Active Service, Stephen Crane [classic books for 11 year olds TXT] 📗
- Author: Stephen Crane
Book online «Active Service, Stephen Crane [classic books for 11 year olds TXT] 📗». Author Stephen Crane
Who Had, Earlier, Indulged in much Stupidity And
Cowardice.
Everything had Worked out So Simply, His Terrors
Had Been Dispelled so Easily, That He Probably Was Led
To Overestimate His Success. And It Occurred suddenly
To Him. He Foresaw A Fine Occasion To Talk Privately
To Marjory When All Had Boarded the Steamer For
Patras And He Resolved to Make Use Of It. This He
Believed would End The Strife And Conclusively Laurel
Him.
The Train Finally Drew Up On A Little Stone Pier And
Some Boatmen Began To Scream Like Gulls. The
Steamer Lay At Anchor In the Placid Blue Cove. The
Embarkation Was Chaotic In the Oriental Fashion And
There Was The Customary Misery Which Was Only Relieved
When The Travellers Had Set Foot On The Deck Of
The Steamer. Coleman Did Not Devote Any Premature
Attention To Finding marjory, But When The Steamer
Was Fairly Out On The Calm Waters Of The Gulf Of Corinth,
He Saw Her Pacing to And Fro With Peter Tounley.
At First He Lurked in the Distance Waiting for An Opportunity,
But Ultimately He Decided to Make His Own
Opportunity. He Approached them. "Marjory,Would
You Let Me Speak To You Alone For A Few Moments?
You Won'T Mind, Will You, Peter? "
" Oh, No, Certainly Not," Said Peter Tounley.
"Of Course. It Is Not Some Dreadful Revelation, Is
It? " Said Marjory, Bantering him Coolly.
" No," Answered coleman, Abstractedly. He Was
Thinking of What He Was Going to Say. Peter Tounley
Vanished around The Corner Of A Deck-House And Marjory
And Coleman Began To Pace To And Fro Even As
Marjory And Peter Tounley Had Done. Coleman Had
Thought To Speak His Mind Frankly And Once For All, And
On The Train He Had Invented many Clear Expressions
Of His Feeling. It Did Not Appear That He Had Forgotten
Them. It Seemed, More, That They Had Become Entangled
In His Mind In such A Way That He Could Not
Unravel The End Of His Discourse.
In The Pause, Marjory Began To Speak In admiration
Of The Scenery. " I Never Imagined that Greece Was So
Full Of Mountains. One Reads So Much Of The Attic
Plains, But Aren'T These Mountains Royal? They Look
So Rugged and Cold, Whereas The Bay Is Absolutely As
Blue As The Old Descriptions Of A Summer Sea."
" I Wanted to Speak To You About Nora Black," Said
Coleman.
"Nora Black? Why?" Said Marjory, Lifting her Eye-
Brows.
You Know Well Enough," Said Coleman, In a Head.
Long Fashion. " You Must Know, You Must Have Seen
It. She Knows I Care For You And She Wants To Stop It.
And She Has No Right To-To Interfere. She Is A Fiend,
A Perfect Fiend. She Is Trying to Make You Feel That I
Care For Her."
" And Don'T You Care For Her ? " Asked marjory.
"No," Said Coleman, Vehemently. " I Don'T Care
For Her At All."
" Very Well," Answered marjory, Simply. " I Believe
You." She Managed to Give The Words The Effect Of A
Mere Announcement That She Believed him And It Was
In No Way Plain That She Was Glad Or That She Esteemed
The Matter As Being of Consequence.
He Scowled at Her In dark Resentment. " You Mean
By That, I Suppose, That You Don'T Believe Me ? "
" Oh," Answered marjory, Wearily, " I Believe You.
I Said So. Don'T Talk About It Any More."
"Then," Said Coleman, Slowly, " You Mean That You
Do Not Care Whether I'M Telling the Truth Or Not?"
" Why, Of Course I Care," She Said. " Lying is Not
Nice."
He Did Not Know, Apparently, Exactly How To Deal
With Her Manner, Which Was Actually So Pliable That-It
Was Marble, If One May Speak In that Way. He Looked
Ruefully At The Sea. He Had Expected a Far Easier
Time. " Well-" He Began.
" Really," Interrupted marjory, " This Is Something
Which I Do Not Care To Discuss. I Would Rather You
Would Not Speak To Me At All About It. It Seems Too
-Too-Bad. I Can Readily Give You My Word That I
Believe You, But I Would Prefer You Not To Try To Talk
To Me About It Or-Anything of That Sort. Mother!"
Mrs. Wainwright Was Hovering anxiously In the
Vicinity, And She Now Bore Down Rapidly Upon The
Pair. "You Are Very Nearly To Patras," She Said
Reproachfully To Her Daughter, As If The Fact Had Some
Fault Of Marjory'S Concealed in it. She In no Way Ac-
Knowledged the Presence Of Coleman.
" Oh, Are We ? " Cried marjory.
"Yes," Said Mrs. Wainwright. " We Are."
She Stood Waiting as If She Expected marjory To In-
Stantly Quit Coleman. The Girl Wavered a Moment
And Then Followed her Mother. " Good-Bye." She Said.
"I Hope We May See You Again In athens." It Was A
Command To Him To Travel Alone With His Servant On
The Long Railway Journey From Patras To Athens. It
Was A Dismissal Of A Casual Acquaintance Given So
Graciously That It Stung Him To The Depths Of His Pride.
He Bowed his Adieu And His Thanks. When The Yelling
Boatmen Came Again, He And His Man Proceeded
To The Shore In an Early Boat Without Looking in any
Way After The Welfare Of The Others.
At The Train, The Party Split Into Three Sections.
Coleman And His Man Had One Compartment, Nora
Black And Her Squad Had Another, And The Wainwrights
And Students Occupied two More.
The Little Officer Was Still In tow Of Nora Black.
He Was Very Enthusiastic. In french She Directed
Him To Remain Silent, But He Did Not Appear To Understand.
" You Tell Him," She Then Said To Her Dragoman,
" To Sit In a Corner And Not To Speak Until I Tell
Him To, Or I Won'T Have Him In here." She Seemed
Anxious To Unburden Herself To The Old Lady Companion.
" Do You Know," She Said, " That Girl Has A
Nerve Like Steel. I Tried to Break It There In that Inn,
But I Couldn'T Budge Her. If I Am Going to Have Her
Beaten I Must Prove Myself To Be A Very, Very Artful
Person."
" Why Did You Try To Break Her Nerve ? " Asked the
Old Lady, Yawning. "Why Do You Want To Have Her
Beaten ? "
" Because I Do, Old Stupid," Answered nora. " You
Should Have Heard The Things I Said To Her."
"About What?"
" About Coleman. Can'T You Understand Anything
At All?"
" And Why Should You Say Anything about Coleman
To Her?" Queried the Old Lady, Still Hopelessly Befogged.
" Because," Cried nora, Darting a Look Of Wrath At
Her Companion, " I Want To Prevent That Marriage."
She Had Been Betrayed into This Avowal By The Singularly
Opaque Mind Of The Old Lady. The Latter At Once
Sat Erect. - " Oh, Ho," She Said, As If A Ray Of Light Had
Been Let Into Her Head. " Oh, Ho. So That'S It, Is It ? "
"Yes, That'S It, Rejoined nora, Shortly.
The Old Lady Was Amazed into A Long Period Of
Meditation. At Last She Spoke Depressingly. " Well,
How Are You Going to Prevent It? Those Things Can'T
Be Done In these Days At All. If They Care For Each
Other-"
Nora Burst Out Furiously. "Don'T Venture Opinions
Until You Know What You Are Talking about, Please.
They Don'T Care For Each Other, Do You See? She
Cares For Him, But He Don'T Give A Snap Of His Fingers
For Her."
" But," Cried the Bewildered lady, " If He Don'T Care
For Her, There Will Be Nothing to Prevent. If He Don'T
Care For Her, He Won'T Ask Her To Marry Him, And So
There Won'T Be Anything to Prevent."
Nora Made A Broad Gesture Of Impatience. " Oh,
Can'T You Get Anything through Your Head ? Haven'T
You Seen That The Girl Has Been The Only Young
Woman In that Whole Party Lost Up There In the Mountains,
And That Naturally More Than Half Of The Men
Still Think They Are In love With Her? That'S What It
Is. Can'T You See ? It Always Happens That Way.
Then Coleman Comes Along And Makes A Fool Of Himself
With The Others."
The Old Lady Spoke Up Brightly As If At Last Feeling
Able To Contribute Something intelligent To The Talk.
" Oh, Then, He Does Care For Her."
Nora'S Eyes Looked as If Their Glance Might Shrivel
The Old Lady'S Hair. "Don'T I Keep Telling you That
It Is No Such Thing ? Can'T You Understand? It Is
All Glamour! Fascination! Way Up There In the
Wilderness! Only One Even Passable Woman In sight."
" I Don'T Say That I Am So Very Keen," Said The Old
Lady, Somewhat Offended, "But I Fail To See Where I
Could Improve When First You Tell Me He Don'T Care
For Her, And Then You Tell Me That He Does Care For
Her."
" Glamour,' ' Fascination,'" Quoted nora. " Don'T
You Understand The Meaning of The Words ? "
" Well," Asked the Other, Didn'T He Know Her, Then,
Before He Came Over Here ?"
Nora Was Silent For A Time, While A Gloom Upon Her
Face Deepened. It Had Struck Her That The Theories
For Which She Protested so Energetically Might Not Be
Of Such Great Value. Spoken Aloud, They Had A Sudden
New Flimsiness. Perhaps She Had Reiterated to Herself
That Coleman Was The Victim Of Glamour Only Because
She Wished it To Be True. One Theory, However, Re-
Mained unshaken. Marjory Was An Artful Rninx, With
No Truth In her.
She Presently Felt The Necessity Of Replying to The
Question Of Her Companion. " Oh," She Said, Care-
Lessly, " I Suppose They Were Acquainted-In A Way."
The Old Lady Was Giving the Best Of Her Mind To
The Subject. " If That'S The Case-" She Observed,
Musingly, " If That'S The Case, You Can'T Tell What Is
Between 'Em."
The Talk Had So Slackened that Nora'S Unfortunate
Greek Admirer Felt That Here Was A Good Opportunity
To Present Himself Again To The Notice Of The Actress.
The Means Was A Smile And A French Sentence, But
His Reception Would Have Frightened a Man In armour.
His Face Blanched with Horror At The Storm, He Had
Invoked, And He Dropped limply Back As If Some One
Had Shot Him. "You Tell This Little Snipe To Let Me
Alone! " Cried nora, To The Dragoman. " If He Dares
To Come Around Me With Any More Of Those Parisian
Dude Speeches, I-I Don'T Know What I'Ll Do! I
Won'T Have It, I Say." The Impression Upon The
Dragoman Was Hardly Less In effect. He Looked with
Bulging eyes At Nora, And Then Began To Stammer At
The Officer. The Latter'S Voice Could Sometimes Be
Heard In awed whispers For The More Elaborate Explanation
Of Some Detail Of The Tragedy. Afterward, He
Remained meek And Silent In his Corner, Barely More
Than A Shadow, Like The Proverbial Husband Of Imperious
Beauty.
"Well," Said The Old Lady, After A Long And Thoughtful
Pause, " I Don'T Know, I'M Sure, But It Seems To Me
That If Rufus Coleman Really Cares For That Girl, There
Isn'T Much Use In trying to Stop Him From Getting her.
He Isn'T That Kind Of A Man."
" For Heaven'S Sake, Will You Stop Assuming that He
Does Care For Her ? " Demanded nora, Breathlessly.
"And I Don'T See," Continued the Old Lady, "What
You Want To Prevent Him For, Anyhow."
Chapter 24" I Feel In this Radiant Atmosphere That There Could
Be No Such Thing as War-Men Striving together In
Black And Passionate Hatred." The Professor'S Words
Were For The Benefit Of His Wife And Daughter. ,He
Was Viewing the Sky-Blue Waters Of The Gulf Of Corinth
With Its Background Of Mountains That In the Sunshine
Were Touched here And There With A Copperish Glare.
The Train Was Slowly Sweeping along The Southern
Shore. " It Is Strange To Think Of Those Men Fighting
Up There In the North. And It Is Strange To Think
That We Ourselves Are But Just Returning from It."
" I Cannot Begin To Realise It Yet," Said Mrs. Wain-
Wright, In a High Voice.
" Quite So," Responded the Professor, Reflectively.
"I Do Not Suppose Any Of Us Will Realise It Fully
For Some Time. It Is Altogether Too Odd, Too Very
Odd."
"To Think Of It!"
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