Part 30 (1/2)
”Well,” he said presently, ”we'll take that jaunt to New York day after to- by the hen Hazel was ready to go to bed
She ca softly up behind him, put both hands on his shoulders
”What are you thinking so hard about, Billy-boy?” she whispered
”I was thinking about Jake Lauer, and wondering hoasto s up if they had to follow in his steps Hang it, I don't know but we'd be better off if ere pegging away for a foothold soued, ”I suppose ould, andBut since we don't have to, ish for it? Money s pleasanter”
”If money meant that ould be compelled to lead the sort of existence most of these people do,” he retorted, ”I'd take measures to be broke as soon as possible What the deuce is there to it? The wo theabblefest after luncheon Then they get into their war paint for dinner, and after dinner rush iddy round If it were just fun, it would be all right But it's the serious business of life with them And the men are in the same boat All of 'e that they call business ishat somebody else has sweated to produce
They're a soft-handed, soft-bodied lot of incootists, if you ask enteel sort of way if there was money in it; and they'd just as cheerfully chisel their best friend out of his last dollar, if it could be done in a business way
They haven't even the saving grace of physical hardihood”
”You're awful!” Hazel coain
”To-,” he instructed ”When we come back we'll make headquarters at a hotel until we locate a place of our own--if you are sure you want to winter here”
Her mind was quite made up to spend the winter there, and she frankly said so--provided he had no other choice They had to winter somewhere They had set out to spend a few months in pleasant idleness They could well afford that And, unless he had other plans definitely forood as any place? Was it not better, seeing that they did know soh to afford practically all the advantages of any city
”Oh, yes, I suppose so All right; we'll winter here,” Bill acquiesced ”That's settled”
And, as was his habit when he had come to a similar conclusion, he refused to talk further on that subject, but fell to speculating idly on New York In which he was presently aided and abetted by Hazel, who had never invaded Manhattan, nor, for that rown up in Granville, with but brief journeys to near-by points And Granville could scarcely be classed as a metropolis It numbered a trifle over three hundred thousand souls
Bill had termed it ”provincial” But it meant more to her than any other place in the East, by virtue of old associations and more recent acquaintance One must have a pivotal point of such a sort, just as one cannot forego the possession of a nationality
New York, she was constrained to admit, rather overwhelmed her She traversed Broadway and other world-known arteries, and felt a trifle dubious a crush Bill piloted her to famous cafes, and to equally fanificent shops The huge congloettable initude of it all But she felt a distinct wave of relief when they were Granville bound once more
In a week they were settled comfortably in a domicile of their own--five rooms in an up-to-date apartstaff's tistaff establishment Thus she was relieved of the onus of housework Her time holly her own, at her own disposal or Bill's, as she elected
But by irees they caht them up There were so many little woman affairs where a man was superfluous There were others which Bill flatly refused to attend ”Hen parties,” he dubbed them More and more he reh the daytime, and unless to take Hazel for a walk or a drive, or soe in by theht, and a dance was to the fore, he would dress and go gladly At such, and upon certain occasions when a certain little group would take supper at some cafe, he was apparently in his eleed to persuade hi in the nature of a formal affair He drew the line at what he defined as social tommyrot, and he drew it ht herself wondering if they were getting as otten, as they had planned to get when they were struggling through that interminable winter _She_ was But not Bill And while she wished that he could get the sas and opportunities as she conceived herself to be getting, she often grew impatient with his sardonic, tolerant contempt toward the particular set she ive a tea, he fled the house as if froue
He made acquaintances of his own, men from God only knehere, individuals who occasionally filled the dainty apartment with malodorous tobacco fu earnestly on any subject under the sun But so long as Bill found Granville habitable she did not ayety set in together with equal vigor, she thought with greater reluctance of the ultimate return to that hushed, deep-forested area that surrounded the cabin
She wished fervently that Bill would take up some business that would keep him in touch with civilization He had the capital, she considered, and there was no question of his ability Her faith in his power to encoifted, had acquired wealth, power, even aWhy not he?
It seemed absurd to bury one's self in an uninhabited waste, when life held forth soher own judg herself to put it in so many words to Bill
CHAPTER XXVI
A BUSINESS PROPOSITION