Works of Robert W Chambers

by Robert W. Chambers

  “Dead? My Aunt Emeline?”

  “She had a stroke a year ago. It made her a little stiff in one leg. But she wouldn’t tell you — wouldn’t bother you. She was that proud of you living as you did with all those kings and queens. ‘No,’ sez she to me, ‘no, Martha, I ain’t a-goin’ to worry Palla. She and the Queen have got their hands full, what with the wicked way those Rooshian people are behaving. No,’ sez she, ‘I’ll git well by the time she comes home for a visit after the war — —’”

  Martha’s spectacles became dim. She seated herself on the stairs and wiped them on her apron.

  “It came in the night,” she said, peering blindly at Palla.... “I wondered why she was late to breakfast. When I went up she was lying there with her eyes open — just as natural — —”

  Palla’s head dropped and she covered her face with both hands.

  CHAPTER IV

  There remained, now, nothing to keep Palla in Shadow Hill.

  She had never intended to stay there, anyway; she had meant to go to France.

  But already there appeared to be no chance for that in the scheme of things. For the boche had begun to squeal for mercy; the frightened swine was squirting life-blood as he rushed headlong for the home sty across the Rhine; his death-stench sickened the world.

  Thicker, ranker, reeked the bloody abomination in the nostrils of civilisation, where Justice strode ahead through hell’s own devastation, kicking the boche to death, kicking him through Belgium, through France, out of Light back into Darkness, back, back to his stinking sty.

  The rushing sequence of events in Europe since Palla’s arrival in America bewildered the girl and held in abeyance any plan she had hoped to make.

  The whole world waited, too, astounded, incredulous as yet of the cataclysmic debacle, slowly realising that the super-swine were but swine — maddened swine, devil driven. And that the Sea was very near.

  No romance ever written approached in wild extravagance the story of doom now unfolding in the daily papers.

  Palla read and strove to comprehend — read, laid aside her paper, and went about her own business, which alone seemed dully real.

  And these new personal responsibilities — now that her aunt was dead — must have postponed any hope of an immediate departure for France.

  Her inheritance under her aunt’s will, the legal details, the inventory of scattered acreage and real estate, plans for their proper administration, consultations with an attorney, conferences with Mr. Pawling, president of the local bank — such things had occupied and involved her almost from the moment of her arrival home.

  At first the endless petty details exasperated her — a girl fresh from the tremendous tragedy of things where, one after another, empires were crashing amid the conflagration of a continent. And she could not now keep her mind on such wretched little personal matters while her heart battered passionately at her breast, sounding the exciting summons to active service.

  To concentrate her thoughts on mortgages and deeds when she was burning to be on her way to France — to confer power of attorney, audit bills for taxes, for up-keep of line fences, when she was mad to go to New York and find out how quickly she could be sent to France — such things seemed more than a girl could endure.

  In Shadow Hill there was scarcely anything to remind her that the fate of the world was being settled for all time.

  Only for red service flags here and there, here and there a burly figure in olive-drab swaggering along Main Street, nothing except war-bread, the shortage of coal and sugar, and outrageous prices reminded her that the terrific drama was still being played beyond the ocean to the diapason of an orchestra thundering from England to Asia and from Africa to the Arctic.

  But already the eternal signs were pointing to the end. She read the Republican in the morning, the Star at night. Gradually it became apparent to the girl that the great conflagration was slowly dying down beyond the seas; that there was to be no chance of her returning; that there was to be no need of her services even if she were already equipped to render any, and now, certainly, no time for her to learn anything which might once have admitted her to comradeship in the gigantic conflict between man and Satan. She was too late. The world’s tragedy was almost over.

  With the signing of the armistice, all dreams of service ended definitely for her.

  False news of the suspension of hostilities should have, in a measure, prepared her. Yet, the ultimately truthful news that the war was over made her almost physically ill. For the girl’s ardent religious fervour had consumed her emotional energy during the incessant excitement of the past three years. But now, for this natural ardour, there was no further employment. There was no outlet for mind or heart so lately on fire with spiritual fervour. God was no more; her friend was dead. And now the war had ended. And nobody in the world had any need of her — any need of this woman who needed the world — and love — spiritual perhaps, perhaps profane.

  The false peace demonstration, which set the bells of Shadow Hill clanging in the wintry air and the mill whistles blowing from distant villages, left her tired, dazed, indifferent. The later celebration, based on official news, stirred her spiritually even less. And she felt ill.

  There was a noisy night celebration on Main Street, but she had no desire to see it. She remained indoors reading the Star in the sitting room with Max, the cat. She ate no dinner. She cried herself to sleep.

  However, now that the worst had come — as she naïvely informed the shocked Martha next morning — she began to feel relieved in a restless, feverish way.

  A healthful girl accumulates much bodily energy over night; Palla’s passionate little heart and her active mind completed a storage battery very quickly charged — and very soon over-charged — and an outlet was imperative.

  Always, so far in her brief career, she had had adequate outlets. As a child she found satisfaction in violent exercises; in flinging herself headlong into every outdoor game, every diversion among the urchins of her circle. As a school girl her school sports and her studies, and whatever social pleasures were offered, had left the safety valve open.

  Later, mistress of her mother’s modest fortune, and grown to restless, intelligent womanhood, Palla had gone abroad with a married school-friend, Leila Vance. Under her auspices she had met nice people and had seen charming homes in England — Colonel Vance being somebody in the county and even somebody in London — a diffident, reticent, agriculturally inclined land owner and colonel of yeomanry. And long ago dead in Flanders. And his wife a nurse somewhere in France.

  But before the war a year’s travel and study had furnished the necessary outlet to Palla Dumont. And then — at a charity bazaar — a passionate friendship had flashed into sacred flame — a friendship born at sight between her and the little Grand Duchess Marie.

  War was beginning; Colonel Vance was dead; but imperial inquiry located Leila. And imperial inquiry was satisfied. And Palla became the American companion and friend of the youthful Grand Duchess Marie. For three years that blind devotion had been her outlet — that and their mutual inclination for a life to be dedicated to God.

  What was to be her outlet now? — now that the little Grand Duchess was dead — now that God, as she had conceived him, had ceased to exist for her — now that the war was ended, and nobody needed that warm young heart of hers — that ardent little heart so easily set throbbing with the passionate desire to give.

  The wintry sunlight flooded the familiar sitting room, setting potted geraniums ablaze, gilding the leather backs of old books, staining prisms on the crystal chandelier with rainbow tints, and causing Max, the family cat, to blink until the vertical pupils of his amber eyes seemed to disappear entirely.

  There was some snow outside — not very much — a wild bird or two among the naked apple trees; green edges, still, where snowy lawn and flower border met.

  And there was colour in the leafless shrubbery, too — wine-red stems of dogwood, ash-blue berry-canes, an
d the tangled green and gold of willows. And over all a pale cobalt sky, and a snow-covered hill, where, in the woods, crows sat cawing on the taller trees, and a slow goshawk sailed.

  A rich land, this, even under ice and snow — a rich, rolling land hinting of fat furrows and heavy grain; and of spicy, old-time gardens where the evenings were heavy with the scent of phlox and lilies.

  Palla, her hands behind her back, seeming very childish and slim in her black gown, stood searching absently among the books for something to distract her — something in harmony with the restless glow of hidden fires hot in her restless heart.

  But war is too completely the great destroyer, killing even the serener pleasures of the mind, corrupting normal appetite, dulling all interest except in what pertains to war.

  War is the great vandal, too, obliterating even that interest in the classic past which is born of respect for tradition. War slays all yesterdays, so that human interest lives only in the fierce and present moment, or blazes anew at thought of what may be to-morrow.

  Only the chronicles of the burning hour can hold human attention where war is. For last week is already a decade ago; and last year a dead century; but to-day is vital and to-morrow is immortal.

  It was so with Palla. Her listless eyes swept the ranks of handsome, old-time books — old favourites bound in gold and leather, masters of English prose and poetry gathered and garnered by her grand-parents when books were rare in Shadow Hill.

  Not even the modern masters appealed to her — masters of fiction acclaimed but yesterday; virile thinkers in philosophy, in science; enfranchised poets who had stridden out upon Olympus only yesterday to defy the old god’s lightning with unshackled strophes — and sometimes unbuttoned themes.

  But it was with Palla as with others; she drifted back to the morning paper, wherein lay the interest of the hour. And nothing else interested her or the world.

  Martha announced lunch. Max accompanied her on her retreat to the kitchen. Palla loitered, not hungry, nervous and unquiet under the increasing need of occupation for that hot heart of hers.

  After a while she went out to the dining room, ate enough, endured Martha to the verge, and retreated to await the evening paper.

  Her attorney, Mr. Tiddley, came at three. They discussed quit-claims, mortgages, deeds, surveys, and reported encroachments incident to the decay of ancient landmarks. And the conversation maddened her.

  At four she put on a smart mourning hat and her black furs, and walked down to see the bank president, Mr. Pawling. The subject of their conversation was investments; and it bored her. At five she returned to the house to receive a certain Mr. Skidder — known in her childhood as Blinky Skidder, in frank recognition of an ocular peculiarity — a dingy but jaunty young man with a sheep’s nose, a shrewd upper lip, and snapping red-brown eyes, who came breezily in and said: “Hello, Palla! How’s the girl?” And took off his faded mackinaw uninvited.

  Mr. Skidder’s business had once been the exploitation of farmers and acreage; his specialty the persuasion of Slovak emigrants into the acquisition of doubtful land. But since the war, emigrants were few; and, as honest men must live, Mr. Skidder had branched out into improved real estate and city lots. But the pickings, even here, were scanty, and loans hard to obtain.

  “I’ve changed my mind,” said Palla. “I’m not going to sell this house, Blinky.”

  “Well, for heaven’s sake — ain’t you going to New York?” he insisted, taken aback.

  “Yes, I am. But I’ve decided to keep my house.”

  “That,” said Mr. Skidder, snapping his eyes, “is silly sentiment, not business. But please yourself Palla. I ain’t saying a word. I ain’t trying to tell you I can get a lot more for you than your house is worth — what with values falling and houses empty and the mills letting men go because there ain’t going to be any more war orders! — but please yourself, Palla. I ain’t saying a word to urge you.”

  “You’ve said several,” she remarked, smilingly. “But I think I’ll keep the house for the present, and I’m sorry that I wasted your time.”

  “Please yourself, Palla,” he repeated. “I guess you can afford to from all I hear. I guess you can do as you’ve a mind to, now.... So you’re fixing to locate in New York, eh?”

  “I think so.”

  “Live in a flat?”

  “I don’t know.”

  “What are you going to do in New York?” he asked curiously.

  “I’m sure I don’t know. There’ll be plenty to do, I suppose.”

  “You bet,” he said, blinking rapidly, “there’s always something doing in that little old town.” He slapped his knee: “Palla,” he said, “I’m thinking of going into the movie business.”

  “Really?”

  “Yes, I’m considering it. Slovaks and bum farms are played out. There’s no money in Shadow Hill — or if there is, it’s locked up — or the income tax has paralysed it. No, I’m through. There’s nothing doing in land; no commissions. And I’m considering a quick getaway.”

  “Where do you expect to go?”

  “Say, Palla, when you kiss your old home good-bye, there’s only one place to go. Get me?”

  “New York?” she inquired, amused.

  “That’s me! There’s a guy down there I used to correspond with — a feller named Puma — Angelo Puma — not a regular wop, as you might say, but there’s some wop in him, judging by his map — or Mex — or kike, maybe — or something. Anyway, he’s in the moving picture business — The Ultra-Fillum Company. I guess there’s a mint o’ money in fillums.”

  She nodded, a trifle bored.

  “I got a chance to go in with Angelo Puma,” he said, snapping his eyes.

  “Really?”

  “You know, Palla, I’ve made a little money, too, since you been over there living with the Queen of Russia.”

  “I’m very glad, Blinky.”

  “Oh, it ain’t much. And,” he added shrewdly, “it ain’t so paltry, neither. Thank the Lord, I made hay while the Slovaks lasted.... So,” he added, getting up from his chair, “maybe I’ll see you down there in New York, some day — —”

  He hesitated, his blinking eyes redly intent on her as she rose to her slim height.

  “Say, Palla.”

  She looked at him inquiringly.

  “Ever thought of the movies?”

  “As an investment?”

  “Well — that, too. There’s big money in it. But I meant — I mean — it strikes me you’d make a bird of a movie queen.”

  The suggestion mildly amused her.

  “I mean it,” he insisted. “Grab it from me, Palla, you’ve got the shape, and you got the looks and you got the walk and the ways and the education. You got something peculiar — like you had been born a rich swell — I mean you kinda naturally act that way — kinda cocksure of yourself. Maybe you got it living with that Queen — —”

  Palla laughed outright.

  “So you think because I’ve seen a queen I ought to know how to act like a movie queen?”

  “Well,” he said, picking up his hat, “maybe if I go in with Angelo Puma some day I’ll see you again and we’ll talk it over.”

  She shook hands with him.

  “Be good,” he called back as she closed the front door behind him.

  The early winter night had fallen over Shadow Hill. Palla turned on the electric light, stood for a while looking sombrely at the framed photographs of her father and mother, then, feeling lonely, went into the kitchen where Martha was busy with preparations for dinner.

  “Martha,” she said, “I’m going to New York.”

  “Well, for the land’s sake — —”

  “Yes, and I’m going day after to-morrow.”

  “What on earth makes you act like a gypsy, Palla?” she demanded querulously, seasoning the soup and tasting it. “Your pa and ma wasn’t like that. They was satisfied to set and rest a mite after being away. But you’ve been gone four years ‘n more, and now you’r
e up and off again, hippity-skip! clippity-clip! — —”

  “I’m just going to run down to New York and look about. I want to look around and see what — —”

  “That’s you, Palla! That’s what you allus was doing as a child — allus looking about you with your wide brown eyes, to see what you could see in the world!... You know what curiosity did to the cat?”

  “What?”

  “Pinched her paw in the mouse-trap.”

  “I’ll be careful,” said the girl, laughing.

  CHAPTER V

  In touch with his unexciting business again, after many months of glorious absence, and seated once more at his abhorred yellow-oak desk, young Shotwell discovered it was anything except agreeable for him to gather up the ravelled thrums of civilian life after the thrilling taste of service over seas.

  For him, so long accustomed to excitement, the zest of living seemed to die with the signing of the armistice.

  In fact, since the Argonne drive, all luck seemed to have deserted him; for in the very middle of operations he had been sent back to the United States as instructor; and there the armistice had now caught him. Furthermore, then, before he realised what dreadful thing was happening to him, he had been politely assigned to that vague limbo supposedly inhabited by a mythical organisation known as The Officers’ Reserve Corps, and had been given indefinite leave of absence preliminary to being mustered out of the service of the United States.

  To part from his uniform was agonising, and he berated the fate that pried him loose from tunic and puttees. So disgusted was he that, although the Government allowed three months longer before discarding uniforms, he shed his in disgust for “cits.”

  But James Shotwell, Jr., was not the only man bewildered and annoyed by the rapidity of events which followed the first days of demobilisation. Half a dozen other young fellows in the big real estate offices of Clarence Sharrow & Co. found themselves yanked out of uniform and seated once more at their familiar, uninviting desks of yellow oak — very young men, mostly, assigned to various camps of special three-month instruction; and now cruelly interrupted while scrambling frantically after commissions in machine-gun companies, field artillery, flying units, and tank corps.