Show three men and a maid by P C G copyright by georgea 4 dorm do co PINCHED MY mr it horace Hlf world famon famo a writer on theosophy author ot caf the rho prodding s Proa dIng ste etc arrives arrive in now new york on a lecturing tour eustace her son on la in with her V M indies ancestral ra I 1 honie home ot of the hignett la in his bl 0 a her life is 1 largely devoted to keeping him unmarried enter her nephew sam son on of 0 sir mallaby marlowe the eminent 7 london an lawyer it to arranged arran ced that sam earn and nd eustace shall hall sall ml torether together on the atlantic the next day enter bream mortimer american son ion of a friend of an insufferable american named bennett Bena ett who has been pestering mra hignett to lease CHAPTER continued 2 bream mortimer looted looked embarrassed ile he wriggled a little and moved hij big anas a as if he were trying to flap them yoe ro know he said bald im not a man who butts into other peoples affairs he stopped nor mid bald mrs III hignett nett rm irm not a man who ho mrs hignett was never a very patient woman let us take all your negative qualities for granted she said curtly what Is lt it it if you have no objection to concentrating your attention on oil that for a momen moment t that you wish to see me about this marriage what nabat warr marr iager your sons marriage sly son Is not married no but hes going to be at eleven this morning at the little church round the Cor corner nerl I 1 mrs hignett stared will you please tell me who Is the girl farl toy my misguided son wishes to marry carryl 1 I dont doat know that rd fd call him misguided said clr mortimer as one de airing to be fair aenk hes a right smart picker ashes such a corking girl ion know we were children together to and ive loved her tor for years ten 3 jears ears at least but you know how it is somehow one never seems to get la in line tor for a pro proposal Dosal I 1 thought I 1 saw an opening in the summer of nineteen twelve but it blew over im not one due of those smooth Bi dashing guys you see with a great line of 0 talk im not 1 if you win will kindly ea gaad 14 mrs hignett nett impatiently postpone this essay tn ia psychoanalysis psycho analysis to some future occasion I 1 shall be greatly obliged I 1 am waiting to hear the name of the girl my son wishes to marry I 1 told you said mr mortimer surprised odd I 1 barent harent ha reat rent its funny how one do the things one thinks one does rm im the sort son ot of man what Is I 1 her namer name I 1 benneta Benne etL tf Wilbel mins bennett Ben the daughter of mr rufus bennett Ben the red haired girl I 1 met at lunch one day it at your fathers houser house T it it youre a great guesser I 1 think thin you ought to stop the thing thine 1 I intend to flue fine nie ne marriage would be unsuitable tn in every way war miss bennett and my son on do not vibrate on the same plane I 1 am much obliged to you yon for far co coming ming and nd telling me of this I 1 shall take immediate steps step athars good but what the pro endure its getting late shell be waiting a ting at the church at eleven with lyells ells on said mr mortimer eustace will not be there you tou think you can fix it eustace will not be there repeated mrs hignett bream mortimer hopped down from his chair well taken a weight off my T mind nl n ni ill be going had bad Z X jo she eh tiptoed softly to her sans son room breakfast t yet too worried to eat breakfast relieved believed mow cow this I 1 is where three eggs and a rasher of ham get cut cat off ob in their prime I 1 feet feel I 1 can rely on you you ton can then ril ra say aay goodby goodby dby 1 I mean feuy goodby rm ria for or england ois 01 saturday on oa the atlantic indeed my son eon will be your fellow traveler bream mortimer looked somewhat apprehensive you wont tell him that I 1 was the one who spilled the beans 1 I beg your pardon you wont wise him up that I 1 threw a spanner into the machinery machIner yr 1 I do not understand you yon you ron wont tell him that I 1 crabbed his act gave the thing thin g away gummed the came gamer 1 1 I shall not mention your chivalrous intervention chivalrous said bream mortimer doubtfully doub trully 17 1 I dont know that rd cau call it absolutely chivalrous of course co arse alls ails fair in love and war well im glad youre going to keep my share la in the business under your hat it might have bare been awkward meeting him on board you sou are not likely to meet eustace on board ile he Is a very indifferent sailor and spends most of his time in his cabin teats good I 1 saves a lot of awkwardness ward ness well goodby goodby when you reach england remember me to your father he wont have forgotten you said bream mortimer confidently he did not see how it was humanly possible for anyone to forget this woman she was like a celebrated chewing gum the taste lingered lira hignett Ilig nett was a woman of instant and decisive action even while her late visitor was speaking schemes had ad begun began to form in her mind like bubbles to the surface of a rushing river by the time the door had closed behind bream mortimer she had bad at her disposal no fewer ewer than seven all good it took her but a moment to select the best and simplest she tiptoed softly to her sons room rhythmic snores greeted her listening ears cars she opened the door and went vent noiselessly in CHAPTER II if the liner atlantic lay at her pier with steam up and gangway down ready for lier her trip to southampton the hour of departure was near and there was a good deal ot of mixed activity going on sailors fiddled about with ropes junior officers flitted flirted to and fro fm white jacketed stewards wrestled grestl ed with trunks probably the captain though not visible was also employed on some useful work ot of a nautical LaUtIC 1 nature ind and not wasting his bis time men women boxes rugs dogs flowers and baskets of fruit were flowing on board in a steady stream the cavernous customs shed was congested with friends and relatives and sam marlowe heading for the gangplank was only able to make progress by employing all the muscle and energy which nature had bad bestowed upon him and which during the twenty five years of his life he had developed by athletic exercise however after some minutes of silent endeavor now driving his shoulder into the midriff of some obstructing male now courteously lifting some stout female off his feet he had succeeded in struggling to within a few yards of his goal when suddenly a sharp pain shot through his il right arm and he spun round with a cry it seemed to sam that he had been bitten and this puzzled him lor for new york crowds though they may shove and jostle rarely bite he found himself face to face with aa extraordinarily pretty girl garl she was a red haired girl with the beautiful ivory skin which goes with red hair her eyes though they were under the shadow of her hat and he be could not be certain he be diagnosed as green or maybe blue or possibly gray not that it mattered mattei ed for he be had bad a casholle cit cat holle taste in feminine ferni nine eyes so long as they were large and bright as were the specimens under his immediate notice he was not the man to quibble about a point of color her nose no was small and aad on the very tip of it there was a tiny freckle her mouth was nice and wide her chin soft and round nature abhors a vacuum samuel marlowe was a susceptible young max man and for many a long month his heart had been lying empty all swept and garnished with welcome on the matthis girl seemed to rush la in and fill it she was not the prettiest girl he had bad ever seen been she was the third prettiest he had an orderly mind one capable of classifying and docketing girls he swallowed convulsively his well developed chest swelled beneath its covering of blue flannel and invisible stripe at last he told himself he be was in love really in love and at first sight too which made it all the more impressive ile he doubted whether in the whole course of history anything like this had over ever happened before to anybody oh to clasp this girl to him and but she had bad bitten him in the arm that was hardly the right spirit that he felt constituted an obstacle oh im sorry she cried I 1 well of course it if she regretted her rash act after all an impulsive girl might bite a man in the arm in ilk the excitement of the moment and still have a sweet womanly nature the crowd seems to make pinky noodles boodles so BO nervous sam might have remained mystified but at this juncture there proceeded from froma bundle of rags nig in the neigh l 0 of the girra girls lower ribs a sharp yapping sound 1 I hope he be hart hall you mach toure the third person hes he bitten today SU sh kissed th the anima ranta I 1 a a loving and congratulatory way on the th tip of his black nose noia not counting bellboys of course she added and then she rile was swept from him la in the crowd and he was wa left thinking of all the things he be might hare bare said ald all those graceful witty ingratiating things which just make a bit of difference on these occasions sam reached the gang plang plane showed his ticket and made his way through the crowd of passengers passengers friends stewards junior officers and sailors who infested the deck ile he proceeded down the main companionway through a rich smell of india rubber and mixed pickles as far as the dinong saloon then turned to his stateroom A footstep sounded in the passage outside the abe door opened hullo eustacel eustace I 1 said sam eustace Ilig hignett nett nodded listlessly sat gat down on his bag and emitted a deep sigh he was a small fragile looking young man with a pale intellectual face dark hair fell in a sweep over his forehead ile he looked like a man who would write vers libre as indeed he did nul hullo lol he said in a hollow bollow voice what on earths the matter said sam the matter eustace hignett laughed mirthlessly oh nothing nothing much nothing to signify I 1 I 1 oh nothing nothing much nothing to signify only my hearts heart broken only my hearts broken he eyed with considerable malignity tae ane bottle of water in the rack above his head a harmless object provided by the company for clients who might desire to clean their teeth during the voyage it if you would cire care to hear the tory story he said go ahead it Is quite short good soon sifter after I 1 arrived in america inet met a girl talking of girls said marlowe with enthusiasm ive just seen the only one in the world that really amounts to anything it was like this 1 was wag shoving my way through the mob on the dock when suddenly shall I 1 tell you yon my story or will you fan tell me yours oh corryl sorry I 1 go ahead eustace hignett scowled at the printed notice on the wall informing occupants of the stateroom that the name of their steward was TB she was an extraordinarily pretty girl what was her name namer WU Wilhel helmIna mins bennett she was ans an extraordinarily pretty girl and highly intelligent I 1 read her all my poems and she appreciated them immensely she enjoyed my singing my conversation appeared to interest her she admired my 1 I see you ton made a hit NOW new go 90 on with the rest of the story 1 I asked her to be my wife and she consented we both agreed that a quiet wedding was what we wanted she thought her father might stop the thing if he knew and I 1 was dashed sure my mother would so we decided to get married without telling anybody by now said Lu eustace austace stace with a morose glance at the porthole 1 I ought to have been on my honeymoon everything was waa settled I 1 had the license and aad the parsons tec fec I 1 had been breaking in a new tie tor for tte wedding and then you yon quarreled No nothing of the kind I 1 wish you would stop trying to tell me le ie i L e story rm im telling you what happened Is this somehow 1 I cant make out how mother found out and then of coursed course it was all over she stopped the thing sam was wai indignant he thoroughly disliked his aunt adeline and his cousins meek subservience to her revolted him stopped it I 1 suppose she said vow now eustace you and you said very well mother and scratched the fix fixture she say a word she never has baa said a word As far as that goes she might never have heard about the marriage 6 then how bow do yott mean she stopped it she pinched my iny trousers pinched your trouse ars eustace groaned all ali of them I 1 the whole belly bally lot she gets up ion long before I 1 do and ah knust have come nt oxy aj room and cleaned it out oat while I 1 was asleep when I 1 woke up ind started to areas I 1 find a solitary pair sAr where la in the ta whole place I 1 looted looked fenily ria ally I 1 went into the sitting room where she b was writing letters and asked if she ba had happened to a ee any anywhere she said laid she had sent lent them all to be pressed pr eased she said she knew I 1 never went out in the morril mornings I 1 dont as a rule and nd they would be back at lunch time A fat lot of use that was wasl I 1 I 1 had to le be at the church at eleven well I 1 told her I 1 had bad a most imper tant engagement with ft a man at eleven and she wanted to know what it was wa and I 1 tried to think of something but it sounded pretty feeble and the she said I 1 had better telephone to the man and put it off I 1 did it too rang bang up the first number in the book and told some fellow I 1 bad never seen been in my life that I 1 meet him I 1 lie he was pretty peeved judging from what he said about my being on the wrong line and mother listening all the time and I 1 knowing that she knew something told me that she knew and she ibe knowing that I 1 knew she knew I 1 tell you it was awful I 1 and the girl she broke off the engagement A ap parent patently ly she waited at ai the church from eleven till one thirty and then began to get I patient impatient she see me when shen I 1 called in the afternoon but I 1 got a letter from her saying that what had happened was all for the best beat and the she bad been thinking it over and had come to the conclusion that she had made a mistake she said something about my not being as ai dynamic dj as she had bad thought I 1 was she said that what hat she wanted was wa something more like lancelot or sit sir galahad and would I 1 look on the episode as closed did you explain about the trousers berst yes it seemed to make things worse she said that she could forgive it roan man anything except being ridiculous 1 I think youre well out of it said sam judicially she cant have been much of a girl 01 1 feel that now but it alter the fact that my life la Is ruined mined I 1 have become a woman hater women when I 1 think how mother behaved and how Williel inina treated ma ine I 1 wonder there a jaw against them what mighty ills have not been done by woman who was it betrayed the Capi capitol capitelli tollI I 1 in washington washing tour said bald sam puzzled he had heard beard nothing of this but then he generally confined his rea reading ding of the papers to the sporting page 1 I was waa quoting frota from thomas ot way ways a orphan I 1 wish I 1 could write like otway lie ile knew what he was talking about well of course coarse he may be right in a way A As 9 regards some women I 1 mean put but the girl I 1 met on the dock dont said eustace hignett if you have bare anything bitter and derogatory to say about women say it and I 1 will listen eagerly but lf if you yon merely wish to gibber about the ornamental exterior of some dashed girl you have been fool foal enough to get attracted by go and tell it to the captain or the ships cat or J B do try i to realize that I 1 am a soul in torment I 1 I 1 am a rum ruin a spent force a man without a future what does life hold bold for me love I 1 shall never love again I 1 sly my work I 1 any I 1 think I 1 shall take to drink talking of that said sara sam 1 I sup sap pose they open the bar directly |