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

The Relations Of Wedlock,  Or At Least An Intimate

Resemblance To It,  That The Man Snarls Out " What? " To

The Woman. Mere Lovers Say " I Beg Your Pardon ? "

It Is Only Cupid'S Finished product That Spits Like A

Cat. Nora Black Had Called him Like A Wife,  And He

Had Answered like A Husband. For His Cause,  His

Manner Could Not Possibly Have Been Worse. He Saw

The Professor Stare At Him In surprise And Alarm,  And

Felt The Excitement Of The Eight Students. These

Latter Were Diabolic In the Celerity With Which They

Picked out Meanings. It Was As Plain To Them As If

Nora Black Had Said: " He Is My Property."

Coleman Would Have Given His Nose To Have Been

Able To Recall That Single Reverberating word. But He

Saw That The Scene Was Spelling downfall For Him,  And

He Went Still More Blind And Desperate Of It. His

Despair Made Him Burn To Make Matters Worse. He

Did Not Want To Improve Anything at All. " What?"

He Demanded. " What Do Ye' Want?"

Nora Was Sweetly Reproachful. " I Left My Jacket

In The Carriage,  And I Want You To Get It For Me."

" Well,  Get It For Yourself,  Do You See? Get It For

Yourself."

Now It Is Plainly To Be Seen That No One Of The

People Listening there Had Ever Heard A Man Speak

Thus To A Woman Who Was Not His Wife. Whenever

They Had Heard That Form Of Spirited repartee It Had

Come From The Lips Of A Husband. Coleman'S Rude

Speech Was To Their Ears A Flat Announcement Of An

Extraordinary Intimacy Between Nora Black And The

Correspondent. Any Other Interpretation Would Not

Have Occurred to Them. It Was So Palpable That It

Greatly Distressed them With Its Arrogance And

Boldness. The Professor Had Blushed. The Very

Milkiest Word In his Mind At The Time Was The Word

Vulgarity.

Nora Black Had Won A Great Battle. It Was Her

Agincourt. She Had Beaten The Clever Coleman In a

Way That Had Left Little Of Him But Rags. However,

She Could Have Lost It All Again If She Had Shown Her

Feeling of Elation. At Coleman'S Rudeness Her Manner

Indicated a Mixture Of Sadness And Embarrassment.

Her Suffering was So Plain To The Eye That Peter

Tounley Was Instantly Moved. " Can'T I Get Your

Jacket For You,  Miss Black? " He Asked hastily,  And At

Her Grateful Nod He Was Off At Once.

Coleman Was Resolved to Improve Nothing. His

Overthrow Seemed to Him To Be So Complete That He

Could Not In any Way Mend It Without A Sacrifice Of His

Dearest Prides. He Turned away From Them All And

Walked to An Isolated corner Of The Room. He Would

Abide No Longer With Them. He Had Been Made An

Outcast By Nora Black,  And He Intended to Be An

Outcast. Therc Was No Sense In attempting to Stem This

Extraordinary Deluge. It Was Better To Acquiesce.

Then Suddenly He Was Angry With Marjory. He

Did Not Exactly See Why He Was Angry At Marjory,

But He Was Angry At Her Nevertheless. He Thought

Of How He Could Revenge Himself Upon Her. He

Decided to Take Horse With His Groom And Dragoman And

Proceed forthwith On The Road,  Leaving the Jumble As

It Stood. This Would Pain Marjory,  Anyhow,  He

Hoped. She Would Feel It Deeply,  He Hoped.

Acting upon This Plan,  He Went To The Professor.

Well,  Of Course You Are All Right Now,  Professor,  And

If You Don'T Mind,  I Would Like To Leave You-Go On

Ahead. I'Ve Got A Considerable Pressure Of Business

On My Mind,  And I Think I Should Hurry On To Athens,

If You Don'T Mind."

The Professor Did Not Seem To Know What To Say.

" Of Course,  If You Wish It-Sorry,  I'M Sure-Of Course

It Is As You Please-But You Have Been Such A Power

In Our Favour-It Seems Too Bad To Lose You-But-If

You Wish It-If You Insist-"

" Oh,  Yes,  I Quite Insist," Said Coleman,  Calmly. "I

Quite Insist. Make Your Mind Easy On That Score,

Professor. I Insist."

"Well,  Mr. Coleman," Stammered the Old Man.

" Well,  It Seems A Great Pity To Lose You-You Have

Been Such A Power In our Favour-"

"Oh,  You Are Now Only Eight Hours From The Rail-

Way. It Is Very Easy. You Would Not Need my As-

Sistance,  Even If It Were A Benefit!

" But-" Said The Professor.

Coleman'S Dragoman Came To Him Then And Said:

"There Is One Man Here Who Says You Made To Take

One Rifle In the Fight And Was Break His Head. He

Was Say He Wants Sunthing for You Was Break His

Head. He Says Hurt."

"How Much Does He Want?" Asked coleman,  Im-

Patiently.

The Dragoman Wrestled then Evidently With A Desire

To Protect This Mine From Outside Fingers. "I-I Think

Two Gold Piece Plenty."

"Take Them," Said Coleman. It Seemed to Him

Preposterous That This Idiot With A Broken Head

Should Interpolate Upon His Tragedy. " Afterward

You And The Groom Get The Three Horses And We Will

Start For Athens At Once."

"For Athens? At Once? " Said Marjory'S Voice

In His Ear.

"Om," Said Coleman,  " I Was Thinking of Starting."

"Why? " Asked marjory,  Unconcernedly.

Coleman Shot Her A Quick Glance. " I Believe My

Period Of Usefulness Is Quite Ended," He Said. With Just

A Small Betrayal Of Bitter Feeling.

" It Is Certainly True That You Have Had A Remark-

Able Period Of Usefulness To Us," Said Marjory With A

Slow Smile,  "But If It Is Ended,  You Should Not Run

Away From Us."

Coleman Looked at Her To See What She Could Mean.

From Many Women,  These Words Would Have Been

Equal,  Under The Circumstances,  To A Command To Stay,

But He Felt That None Might Know What Impulses

Moved the Mind Behind That Beautiful Mask. In his

Misery He Thought To Hurt Her Into An Expression Of

Feeling by A Rough Speech. " I'M So In love With Nora

Black,  You Know,  That I Have To Be Very Careful Of

Myself."

" Oh," Said Marjory,  Never Thought Of That. I

Should Think You Would Have To Be Careful Of Yourself."

She Did Not Seem Moved in any Way. Coleman

Despaired of Finding her Weak Spot. She Was A'Damantine, 

This Girl. He Searched his Mind For Something

To Say Which Would Be Still More Gross Than His Last

Outbreak,  But When He Felt That He Was About To Hit

Upon It,  The Professor Interrupted with An Agitated

Speech To Marjory. "You Had Better Go To Your

Mother,  My Child,  And See That You Are All Ready To

Leave Here As Soon As The Carriages Come Up."

"We Have Absolutely Nothing to Make Ready," Said

Marjory,  Laughing. " But I'Ll Go And See If Mother

Needs Anything before We Start That I Can Get For Her."

She Went Away Without Bidding good-Bye To Coleman.

The Sole Maddening impression To Him Was That The

Matter Of His Going had Not Been Of Sufficient Importance

To Remain Longer Than A Moment Upon Her Mind.

At The Same Time He Decided that He Would Go,  Irretrievably Go.

Even Then The Dragoman Entered the Room. " We

Will Pack Everything -Upon The Horse?"

" Everything-Yes."

Peter Tounley Came Afterward. " You Are Not Going to Bolt ? "

" Yes,  I'M Off," Answered coleman Recovering him-

Self For Peter'S Benefit. " See You In athens,  Probably."

Presently The Dragoman Announced the Readiness Of

The Horses. Coleman Shook Hands With The Students

And The Professor Amid Cries Of Surprise And Polite

Regret. "What? Going,  Oldman? Really? What

For ? Oh,  Wait For Us. We'Re Off In a Few Minutes.

Sorry As The Devil,  Old Boy,  To' See You Go." He

Accepted their Protestations With A Somewhat Sour

Face. He Knew Perfectly Well That They Were Thinking

Of His Departure As Something that Related to Nora

Black. At The Last,  He Bowed to The Ladies As A

Collection. Marjory'S Answering bow Was Affable; The

Bow Of Mrs. Wainwright Spoke A Resentment For Some-

Thing; And Nora'S Bow Was Triumphant Mockery. As

He Swung Into The Saddle An Idea Struck Him With Over

Whelming force. The Idea Was That He Was A Fool.

He Was A Colossal Imbecile. He Touched the Spur To

His Horse And The Animal Leaped superbly,  Making the

Greeks Hasten For Safety In all Directions. He Was Off ;

He Could No More Return To Retract His Devious Idiocy

Than He Could Make His Horse Fly To Athens. What

Was Done Was Done. He Could Not Mend It. And He

Felt Like A Man That Had Broken His Own Heart;

Perversely,  Childishly,  Stupidly Broken His Own Heart.

He Was Sure That Marjory Was Lost To Him. No

Man Could Be Degraded so Publicly And Resent It So

Crudely And Still Retain A Marjory. In his Abasement

From His Defeat At The Hands Of Nora Black He Had

Performed every Imaginable Block-Headish Act And Had

Finally Climaxed it All By A Departure Which Left The

Tongue Of Nora To Speak Unmolested into The Ear Of

Marjory. Nora'S Victory Had Been A Serious Blow To

His Fortunes,  But It Had Not Been So Serious As His Own

Subsequent Folly. He Had Generously Muddled his

Own Affairs Until He Could Read Nothing out Of Them

But Despair.

He Was In the Mood For Hatred. He Hated many

People. Nora Black Was The Principal Item,  But He

Did Not Hesitate To Detest The Professor,  Mrs. Wain-

Wright,  Coke And All The Students. As For Marjory,

He Would Revenge Himself Upon Her. She Had Done

Nothing that He Defined clearly But,  At Any Rate,  He

Would Take Revenge For It. As Much As Was Possible,

He Would Make Her Suffer. He Would Convince Her

That He Was A Tremendous And Inexorable Person.

But It Came Upon His Mind That He Was Powerless In

All Ways. If He Hated many People They Probably

Would Not Be Even Interested in his Emotion And,  As

For His Revenge Upon Marjory,  It Was Beyond His

Strength. He Was Nothing but The Complaining victim

Of Nora Black And Himself.

He Felt That He Would Never Again See Marjory,  And

While Feeling it He Began To Plan His Attitude When

Next They Met. He Would Be Very Cold And Reserved.

At Agrinion He Found That There Would Be No Train

Until The Next Daybreak. The Dragoman Was Excessively

Annoyed over It,  But Coleman Did Not Scold At

All. As A Matter Of Fact His Heart Had Given A Great

Joyus Bound. He Could Not Now Prevent His Being

Overtaken. They Were Only A Few Leagues Away,  And

While He Was Waiting for The Train They Would Easily

Cover The Distance. If Anybody Expressed surprise At

Seeing him He Could Exhibit The Logical Reasons.

If There Had Been A Train Starting at Once He Would

Have Taken It. His Pride Would Have Put Up With No

Subterfuge. If The Wainwrights Overtook Him It Was

Because He Could Not Help It. But He Was Delighted

That He Could Not Help It. There Had Been An Inter-

Position By Some Specially Beneficent Fate. He Felt

Like Whistling. He Spent The Early Half Of The Night

In Blissful Smoke,  Striding the Room Which The Dragoman

Had Found For Him. His Head Was Full Of Plans

And Detached impressive Scenes In which He Figured

Before Marjory. The Simple Fact That There Was No

Train Away From Agrinion Until The Next Daybreak Had

Wrought A Stupendous Change In his Outlook. He

Unhesitatingly Considered it An Omen Of A Good Future.

He Was Up Before The Darkness Even Contained presage

Of Coming light,  But Near The Railway Station Was

A Little Hut Where Coffee Was Being served to Several

Prospective Travellers Who Had Come Even Earlier To

The Rendezvous. There Was No Evidence Of The Wainwrights.

Coleman Sat In the Hut And Listened for The Rumble

Of Wheels. He Was Suddenly Appalled that The Wainwrights

Were Going to Miss The Train. Perhaps They

Had Decided against Travelling during the Night. Perbaps

This Thing,  And Perhaps That Thing. The Morning

Was Very Cold. Closely Muffled in his Cloak,  He Went

To The Door And Stared at Where The Road Was Whiten-

ing out Of Night. At The Station Stood A Little Spectral

Train,  And The Engine At Intervals Emitted a Long,  Piercing

Scream Which Informed the Echoing land That,  In

All Probability,  It Was Going to Start After A Time