The American Claimant by Mark Twain (non fiction books to read .TXT) đ
Even the deadly chromos on the walls were somehow without offence;in fact they seemed to belong there and to add an attraction to the room--a fascination, anyway; for whoever got
Read free book «The American Claimant by Mark Twain (non fiction books to read .TXT) đ» - read online or download for free at americanlibrarybooks.com
- Author: Mark Twain
- Performer: -
Read book online «The American Claimant by Mark Twain (non fiction books to read .TXT) đ». Author - Mark Twain
âCould he? Why, look at himâlook at this simpering self-righteous mug! There is your answer. Itâs the very thing he would think of. And he would start in to do it, too.â
âAnd then?â
âHeâd wobble.â
âAnd back down?â
âEvery time.â
âIs that to happen with all myâI mean would that happen to all his high resolutions?â
âOh certainlyâcertainly. Itâs the Rossmore of it.â
âThen this creature was fortunate to die! Suppose, for argumentâs sake, that I was a Rossmore, andââ
âIt canât be done.â
âWhy?â
âBecause itâs not a supposable case. To be a Rossmore at your age, youâd have to be a fool, and youâre not a fool. And youâd have to be a Wobbler, whereas anybody that is an expert in reading character can see at a glance that when you set your foot down once, itâs there to stay; and earthquake canât wobble it.â He added to himself, âThatâs enough to say to him, but it isnât half strong enough for the facts. The more I observe him, now, the more remarkable I find him. It is the strongest face I have ever examined. There is almost superhuman firmness here, immovable purpose, iron steadfastness of will. A most extraordinary young man.â
He presently said, aloud:
âSome time I want to ask your advice about a little matter, Mr. Tracy. You see, Iâve got that young lordâs remaimsâmy goodness, how you jump!â
âOh, itâs nothing, pray go on. Youâve got his remains?â
âYes.â
âAre you sure they are his, and not somebody elseâs?â
âOh, perfectly sure. Samples, I mean. Not all of him.â
âSamples?â
âYesâin baskets. Some time you will be going home; and if you wouldnât mind taking them alongââ
âWho? I?â
âYesâcertainly. I donât mean now; but after a while; afterâbut look here, would you like to see them?â
âNo! Most certainly not. I donât want to see them.â
âO, very well. I only thoughtâhey, where are you going, dear?â
âOut to dinner, papa.â
Tracy was aghast. The colonel said, in a disappointed voice:
âWell, Iâm sorry. Sho, I didnât know she was going out, Mr. Tracy.â
Gwendolenâs face began to take on a sort of apprehensive âWhat-have-I-done expression.â
âThree old people to one young oneâwell, it isnât a good team, thatâs a fact.â
Gwendolenâs face betrayed a dawning hopefulness and she saidâwith a tone of reluctance which hadnât the hall-mark on it:
âIf you prefer, I will send word to the Thompsons that Iââ
âOh, is it the Thompsons? That simplifies itâsets everything right. We can fix it without spoiling your arrangements, my child. Youâve got your heart set onââ
âBut papa, Iâd just as soon go there some otherââ
âNoâI wonât have it. You are a good hardworking darling child, and your father is not the man to disappoint you when youââ
âBut papa, Iââ
âGo along, I wonât hear a word. Weâll get along, dear.â
Gwendolen was ready to cry with venation. But there was nothing to do but start; which she was about to do when her father hit upon an idea which filled him with delight because it so deftly covered all the difficulties of the situation and made things smooth and satisfactory:
âIâve got it, my love, so that you wonât be robbed of your holiday and at the same time weâll be pretty satisfactorily fixed for a good time here. You send Belle Thompson hereâperfectly beautiful creature, Tracy, perfectly beautiful; I want you to see that girl; why, youâll just go mad; youâll go mad inside of a minute; yes, you send her right along, Gwendolen, and tell herâwhy, sheâs gone!â He turnedâshe was already passing out at the gate. He muttered, âI wonder whatâs the matter; I donât know what her mouthâs doing, but I think her shoulders are swearing. Well,â said Sellers blithely to Tracy, âI shall miss herâ parents always miss the children as soon as theyâre out of sight, itâs only a natural and wisely ordained partialityâbut youâll be all right, because Miss Belle will supply the youthful element for you and to your entire content; and we old people will do our best, too. We shall have a good enough time. And youâll have a chance to get better acquainted with Admiral Hawkins. Thatâs a rare character, Mr. Tracyâone of the rarest and most engaging characters the world has produced. Youâll find him worth studying. Iâve studied him ever since he was a child and have always found him developing. I really consider that one of the main things that has enabled me to master the difficult science of character-reading was the livid interest I always felt in that boy and the baffling inscrutabilities of his ways and inspirations.â
Tracy was not hearing a word. His spirits were gone, he was desolate.
âYes, a most wonderful character. Concealmentâthatâs the basis of it. Always the first thing you want to do is to find the keystone a manâs character is built onâthen youâve got it. No misleading and apparently inconsistent peculiarities can fool you then. What do you read on the Senatorâs surface? Simplicity; a kind of rank and protuberant simplicity; whereas, in fact, thatâs one of the deepest minds in the world. A perfectly honest manâan absolutely honest and honorable manâ and yet without doubt the profoundest master of dissimulation the world has ever seen.â
âO, itâs devilish!â This was wrung from the unlistening Tracy by the anguished thought of what might have been if only the dinner arrangements hadnât got mixed.
âNo, I shouldnât call it that,â said Sellers, who was now placidly walking up and down the room with his hands under his coat-tails and listening to himself talk. âOne could quite properly call it devilish in another man, but not in the Senator. Your term is rightâperfectly rightâI grant thatâbut the application is wrong. It makes a great difference. Yes, he is a marvelous character. I do not suppose that any other statesman ever had such a colossal sense of humor, combined with the ability to totally conceal it. I may except George Washington and Cromwell, and perhaps Robespierre, but I draw the line there. A person not an expert might be in Judge Hawkinsâs company a lifetime and never find out he had any more sense of humor than a cemetery.â
A deep-drawn yard-long sigh from the distraught and dreaming artist, followed by a murmured, âMiserable, oh, miserable!â
âWell, no, I shouldnât say that about it, quite. On the contrary, I admire his ability to conceal his humor even more if possible than I admire the gift itself, stupendous as it is. Another thingâGeneral Hawkins is a thinker; a keen, logical, exhaustive, analytical thinkerâ perhaps the ablest of modern times. That is, of course, upon themes suited to his size, like the glacial period, and the correlation of forces, and the evolution of the Christian from the caterpillarâany of those things; give him a subject according to his size, and just stand back and watch him think! Why you can see the place rock! Ah, yes, you must know him; you must get on the inside of him. Perhaps the most extraordinary mind since Aristotle.â
Dinner was kept waiting for a while for Miss Thompson, but as Gwendolen had not delivered the invitation to her the waiting did no good, and the household presently went to the meal without her. Poor old Sellers tried everything his hospitable soul could devise to make the occasion an enjoyable one for the guest, and the guest tried his honest best to be cheery and chatty and happy for the old gentlemanâs sake; in fact all hands worked hard in the interest of a mutual good time, but the thing was a failure from the start; Tracyâs heart was lead in his bosom, there seemed to be only one prominent feature in the landscape and that was a vacant chair, he couldnât drag his mind away from Gwendolen and his hard luck; consequently his distractions allowed deadly pauses to slip in every now and then when it was his turn to say something, and of course this disease spread to the rest of the conversationâwherefore, instead of having a breezy sail in sunny waters, as anticipated, everybody was bailing out and praying for land. What could the matter be? Tracy alone could have told, the others couldnât even invent a theory.
Meanwhile they were having a similarly dismal time at the Thompson house; in fact a twin experience. Gwendolen was ashamed of herself for allowing her disappointment to so depress her spirits and make her so strangely and profoundly miserable; but feeling ashamed of herself didnât improve the matter any; it only seemed to aggravate the suffering. She explained that she was not feeling very well, and everybody could see that this was true; so she got sincere sympathy and commiseration; but that didnât help the case. Nothing helps that kind of a case. It is best to just stand off and let it fester. The moment the dinner was over the girl excused herself, and she hurried home feeling unspeakably grateful to get away from that house and that intolerable captivity and suffering.
Will he be gone? The thought arose in her brain, but took effect in her heels. She slipped into the house, threw off her things and made straight for the dining room. She stopped and listened. Her fatherâs voiceâwith no life in it; presently her motherâsâno life in that; a considerable vacancy, then a sterile remark from Washington Hawkins. Another silence; then, not Tracyâs but her fatherâs voice again.
âHeâs gone,â she said to herself despairingly, and listlessly opened the door and stepped within.
âWhy, my child,â cried the mother, âhow white you are! Are youâhas anythingââ
âWhite?â exclaimed Sellers. âItâs gone like a flash; âtwasnât serious. Already sheâs as red as the soul of a watermelon! Sit down, dear, sit downâgoodness knows youâre welcome. Did you have a good time? Weâve had great times hereâimmense. Why didnât Miss Belle come? Mr. Tracy is not feeling well, and sheâd have made him forget it.â
She was content now; and out from her happy eyes there went a light that told a secret to another pair of eyes there and got a secret in return. In just that infinitely small fraction of a second those two great confessions were made, received, and perfectly understood. All anxiety, apprehension, uncertainty, vanished out of these young peopleâs hearts and left them filled with a great peace.
Sellers had had the most confident faith that with the new reinforcement victory would be at this last moment snatched from the jaws of defeat, but it was an error. The talk was as stubbornly disjointed as ever. He was proud of Gwendolen, and liked to show her off, even against Miss Belle Thompson, and here had been a great opportunity, and what had she made of it? He felt a good deal put out. It vexed him to think that this Englishman, with the traveling Britonâs everlasting disposition to generalize whole mountain ranges from single sample-grains of sand, would jump to the conclusion that American girls were as dumb as himselfâ generalizing the whole tribe from this single sample and she at her poorest, there being nothing at that table to inspire her, give her a start, keep her from going to sleep. He made up his mind that for the honor of the country he would bring these two together again over the social board before long. There would be a different result another time, he judged. He said to himself, with a deep sense of injury, âHeâll put in his diaryâthey all keep diariesâheâll put in his diary that she was miraculously uninterestingâdear, dear, but wasnât she! I never saw the likeâand yet looking as beautiful as Satan, tooâand couldnât seem to do anything
Comments (0)