny-Fling is at no little expense today, entertaining Soft. So how will he pay that debt? He has drawn everything from the bank." "Friend Deed," said the second, "I had to do it. The final consequence is your affair." Now at dawn a policeman came with money, a favor from the king, and gave it all to Penny-Fling.
When he saw this, Soft thought: "This Penny-Fling person, even without any capital, is a better kind of thing than that scaly old Penny-Hide. The proverb is right:
The Scriptures' fruit is pious homes ”

“ Bows. The old man followed slowly, his pale face blushing, and his hand trembling somewhat as he took Pen’s. He coughed, and wiped his face in his checked cotton pocket-handkerchief, and sate down with his hands on his knees, the sunshining on his bald head. Pen looked at the homely figure with no small sympathy and kindness. This man, too, has had his griefs and his wounds, Arthur thought. This man, too, has brought his genius and his heart, and laid them at a woman’s feet; where she spurned them. The chance of life has gone against him, and the prize is with that creature yonder. ”

“ The séance began in much the same manner as the one Penny had attended. The medium called upon the spirit of a woman named Flora to appear.
“Now concentrate hard—everyone,” he instructed. “Flora, where are you? Can you not show yourself that we may know it is truly your spirit which communicates with us?”
From the cabinet, so close to Al Gepper that she could have touched his hand, Penny was able to see his every move. ”

“ As Penny was starting to drive away, she noticed a lone man near one of the picnic tables. He was dressed in rough, unpressed garments, and seemed to be scavenging food which had been left behind.
“That’s the same man who pulled Adelle from the water!” she thought alertly.
Leaping from the car, Penny ran toward him.
Hearing footsteps, the man turned and saw her. Almost in panic he started for the woods.
“Wait!” Penny shouted. “I won’t turn you over to the police! Please wait!” ”

“ Penny inquired, without answering Mrs. Hodges’ question. She knew that her true opinion would not please the woman.
[70]
“It wasn’t rightly a letter,” the seamstress returned. “The envelope contained six silver dollars fitted into a stiff piece of cardboard.”
“We figured it was another sign,” contributed Mr. Hodges. “Six raps on the wall—six dollars.”
“I wish some ghost would come and pound all night long on my bedroom door,” remarked Penny lightly.
“Penelope, you shouldn’t speak so disrespectfully,” Mrs. Weems reproved in a mild voice. ”

“ He used to have an eye for a pretty face, and you're a good-looking girl, though you're but a little one."
"What do you want with Sergeant Spence?" asked Penny, as her courage began to return. Why should she fear this coarse, black-eyed woman. She could have nothing in common with Arthur. But why should she seek him thus openly in his own dwelling? Her fears began to return.
The strange visitor advanced across the threshold; Penny retreated before her. ”