Speaker 1: Chapter twenty six of Cloudy Jewel. This is the LibriVox recording.
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Speaker 1: by Terra Mendoza. Cloudy Jewel by Grace livingstone Hill, Chapter
Speaker 1: twenty six. Howard Letchworth settled himself comfortably by an open
Speaker 1: window in the five twelve Express and spread out the
Speaker 1: evening paper, turning, like any true college man, first to
Speaker 1: the sporting page. He was anxious to know how his
Speaker 1: team had come out in the season's greatest contest with
Speaker 1: another larger college. He had hoped to be there to
Speaker 1: witness the game himself, and in fact the Clouds had
Speaker 1: invited him to go with him in their car, but unfortunately,
Speaker 1: at the last minute, a telegram came from a firm
Speaker 1: with whom he expected to be located during the summer,
Speaker 1: saying that their representative would be in the city that
Speaker 1: afternoon and would like to see him. Howard had been
Speaker 1: obliged to give up the day's pleasure and see his
Speaker 1: friends start off without him. Now his business over, he
Speaker 1: was returning to college and having his first minute of
Speaker 1: leisure to see how the game came out. The train
Speaker 1: was crowded, for it was just a closing time and
Speaker 1: every one was in a rush to get home. Engrossed
Speaker 1: in his paper, he noticed none of them until some
Speaker 1: one dropped, or rather sprawled in the seat beside him,
Speaker 1: taking far more room than was really necessary and making
Speaker 1: a lot of fuss pulling up his trousers and getting
Speaker 1: his patent leathered feet adjusted to suit him around a
Speaker 1: very handsome soul leather suit case, which he crowded unceremoniously
Speaker 1: over to Howard's side of the floor. The intruder next
Speaker 1: addressed himself to the arrangement of a rich and striking necktie,
Speaker 1: and seemed to have no compunctions about annoying his neighbor
Speaker 1: during the process. Howard glanced up in surprise as a
Speaker 1: more strenuous knock than before jarred his paper out of focus.
Speaker 1: He saw a young fellow of about his own age,
Speaker 1: with a face that would have been strikingly handsome if
Speaker 1: it had not also been bold and conceited. He had
Speaker 1: large dark eyes set off by long curling blue black lashes,
Speaker 1: black hair that crinkled close to his head in satiny,
Speaker 1: sleek sheen, well chiseled features, all save a loose, hum
Speaker 1: insolent lip that gave the impression of great self indulgence
Speaker 1: and selfishness. He was dressed with a careful regard to
Speaker 1: the fashion, and with evidently no regard whatever for cost.
Speaker 1: He bore the mark at once of wealth and snobbishness. Howard,
Speaker 1: in spite of his newly acquired desire to look upon
Speaker 1: all men as brothers, found himself disliking him with a
Speaker 1: vehemence that was out of all proportion to the occasion.
Speaker 1: Don't they have any Pallas cars on this road? The
Speaker 1: question was addressed to him in a calm, insolent tone,
Speaker 1: as if he were a paid servitor of the road.
Speaker 1: He looked up amusedly and eyed the stranger pityingly. Not
Speaker 1: so as you'd notice it, he remarked, crushingly, as he
Speaker 1: turned back to his paper. People on this road too
Speaker 1: busy to use em. But the stranger did not crush easily.
Speaker 1: Live far out, he asked, turning his big, bold eyes
Speaker 1: on his seat mate and calmly examining him from the
Speaker 1: toe of a well worn shoe to the crown of
Speaker 1: a dusty old hat. That Howard was trying to make
Speaker 1: last till the end of the season. When he had
Speaker 1: finished the survey, his eyes traveled complacently back to his
Speaker 1: own immaculate attire and his well polished shoes, fresh from
Speaker 1: the hands of the city. Stationed blot black. With a
Speaker 1: well manicured thumb and finger, he flecked an imaginary bit
Speaker 1: of dust from the knee of his trousers. Howard named
Speaker 1: the college town brusquely. Ah. Indeed, another survey, brief and
Speaker 1: significant this time, I don't suppose you know any people
Speaker 1: at the college. It was scarcely a question, more like
Speaker 1: a statement of a deplorable fact. Howard was suddenly amused. Oh,
Speaker 1: a few, he said briefly. He was just finishing his
Speaker 1: senior year rather brilliantly, and his professors were more than
Speaker 1: proud of him. Another glance seemed to say in what capacity?
Speaker 1: But the elegant youth finally decided to voice another question.
Speaker 1: Don't happen to know a fellow by the name of Cloud?
Speaker 1: I suppose owl Cla, I've met him, said Howard, with
Speaker 1: his eyes still on his paper. He's from my state,
Speaker 1: announced the youth, with a puff of importance. We live
Speaker 1: next door in California. He's a regular guy. He is
Speaker 1: got all kinds of money comin to him. He'll be
Speaker 1: of age in a month or two now, and then
Speaker 1: you'll see him start somethin He's some spender, he is.
Speaker 1: Howard made no comment, but something in him revolted at
Speaker 1: the idea of talking over his friend in such company.
Speaker 1: I've got to hunt him up, went on the young man,
Speaker 1: not noticing that his auditor appeared uninterested. I'm to stay
Speaker 1: with him tonight. I was descend a telegram, but didn't
Speaker 1: think of it till it was almost train time. Guess
Speaker 1: it won't make much difference. The Clouds always used to
Speaker 1: keep open house. I suppose they have a swell place
Speaker 1: out here. Oh it's quite comfortable, I believe. Howard turned
Speaker 1: over a page of the paper and fell to reading
Speaker 1: an article on the high price of sugar and the
Speaker 1: prospect of a fall. You ought to see there dump
Speaker 1: out in Calli. It's some mansion, Believe me. There wasn't
Speaker 1: anything else in that part of the state to compare
Speaker 1: with it. For miles around and cash. They had cash
Speaker 1: to burn. The old man was just lousy with gold,
Speaker 1: you know, struck a rich mind. Years ago his wife
Speaker 1: had a pile too. Her father was all kinds of
Speaker 1: a millionaire and left every bit to her and Alan
Speaker 1: his sister'll get everything seen anything of her. She ought
Speaker 1: to be a winner pretty soon. She was a peach
Speaker 1: when she was little. She's some speedy kid. We used
Speaker 1: to play together, you know, and our folks sort of
Speaker 1: fixed it up that we were just made for each
Speaker 1: other and all that sort of thing, you know. But
Speaker 1: I don't know. I'm not going to be bound by
Speaker 1: any such nonsense, of course, unless I like one doesn't
Speaker 1: want one's wife to be such an awfully good shot,
Speaker 1: for instance, you know, A great anger surged up in
Speaker 1: Howard's soul, and his jaw set with a fierce line
Speaker 1: that those who knew him well had learned to understand
Speaker 1: meant self control under deep provocation. He would have liked
Speaker 1: nothing better than to surprise the insolent young snob with
Speaker 1: a well directed blow in his pretty face that would
Speaker 1: have sent him sprawling in the aisle. His hands fairly
Speaker 1: twitched to give him the lesson that he needed, but
Speaker 1: he only replied with a slight, inscrutable smile in one
Speaker 1: corner of his mouth. It might be inconvenient for some people.
Speaker 1: There and aloofness in his tone that did not encourage
Speaker 1: further remarks. But the young stranger was evidently not thin skinned.
Speaker 1: Or Elsie loved to hear himself babbling, I'm coming on here,
Speaker 1: you know, to look this college over, he drawled. If
Speaker 1: it suits me, I may come here next year. Got
Speaker 1: fired from these institutions out west for Larkin. Father thought
Speaker 1: I'd better go east. Awhile any fun doing out this way.
Speaker 1: I suppose those that go to college looking for it
Speaker 1: can find it, answered Howard noncommonly. Well, that's what I'm
Speaker 1: looking for. That's about all anybody goes to college for
Speaker 1: anyway that an makin a lot o friends. Believe me,
Speaker 1: it would be a beastly bore of a One't for that.
Speaker 1: Ol Cloud used to be a lively one. I'll wager
Speaker 1: he's into everything. See much of the college people down
Speaker 1: in town, do you, he eyed his companion patronizingly. Suppose
Speaker 1: you get in on some of the spoets now and then, oh, occasionally,
Speaker 1: said Howard with a twinkle in his eye. He was
Speaker 1: captain of the football team and forward in basketball, but
Speaker 1: it didn't seem necessary to mention it. Any fellows with
Speaker 1: any pep in the mound here. I s'pose they must be,
Speaker 1: or I wouldn't stay unless he's changed. He used to
Speaker 1: keep things pretty lively. That's one reason why I told
Speaker 1: Dad I'd come out here. I like a place with
Speaker 1: plenty of ginger. It gets my goat to be among
Speaker 1: a lot of grinds an sissies. This is a ko
Speaker 1: egg college, Isn't it? That suits me all right? If
Speaker 1: the girls have any pep and aren't too straight laced.
Speaker 1: Any place around here where you can go off an
Speaker 1: take a girl for a good dinner and a dash
Speaker 1: of life. I couldn't stand for any good little boy stuff. Know,
Speaker 1: any place around here where you can get a drink
Speaker 1: of the real thing now, and then some place near
Speaker 1: enough to go joy riding to. You know, I'll bring
Speaker 1: my car. Of course, one can get away with a
Speaker 1: lot more stuff if they have their own car, you know,
Speaker 1: especially where there's girls. You can't pull off any devilmn
Speaker 1: if you have to depend on hard cause you might
Speaker 1: get caught. I suppose they have some pretty spicy times
Speaker 1: down at the frat rooms, don't they. I understood the
Speaker 1: frats were mostly located down in the town. Howard suddenly
Speaker 1: folded his paper, looking squarely in the limpid eyes of
Speaker 1: his seat mate for the first time with a cold, searching,
Speaker 1: subduing gaze. I really couldn't say, he answered coldly. Oh,
Speaker 1: I s'pose you're not interested in that sort of thing,
Speaker 1: not being in college, said the other insolently. But ow
Speaker 1: clad'll put me wise. He's no grind. I'll wager he's
Speaker 1: always in for a good time, and he's such a
Speaker 1: good bluff he never gets found out. Now, I somehow
Speaker 1: always get caught, even when I'm not the guilty one.
Speaker 1: The boy laughed uproariously, as if it were a good joke,
Speaker 1: and his weak chin seemed to grow weaker in the process.
Speaker 1: Howard was growing angry and haughty, but it was his
Speaker 1: way to be calm and excited. He did not laugh
Speaker 1: with the stranger, and steady waited until the joke had
Speaker 1: lost its amusement, and then he turned soberly to the
Speaker 1: youth with as patronizing an air as ever the other
Speaker 1: had worn. Son, you've got another guest coming, tea about
Speaker 1: Alison Cloud. You'll have the surprise of your young life
Speaker 1: when you see him. I imagine why he's been an
Speaker 1: a student ever since he came to this college, and
Speaker 1: he has the highest average this last semester of any
Speaker 1: man in his class. As for bluff, he's as clear
Speaker 1: as crystal and a prince of a fellow. And if
Speaker 1: you're looking for a spot where you can bluff your
Speaker 1: way through college, you better seek elsewhere. Bluff doesn't go down.
Speaker 1: In our college. We have student government, and I happen
Speaker 1: to be chairman of the student exec Just now, you'd
Speaker 1: better change your tactics if you expect to remain here.
Speaker 1: Excuse me, I see a friend up at the front
Speaker 1: of the car, with which remarks Howard Letchworth strode across
Speaker 1: the sprawling legs of his fellow traveler and departed up
Speaker 1: the aisle, leaving the elegant stranger to enjoy the whole
Speaker 1: seat and his own company. Thus, Dick Clive Terence introduced
Speaker 1: himself to Howard Lutchworth and bring dismay into the little
Speaker 1: click of four young people who have been enjoying a
Speaker 1: most unusually perfect friendship. Howard Lutchworth, as he stood the
Speaker 1: rest of the ride on the front platform of the car,
Speaker 1: conversing with apparent interest with a fraternity brother, was nevertheless
Speaker 1: filled with a growing dismay. Now and then he glanced
Speaker 1: back and glared down the aisle at the elegant, sprawling youth,
Speaker 1: and wondered how it was that of being as insignificant
Speaker 1: as that could so upset his equilirium. But the assured
Speaker 1: drawl of the stranger as he spoke of Leslie and
Speaker 1: called her a speedy kid, and made him boil with rage.
Speaker 1: He carried the mood back to college with him, and
Speaker 1: sat gloomily at the table, thinking the whole incident over,
Speaker 1: while the banter and chafing went on about him unnoticed.
Speaker 1: Underneath it all there was a deep uneasiness that would
Speaker 1: not be set aside. The young man had said that
Speaker 1: the clouds were very wealthy, that Leslie was especially so,
Speaker 1: that when she was of age she would have a
Speaker 1: vast inheritance. There had been no sign of great wealth
Speaker 1: or ostentation in their living, But if that were so,
Speaker 1: then there was an insuperbable wall between him and her.
Speaker 1: It was strange that the question of wealth had never
Speaker 1: come up between them. Howard had known that they were
Speaker 1: comfortably off. Of course, they had a beautiful car and
Speaker 1: or good clothes, and were always free with their entertaining,
Speaker 1: But they lived in a modest house and never made
Speaker 1: any pretenses. It had not occurred to him that they
Speaker 1: were any better off than he might be some day
Speaker 1: if he worked hard. They never talked about their circumstances.
Speaker 1: Of course, now he came to think about it. There
Speaker 1: were fine mahogany pieces of furniture in the little house,
Speaker 1: and wonderful rugs and things. But they all fitted in
Speaker 1: so harmoniously with their surroundings that it never occurred to
Speaker 1: him that they might have cost a mint of money.
Speaker 1: They never cried out their prize to those who saw them.
Speaker 1: They were simply the fitting thing in the fitting place,
Speaker 1: doing their service, as all right minded things, both animate
Speaker 1: and inanimate in this world should do. It was the
Speaker 1: first serpent in the eden of this wonderful friendship at
Speaker 1: Cloudy Villa, and it stung the proud, spirited young man
Speaker 1: to the soul. Alone in his room that night, he
Speaker 1: finally gave up all pretense at study and faced the truth.
Speaker 1: He had been drifting in a delightful dream during the
Speaker 1: last two years, with only a vague and alluring idea
Speaker 1: of the future before him, a future in which there
Speaker 1: was no question but that Alison Cloud and his sister
Speaker 1: Leslie should figure intimately. Now, he was suddenly and roughly
Speaker 1: awakened to ask himself whether he had any right to
Speaker 1: count on all this. If these young people belonged to
Speaker 1: the favored few of the world who were rolling in wealth,
Speaker 1: wasn't it together likely that when they finished college they
Speaker 1: would pass out of this comradele atmosphere into a world
Speaker 1: of their own, with a new set of laws whereby
Speaker 1: to judge and choose their friends and life companions. He
Speaker 1: could not quite imagine Allison and Leslie as anything but
Speaker 1: the frank, friendly, enthusiastic comrades they have been since he
Speaker 1: had known them. And yet he knew the world, knew
Speaker 1: what the love of money could do to a human soul,
Speaker 1: for he had seen it many times before in people
Speaker 1: he had come to love and trust, who had grown
Speaker 1: selfish and forgetful as soon as money and power were
Speaker 1: put into their hands. He had to confess that it
Speaker 1: was possible. Also, his own pride forbid him to wish
Speaker 1: to force himself into a crowd where he could not
Speaker 1: hold his own and pay his part. They would simply
Speaker 1: not be in his class, at least not for many years.
Speaker 1: To come, and his heart sank with desolation. It was then,
Speaker 1: and not till then, that the heart of the trouble
Speaker 1: came out and looked him in the face. It was
Speaker 1: not that he could not be in their class, that
Speaker 1: he could not keep pace with Alice and Cloud, and
Speaker 1: come and go in his company as freely as he
Speaker 1: had done. It was that he loved the bright haired Leslie,
Speaker 1: the sweet faced, eager, earnest, wonderful girl. She held his
Speaker 1: future happiness in her little rosy hand. And if she
Speaker 1: really were a rich girl, he couldn't, of course tell
Speaker 1: her now that he loved her, because he was a
Speaker 1: poor man. He didn't expect to stay poor always, of course,
Speaker 1: but it would be a great many years before he
Speaker 1: could ever hope to compete with anything like wealth. And
Speaker 1: during those years, who might not take her from him?
Speaker 1: Was it conceivable that such a cat as that youth,
Speaker 1: who had boasted himself a playmate of her childhood, could
Speaker 1: possibly win her. Howard went out and sat on the
Speaker 1: campus under a great shadowing tree. He watched a silver
Speaker 1: thread of a moon slip down between the branches and
Speaker 1: dip behind the hill. And while he sat there, he
Speaker 1: went through all the desolation of a lonely life, the
Speaker 1: bitterness of having Leslie taken from him by one who
Speaker 1: was unworthy. He persuaded himself that he loved her enough
Speaker 1: to be willing to step aside and give her up
Speaker 1: to a man who was better than himself. But this
Speaker 1: little whiffet ugh. The chimes on the library pealed out
Speaker 1: nine o'clock, reminding him of his work half done. Yet
Speaker 1: the shadow of engulfing sorrow and loss hung over him.
Speaker 1: With a jerk, he drew himself up and tried to
Speaker 1: grasp at common sense. How ridiculous of him to get
Speaker 1: up all this nightmare out of a few minutes talk
Speaker 1: with a fellow who used to be the cloud's old neighbor.
Speaker 1: He might not have been telling the truth, And anyhow,
Speaker 1: it was a libel on friendship to distrust them all
Speaker 1: in this way, as though riches were some kind of
Speaker 1: a disease like leprosy that set people apart. It wasn't
Speaker 1: his night to go down to the village, but just
Speaker 1: to dispel this nonsense and bring back his normal state
Speaker 1: of mind, he would go and drop in on the
Speaker 1: clouds for a few minutes. A sight of them all
Speaker 1: would reassure him and clear his brain for the work
Speaker 1: he must do before midnight. Lest the cloud was very
Speaker 1: young yet, and much can happen in a year or two.
Speaker 1: He might even be in a fair way to make
Speaker 1: a fortune himself somewhere, who knew. And as for that
Speaker 1: little cad, it was nonsense to suppose he was anything
Speaker 1: to fear. Besides, it wasn't time yet to think about
Speaker 1: being married, when he wasn't even out of college. He
Speaker 1: would forget it and work the harder. Of course, he
Speaker 1: could never quite go back and forget that he had
Speaker 1: admitted to himself that he was in love with Leslie,
Speaker 1: but he would keep it like a precious jewel, hid
Speaker 1: far in his heart, so carefully locked that not even
Speaker 1: for his own delight would he'd take it out to
Speaker 1: look at it. Now at this time, having thus resolved,
Speaker 1: a weight seemed to have rolled from his shoulders, and
Speaker 1: he sprang up and walked with a quick tread down
Speaker 1: to the village. There was a cheerful clang of Victrolla's
Speaker 1: player pianos and twanging guitars as he passed the fraternity rooms,
Speaker 1: and he went whistling on his way towards the cloudy villa.
Speaker 1: But as he neared the tall arched hedge and looked
Speaker 1: eagerly for the welcome light, he saw that the big
Speaker 1: living room windows were only lit by a soft play
Speaker 1: of firelight. Did that mean they were all sitting in
Speaker 1: the firelight around the hearth? A fearful thought of the
Speaker 1: stranger intruded just here upon his fine resolves, and to
Speaker 1: dispel it, he knocked noisily on the little brass knocker.
Speaker 1: It was very still inside, but a quick electric light
Speaker 1: responded to his knock, and in a moment he could
Speaker 1: hear some one coming downstairs to the door. His heart leaped.
Speaker 1: Could it be Leslie? Ah? He must not yet how
Speaker 1: wonderful it was going to be to look at her
Speaker 1: this first time, after really knowing his own heart in
Speaker 1: plain language? Could he keep the joy of her out
Speaker 1: of his eyes and the wonder of her from his voice?
Speaker 1: Then the door opened, and there stood Cherry in negligee
Speaker 1: of flaring rose, caught and crape, embroidered with gorgeous peacocks
Speaker 1: and her pigtails and eclipse behind an arrangement of cheap
Speaker 1: lace and pink ribbons. No, suh, mister, howitt da ain't
Speaker 1: none of 'em be here. Dey got company some young
Speaker 1: fellow from back to californyway Daydon took him out to
Speaker 1: sea to town. Howard's heart sank, and he turned his
Speaker 1: heavy footsteps back to the collin. The worst fear had
Speaker 1: come to pass. Of course, reason asserted itself, and he
Speaker 1: told himself that he was a fool, a perfect fool.
Speaker 1: Of course, they had to be polite to an old neighbor,
Speaker 1: whether they liked him or not. And what was he
Speaker 1: to presume to judge a stranger from a five minute
Speaker 1: conversation and turn him down so completely that he wasn't
Speaker 1: willing to have his old friends even like him while
Speaker 1: he was worse than he had thought of himself, and
Speaker 1: something would have to be done about it. What he
Speaker 1: did about it was to stay away from Cloudy Villa
Speaker 1: for almost a week, and when Leslie, at last, after
Speaker 1: repeated efforts to get hold of him by telephone, called
Speaker 1: him up to say there was an important committee meeting
Speaker 1: at the church which he ought to attend, he excused
Speaker 1: his long absence by telling how busy he had been.
Speaker 1: Of course he had been busy, but Leslie knew that
Speaker 1: he had always been busy and yet had found time
Speaker 1: to come in often. She was inclined to be hurt
Speaker 1: and just the least bit stand offish. Of course, if
Speaker 1: he didn't want to come, he needn't, And she took
Speaker 1: Clive Terence driving in the car and showed him all
Speaker 1: the wonders of the surrounding neighborhood with much more cordiality
Speaker 1: than she really felt. It was her way of bearing
Speaker 1: her hurt. At last, she got Allison by himself and
Speaker 1: asked him, quite casually, why Howard hadn't been down. But Allison,
Speaker 1: in haste to keep an appointment with Jane, and knowing
Speaker 1: that Howard enjoyed being down as much as they wanted him,
Speaker 1: hadn't even noticed the absence yet. Oh, he's up to
Speaker 1: his eyes in work, responded Allison. He's likely busy as
Speaker 1: a one armed paper hanger with fleas. He's a senior,
Speaker 1: you know. Wait till next year and you'll see me
Speaker 1: in the same boat. And he hurried away, whistling. End
Speaker 1: of chapter twenty six. Recording by Terra Mendoza, Phoenix, Arizona,
Speaker 1: April two thousand eleven,