Next time, he forgot to grease his hands, and stuck himself so together, that they had the utmost difficulty in getting him apart, but, as he said,
“It’s no matter, I—I am used to it, you know!”
He capped the climax, however, by accidentally dropping a large handful, warm, on top of Celeste’s head, aggravating the offense by telling her to “go quick and soak her head;” which, although it was what she eventually did, was too much like a certain slang phrase much in vogue, for human nature to endure; and giving him an angry look, the only one on record ever given by her to a man, she rushed from the room, and was seen no more that evening.
After this exploit, whenever molasses candy was on the programme, they made a rule that Quimby should sit in the corner, on the old familiar stool, and not move until all was over—a rule to which he submitted meekly.
But he was not happy. In truth, all his joys in these days were mixed with alloy, between the pointed monopoly of Celeste—who, of late, and since she had given up everyone else as hopeless, had devoted herself entirely to him—and his secret jealousy of Clem.
Strangely enough, with the exception of Cyn, no one was aware of the exact state of his mind. Clem was as unconscious of it as a child, for any peculiarity in his behavior was laid to his well-known idiosyncrasies; Celeste suspected he was in love, but was blindly determined to believe she was the chief attraction in his eyes. Nattie, if she thought about it at all, imagined he was entirely cured of that former “foolishness,” as she termed his one attempt to put his devotion into words. And as for Jo, being so opposed to anything of a sentimental nature himself, naturally he was unwilling to observe any indications of the kind in another, and any glaring revelations that forced themselves on his notice, he, in common with Clem, decided was “only Quimby’s way.”
Oh, Dear, no! Jo could see nothing but plain-unromantic facts. It was no sentiment, or anything of the sort on Jo’s part, of course, that made him reproduce the handsome, brilliant face of Cyn, in so many of his recent pictures. Oh, no! she was a good “study,” that was all! Nor that caused him to seek her society in preference to all others, to listen entranced when she sang, and to be exceedingly annoyed—a rare thing once for good humored Jo—when Clem was given more than his share of her attention. Again oh, no! Cyn was a fellow Bohemian, a congenial spirit, that was all. Neither in the least sentimental or jealous was Jo!
But for all that, and for some unexplained reason, he was not quite so even in his spirits as he was wont to be, sometimes being very happy, and then terribly depressed. Did he eat too much, or too little, which? For if it was not the first commencement of a first love—and of course it was not—it must have been his digestion that ailed him!
Had Miss Betsey Kling known of these little uneasy undercurrents amidst the gayety that so annoyed her, the knowledge would doubtless have given her much satisfaction, besides, possibly, the inkling she could not now obtain of what was “going on.” It was a source of great distress to her that she could not ascertain whether it was Cyn or Nattie with whom Clem was “flirting.” For she was positive he was trifling with the affections of one or the other, and that matters would end in some kind of a horrible scandal. But for all her listening and prying around, she could not seem to gain much information, except that everybody but herself—and perhaps the old gentleman Fishblate—was having a good time. Nor could she get hold of anything “dreadful,” which was the greatest disappointment of all.
One night, however, listening at her own door as Nattie bade Cyn “good night,” over the way, Miss Kling heard Clem call out from within, something that made her very hair stand on end. It was this:
“Please wake me up earlier than usual tomorrow morning, will you, Nattie?”
“Wake him up, indeed!” thought the outraged but happy Miss Kling, as she wended her way back to her own room. “Pretty goings on! and I know I heard that machine clatter when she was not in, one day! Machines do not clatter without a human agency somewhere! There is something wrong here! and I will find it out, or my name is not Betsey Kling! ‘Wake him up,’ indeed!”
XII
Crosses on the Line
It happened that not long after Cyn sang at a concert given in one of the principal halls of the city. Of course, a party from the Hotel Norman attended. This party consisted not only of all the young people, but also included Mrs. Simonson.
Cyn made a great success, and was encored every time she sang. Never had Nattie so fully realized the beauty and brilliancy of her friend, as she did upon that evening. Nor could she fail to observe that Clem, too, was startled into a new admiration. Was it because of this that a seriousness, quite foreign to the gay scene, fell over Nattie’s face?
As for Celeste, she was decidedly envious, and had there been no gentlemen in the party, would have turned exceedingly glum. As it was, she, with some difficulty, called up her usual smiles, and contented herself with whispering spitefully to Quimby,
“How can she appear before the public so? it seems so unwomanly!”
“Charming, indeed!” replied Quimby, without the slightest idea of what she had said, as his attention was concentrated on Cyn, and his brain incapable of entertaining two ideas at once.
But while acknowledging her attractions, Quimby preserved his composure, arguing to
