Show tn M Is 93 N N 11 loom ff CHAPTER X continued 13 sho she told him all this ingenuously simply dirk felt drawn toward tier her sorry borr for tier her ills was u nature quick to sympathy lie ile told his mother about her selina was deeply interested and stirred do you think shed spend some ome saturday and sunday here with as on the farm she could come with you ou on friday and go back sunday night if she wanted to or stay until monday morning and go back with you theres the spare room all 1111 quiet and cool she could do as she liked mottle mettle carpe one friday night it was the end of october and indian su summer ramer the most beautiful time of the year on the illinois prairie about the countryside for miles was the look 1001 ot of bounteousness of plenty of prophecy fulfilled as when a 0 beautiful and fertile woman having borne tier her children and found them good now its bits serene eyed eved gracious ample bosomed satisfied into the face of mottle gauer there came a certain glory glor when she and selina clasped danois fiands selina at tier her rattier rather curiously its as though startled afterward she said to dirk aside nut but I 1 thought you sou said bald she was ugly well site she Is or well she look at her I 1 mottle mattle gauer was talking to aleena bros the houses she was BBS standing with tier her hands on her ample hips her tine fine head thrown back her eyes might her lips smiling so that you saw tier her strong square teeth something had amused mottle mattle she laughed it was the lie laugh of a young girl carefree care free relaxed at ense for two days das mottle did as she pleased plea sad which meant she bile helped pull vegetables in the lie pardon garden milk the cows saddle the horses rode them without a saddle in the pasture it got so I 1 hated to do all those thoe things on the farm she said laughing a little shamefacedly 1 I guess it was because I 1 had to but no now it comes back to me and I 1 enjoy it ile because its natural to me I 1 suppose anyway an way im having a grand time mrs dejong the grandest time I 1 ever had bad in my iny life lier her face was radiant and almost beautiful it if you sou want me to believe that said bald selina come again but wattle mottle gatier never did come again early earls the next week one of the university students approached dirk ile he was a junior very ver influential in his class and a member of the fraternity to which dirk was practically pledged A decidedly desirable arnt say su look here dejong I 1 want to talk to you vou it a minute ull uh youve got to cut out that girl SwIne gour or whatever tier liar nime name Is or its all off with the fellows in the frat what dou meant mean cut out the matter her 11 matter r I 1 ashes unclassified shel and do you vou know what the story Is slie she told it herself as an economy hint to a girl who was working her way vui through she bathes her union suit and white stockings on to tave laundry soap scrubs lem cm on herl her I 1 S the gods truth into dirks mind there flashed a picture of this large girl in her tight knitted union suit and tier lier white stockings sitting in it a tub helf full of water ind scrubbing them and herself sim A comic picture and a revolting one pathetic too but he would not that the frat brother brollier brot lier to be mis it si on tying ing well we cant have a mlois who ho goes around with a girl lit like that you got to cut tier her out the fellars wont stan stand for fm it if dirk lind had a mental picture of himself striking tri king a noble attitude and saying int stood for it tub huh sties slits worth more linn the whole cu caboodle boodle of you vou put together and you ou enn can till nil go to h I 1 11 I 1 ln tead tie he said vaguely olt oh well ull uh dirk changed his seat in the classroom ri oni avoided battles Matt les eyes shot out of nf the door the minute class clasa was over om rl liv day he saw tier her coming toward him blin on the campus alpus and he sensed that she ole intended to stop and speak to tn billil him laughingly perhaps ile he quickened its ills pace swerved a little litlie to u one side and as he passed lifted tits ills cup cop and nodded keeping ills his eyes eves straight ahead out of the tall of his tye t ye lie could see ep tier her standing a moment irresolutely in the path ile he got into the fraternity the fel inh liked him from the first farst selina salti fild once or twice why dont you vou tiring bring that bluit nice mattle home with you some bome time soon such n nice girl woman oman rather A fine wind mind too shell make something of herself see sec bring her anekt week hm hav dirk shuffled coughed looked away oh 01 1 I dunno seen tier her lately gue slips busy with another crowd or something lie he trip tried not to think of what lie had done for he was honestly ns ashamed hamed terribly ashamed so hp he said to blin pelf acl olt oh what of irl and hid his phame A month inter selina again said 1 I avish invite mattle for Thi thanksgiving inks dinner ill unless sties going home I 1 doubt well have turkey wil inn pumpkin pie and till all the refit rca ot of lt it shell love it tattle mattle ile he had actually forgotten ner Ti mime tinte ye yes nt course that right mottle by EUNA EDNA feiber Q doubleday rage race ft service olt oh tier her uh well I 1 been seeing tier lier lately oh dirk you quarreled with ft ath that nice gurll ile he decided to have it out Ll listen alsten sten mother there are a lot of different crowds at the U see aud and mottle belong to any of lem cm you understand but its like this she ashes smart find jolly and everything but she just belong heing friends with a girl like that get you anywhere besides she a 11 girl ashes a middle aged woman when you come to think of it get you anywhere I 1 se unas tone was cool and even then us as the hoys boys gaze did not meet hers why dirk dejong mottle mattle gauer Is one of my reasons for sending you ou to a university sties what I 1 call port part of a university education just talking to her Is learning something villu valuable able I 1 dont mean that you nt naturally prefer pretty young oung girls of your own age to go around with and all it would be queer if you vou hut but this mottle mattle why sites life do you ou remember that story of when slie she washed dishes in the kosher restaurant over on twelfth street and the proprietor use used to rent out dishes and cutlery for irish and italian neighborhood weddings where they hod had pork anti and goodness knows what all and then use ime them thein next day in the restaurant again tor for the kosher customers selina wrote mottle mattie inviting tier her to the lie farm for thanksgiving anti and mottle mottie answered gratefully declining 1 I shall always remember you she wrote in that letter with love chapter XI throughout dirks freshman year there were for him no heartening informal mellow talks before lite wood fire ore in ili the book lined study of some professor whose wisdom was such a mixture of classic lore ore and modernism as to be an inspiration to tits his listeners midwest professors professor delivered their lectures in the classroom ns as they had been delivering them in the past ten or twenty years and as they would deliver them until death or a trustees meeting should remove them hem the younger professors and instructors tors lit in natty gray suits and brightly colored ties made a point of being in the classroom and rather overdid overbid it they posed as being one ofie of the fellow st would dashing ly use a bit of slang to create cre atea a laugh from the boys and tin an adoring titter from the girls dirk somehow preferred the pedants to these when these hail had to give an informal orinn t talk to the men inen before some university event they would start by saying saving now listen fellars fellahs at the dances they were not above rushing the pretty coeds two of dirks classes were conducted by women professors they were well on toward middle or post past it desiccated women only their eyes were olive alive their clothes were of some indefinite lark dark stuff brown or drab gray their hair Ilfe lifeless less their hands bonds long bony they had seen classes arid classes and classes A roomful of fresh young faces face that appeared tipp eared briefly only to be replaced by another roomful of fresh young oung faces like round white pencil marks manipulated momentarily on a slate only to be sponged off to give way to other round white marks of the two women one the elder was occasionally likely to flare into sudden life a flame in the ashes of a burned out grite grate she tied hod humor and a certain call caustic wit qualities that had managed miraculously to survive even the deadly and numbing effects of years vears in the classroom A mind and Ino clastic hampered by the restrictions strict ions of a conventional and the soul poul of a congenital spinster under the guidance of them dirk chafed chafee end grew restless mitts eu phella had a way of every third or fifth syllable bringing tier her voice down hatol hard on it ile he found himself waiting for that emphasis and shrinking from I 1 if as from a sledgehammer sledge hammer blow it hurt his head bead miss lodge dronek droned she ed a word with a maddening uh uh uh ili ih in tho the uh uh uh uli uh face of the uh uh uli uh uh geometrical situation of the nh uh uh uli uh ile he shifted restlessly in his chair found ills his hands clenched into fists nod and took refuge in watching the shadow cast by an oak branch outside the window on n patch of sunlight against the blackboard behind her during the early spring dirk I 1 and selina talked things over again seated before their own fireplace in the high ailigh prairie farmhouse selina tied had hod find that fireplace fl built five years before and her love of it amounted to worship she had it lighted always on winter evenings end in the spring when the nights were sharp in dirks absence she would sit before it at night long after the rest of the weary household had bad gone to bed high prairie never knew how many guests selina entertained there theire before tier her fire those winter evenings old friends and new so big was there the plump earth carth grimed baby who rolled ond end tumbled in th 1 fields while his young mother wiped the sweet sweat from her fare face to look at him with fond eyes ees dirk djong dejong ol of ten years hence was there simeon peake dapper soft spoken ironic in tits his shiny boots and tits his lint hat always a little on une tine side cervus dejong a blue shorted giant with strong tender bands raid mid little fine golden heirs hairs on the backs of them thein in strange contrast to these was the patient tireless figure of maartje pool standing in the doorway of doelfs little shed tier her arnis arms tucked in her apron for warmth you make fun full huh site she said wistfully you voll and itself you make inake tun fun and the dark vivid boy misunderstood itself the genius ile he was always one cilie of the lie company olt oh selina dejong never was lonely on these winter evenings before tier her tire lire she and dirk sat there one fine sharp evening in early april it was saturday of late dirk tied had not ill ili ways come to the farm for the weekend eugene nod paula arnold had been home for the fater baster holidays julle arnold had bad invited dirk to the guy parties tit at the prairie avenue house bouse he 11 C ind had even ev en spent two entire weekends week ends there after lite lie brocaded broc luxury of the prairie avenue avenue house ills farm bedroom seemed almost startlingly stork stark and bare selina frankly enjoyed dirks somewhat fragmentary ne accounts counts of these visits extracted from rom them as much lc arlous pleasure ns as he had had in the real reality ity ni more ore probably now tell me lite what you tied had to put eat site she would say sociably like a child what did you have for dinner for example was it grand julle tells me they have a butler now well I 1 I 1 cant wait till I 1 hear aug hempel on the subject ile he would tell her of the grandeurs grandeury gran deurs of the arnold menage she would interrupt and exclaim bayonn elsel on fruit 1 oh I 1 dont believe id like that you dudl lid I 1 well ill have it for you next week when you come home ill get the recipe from julle ile he think hed be home next icek eek one of the fellows hed met at rw el during the early spring dirk and selina talked things over again seated before their own FITe fireplace place in the high prairie farmhouse the arnolds had invited him film to their place out north on the take lake ile he b had ad a bout boul be lovely I 1 selina exclaimed after nn an almost unnoticeable moment of silence silence with panic in it til ill try pot not to fuss and he be worried like an old lien hen every minute of the time I 1 think youl youre e on the water now do 10 go on first fruit with se sc lim hm what kind of soup lie he wits was not a naturally talkative person there was nothing surly about ills his silence it was a taciturn streak inherited from his dutch ancestry this time though he was more voluble than usual paula came again arid and again into ills his conversation paula pallin paula 1 and again paula ile he did not seem conscious of the repetition but Se Sell linas nas quick ear caught it 1 I seen her selina salt sad since slie she went away to school the first year she must be lets leti see ashes a year older than you are sties nineteen going on twenty lost last lime iline I 1 saw tier her I 1 thought she was a darl dark scrawny little thing too bad she inherit tulles julles lovely gold coloring and good looks instead of eugene who need em cm she I 1 sold said dirk hotly ashes dark und and sort of uh nh sensuous seliah started visibly and raised her hand bond quickly to tier her mouth to hide a smile like cleopatra iler her eyes tire lire big and kind of slanting not noi squinty I 1 dont mean but slanting up a little at he corners cut out kind of so that they look bigger than most peoples 11 my eyes cyca used to be considered rathor rather fine sold bald selina mischievously but lie he did not hear she mak cs all the lie other girls look sort of blowzy lit ht w wiio tit silent i moment selina ans silent too and it was not it happy astler st sli ler ervo dirk sooke again suddenly us though continuing j a train of thought all but her hands selina made tier her voice sound natural not sharply the J matter atter with alth her hands bunds dirk lie ile I 1 pondered a nion moment lent ills his brows knitted at lust last slowly well I 1 dont know chevio brown and awfully thin tind sort of grabby crabby I 1 mean it makes roe ine nervous to watch them and when the tie rest of tier her Is cool thayre hot when ihen you sou touch them he looked at his mothers hands that were busy with sonie some sowing sewing the stuff on willell site she was working was ft bit of satin ratin ribbon part pait of a hood intended to grace the head ot of geertje pool vandor second baby she hall had difficult in III keeping tier her rough fingers front froni catching on the soft surface of f the lie satin manual work water sun and wind lind tanned those hands hardened burdened them enlarged the knuckles spread them roughened them thein yet how low sure they were and strong and cool and reliable and tender suddenly looking tit at dirk sold said now no your hands bunds I 1 love your hands nother mother site she put down tier her work hastily yet set 1 quietly I so hat dint the lie sudden rush of happy grateful tours in tier her eyes should not sully stilly the pink satin ribbon she was flushed lu shed like a girl do you Sob lg the lio sold said after a moment she eho took up her sewing seeing again her face looked young eager fresh like the face of the giri girl who tied had found cabbages so beautiful that night when she bounced along the rutty halsted roud rood with klaus |