登陆注册
5224500000024

第24章 CHAPTER 2 Spires and Gargoyles(13)

"No," said Kerry; "for a minute he'll think we're the proprietor's sons or something; then he'll look at the check again and call the manager, and in the meantime"

They left the car at Asbury and street-car'd to Allenhurst, where they investigated the crowded pavilions for beauty. At four there were refreshments in a lunch-room, and this time they paid an even smaller per cent on the total cost; something about the appearance and savoir-faire of the crowd made the thing go, and they were not pursued.

"You see, Amory, we're Marxian Socialists," explained Kerry. "We don't believe in property and we're putting it to the great test."

"Night will descend," Amory suggested.

"Watch, and put your trust in Holiday."

They became jovial about five-thirty and, linking arms, strolled up and down the boardwalk in a row, chanting a monotonous ditty about the sad sea waves. Then Kerry saw a face in the crowd that attracted him and, rushing off, reappeared in a moment with one of the homeliest girls Amory had ever set eyes on. Her pale mouth extended from ear to ear, her teeth projected in a solid wedge, and she had little, squinty eyes that peeped ingratiatingly over the side sweep of her nose. Kerry presented them formally.

"Name of Kaluka, Hawaiian queen! Let me present Messrs. Connage, Sloane, Humbird, Ferrenby, and Blaine."

The girl bobbed courtesies all around. Poor creature; Amory supposed she had never before been noticed in her lifepossibly she was half-witted. While she accompanied them (Kerry had invited her to supper) she said nothing which could discountenance such a belief.

"She prefers her native dishes," said Alec gravely to the waiter, "but any coarse food will do."

All through supper he addressed her in the most respectful language, while Kerry made idiotic love to her on the other side, and she giggled and grinned. Amory was content to sit and watch the by-play, thinking what a light touch Kerry had, and how he could transform the barest incident into a thing of curve and contour. They all seemed to have the spirit of it more or less, and it was a relaxation to be with them. Amory usually liked men individually, yet feared them in crowds unless the crowd was around him. He wondered how much each one contributed to the party, for there was somewhat of a spiritual tax levied. Alec and Kerry were the life of it, but not quite the centre. Somehow the quiet Humbird, and Sloane, with his impatient superciliousness, were the centre.

Dick Humbird had, ever since freshman year, seemed to Amory a perfect type of aristocrat. He was slender but well-builtblack curly hair, straight features, and rather a dark skin. Everything he said sounded intangibly appropriate. He possessed infinite courage, an averagely good mind, and a sense of honor with a clear charm and noblesse oblige that varied it from righteousness. He could dissipate without going to pieces, and even his most bohemian adventures never seemed "running it out."

People dressed like him, tried to talk as he did.... Amory decided that he probably held the world back, but he wouldn't have changed him....

He differed from the healthy type that was essentially middle classhe never seemed to perspire. Some people couldn't be familiar with a chauffeur without having it returned; Humbird could have lunched at Sherry's with a colored man, yet people would have somehow known that it was all right. He was not a snob, though he knew only half his class. His friends ranged from the highest to the lowest, but it was impossible to "cultivate" him. Servants worshipped him, and treated him like a god. He seemed the eternal example of what the upper class tries to be.

"He's like those pictures in the Illustrated London News of the English officers who have been killed," Amory had said to Alec.

"Well," Alec had answered, "if you want to know the shocking truth, his father was a grocery clerk who made a fortune in Tacoma real estate and came to New York ten years ago."

Amory had felt a curious sinking sensation.

This present type of party was made possible by the surging together of the class after club electionsas if to make a last desperate attempt to know itself, to keep together, to fight off the tightening spirit of the clubs. It was a let-down from the conventional heights they had all walked so rigidly.

After supper they saw Kaluka to the boardwalk, and then strolled back along the beach to Asbury. The evening sea was a new sensation, for all its color and mellow age was gone, and it seemed the bleak waste that made the Norse sagas sad; Amory thought of Kipling's "Beaches of Lukanon before the sealers came."

It was still a music, though, infinitely sorrowful.

Ten o'clock found them penniless. They had suppered greatly on their last eleven cents and, singing, strolled up through the casinos and lighted arches on the boardwalk, stopping to listen approvingly to all band concerts. In one place Kerry took up a collection for the French War Orphans which netted a dollar and twenty cents, and with this they bought some brandy in case they caught cold in the night. They finished the day in a moving-picture show and went into solemn systematic roars of laughter at an ancient comedy, to the startled annoyance of the rest of the audience. Their entrance was distinctly strategic, for each man as he entered pointed reproachfully at the one just behind him. Sloane, bringing up the rear, disclaimed all knowledge and responsibility as soon as the others were scattered inside; then as the irate ticket-taker rushed in he followed nonchalantly.

They reassembled later by the Casino and made arrangements for the night. Kerry wormed permission from the watchman to sleep on the platform and, having collected a huge pile of rugs from the booths to serve as mattresses and blankets, they talked until midnight, and then fell into a dreamless sleep, though Amory tried hard to stay awake and watch that marvellous moon settle on the sea.

同类推荐
  • 能显中边慧日论

    能显中边慧日论

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
  • 肇论新疏

    肇论新疏

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
  • 佛说阿弥陀佛根本秘密神咒经

    佛说阿弥陀佛根本秘密神咒经

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
  • 拟太平策序

    拟太平策序

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
  • THE TIME MACHINE

    THE TIME MACHINE

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
热门推荐
  • 香为媒

    香为媒

    罪臣之女,京城第一名媛遭遇退婚,身价不跌反涨,精挑细选嫁给了仇敌之子。对母亲恨之入骨的恶婆婆,神神秘秘的畏缩小姑子,无所不知无所不能的闺蜜。痴缠的前未婚夫,迂腐的酸秀才,勇武黑心的将军。经历战火的洗礼对自己不离不弃的相公。对我好的,我记着,对我不好的,你等着。我是腹黑小白花柳白鹭,我为自己代言。
  • 两小无猜:娇俏青梅逗竹马

    两小无猜:娇俏青梅逗竹马

    顾禹墨,身家不明,背景成谜,却声名在外:谦谦君子,温润如玉,成为众多名媛,一心向往的对象。卿悠撇撇嘴,那就是只披着绅士皮囊的大尾巴狼,奸诈,狡猾,冷漠……一应俱全,不过,小羊也有自己的梦想:扑倒老狼,占地为王!且看,腹黑竹马捕青梅,娇俏青梅逗竹马!
  • 步步攻心:总裁的劫爱计划

    步步攻心:总裁的劫爱计划

    旅途中,误认为是流氓的他,被她狠辣掌掴:“滚开!臭流氓!”再相见,他居然是公司的大BOSS。他冷魅一笑,她便六神无主。于是,一场逃跑计划便拉开了序幕……当傻白甜遇见高逼格冷男,事业和爱情会发生怎样的质变?
  • 长风先生,多指教

    长风先生,多指教

    “丫头,理一下我呗”“我比你大,你好意思叫我丫头?”“苏大夫,我疼”“哪里疼?”“心疼”“滚犊子”
  • 凌天魔路

    凌天魔路

    道为何,佛为何,魔又为何,被表哥杀掉挚爱的林轩,无意中踏入修真道,而后道佛同修,为何引来了魔劫,为何成为了传说中有史以来的第一位大天魔,是以杀戮灭世重开青天,抑或是以良善行造化?
  • ⑤墨墨温情不得语(全本)

    ⑤墨墨温情不得语(全本)

    一个是他自年少起便默默心仪的女子,一场意外的事故,让他们天人永隔;一个是他偶然救下的女子,似曾相识的悸动,让他对她一见如故是结束,亦是开始时光荏苒他是身负重责新上任的副市,她是脱胎换骨的律界新星他与她近情情怯从最初的小心翼翼,到不断深入的纠缠世事几多变迁,他们终于发现,这不是一场独幕剧,她与他一样,从未远离他用尽一切心力争取她——“不论如何,我又找到了你。不管是原先的你,还是这个全新的你,也不管你叫什么名字,长的什么模样,对我而言,这个世上,只有一个你。”★☆★☆★他们心系对方的时候,彼此都还不知道这是一场相爱他想,等她再长大一些她想,等他再安定一些彼时尚不知,世事无常,且行且珍惜默默的关注一个人,默默的期盼一份也许永远也不会降临的感情,不想让对方知道,也不想对世人公布也许仅仅是不想,也许却因不能当眼中之人不再,心中之人能否犹存?
  • 续红楼梦

    续红楼梦

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
  • 深庭晚照(最受学生喜爱的散文精粹)

    深庭晚照(最受学生喜爱的散文精粹)

    《最受学生喜爱的散文精粹》从喧嚣中缓缓走来,如一位许久不见的好友,收拾了一路趣闻,满载着一眼美景,静静地与你分享。靠近它,你会忘记白日里琐碎的工作,沉溺于片刻的宁谧。靠近它,你也会忘却烦恼,还心灵一片晴朗。一个人在其一生中,阅读一些立意深远、具有丰富哲学思考的散文,不仅可以开阔视野,重新认识历史、社会、人生和自然,获得思想上的盎然新意,而且还可以学习中外散文名家高超而成熟的创作技巧。
  • 最后一个工人

    最后一个工人

    具有工业文化底蕴与内涵的中篇小说精品集。《最后一个工人》主要内容包括:失眠、一天八小时工作、男工张义、好大一棵树、下岗孝子李永荃、最后一座工厂、黑色王国、堡垒漂浮、暖冬等。
  • 皇家幼儿园

    皇家幼儿园

    各位朝中的大叔大哥们,把你家的儿子女儿都交给本公主教育吧!保证师资力量雄厚,宰相大人教历史,状元郎教诗书,还有将军大人负责兵法,连女孩子的女工都是太后亲自教导。哪里去找这么厉害的幼儿园?快来速速报名!