Burned Bridges, Bertrand W. Sinclair [ready to read books .txt] 📗

Not Engaged Farther

Up The Avenue,  In His Daily Labour,  Which Was,  As He Explained To The

Chance Acquaintance Met At The Ball In Lyric Hall Described In

"Cinderella," "Mixing Cocktails At The Knickerbocker Club." Only A Few

Doors Distant From The Ninth Street House There Is An Apartment Hotel

Known As The Berkeley,  And It Was To A Berkeley Apartment That Van

Bibber,  As Related In "Her First Appearance," Took The T He Had

Practically Kidnapped To Restore Her To Her Father And To Be Rewarded

For His Intrusion By Being Sensibly Called A Well-Meaning Fool. But

Chapter 7 (A Fortune And A Flitting) Pg 69

There Is Another Apartment House At The South-West Corner Of The Avenue

And Twenty-Eighth Street Which Better Fits The Description,  Which Tells

How Van Bibber,  From The Windows,  Could See The Many Gas Lamps Of

Broadway Where It Crossed The Avenue A Few Blocks Away,  And The Bunches

Of Light On Madison Square Garden.

 

Edgar Fawcett Was Hardly Of The Generation Of The Flora Mcflimseys. As A

Matter Of Fact He Was A Small Boy In Knickerbockers When The Famous

William Allen Butler Poem,  "Nothing To Wear," First Appeared In The

Pages Of "Harper's Weekly." But Miss Mcflimsey Was An Enduring Young

Lady,  Who,  For Many Years Was Accepted As Symbolizing The Foibles Of

Madison Square,  And She Was In A Measure In Fawcett's Mind When He

Wrote,  In "A Gentleman Of Leisure," That Vigorous Description

Contrasting Socially The Stretch Of The Avenue Below Fourteenth Street

With The Later Development A Dozen Blocks To The North. In Another

Fawcett Novel,  "Olivia Delaplaine," We Find The Home Of The Heroine's

Husband In Tenth Street,  Just Off The Avenue; And,  Reverting To "A

Gentleman Of Leisure," Clinton Wainwright,  The Gentleman In Question,

Lived,  Like A "Visiting Englishman," At The Brevoort.

 

There Have Been Many Delmonicos. But For The Purposes Of Fiction There

Has Never Been One Just Like The Establishment That Occupied A Corner At

The Junction Of The Avenue And Fourteenth Street. It Was A More Limited

Town In Those Days. The Novelist Wishing To Depict His Hero Doing The

Right Thing In The Right Way By His Heroine Did Not Have The Variety Of

Choice He Has Now. Two Squares Away,  The Academy Of Music Was,

Theatrically And Operatically,  The Social Centre,  So To Carry On The

Narrative With A Proper Regard For The Conventions,  The Preceding Dinner

Or The Following Supper Was Necessarily At The Old Delmonico's. They

Were Good Trenchermen And Trencherwomen,  Those Heroes And Heroines Of

Yesterday! Many Oyster-Beds Were Depleted,  And Bins Of Rare Vintage

Emptied To Satisfy The Healthy Appetites Of The Inked Pages. Somehow The

Mouth Waters With The Memory. When Delmonico's Moved On To Twenty-Sixth

Street,  And From Its Terraced Tables Its Patrons Could Look Up At

Graceful Diana,  There Were Many Famous Dinners Of Fiction,  Such As The

One,  For Example,  Consumed By The Otherwise Faultless Walters,  For A

Brief Period In The Service Of Mr. Van Bibber--The Menu Selected:

"Little Neck Clams First,  With Chablis,  And Pea-Soup,  And Caviare On

Toast,  Before The Oyster Crabs,  With Johannisberger Cabinet; Then An

_Entrée_ Of Calves' Brains And Rice; Then No Roast,  But A Bird,  Cold

Asparagus With French Dressing,  Camembert Cheese,  And Turkish Coffee,"

May Be Accepted As Indicating The Gastronomical Taste Of The Author In

The Days When Youth Meant Good Digestion--But With The Departure From

The Old Fourteenth Street Corner Something Of The Flavour Of The Name

Passed Forever.

 

If New York Has Never Had Another Restaurant That Meant To The Novelist

Just What The Traditional Delmonico's Meant,  There Has Also Never Been

Another Hotel Like The Old Fifth Avenue. In Actual Life The So-Called

"Ladies' Parlour" On The Second Floor,  Reached,  If I Remember Rightly,

By Means Of An Entrance On The Twenty-Third Street Side,  Was Dreary

Enough; But Turn To The Pages Of The Romance Of The Sixties And

Seventies And Eighties,  And On The Heavily Upholstered Sofas Enamoured

Couples Sat In Furtive Meeting,  And Words Of Endearment Were Whispered,

And All The Stock Intrigue Of Fiction Was Set In Motion. Then,  On The

Ground Floor,  Was The Amen Corner,  Without Which No Tale Of Political

Life Was Complete,  And The Various Rooms For More Formal Gatherings,

Such As The One In Which Took Place "The Great Secretary Of State

Chapter 7 (A Fortune And A Flitting) Pg 70

Interview," As Narrated By Jesse Lynch Williams Many Years Ago.

 

But For The Full Flavour Of The Romance Of This Section Of Fifth Avenue

It Is Not Necessary Th,  Had Stopped And Made

Himself At Home.

 

When The Man Sitting Before The Stove With His Feet On The Rusty Front

Turned His Head At Thompson's Entrance,  He Saw,  With A Mild Turn Of

Surprise,  That His Visitor Was Tommy Ashe.

 

 

 

Chapter 8 (Partners ) Pg 71

"Hello,  Old Man," Tommy Greeted Cheerfully. "How Goes It?"

 

If It Occurred To Either Of Them That The Last Time They Faced Each

Other It Had Been In Hot Anger And In Earnest Endeavor To Inflict Bodily

Damage,  They Were Not Embarrassed By That Recollection,  Nor Did Either

Man Hold Rancor. Their Hands Gripped Sturdily. It Seemed To Thompson,

Indeed,  That A Face Had Never Been So Welcome. He Did Not Want To Sit

Alone And Think. Even Apart From That He Was Uncommonly Glad To See

Tommy Ashe.

 

"It Doesn't Go Much At All," He Said. "As A Matter Of Fact,  I Just Got

Back To Lone Moose To-Night After Being Away For Weeks."

 

"Same Here," Tommy Responded. "I've Been Trapping. Heard You'd Gone To

Pachugan,  But Thought It Was Only For Supplies. I Got In To My Own

Diggings To-Night,  And The Shack Was So Infernally Cold And Dismal I

Mushed On Down Here On The Off Chance That You'd Have A Fire And

Wouldn't Mind Chinning Awhile. Lord,  But A Fellow Surely Gets Fed Up

With His Own Company,  Back Here. At Least I Do."

 

Thompson Awoke To Hospitable Formalities.

 

"Have You Had Supper?" He Asked.

 

"Stopped And Made Tea About Sundown," Tommy Replied. "Thanks Just The

Same. Gad,  But It Was Cold This Afternoon. The Air Fairly Crackled."

 

"Yes," Thompson Agreed. "It Was Very Cold."

 

He Drew A Stool Up To The Stove And Sat Down. Tommy Got Out His Pipe And

Began Whittling Shavings Of Tobacco Off A Plug.

 

"Did You Know That Carr And His Daughter Have Gone Away?" Thompson Asked

Abruptly.

 

Tommy Nodded.

Chapter 8 (Partners ) Pg 72

"Donald Lachlan--I've Been Trapping Partners With Him,  Y'know--Donald

Was Home A Month Or So Since. Told Me When He Came Back That The Carrs

Were Gone. I Wasn't Surprised."

 

"No?" Thompson Could Not Forbear An Inquiring Inflection On The

Monosyllable.

 

"No," Tommy Continued A Bit Wistfully. "I Was Talking To Carr A Few Days

After You And I Had That--That Little Argument Of Ours." He Smiled. "He

Told Me Then That After Fifteen Years Up Here He Was Inclined To Try

Civilization Again. Mostly To Give Sophie A Chance To See What The World

Was Like,  I Imagine. I Gathered From His Talk That Some Sort Of Windfall

Was Coming His Way. But I Daresay You Know More About It Than I Do."

 

"No," Thompson Replied. "I've Been Away--A Hundred Miles North Of

Pachugan--For Two Months. I Didn't Know Anything About It Till

To-Night."

 

Tommy Looked At Him Keenly.

 

"Jolted You,  Eh,  Old Man?" There Was A Quiet Sympathy In His Tone.

 

"A Little," Thompson Admitted Grimly. "But I'm Getting Used To Jolts. I

Had No Claim On--On Them."

 

"We Both Lost Out," Tommy Ashe Said Thoughtfully. "Sophie Carr Is One

Woman In Ten Thousand. I Think She's The Most Remarkable Girl I Ever

Came Across Anywhere. She Knows What She Wants,  And Neither Of Us Quite

Measured Up. She Liked Me Too--But She Wouldn't Marry Me. Before You

Came She Tried To Convince Me Of That. And I Wasn't Slow To See That You

Interested Her,  That As A Man She Gave You A Good Deal Of Thought,

Although Your--Er--Your Profession's One She Rather Makes Light Of.

Women Are Queer. I Didn't Know But You Might Have Taken Her By Storm.

And Then Again,  I Rather Imagined She'd Back Off When You Got Serious."

 

"I Was A Fool," Thompson Muttered.

 

"I Wouldn't Say That," Tommy Responded Gently. "A Man Couldn't Resist

Her. I've Known A Lot Of Women One Way And Another. I Never Knew One

Could Hold A Candle To Her. She Has A Mind Like A Steel Trap,  That Girl.

She Understood Things In A Flash,  Moods And All That. She'd Make A Real

Chum,  As Well As A Wife. Most Women Aren't,  Y'know. They're Generally

Just One Or The Other. No,  I'd Never Call Myself A Fool For Liking

Sophie Too Well. In Fact A Man Would Be A Fool If He Didn't.

 

"She Likes Men Too," Tommy Went On Musingly. "She Knew It. I Suppose

She'll Be Friendly And Curious And Chummy,  And Hurt Men Without Meaning

To Until She Finds The Particular Sort Of Chap She Wants. Oh,  Well."

 

"How's The Trapping?"

 

Thompson Changed The Subject Abruptly. He Could Not Bear To Talk About

That,  Even To Tommy Ashe Who Understood Out Of His Own Experience,  Who

Had Exhibited A Rare And Kindly Understanding.

 

"I've Been Wondering If I Could Make A Try At That. I've Got To Do

Something. I've Quit The Ministry."