Ellen couldnt see his face. The orchestra, the jangle of voices, the clatter of plates spouted spiraling louder and louder about her …
And the ladies of the harem
Knew exactly how to wear ’em
In O‑riental Baghdad long ago. …
“Good night Stan.” Her voice was gritty in her mouth, she heard the words very clearly when she spoke them.
“Oh Ellie I wish you’d come partying with us. …”
“Thanks … thanks.”
She started to dance again with Harry Goldweiser. The roofgarden was spinning fast, then less fast. The noise ebbed sickeningly. “Excuse me a minute Harry,” she said. “I’ll come back to the table.” In the ladies’ room she let herself down carefully on the plush sofa. She looked at her face in the round mirror of her vanitycase. From black pinholes her pupils spread blurring till everything was black.
Jimmy Herf’s legs were tired; he had been walking all afternoon. He sat down on a bench beside the Aquarium and looked out over the water. The fresh September wind gave a glint of steel to the little crisp waves of the harbor and to the slateblue smutted sky. A big white steamer with a yellow funnel was passing in front of the statue of Liberty. The smoke from the tug at the bow came out sharply scalloped like paper. In spite of the encumbering wharfhouses the end of Manhattan seemed to him like the prow of a barge pushing slowly and evenly down the harbor. Gulls wheeled and cried. He got to his feet with a jerk. “Oh hell I’ve got to do something.”
He stood a second with tense muscles balanced on the balls of his feet. The ragged man looking at the photogravures of a Sunday paper had a face he had seen before. “Hello,” he said vaguely. “I knew who you were all along,” said the man without holding out his hand. “You’re Lily Herf’s boy. … I thought you werent going to speak to me. … No reason why you should.”
“Oh of course you must be Cousin Joe Harland. … I’m awfully glad to see you. … I’ve often wondered about you.”
“Wondered what?”
“Oh I dunno … funny you never think of your relatives as being people like yourself, do you?” Herf sat down in the seat again. “Will you have a cigarette. … It’s only a Camel.”
“Well I dont mind if I do. … What’s your business Jimmy? You dont mind if I call you that do you?” Jimmy Herf lit a match; it went out, lit another and held it for Harland. “That’s the first tobacco I’ve had in a week … Thank you.”
Jimmy glanced at the man beside him. The long hollow of his gray cheek made a caret with the deep crease that came from the end of his mouth. “You think I’m pretty much of a wreck dont you?” spat Harland. “You’re sorry you sat down aint you? You’re sorry you had a mother who brought you up a gentleman instead of a cad like the rest of ’em. …”
“Why I’ve got a job as a reporter on the Times … a hellish rotten job and I’m sick of it,” said Jimmy, drawling out his words.
“Dont talk like that Jimmy, you’re too young. … You’ll never get anywhere with that attitude.”
“Well suppose I dont want to get anywhere.”
“Poor dear Lily was so proud of you. … She wanted you to be a great man, she was so ambitious for you. … You dont want to forget your mother Jimmy. She was the only friend I had in the whole damn family.”
Jimmy laughed. “I didnt say I wasnt ambitious.”
“For God’s sake, for your dear mother’s sake be careful what you do. You’re just starting out in life … everything’ll depend on the next couple of years. Look at me.”
“Well the Wizard of Wall Street made a pretty good thing of it I’ll say. … No it’s just that I dont like to take all the stuff you have to take from people in this goddam town. I’m sick of playing up to a lot of desk men I dont respect. … What are you doing Cousin Joe?”
“Don’t ask me. …”
“Look, do you see that boat with the red funnels? She’s French. Look, they are pulling the canvas off the gun on her stern. … I want to go to the war. … The only trouble is I’m very poor at wrangling things.”
Harland was gnawing his upper lip; after a silence he burst out in a hoarse broken voice. “Jimmy I’m going to ask you to do something for Lily’s sake. … Er … have you any … er … any change with you? By a rather unfortunate … coincidence I have not eaten very well for the last two or three days. … I’m a little weak, do you understand?”
“Why yes I was just going to suggest that we go have a cup of coffee or tea or something. … I know a fine Syrian restaurant on Washington street.”
“Come along then,” said Harland, getting up stiffly. “You’re sure you don’t mind being seen with a scarecrow like this?”
The newspaper fell out of his hand. Jimmy stooped to pick it up. A face made out of modulated brown blurs gave him a twinge as if something had touched a nerve in a tooth. No it wasnt, she doesnt look like that, yes Talented Young Actress Scores Hit in the Zinnia Girl. …
“Thanks, dont bother, I found it there,” said Harland. Jimmy dropped the paper; she fell face down.
“Pretty rotten photographs they have dont they?”
“It passes the time to look at them, I like to keep up with what’s going on in New York a little bit. … A cat may look
