Active Service by Stephen Crane (reading tree .TXT) 📕

Could Hear The Professor And Mrs. Wainwright Fussing

Near Him,  Trying to Be Of Use. He Would Have Liked

To Have Been Able To Order Them Out Of The Room.

Marjory'S Cool Fingers On His Face And Neck Had Conjured

Within Him A Vision At An Intimacy Tnat Was Even

Sweeter Than Anything which He Had Imagined,  And He

Longed to Pour Out To Her The Bubbling,  Impassioned

Speech Which Came To His Lips. But,  Always Doddering

Behind Him,  Were The Two Old People,  Strenuous To Be

Of Help To Him.

Suddenly A Door Opened and A Youth Appeared,

Simply Red with Blood. It Was Peter Tounley. His

First Remark Was Cheerful. "Well,  I Don'T Suppose

Those People Will Be Any Too Quick To Look For More

Trouble."

Coleman Felt A Swift Pang Because He Had Forgotten

To Announce The Dilapidated state Of All The Students.

He Had Been So Submerged by Marjory'S Tenderness

That All Else Had Been Drowned from His Mind. His

Heart Beat Quickly As He Waited for Marjory To Leave

Him And Rush To Peter Tounley.

But She Did Nothing of The Sort. " Oh,  Peter," She

Cried in distress,  And Then She Turned back To Coleman.

It Was The Professor And Mrs. Wainwright Who,  At Last

Finding a Field For Their Kindly Ambitions,  Flung Them.

Selves Upon Tounley And Carried him Off To Another

Place. Peter Was Removed,  Crying: " Oh,  Now,  Look

Here,  Professor,  I'M Not Dying or Anything of The Sort

Coleman And Marjory Were Left Alone. He Suddenly

And Forcibly Took One Of Her Hands And The Blood

Stained hankerchief Dropped to The Floor.

From Below They Could Hear The Thunder Of Weapons

And Fits Upon The Door Of The Inn Amid A Great

Clamour Of. Tongues. Sometimes There Arose The

Argumtntative Howl Of The Innkeeper. Above This Roar,

Coleman'S Quick Words Sounded in marjory'S Ear.

" I'Ve Got To Go. I'Ve Got To Go Back To The Boys,  But

-I Love You."

" Yes Go,  Go," She Whispered hastily. " You Should

Be There,  But-Come Back."

He Held Her Close To Him. " But You Are Mine,  Remember,"

He Said Fiercely And Sternly. " You Are

Mine-Forever-As I Am Yours-Remember."

Her Eyes Half Closed. She Made Intensely Solemn

Answer. "Yes." He Released her And Vphs Gone.

In The Glooming coffee Room Of The Inn He Found

The Students,  The Dragoman,  The Groom And The Innkeeper

Armed with A Motley Collection Of Weapons Which

Ranged from The Rifle Of The Innkeeper To The Table Leg

In The Hands Of Petertounley. The Last Named young

Student Of Archeology Was In a Position Of Temporary

Leadefship And Holding a Great Pow-Bow With The

Innkeeper Through The Medium Of Peircing outcries By

The Dragoman. Coleman Had Not Yet Undestood Why

None Of Them Had Been Either Stabbed or Shot In the

Fight In the Steeet,  But It Seemed to Him Now That

Affairs Were Leading toward A Crisis Of Tragedy. He

Thought Of The Possibilities Of Having the Dragoman Go

To An Upper Window And Harangue The People,  But He

Saw No Chance Of Success In such A Plan. He Saw That

The Crowd Would Merely Howl At The Dragoman While

The Dragoman Howled at The Crowd. He Then Asked

If There Was Any Other Exit From The Inn By Which

They Could Secretly Escape. He Learned that The Door

Into The Coffee Room Was The Only Door Which Pierced

The Four Great Walls. All He Could Then Do Was To

Find Out From The Innkeeper How Much Of A Siege The

Place Could Stand,  And To This The Innkeeper Answered

Volubly And With Smiles That This Hostelry Would Easily

Endure Until The Mercurial Temper Of The Crowd Had

Darted off In a New Direction. It May Be Curious To

Note Here That All Of Peter Tounley'S Impassioned

Communication With The Innkeeper Had Been Devoted

To An Endeavour To Learn What In the Devil Was The

Matter With These People,  As A Man About To Be Bitten

By Poisonous Snakes Should,  First Of All,  Furiously

Insist Upon Learning their Exact Species Before Deciding

Upon Either His Route,  If He Intended to Run Away,  Or

His Weapon If He Intended to Fight Them.

The Innkeeper Was Evidently Convinced that This

House Would Withstand The Rage Of The Populace,  And

He Was Such An Unaccountably Gallant Little Chap That

Coleman Trusted entirely To His Word. His Only Fear

Or Suspicion Was An Occasional One As To The Purity Of

The Dragoman'S Translation.

Suddenly There Was Half A Silence On The Mob Without

The Door. It Is Inconceivable That It Could Become

Altogether Silent,  But It Was As Near To A Rational

Stillness Of Tongues As It Was Able. Then There Was A

Loud Knocking by A Single Fist And A New Voice Began

To Spin Greek,  A Voice That Was Somewhat Like The

Rattle Of Pebbles In a Tin Box. Then A Startling voice

Called out In english. " Are You In there,  Rufus? "

Answers Came From Every English Speaking person

In The Room In one Great Outburst. "Yes."

" Well,  Let Us In," Called nora Black. " It Is All

Right. We'Ve Got An Officer With Us."

" Open The Door," Said Coleman With Speed. The

Little Innkeeper Labouriously Unfastened the Great Bars,

And When The Door Finally Opened there Appeared on

The Threshold Nora Black With Coke And An Officer Of

Infantry,  Nora'S Little Old Companion,  And Nora'S

Dragoman.

" We Saw Your Carriage In the Street," Cried the

Queen Of Comic Opera As She Swept Into The Room.

She Was Beaming with Delight. " What Is All The Row,

Anyway? O-O-Oh,  Look At That Student'S Nose. Who

Hit Him? And Look At Rufus. What Have You Boys

Been Doing?"

Her Little Greek Officer Of Infantry Had Stopped the

Mob From Flowing into The Room. Coleman Looked

Toward The Door At Times With Some Anxiety. Nora,

Noting it,  Waved her Hand In careless Reassurance;

" Oh,  It'S,  All Right. Don'T Worry About Them Any

More. He Is Perfectly Devoted to Me. He Would

Die There On The Threshold If I Told Him It Would

Please Me. Speaks Splendid French. I Found Him

Limping along The Road And Gave Him A Lift. And Now

Do Hurry Up And Tell Me Exactly What Happened."

They All Told What Had Happened,  While Nora And

Coke Listened agape. Coke,  By The Way,  Had Quite

Floated back To His Old Position With The Students. It

Had Been Easy In the Stress Of Excitement And Wonder.

Nobody Had Any Titne To Think Of The Excessively Remote

Incidents Of The Early Morning. All Minor Interests

Were Lost In the Marvel Of The Present Situation.

"Who Landed you In the Eye,  Billie?" Asked the

Awed coke. " That Was A Bad One."

" Oh,  I Don'T Know," Said Billie. " You Really

Couldn'T Tell Who Hit You,  You Know. It Was A Football

Rush. They Had Guns And Knives,  But They Didn'T Use

'Em. I Don'T Know Why Jinks! I'M Getting pretty

Stiff. My Face Feels As If It Were Made Of Tin. Did

They Give You People A Row,  Too ? "

" No; Only Talk. That Little Officer Managed them.

Out-Talked them,  I Suppose. Hear Him Buzz,  Now."

The Wainwrights Came Down Stairs. Nora Black

Went Confidently Forward To Meet Them. "You'Ve

Added one More To Your List Of Rescuers,"  She Cried,

With Her Glowing,  Triumphant Smile. "Miss Black Of

The New York Daylight-At Your Service. How In

The World Do You Manage To Get Yourselves Into Such

Dreadful Scrapes? You Are The Most Remarkable People.

You Need a Guardian. Why,  You Might Have All

Been Killed. How Exciting it Must Seem To Be Regularly

Of Your Party." She Had Shaken Cordiaily One Of

Mrs. Wainwright'S Hands Without That Lady Indicating

Assent To The Proceeding but Mrs. Wainwright Had

Not Felt Repulsion. In fact She Had Had No Emotion

Springing directly From It. Here Again The Marvel Of

The Situation Came To Deny Mrs. Wainwright The Right

To Resume A State Of Mind Which Had Been So Painfully

Interesting to Her A Few Hours Earlier.

The Professor,  Coleman And All The Students Were

Talking together. Coke Had Addressed coleman Civilly

And Coleman Had Made A Civil Reply. Peace Was Upon

Them.

Nora Slipped her Arm Lovingly Through Marjbry'S

Arm. "That Rufus! Oh,  That Rufus," She Cried joyously.

" I'Ll Give Him A Good Scolding as Soon As I

See Him Alone. I Might Have Foreseen That He Would

Get You All Into Trouble. The Old Stupid ! "

Marjory Did Not Appear To Resent Anything. " Oh,  I

Don'T Think It Was Mr. Coleman'S Fault At Ail," She An-

Swered calmly. "I Think It Was More The Fault Of

Peter Tounley,  Poor Boy."

" Well,  I'D Be Glad To Believe It,  I'D Be Glad To Believe It,"

Said Nora. "I Want Rufus To Keep Out Of

That Sort Of Thing,  But He Is So Hot-Headed and Foolish."

If She Had Pointed out Her Proprietary Stamp On Coleman'S

Cheek She Could Not Have Conveyed what She

Wanted with More Clearness.

" Oh," Said The Impassive Marjory,  " I Don'T Think

You Need have Any Doubt As To Whose Fault It Was,  If

There Were Any Of Our Boys At Fault. Mr. Coleman

Was Inside When The Fighting commenced,  And Only Ran

Out To Help The Boys. He Had Just Brought Us Safely

Through The Mob,  And,  Far From Being hot-Headed and

Foolish,  He Was Utterly Cool In manner,  Impressively

Cool,  I Thought. I Am Glad To Be Able To Reassure You

On These Points,  For I See That They Worry You."

".Yes,  They Do Worry Me," Said Nora,  Densely.

They Worry Me Night And Day When He Is Away From

Me."

" Oh," Responded marjory,  " I Have Never Thought

Of Mr. Coleman As A Man That One Would Worry About

Much. We Consider Him Very Self-Reliant,  Able To Take

Care Of Himself Under Almost Any Conditions,  But Then,

Of Course,  We Do Not Know Him At All In the Way That

You Know Him. I Should Think That You Would Find

That He Came Off Rather Better Than You Expected from

Most Of His Difficulties. But Then,  Of Course,  As. I Said,

You Know Him So Much Better Than We Do." Her

Easy Indifference Was A Tacit Dismissal Of Coleman As

A Topic.

Nora,  Now Thoroughly Alert,  Glanced keenly Into The

Other Girl'S Face,  But It Was Inscrutable. The Actress

Had Intended to Go Careering through A Whole Circle

Of Daring illusions To An Intimacy With,Coleman,  But

Here,  Before She Had Really Developed her Attack,

Marjory,  With A Few Conventional And Indifferent

Sentences,  Almost Expressive Of Boredom,  Had Made

The Subject Of Coleman Impossible. An Effect Was Left

Upon Nora'S Mind That Marjory Had Been Extremely

Polite In listening to Much Nervous Talk About A Person

In Whom She Had No Interest.

The Actress Was Dazed. She Did Not Know How It

Had All Been Done. Where Was The Head Of This Thing?

And Where Was The Tail? A Fog Had Mysteriously

Come Upon All Her Brilliant Prospects Of Seeing marjory

Wainwright Suffer,  And This Fog Was The Product Of

A Kind Of Magic With Which She Was Not Familiar.

She Could Not Think How To Fight It. After Being

Simply Dubious Throughout A Long Pause,  She In the

End Went Into A Great Rage. She Glared furiously At

Marjory,  Dropped her Arm As If It Had Burned her And

Moved down Upon Coleman. She Must Have Reflected

That At Any Rate She Could Make Him Wriggle. When

She Was Come Near To Him,  She Called out: "Rufus!"

In Her Tone Was All The Old Insolent Statement Of

Ownership. Coleman Might Have Been A Poodle. She

Knew How To Call His Same In a Way That Was Anything

Less Than A Public Scandal. On This Occasion Everybody

Looked at Him And Then Went Silent,  As People

Awaiting the Startling denouement Of A Drama.

" Rufus! " She Was Baring his Shoulder To Show The

Fieur-De-Lis Of The Criminal. The Students Gaped.

Coleman'S Temper Was,  If One May Be Allowed to

Speak In that Way,  Broken Loose Inside Of Him. He

Could Hardly Beeathe; He Felt That His Body Was About

To Explode Into A Thousand Fragments. He Simply

Snarled out " What? " Almost At Once He Saw That

She Had At Last Goaded him Into Making a Serious

Tactical Mistake. It Must Be Admitted that It Is Only

When The Relations Between A Man And A