Show ilig chapter XII it 16 in town dirk lived in lit largo large front room lind and alcove on the third floor of a handsome old fashioned three story an and d basement house ile ho used the front room as 03 a living room tile the alcove as a bedroom ile he and selina had furnished it together discarding all of the rooms original belongings except the bed a table and one fat comfortable faded old armchair whose brocade surface hinted a past grant grandeur leur when lie he had got his books ranged in open shelves along one wall soft shad ed lamps on table and desk the place looked more than livable lived in during the process of furnishing selina got into the way of coming coining into town for it a lay day or two to prowl the auction rouina and the secondhand second hand liand stores sho she find a genius tor for this sort of tiling thing hated the spick and span varnish and veneer of the ho new furniture to be got in tile regular way she enjoyed these rare trips into town made a holiday of them dirk would tako take lier her to the theater and she would sit entranced strangely enough considering the lack of what the world calls ron romance lance and adventure in her life she did not like tile the motion pictures all the difference in tile the world she would say between the movies and the thrill I 1 get out of a play at the theater my besl yes I 1 like fooling with paper dolls when you could be playing with a rent real live anby the day was marvelously mild for march in chicago spring usually to so coy in this region had hung flung herself tit nt them head first As the massive revolving door of dirks office building fanned him into the street he saw paula in her long ion low sporting road ster eter at the curb sho she was dressed in black all feminine fashionable ond and middle class chicago was dressed in black all feminine fashionable and middle class america was dressed in black two years of war had robbed parts paris of its husbands huh bands brothers sons all il paris walked in black cerica america untouched gayly borrowed the smart habiliments of mourning and now michigan boulevard and fifth avenue walked demurely in the gloom of crepe find and chiffon black hats black gloves black slippers only black was good this year paula smiled up at him patted the leather sent seat beside her with one hand that was absurdly thick fingered in its fur lined glove its cold driving button up tight cherell Wh erell we stop for your bag ue he climbed into the sent seat beside her her manipulation of the wheel was witchcraft the roadster slid in and out of traffic like a fluid thing an enamel stream silent as a swift current in a river when his house was reached im coining up she said an 1 I suppose you any tea gosh no nol I 1 what do you think I 1 am ami I 1 A young man in an english novel I 1 now dont be provincial and chi cn ca golsh dirk they climbed the threw three flights of stairs she looked about her glance flunce was not disapproving this lant so bad who did it she did I 1 very nice but of course you ought to have your own smart little apartment with a jap to do you up to do that for you for example I 1 yes grimly he was packing his bag not throwing clothes into it but folding them deftly neatly as the son of a wise mother packs my sat sal alryd just about keep him la in white linen house coats im going to send you some things for your room dirk for gods sake dont I 1 ia why not two kinds of women in the world I 1 learned that at college those who send men things for their rooms and those that dont youre very rude you asked me there im 11 m fill all set bet ile he snapped the lock of his bag im sorry I 1 cant give you anything 1 I a thing not even a glass of wine and a what Is it they say in books oli oh yen yeb a biscuit in the roadster again paula maintained a fierce and steady speed for the remainder of the drive we call the place St paula told him and nobody outside the dear family knows how flitting fitting that Is dont scowl im not going to tell you my marital woes boes and dont you eay any I 1 asked tor for it hows tile the job lotten totten I you dont like it the work 1 I like it well enough only well you see we leave the university architectural tec tural course thinking were all going to be stanford whites or cass gilberts tossing off a woolworth building and making ourselves famous overnight ive spent nil all yesterday and today planning a dry gooda goods box going up tip on the corner of milwaukee avenue and ashland west and ten years from now ten years from now maybe let roe me do the plans for the dry goods box all alone why dont you drop it ile he was startled drop it 1 how do 40 vou ou chuck it do something that will bring yo von results this an age of waiting suppose twenty years from now you do plan a grand gothic office building to grice grace this new and glorified michigan boulevard always shouting shou ring about I 1 be a aged man living ing in a middle cliss class house lu in a middle class suburb with a middle middle class wife maybe Us lightly nettled they turned in tit nt the gates gatei of by EDNA FERBER 0 Dou doubley bleda r paged A co service ioe St A inal turn odthe of the drive an avenue of trees A house mas massive pillared coed the door opened as they drew up at the entrance A maid in cap and apron stood in the doorway A man appeared at the side of the car coming seemingly from nowhere greeted paula civilly and drove the car off the glow of an open fire in the hall welcomed them hell bring up your bag said paula I lowre the babies anna has mr storm got here lie ho telephoned mrs storm lie ile a says ays he wont be out till late maybe ten or after anyway youre not to walt wait dinner paula from being the limp expert fearless driver ot of the high powered roadster was now suddenly very much the mistress of the house quietly ob servi servient tnt giving an order with a lift of tile the eyebrow or a nod of the hend head would dirk like to go to his room at once dinner at seven thirty ile he dress just as lie he liked everything ery thing was wag very informal here they roughed it dirk had counted thirteen servants by noon next day and been near the kitchen lie ile decided to bathe and change into dinner clothes and was glad of this when he found paula in black chiffon before the lie fire in the great beamed room she had called the library dirk thought she looked very beautiful in that diaphanous stuff with the pearls ifer her heart shaped face with its large eyes that slanted a little at the corners her long slim throat her dark hair plied high and away from her tittle little ears ile he decided not to mention it dirk told himself that paula had known her husband would not be home until ten and had deliberately planned a tete a tete meal ile he would not therefore confess himself a little nettled when paula said ive asked the emerys in for dinner and well have a game of bridge afterward phil emery you know the third ile he used to have it on his visiting card like royalty the emerys were dry goods had been dry goods for sixty years were accounted chicago aristocracy preferred england rode to hounds in pink coats along Chi cagos prim and startled suburban prairies they had a vast estate on the lake near St they arrived a trifle late dirk had seen pictures of old phillip emery phillip the first lie he thought with an inward grin and decided looking at the rather anemic third edition that the stock was running it little thin the dinner was delicious but surprisingly simple little more than selina would hive have given him dirk thought had he como come home to the farm this weekend week end the talk was desultory and rather dull and this chap had millions dirk said to himself millions no scratching in an architects office for this lad at bridge after dinner phillip philllp the third proved to be sufficiently the son 0 of f his father to win from dirk more money than he could conveniently afford to lose theodore storm came in at ten and stood watching them when the guests had left the three sat before the fire something to drink storm asked dirk dirk refused but storm mixed a stiff highball for himself and then another the whisky brought no flush to his large white impassive face ile he talked almost not at all dirk naturally silent was loquacious by comparison but while there was nothing heavy about dirks silence this mans was oppressive irritating ills his paunch his large white hands hla his great white face gave the effect of bleached bloodless bulk 1 I dont see how she stands him dirk thought husband and wife seemed to be on terms of polite friendliness storm ex cx clyed himself and took himself off with a word about being tired and seeing them in the morning after he had gone he likes you said paula important said dirk it if true but it Is important ile he can help you ou a lot help me how bow I 1 dont want but I 1 do I 1 want you to be sue cess lul ful I 1 want you to be you can be youve youre got it written all over oer you in the way you stand and talk and dont talk lu in the way you look at people in something in the way you mrry curry yourself your pelf its what they call force I 1 suppose anyway youve ot it ling has your husband got it theodore Theo dorel I 1 not no that Is there you are ive ie got the force but eliut lies hes got the money you can have both she was leaning forward her eyes were bright enormous her hands those thin dark liot hot hands were twisted in her lap lie he I looked A ed at her quietly suddenly there their were tears in her eyes dont ool ook it me that way dirk she budill d 1 back in her chair limp she bool i 1 a little haggard and older my marriage Is a mess of nil so you can see that tin mi knew it would ile be yuu ou no i yes oh I 1 dont know any way wn the difference now im not trying tiding to lie be what they call nn an in your life im just fond of ou you know that and I 1 want you to be ba great and successful its ita maternal I 1 suppose 1 I should think two babies would satisfy that urge oh I 1 cant get excited rubout two pink healthy lumps of babies I 1 love them and all that but all they need Is to have a bottle stuffed into their mouths nt at proper intervals und and to be bathed and dressed and aired and slept its a mechanical routine and about as exciting as a treadmill just what do 10 you want me to do paula sho she was eager again vitally concerned in him its ita nil so ridiculous all these men whose incomes are thirty forty sixty a hundred thousand a year usually any qualities really that the five thousand a year man somebody has to get the fifty thousand dollar salaries some advertising ver man or bond salesman or why look at phil emeryl emery 1 lie ile probably sell a yard of pink ribbon to a schoolgirl it lie ho had to look at Theo theodore dorel 1 lie ile just sits and blinks and says sais noth nothing log but when the time comes lie he doubles up tits ills fat white flat fist and mumbles ten million or fifteen million and that settles it dirk laughed to tilde hide hla his own little mounting sensation of excitement it quite as simple as that I 1 imagine theres more to it than meets the eye there I 1 I 1 tell you I 1 know the whole crowd of them ivo ive been brought up with this moneyed pack all my life I 1 pork packers and wheat grabbers and peddlers of gas and electric light and dry goods grandfathers the only one of the crowd that I 1 respect ue ile has stayed the same they cant tool fool him lie ile knows he just happened to go into wholesale beef and pork when wholesale beet beef and pork was a new game in chicago now look at himl still you will admit theres something in knowing when he argued paula stood up if you dont know I 1 ill tell you now Is when ive got grandfather and dad and Theo theodoreo doreto work with you can go on being an alay 1 I used to ride tho the old nags bare back on the farm architect if you want to its a fine enough profession but unless youre a genius cherell wh erell it get you I 1 go in with them and dirk in five years they were both standing facing each other she tense eager he relaxed hut but stimulated try it and see what will you will you dirk 1 I dont know paula I 1 should say my mother think much of it what does she know I 1 oh I 1 dont mean that she a fine wonderful person she is I 1 love her but success I 1 she thinks success Is another acre of asparagus or cabbage or a new stove in the kitchen now that brought gas out as tar far as high prairie lie ile had bad a feeling that she possessed him that her hot eager hands held field him though they stood apart and eyed each other almost hostilely As he be undressed that night he thought now her game she up to be careful dirk old boy As he be lay in the soft bed with the satin coverlet over him he thought now her little gamel lie he awoke tit at eight enormously hungry ile he wondered uneasily just how he was going to get ills his breakfast she had find suld said his big breakfast would be brought him in his bis room ile he stretched luxuriously sprang up turned on tits his bath water bathed bat lied when he emerged in dressing dresing vown gown and slippers his breakfast tray had bad been brought him mysteriously and ltv contents lay tip ap on oil a little portable table there were hocks flocks of small covered dishes and a charming individual coffeo coffee service A little note front from paula would you like to take walk at about half past nine stroll down to the stables I 1 want to show you my new horse the distance from the house to the stables was actually boulte a brisk little walk in itself paula in riding clothes was waiting for him she greeted him ive ideen been out ont two hours had my ride you iou ride jont you beur r 1 I used to ride the old nags bareback or on the farm 1 I have to learn nt ill 11 have ave some one to ride with nip theodore never rides ile he never takes any sort of exercise sits in that great fat car of ills his they went into the conch coach house a great airy white washed place with glittering harness and spurs spun and bridles like jewels in glass cases it gave dirk it t little hopel hopeless cm feeling ile he had never before seen anything like it paula laughed up at him her dark face upturned to tits his SOll something ething had annoyed him she saw would lie he walt wait while she charged to walking things or perhaps hed rather drive in the roadster they walked up to the house together ile he wished that she would not consult ills his wishes so anxiously it made him sulky impatient she put a liand haintl on his fits arm dirk are you annoyed tit nt me 1110 for what I 1 said last no what did you think when you went to your room last night tell rne me whitt what did you think 1 I thought ashes bored with her husband and ashes trying to vamp tamp me ill have to be careful M paula laughed delightedly nice and frank what elso else 1 I thought my coat fit very well and I 1 wished I 1 could afford to have veel peel make my next one you can said paula |