The Air Trust Part 11

With no further speech, and while Herzog still stood there by the shop door, sneering at him, Armstrong turned and pa.s.sed out. A few minutes later he had been paid off, had packed his knapsack with his few belongings, and was outside the big palisade, striding along the hard and glaring road toward the station.

"I did it," his one overmastering thought was. "Thank heaven, I did it!

I held my temper and my tongue, didn't kill that sp.a.w.n of h.e.l.l, and saved the whole situation. I'm out of a job, true enough, and out of the plant; but after all, I'm free--and I know what's in the wind!

"There's yet hope. There'll be a way, a way to do this work! What a man _must_ do, he _can_ do!"

Up came Armstrong's chin, as he walked. His shoulders squared, with strength and purpose, and his stride swung into the easy machine gait that had already carried him so many thousand miles along the hard and bitter highways of the world.

As he strode away, on the long road toward he knew not what, words seemed to form and shape in his strengthened and refortified mind--words for long years forgotten--words that he once had heard at his mother's knee:

"_He that ruleth his spirit is better than he that taketh a city!_"

CHAPTER X.

A GLIMPSE AT THE PARASITES.

The Longmeadow Country Club, on the Sat.u.r.day afternoon following Armstrong's abrupt dismissal, was a scene of gaiety and beauty without compare. Set in broad acres of wood and lawn, the club-house proudly dominated far-flung golf-links and nearer tennis-courts. Shining motors stood parked on the plaza before the club garage, each valued at several years' wages of a workingman. Men and women--exploiters all, or parasites--elegantly and coolly clad in white, smote the swift sphere upon the tennis-court, with jest and laughter. Others, attended by caddies--mere proletarian sc.u.m, bent beneath the weight of cleeks and bra.s.sies--moved across the smooth-cropped links, kept in condition by grazing sheep and by steam-rollers. On putting-green and around bunkers these idlers struggled with artificial difficulties, while in shops and mines and factories, on railways and in the blazing h.e.l.ls of stoke-holes, men of another cla.s.s, a slave-cla.s.s, labored and agonized, toiled and died that _these_ might wear fine linen and spend the long June afternoon in play.

From the huge, cobble-stone chimney of the Country Club, upwafting smoke told of the viands now preparing for the idlers' dinner, after sport--rich meats and dainties of the rarest. In the rathskeller some of the elder and more indolent men were absorbing alcohol while music played and painted nymphs of abundant charms looked down from the wall-frescoes. Out on the broad piazzas, well sheltered by awnings from the rather ardent sun, men and women sat at spotless tables, dallying with drinks of rare hues and exalted prices. Cigarette-smoke wafted away on the pure breeze from over the Catskills, far to northwest, defiling the sweet breath of Nature, herself, with fumes of nicotine and dope. A Hungarian orchestra was playing the latest Manhattan ragtime, at the far end of the piazza. It was, all in all, a scene of rare refinement, characteristic to a degree of the efflorescence of American capitalism.

At one of the tables, obviously bored, sat Catherine Flint, only daughter of the Billionaire. A rare girl, she, to look upon--deep-bosomed and erect, dressed simply in a middy-blouse with a blue tie, a khaki skirt and low, rubber-soled shoes revealing a silk-stockinged ankle that would have attracted the enthusiastic attention of gentlemen in any city of the world. No hat disfigured the coiled and braided ma.s.ses of coppery hair that circled her shapely head.

A healthy tan on face and arms and open throat bespoke her keen devotion to all outdoor life. Her fingers, lithe and strong, were graced by but two rings--a monogram, of gold, and the betrothal ring that Maxim Waldron had put there, only three weeks before.

Impatience dominated her. One could see that, in the nervous tapping of her fingers on the cloth; the slight swing of her right foot as she sat there, one knee crossed over the other; the glance of her keen, gray eyes down the broad drive-way that led from the huge stone gates up to the club-house.

Beside her sat a nonent.i.ty in impeccable dress, dangling a monocle and trying to make small-talk, the while he dallied with a Bronx c.o.c.ktail, costing more than a day's wage for a childish flower-making slave of the tenements, and inhaled a Rotten Row cigarette, the "last word" from London in the tobacco line. To the sallies of this elegant, the girl replied by only monosyllables. Her gla.s.s was empty, nor would she have it filled, despite the exquisite's entreaties. From time to time she glanced impatiently at the long bag of golf-sticks leaning against the porch rail; and, now and then, her eyes sought the little Cervine watch set in a leather wristlet on her arm.

"Inconsiderate of him, I'm sure--ah--to keep so magnificent a Diana waiting," drawled her companion, blowing a lungful of thin blue smoke athwart the breeze. "Especially when you're so deuced keen on doing the course before dinner. Now if _I_ were the favored swain, wild horses wouldn't keep me away."

She made no answer, but turned a look of indifference on the shrimp beside her. Had he possessed the soul of a real man, he would have shriveled; but, being oblivious to all things save the pride of wealth and monstrous self-conceit, he merely snickered and reached for his c.o.c.ktail--which, by the way, he was absorbing through a straw.

"I say, Miss Flint?" he presently began again, stirring the ice in the c.o.c.ktail.

"Well?" she answered, curtly.

"If you--er--are really very, _very_ impatient to have a go at the links, why wait for Wally? I--I should be only too glad to volunteer my services as your knight-errant, and all that sort of thing."

"Thanks, awfully," she answered, "but Mr. Waldron promised to go round the course with me, this afternoon, and I'll wait."

The impeccable one grinned fatuously, invited her again to have a drink--which she declined--and ordered another for himself, with profuse apologies for drinking alone; apologies which she hardly seemed to notice.

"Deuced bad form of Wally, I must say," the gilded youth resumed, trying to make capital for himself, "to leave you in the lurch, this way!"

Silence from Catherine. The would-be interloper, feeling that he was on the wrong track, took counsel with himself and remained for a moment immersed in what he imagined to be thought. At last, however, with an oblique glance at his indifferent companion, he remarked.

"Devilish hard time women have in this world, you know! Don't you sometimes wish you were a man?"

Her answer flashed back like a rapier:

"No! Do you wish _you_ were?"

Stunned by this "facer," Reginald Van Slyke gasped and stared. That he, a scion of the Philadelphia Van Slykes, in his own right worth two hundred million dollars--dollars ground out of the Kensington carpet-mill slaves by his grandfather--should be thus flouted and put upon by the daughter of Flint, that parvenu, absolutely floored him. For a moment he sat there speechless, unable even to reach for his drink; but presently some coherence returned. He was about to utter what he conceived to be a strong rejoinder, when the girl suddenly standing up, turned her back upon him and ignored him as completely as she might have ignored any of the menials of the club.

His irritated glance followed hers. There, far down the drive, just rounding the long turn by the artificial lake, a big blue motor car was speeding up the grade at a good clip. Van Slyke recognized it, and swore below his breath.

"Wally, at last, d.a.m.n him!" he muttered. "Just when I was beginning to make headway with Kate!"

Vexed beyond endurance, he drummed on the cloth with angry fingers; but Catherine was oblivious. Unmindful of the merry-makers at the other tables, the girl waved her handkerchief at the swiftly-approaching motor. Waldron, from the back seat, raised an answering hand--though without enthusiasm. Above all things he hated demonstration, and the girl's frank manner, free, unconventional and not yet broken to the harness of Mrs. Grundy, never failed to irritate him.

"Very incorrect for people in our set," he often thought. "But for the present I can do nothing. Once she is my wife, ah, then I shall find means to curb her. For the present, however, I must let her have her head."

Such was now his frame of mind as the long car slid under the porte-cochere and came to a stand. He would have infinitely preferred that the girl should wait his coming to her, on the piazza; but already she had slung her bag of sticks over her strong shoulder, and was down the steps to meet him. Her leave-taking of the incensed Van Slyke had been the merest nod.

"You're late, Wally," said she, smiling with her usual good humor, which had already quite dissipated her impatience. "Late, but I'll forgive you, this time. I'm afraid we won't have time to do all eighteen holes round. What kept you?"

"Business, business!" he answered, frowning. "Always the same old grind, Kate. You women don't understand. I tell you, this slaving in Wall Street isn't what it's cracked up to be. I couldn't get away till 11:30. Then, just had a quick bite of lunch, and broke every speed law in New York getting here. Do you forgive me?"

He had descended from the car, in speaking. They shook hands, while the chauffeur stood at attention and all the gossips on the piazza, scenting the possibility of a disagreement, craned discreetly eager necks and listened intently.

"Forgive you? Of course--this time, but never again," the girl laughed.

"Now, run along and get into your flannels. I'll meet you on the driving green, in ten minutes. Not another second, mind, or--"

"I'll be on the dot," he answered. "Here, boy," beckoning a caddy, "take Miss Flint's sticks. And have mine carried to the green. Look sharp, now!"

Then, with a nod at the girl, he ran up the steps and vanished in the club-house, bound for the locker-room.

Fifteen minutes the girl waited on the green, watching others drive off from the little tees and inwardly chafing to be in action. Fifteen, and then twenty, before Waldron finally appeared, immaculate in white, bare-armed and with a loose, checked cap shading his close-set eyes. The fact was, in addition to having changed his clothes, he had felt obliged to linger in the bar for a little Scotch; and one drink had meant another; and thus precious moments had sped.

But his smile was confident as he approached the green. Women, after all, he reflected, were meant to be kept waiting. They never appreciated a man who kept appointments exactly. Not less fatuous at heart, in truth, was he, than the unfortunate Van Slyke. But his manner was perfection as he saluted her and bade the caddy build their tees.

The girl, however, was now plainly vexed. Her mouth had drawn a trifle tight and the tilt of her chin was determined. Her eyes were far from soft, as she surveyed this delinquent fiance.

"I don't like you a bit, today, Wally," said she, as he deliberated over the club-bag, choosing a driver. "This makes twice you've kept me waiting. I warn you don't let it happen again!"

Under the seeming banter of her tone lurked real resentment. But he, with a smile--partly due to a finger too much Scotch--only answered, in a low tone:

"You're adorable, today, Kate! The combination of fresh air and annoyance has painted the most wonderful roses on your cheeks!"

She shrugged her shoulders with a little motion she had inherited from French ancestry, stooped, set her golf ball on the little mound of sand, exactly to suit her, and raised her driver on high.

"Nine holes," said she, "and I'm going to beat you, today!"

He frowned a little at the spirit of the threat, for any self-a.s.sertion in a woman crossed his grain; but soon forgot his pique in admiration of the drive.

Swishing, her club flashed down in a quick circle. _Crack_! It struck the gutta-percha squarely. The little white sphere zipped away like a rocket, rose in a far trajectory, up, up, toward the water-hazard at the foot of the gra.s.sy slope, then down in a long curve.