The Foolish Virgin
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Thomas Dixon >> The Foolish Virgin
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Dear Parson:--I like Nancy so well, I send ye the
hole dawg, anyhow.
She hadn't a doubt that Jim would feel the same
way--but she hoped he hadn't forgotten his pocketbook.
The scene had flashed through her mind in a single
moment. She had bitten her lips and kept from laughing
by a supreme effort. Not a word of the solemn
ceremonial, however, had escaped her consciousness.
"And in the face of this company," the preacher's
rich voice was saying, "to join together this Man and
this Woman in holy Matrimony; which is commended of St.
Paul to be honorable among all men: and therefore is
not by any to be entered into unadvisedly or lightly;
but reverently, discreetly, advisedly, soberly, and in
the fear of God. Into this holy estate these two
persons present come now to be joined. If any man
can show just cause, why they may not lawfully be
joined together, let him now speak, or else hereafter
for ever hold his peace."
Craddock paused, and his piercing eyes searched the
man and woman before him.
"I require to charge you both, as ye will answer at
the dreadful day of judgment, when the secrets of all
hearts shall be disclosed, that if either of you know
any impediment, why ye may not be lawfully joined
together in Matrimony, ye do now confess it----"
Again he paused. The perspiration stood in beads
on Jim's forehead, and he glanced uneasily at Mary from
the corners of his drooping eyes. A smile was playing
about her mouth, and Jim was cheered.
"For be ye well assured," the preacher continued,
"that if any persons are joined together otherwise than
as God's Word doth allow, their marriage is not
lawful."
He turned with deliberation to Jim and transfixed
him with the first question of the ceremony. The groom
was hypnotized into a state of abject terror. His ears
heard the words; the mind recorded but the vaguest idea
of what they meant.
"Wilt thou have this Woman to thy wedded wife,
to live together after God's ordinance in the holy
estate of Matrimony? Wilt thou love her, comfort her,
honor, and keep her in sickness and in health; and,
forsaking all others, keep thee only unto her, so long
as ye both shall live?"
Jim's mouth was open; his lower jaw had dropped in
dazed awe, and he continued to stare straight into the
preacher's face until Mary pressed his arm and
whispered:
"Jim!"
"I will--yes, I will--you bet I will!" he hastened
to answer.
The children giggled, and the preacher's lips
twitched.
He turned quickly to Mary.
"Wilt thou have this Man to thy wedded husband, to
live together after God's ordinance, in the holy estate
of Matrimony? Wilt thou obey him, and serve him, love,
honor, and keep him in sickness and in health; and,
forsaking all others, keep thee only unto him, so long
as ye both shall live?"
With quick, clear voice, Mary answered:
"I will."
"Please join your right hands and repeat after
me:"
He fixed Jim with his gaze and spoke with
deliberation, clause by clause:
"I, James, take thee, Mary, to my wedded wife, to
have and to hold from this day forward, for better, for
worse, for richer, for poorer, in sickness and in
health, to love and to cherish, till death us do part,
according to God's holy ordinance; and thereto I plight
thee my troth."
Jim's throat at first was husky with fear, but he
caught each clause with quick precision and repeated
them without a hitch.
He smiled and congratulated himself: "I got ye
that time, old cull!"
The preacher's eyes sought Mary's:
"I, Mary, take thee, James, to my wedded husband,
to have and to hold from this day forward, for better
for worse, for richer for poorer, in sickness and in
health, to love, cherish, and to obey, till death do us
part, according to God's holy ordinance; and thereto I
give thee my troth."
In the sweetest musical voice, quivering with
happiness, the girl repeated the words.
Again the preacher's eyes sought Jim's:
AND THE MAN SHALL GIVE UNTO THE WOMAN A RING----
The groom fumbled in his pocket and found at
last the ring, which he handed to Mary. The minister
at once took it from her hand and handed it back to
Jim.
The bride lifted her left hand, deftly extending
the fourth finger, and the groom slipped the ring on,
and held it firmly gripped as he had been instructed.
"With this ring I thee wed----"
"With this ring I thee wed----" Jim repeated
firmly.
"----and with all my worldly goods I thee
endow----"
"----and with all my worldly goods I thee
endow----"
"In the Name of the Father----"
"In the Name of the Father----"
"----and of the Son----"
"----and of the Son----"
"----and of the Holy Ghost----"
"----and of the Holy Ghost----"
"Amen!"
"Amen!"
The voice of the preacher's prayer that followed
rang far-away and unreal to the heart of the girl. Her
vivid imagination had leaped the years. Her spirit did
not return to earth and time and place until the
minister seized her right hand and joined it to Jim's.
"Those whom God hath joined together let no man put
asunder!
"Forasmuch as James Anthony and Mary Adams have
consented together in holy wedlock, and have witnessed
the same before God and this company, and thereto have
given and pledged their troth, each to the other, and
have declared the same by giving and receiving a Ring,
and by joining hands; I pronounce that they are Man and
Wife, In the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of
the Holy Ghost. Amen."
The preacher lifted his hands solemnly above their
heads.
"God the Father, God the Son, God the Holy Ghost,
bless, preserve, and keep you; the Lord mercifully with
His favor look upon you, and fill you with all
spiritual benediction and grace; that ye may so live
together in this life, that in the world to come ye may
have life everlasting. AMEN."
The preacher took Mary's hand.
"Your father is my friend, child. This is for
him----"
He bent quickly and kissed her lips, while Jim
gasped in astonishment.
The minister's wife congratulated them both. The
two older children smilingly advanced and added their
voices in good wishes.
Mary whispered to Jim:
"Don't forget the preacher's fee!"
"Lord, how much? Will fifty be enough? It's all
I've got."
"Give him twenty. We'll need the rest."
It was not until they were seated in the waiting
cab and sank back among the shadows, that Jim crushed
her in his arms and kissed her until she cried for
mercy.
"The gall of that preacher, kissing you!" he
muttered savagely. "You know, I come within an ace of
pasting him one on the nose!"
CHAPTER XI
"UNTIL DEATH"
The lights burned in the hall with unusual brightness.
Ella stood in the open door of the room, through which
the light was streaming. With its radiance came the
perfume of roses--the scrub-woman's gift of love. The
room was a bower of gorgeous flowers. She had spent
her last cent in this extravagance.
Mary swept the place with a look of amazement.
"Oh, Ella," she cried, "how could you be so silly!"
"You like them, ja?" Ella asked softly.
"They're glorious--but you should not have made
such a sacrifice for me."
"For myself, maybe, I do it--all for myself to make
me happy, too, tonight."
She dismissed the subject with a wave of her hand
and placed the chairs beside the beautifully set table.
"Dinner is all ready," she announced
cheerfully. "And shall I go now and leave you?
Or will you let me serve your dinner first?"
A sudden panic seized the bride.
"Stay and serve the dinner, Ella, if you will," she
quickly answered.
Jim frowned, but seated himself in business-like
fashion.
"All right; I'm ready for it, old girl!"
With soft tread and swift, deft touch, Ella served
the dinner, standing prim and stiff and ghost-like
behind Jim's chair between the courses.
The bride watched her, fascinated by the pallor of
her haggard face and the queer suggestion of Death
which her appearance made in spite of the background of
flowers. She had dressed herself in a simple skirt and
shirtwaist of spotless white. The material seemed to
be draped on her tall figure, thin to emaciation. The
chalk-like pallor of her face brought out with
startling sharpness the deep, hollow caverns beneath
her straight eyebrows. Her single eye shone unusually
bright.
Gradually the grim impression grew that Death was
hovering over her bridal feast--a foolish fancy which
persisted in her highly-wrought nervous state. Yet the
idea, once fixed, could not be crushed. In vain she
used her will to bring her wandering mind back to
the joyous present. Each time she lifted her eyes they
rested upon the silent, white figure with its single
eye piercing the depths of her soul.
She could endure it no longer. She nodded and
smiled wanly at Ella.
"You may go now!"
The woman gazed at the bride in surprise.
"I shall come again--yes?"
"Tomorrow morning, Ella, you may help me."
The white figure paused uncertainly at the door,
and her drawling voice breathed her parting word
tenderly:
"Good night!"
The bride closed her eyes and answered.
"Good night, Ella!"
The door closed. Jim rose quickly and bolted it.
"Thank God!" he exclaimed fervently. He fixed his
slumbering eyes on his wife for a moment, saw the
frightened look, walked quickly back to the table and
took his seat.
"Now, Kiddo, we can eat in peace."
"Yes, I'd rather be alone," she sighed.
"I must say," Jim went on briskly, "that parson of
yours did give us a run for our money."
"I like the old, long ceremony best."
"Well, you see, I ain't never had much choice--
but do you know what I thought was the best thing
in it?"
"No--what?"
"UNTIL DEATH DO US PART! Gee how he did ring
out on that! His voice sounded to me like a big bell
somewhere away up in the clouds. Did you hear me sing
it back at him?"
Mary smiled nervously.
"You had found your voice then."
"You bet I had! I muffed that first one, though,
didn't I?"
"A little. It didn't matter." She answered
mechanically.
He fixed his eyes on her again.
"Hungry, Kiddo?"
"No," she gasped.
"What's the use!" he cried in low, vibrant tones,
springing to his feet. "I don't want to eat this
stuff--I just want to eat you!"
Mary rose tremblingly and moved instinctively to
meet him.
He clasped her form in his arms and crushed with
cruel strength.
"Until death do us part!" he whispered
passionately.
She answered with a kiss.
CHAPTER XII
THE LOTOS-EATERS
It was eleven o'clock next morning before Ella ventured
to rap softly on the door. They had just finished
breakfast. The bride was clearing up the table,
humming a song of her childhood.
Jim caught her in his arms.
"Once more before she comes!"
"Don't kill me!" she laughed.
Jim lounged in the window and smoked his cigarette
while Ella and Mary chattered in the kitchenette.
In half an hour the scrub-woman had made her last
trip with the extra dishes, and the little home was
spick and span.
Mary sprang on the couch and snuggled into Jim's
arms.
"I've changed our plans----" he began thoughtfully.
"We won't give up our honeymoon trip?"
she cried in alarm. "That's one dream we MUST
live, Jim, dear. I've set my heart on it."
"Sure we will--sure," he answered quickly. "But
not in that car."
"Why?"
Jim grinned.
"Because I like you better--you get me, Kiddo?"
She pressed close and whispered:
"I think so."
"You see, that fool car might throw a tire or two.
Believe me, it'll be a job to have her on my hands for
a thousand miles. Of course, if I didn't know you,
little girl, it would be all sorts of fun. But, honest
to God, this game beats the world."
He bent low and kissed her again.
"Where'll we go, then?" she murmured.
"That's what I'm tryin' to dope out. I like the
sea. It lulls me just like whisky puts a drunkard to
sleep. I wish we could get where it's bright and warm
and the sun shines all the time. We could stay two
weeks and then jump on the train and be in Asheville
the day before Christmas."
Mary sprang up excitedly.
"I have it! We'll go to Florida--away down to the
Keys. It's the dream of my life to go there!"
"The Keys what's that?" he asked, puzzled.
"The Keys are little sand islands and reefs that
jut out into the warm waters of the Gulf of Mexico.
The railroad takes us right there."
"It's warm and sunny there now?"
"Just like summer up here. We can go in bathing in
the surf every day."
Jim sprang to his feet.
"Got a bathing suit?"
Yes--a beauty. I've never worn it here."
"Why?"
"It seemed so bold."
"All right. Maybe we can get a Key all by
ourselves for two weeks."
"Wouldn't it be glorious!"
"We'll try it, anyhow. I'll buy the doggoned thing
if they don't ask too much. Pack your traps. I'll go
down to the shop and get my things. We'll be ready to
start in an hour."
By four o'clock they were seated in the drawing-
room of a Pullman car on the Florida Limited, gazing
entranced at the drab landscape of the Jersey meadows.
Three days later, Jim had landed his boat on a tiny
sand reef a half-mile off the coast of Florida with a
tent and complete outfit for camping. Like two romping
children, they tied the boat to a stake and rushed
over the sand-dunes to the beach. They explored their
domain from end to end within an hour. Not a tree
obscured the endless panorama of sea and bay and waving
grass on the great solemn marshes. Piles of soft, warm
seaweed lay in long, dark rows along the high-tide
mark.
Mary selected a sand-dune almost exactly the height
and shape of the one on which they sat at Long Beach
the day he told her of his love.
"Here's the spot for our home!" she cried. "Don't
you recognize it?"
"Can't say I've ever been here before. Oh, I got
you--I got you! Long Beach--sure! What do you think
of that?"
He hurried to the boat and brought the tent. Mary
carried the spade, the pole and pegs.
In half an hour the little white home was shining
on the level sand at the foot of their favorite dune.
The door was set toward the open sea, and the stove
securely placed beneath an awning which shaded it from
the sun's rays.
"Now, Kiddo, a plunge in that shining water the
first thing. I'll give you the tent. I'll chuck my
things out here."
In a fever of joyous haste she threw off her
clothes and donned the dainty, one-piece bathing suit.
She flew over the sand and plunged into the water
before Jim had finished changing to his suit.
She was swimming and diving like a duck in the
lazy, beautiful waters of the Gulf when he reached the
beach.
"Come on! Come on!" she shouted.
He waved his hand and finished his cigarette.
"It's glorious! It's mid-summer!" she called.
With a quick plunge he dived into the water,
disappeared and stayed until she began to scan the
surface uneasily. With a splash he rose by her side,
lifting her screaming in his arms. Her bathing-cap was
brushed off, and he seized her long hair in his mouth,
turned and with swift, strong beat carried her
unresisting body to the beach.
He drew her erect and looked into her smiling face.
"That's the way I'd save you if you had called for
help. How'd you like it?"
"It was sweet to give up and feel myself in your
power, dear!"
His drooping eyes were devouring her exquisite
figure outlined so perfectly in the clinging suit.
"I was afraid to wear this in New York," she said
demurely.
"I can't blame you. If you'd ever have gone
on the beach at Coney Island in that, there'd have
been a riot."
He lifted her in his arms and kissed her.
"And you're all mine, Kiddo! It's too good to be
true! I'm afraid to wake up mornings now for fear I'll
find I've just been dreaming."
They plunged again in the water, and side by side
swam far out from the shore, circled gracefully and
returned.
Hours they spent snuggling in the warm sand. Not a
sound of the world beyond the bay broke the stillness.
The music of the water's soft sighing came on their
ears in sweet, endless cadence. The wind was gentle
and brushed their cheeks with the softest caress. Far
out at sea, white-winged sails were spread--so far away
they seemed to stand in one spot forever. The deep cry
of an ocean steamer broke the stillness at last.
"We must dress for dinner, Jim!" she sighed.
"Why, Kiddo?"
"We must eat, you know."
"But why dress? I like that style on you. It's
too much trouble to dress."
"All right!" she cried gayly. "We'll have a little
informal dinner this evening. I love to feel the sand
under my feet."
He gathered the wood from the dry drifts above the
waterline and kindled a fire. The salt-soaked sticks
burned fiercely, and the dinner was cooked in a jiffy--
a fresh chicken he had bought, sweet potatoes, and
delicious buttered toast.
They sat in their bathing suits on camp-stools
beside the folding table and ate by moonlight.
The dinner finished, Mary cleared the wooden dishes
while Jim brought heaps of the dry, spongy sea grass
and made a bed in the tent. He piled it two feet high,
packed it down to a foot, and then spread the sheets
and blankets.
"All ready for a stroll down the avenue, Kiddo?" he
called from the door.
"Fifth Avenue or Broadway?" she laughed.
"Oh, the Great White Way--you couldn't miss it!
Just look at the shimmer of the moon on the sands!
Ain't it great?"
Hand in hand, they strolled on the beach and bathed
in the silent flood of the moonlit night--no prying
eyes near save the stars of the friendly southern
skies.
"The moon seems different down here, Jim!" she
whispered.
"It is different," he answered with boyish
enthusiasm. "It's all so still and white!"
"Could we stay here forever?"
He shook his head emphatically.
"Not on your life. This little boy has to work,
you know. Old man John D. Rockefeller might, but it's
early for a young financier to retire."
"A whole week, then?"
"Sure! For a week we'll forget New York."
They sat down on the sand-dune behind the tent and
watched the waters flash in the silvery light, the
world and its fevered life forgotten.
"You're the only thing real tonight, Jim!" she
sighed.
"And you're the world for me, Kiddo!"
She waked at dawn, with a queer feeling of awe at
the weird, gray light which filtered through the cotton
walls. A sense of oneness with Nature and the beat of
Her eternal heart filled her soul. The soft wash of
the water on the sands seemed to be keeping time to the
throb of her own pulse.
She peered curiously into the face of her sleeping
lover. She had never seen him asleep before. She
started at the transformation wrought by the closing of
his heavy eyelids and the complete relaxation of his
features. The strange, steel-blue coloring of his eyes
had always given his face an air of mystery and charm.
The complete closing of the heavy lids and the
slight droop of the lower jaw had worked a frightful
change. The romance and charm had gone, and instead
she saw only the coarse, brutal strength.
She frowned like a spoiled child, put her dainty
hand under his chin and pressed his mouth together.
"Wake up, sir!" she whispered. "I don't like your
expression!"
He refused to stir, and she drew the tips of her
fingers across his ears and eyelids.
He rubbed his eyes and muttered:
"What t'ell?"
"Let's take a bath in the sea before sunrise--come
on!"
The sleeper groaned heavily, turned over, and in a
moment was again dead to the world.
Mary's eyes were wide now with excitement. The
hours were too marvelous to be lost in sleep. She
could sleep when they must return to the tiresome world
with its endless crowds of people.
She rose softly, ran barefoot to the beach, threw
her night-dress on the sand and plunged, her white,
young body trembling with joy, into the water.
It was marvelous--this wonderful hush of the dawn
over the infinite sea. The air and water melted into a
pearl gray. Far out toward the east, the waters
began to blush at the kiss of the coming sun. The
pearl gray slowly turned into purple. So startling was
the vision, she swam in-shore and stood knee-deep in
the shallows to watch the magic changes. In breathless
wonder she saw the sea and sky and shore turn into a
trembling cloud of dazzling purple. A moment before,
she had caught the water up in her hand and poured it
out in a stream of pearls. She lifted a handful and
poured it out now, each drop a dazzling amethyst. And
even while she looked, the purple was changing to
scarlet--the amethyst into rubies!
A great awe filled her in the solemn hush. She
stood in Nature's vast cathedral, close to God's
heart--her life in harmony with His eternal laws.
How foolish and artificial were the ways of the
far-away, drab, prosaic world of clothes and houses and
furnishings! If she could only live forever in this
dream-world!
Even while the thought surged through her heart,
she lifted her head and saw the red rim of the sun
suddenly break through the sea, and started lest the
white light of day had revealed her to some passing
boatman hurrying to his nets.
Her keen eye quickly swept the circle of the wide,
silent world of sand-dunes, marsh and waters. No
prying eye was near. Only the morning star still
gleaming above saw. And they were twin sisters.
Four days flew on velvet wings before the first
cloud threw its shadow across her life. Jim always
slept until nine o'clock, and refused with dogged good-
natured indifference to stir when she had asked him to
get the wood for breakfast. It was nothing, of course,
to walk a hundred yards to the beach and pick up the
wood, and she did it. The hurt that stung was the
feeling that he was growing indifferent.
She felt for the first time an impulse to box his
lazy jaws as he yawned and turned over for the dozenth
time without rising. He looked for all the world like
a bulldog curled up on his bed of grass.
She shook him at last.
"Jim, dear, you must get up now! Breakfast is
almost ready and it won't be fit to eat if you don't
come on."
He opened his heavy eyelids and gazed at her
sleepily.
"All righto----! Just as you say--just as you
say."
"Hurry! Breakfast will be ready before you can
dress."
"Gee! Breakfast all ready! You're one smart
little wifie, Kiddo."
The compliment failed to please. She was sure that
he had been fully awake twice before and pretended to
be asleep from sheer laziness and indifference.
The thought hurt.
When they sat down at last to breakfast, she looked
into his half-closed eyes with a sudden start.
"Why, Jim, your eyes are red!"
"Yes?"
"What's the matter?"
"Nothing."
"You're ill--what is it?"
He grinned sheepishly.
"You couldn't guess now, could you?"
"You haven't been drinking!" she gasped.
"No," he drawled lazily, "I wouldn't say drinking--
I just took one big swallow last night--makes you sleep
good when you're tired. Good medicine! I always carry
a little with me."
A sickening wave went over her. Not that she felt
that he was going to be a drunkard. But the utter
indifference with which he made the announcement was a
painful revelation of the fact that her opinion on such
a question was not of the slightest importance.
That he was now master of the situation he evidently
meant that she should see and understand at once.
She refused to accept the humiliating position
without a struggle and made up her mind to try at once
to mold his character. She would begin by getting him
to cut the slang from his conversation.
"You remember the promise you made me one day
before we were married, Jim?" she asked brightly.
"Which one? You know a fellow's not responsible
for what he promises to get his girl. All's fair in
love and war, they say----"
"I'm going to hold you to this one, sir," she
firmly declared.
"All right, little bright eyes," he responded
cheerfully as he lit a cigarette and sent the smoke
curling above his red head.
She sat for a while in silence, studying the man
before her. The task was delicate and difficult. And
she had thought it a mere pastime of love! As her
fiance, he had been wax in her hands. As her husband,
he was a lazy, headstrong, obstinate young animal
grinning good-naturedly at her futile protests. How
long would he grin and bear her suggestions with
patience? The transition from this lazy grin to the
growl of an angry bulldog might be instantaneous.
She would move with the utmost caution--but she
would move and at once. It would be a test of
character between them. She edged her chair close to
his, drew his head down in her lap and ran her fingers
through his thick, red hair.
"Still love me, Jim?" she smiled.
"Crazier over you every day--and you know it, too,
you sly little puss," he answered dreamily.
"You WILL make good your promises?"
"Sure, I will--surest thing you know!"
"You see, Jim dear," she went on tenderly, "I want
to be proud of you----"
"Well, ain't you?"
"Of course I am, silly. I know you and understand
you. But I want all the world to respect you as I do."
She paused and breathed deeply. "They've got to do it,
too, they've got to----"
"Sure, I'll knock their block off--if they don't!"
he broke in.
She raised her finger reprovingly and shook her
head.
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