| Show t 1 i i rM 1 f a I 1 i s k 1 1 o a t cr tr i al CHAPTER I 1 station The agent in the small dingy sta- sta tion at Glendale was obviously a little hard of hearing Jim Fielding repeated the question in tones pitched to command attention Can you tell me how to reach the Vaughn place he asked con con- conscious conscious that the two or three stragglers stragglers in the waiting room were listening with interest The agent l lifted ted melancholy fea- fea features features tures Three miles mUes back country The agent peered through the narrow grating You expected No Jim answered They arent aren't expecting me I was going to say the agent continued there hasn't been any any- bOdy anybOdy from the Vaughn place in here today lie reached toward a tele- tele telephone telephone phone on the shell shelf beyond the win win- window dow U you should want to call or No thank you Jim said hasti- hasti hastily hastily ly forestalling complications Well theres there's a garage across the street The agent Was determined I to be helpful They run taxi service service ice A wink lightened grotesque grotesque- grotesquely ly the solemn cast of his features Dont let Jet Joe Tanner overcharge you he said lie dont don't read the papers and nobody's told him theres there's a depression The stragglers laughed Jim smiled The warning he thought was an often repeated pleasantry It was a compliment too perhaps a not entirely inspired by his rus own o prepossessing appear appear- appearance appearance ance His destination he surmised had something to do with the mat mat- matter matter ter The agent was disposed to be affable to a prospective guest at Meadowbrook If he knew the facts of the situation situation-I Jims Jim's smile deepened He thanked the agent again and walked out of the waiting room The smile faded as the glare of early afternoon struck him full in inthe the eyes Three miles back country Jim stood irresolutely on the narrow plank platform The prospect was not encouraging lie He glanced across the street where in n a forest orest of gas pumps stood a sedan placarded TAXI But the garage would charge him a dollar at least lie lIc couldn't afford that extravagance A fool idea anyway Jim leaned dispIritedly against a post in the shade of the Tatting roof Why had he thought that to find the Mac Mac- would help him spiritually or materially There was an sn- sn to that The were all that remained of the deb deb- world of his early youth which had vanished so completely He was fed up with his present existence sick of trying to find a ajob ajob job of sponging on his brother in law of making himself agreeable to pay for his bed and board The week end just past had been the proverbial last straw lIed Hed thought that to find the might restore in a measure his confidence dance dence and self esteem might help him somehow to carry out one or another of the drastic decisions he had made in the guest guest- guestroom room last night I It wouldn't of course A damn damn- fool Ideal Jims Jim's eyes glowered out Into dusty heat from under the brim of his hat lie was as he was and nothing could alter the facts of the situation There was IO ao place fot him ir this new world of post panic uncertainties lie was one of the lost Jost generation the boys who had left college in 1929 There were no jobs The contacts hed he'd made led exactly nowhere So what lie He was too mercurial too impulsive impulsive sive to what too what was he quality I Well too romantic perhaps Kay his sIster was n a headed hardheaded ma- ma materialist materialist Shed She'd stood by him like a soldier But She he had no patience with the vagrant impulses which led him from time to time in varying directions Kay set her course and steered by it with no deviations She lacked Imagination What of It Shed She'd done very well for herself Kay was right of course A grim smile touched JIms JIm's lips Impulses were luxuries lIe hadn't thought of them in that light in the halcyon I days before the panic Then im- im impulses pulses had been the cocktails of l life e ean I and an had led to charming thres Or if following an Inclination resulted unfortunately there had been any number of people to res res- cue from his un- un uncle's ondo's I dos do's lawyer Aunt Emily one of his legion of friends AL Ai that had changed Impulses were costly risks m the new order of existence ence There was was the impulse which had brought him here in search of the Mac Mac- I ITo To Jim they were moe than that Tile The gardeners gardener's cottage at White I hall had been in his boyhood more friendly and exciting than the I great formal house set in acres of velvet lawn The memory of Mrs MacPherson's spice cake gave him hima a feeling of nostalgia There was a sort of preserve she used to make plum and orange together spread thickly on freshly baked bread An atmosphere of comfort and tart good humor had been her natural environment Shed She'd had the sharp sharp- sharpest sharpest est tongue and the kindest heart in inthe inthe the world MacPherson had taught Wm him to play an excellent game of chess lied Hed told rousing good stories too and let him putter around the gar gar- gardens gardens dens with a wheelbarrow and a spade As he grew older how often oHen MacPherson had helped him out of scrapes and outwitting his Presby- Presby PresbyterIan terlan terIan conscience had whitewashed the accusing evidence of some youthful folly The lectures the lean sandy Scot had delivered privately I Jim winced at recurring memories i If hed he'd been spoiled it wasn't the fault of the They'd been fond ond of him and proud of him He had parted from them with sincere emotion when the crash came when Uncle Unel James and Aunt Emily had gone to Cal California and mortgage a company had taken over Whitehall H hed he'd d promised to look them up lie He hadn't of course Not that he had forgotten them Hed He'd been occupied with the business of trying to find a job with singing for his supper with rediscovering Lenore The had meant to retire Hed He'd been surprised and a little disturbed when through his uncles lawyer he had learned that they were employed by people named Vaughn Vaughn Vaughn- T H 11 Vaughn Meadowbrook Glendale A card from Mrs MacPherson last Jast ChrIst ChrIst- ChrIstmas mas had cor confirmed the information Dear Jamie she had written under un- un under der a lavish g g of holly sprigs and tinsel Andy and I are wishing you'd come to see us Jamie No one except the sons called him that The name woke sleeping memories If he could be JamIe again again- Sentimental idiot The smile half touching Jims Jim's lips widened into a derisIve grin It Was only that that- Well the weekend end had been hu hu- humiliating Hed He'd been hurt and he was running to the for sympathy and comfort A damn damn- fool ideal He was ashamed of him him- sell self To find them would be at best only a temporary anesthetic scarcely worth the pains of walking three dusty miles lie He was through with misleading Impulses No more romantic whims He would take the first train back to town pick up his bags at the club and go on to New York Perhaps if he made close connections he would reach Roselyn Rosel-n in time for Kays Kay's party At any rate at the first opportune moment he would ask Lenore to marry him Jim lit a cigarette Mental per per- perplexities perplexities lulled for the mom moment nt lie He was conscious of physical discomfort discomfort fort Hungry that was It Hed He'd had nothing to eat cat since breakfast There must be a restaurant some some- somewhere somewhere where in the village lie He calculated the depressing state of his finances Worse than he had anticipated lIed hed had no business to play red dog with the last night Such dissipation was for the opulent Well he could manage a shake mIlk at least and a drugstore sandwich or two The time table gave him halt hall an hour for refreshments Jim left the station and strode off ocr along the main street of the village Not much of a town he thought stores chain a market fish an expensive looking |
