The Argosy, March 1907 — page 51: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

2 ; ; 2 = equal. If they choose to it is their own affair. But | have noticed several times lately that you seem inclined to address me as if we were on the same social plane, and—— ”’ “Mr. Clive!” broke forth Madge, but he waved her to silence and resumed: “Please do not interrupt. I am sorry to have to speak so frankly, but you force me to it. Let it be settled henceforth that I shall accord to you the civility I would show to any woman, black or white, but that I do not choose to asso- ciate more than is absolutely necessary with my aunt’s paid employee. The days of King Cophetua are past, and ” “You need not say anything further,” interrupted the girl, and now all the sur- prise and indignation had gone from her voice, leaving it cold, metallic, deadly calm. ‘ You speak of coming to an un- derstanding. ‘That is impossible at pres- ent, for you understand neither your- self nor me. But perhaps 1 can make both clearer to you.’ She paused an instant, and he was about to speak, when she went on in the same cold, level tone: “You look on me as a dependent of Mrs: Chittenden’s and, as such, your in- ferior. I—like yourself—am a depend- ent. But with this difference: 7 work honorably to earn my living. Yow do not work at all. I give full value for every penny I receive. You accept a liv- ing for which you give no return. Which of us is the inferior? No, please don’t interrupt: I heard you -patiently. I ask the same courtesy at your hands— the ‘ civility you would show any woman, _ black or white.’ ” He winced, but listened in spite of himself. -““ You look down on your fellow trav- elers and consider them beneath you. Yet they are kind-hearted, honest, and do what they can for one another’s com- fort. Can you say as much for yourself? You take advantage of the accident of fortune to make me feel keenly my po- sition as an employee. By your own statement none of the others have treat- ed me other than as an equal. “You further insult me by hinting that I am seeking to play the role of beggar maid to your King Cophetua. THEIR LAST HOPE. Just to prove to you how mistaken you are, I wish to tell you that I hold of you the same opinion that any sane and self-. respecting woman would hold toward a man who can speak to a woman as you have just spoken. It can be condensed into one word: Mr. Barry Clive, you are a cad!” The young man’s bronzed face was purple. ‘Thrice he opened his mouth to blurt out some angry torrent of re- tort, and thrice he checked himself. Af- ter waiting for an answer, she went on: ‘I think that now we at last begin to understand each other. There are but two points more to clear up before we close this very unpleasant-subject. First, I cannot, of course, continue in Mrs. Chittenden’s service after this, even if your Bayard-like chivalry prevented you from repeating our conversation to her. But I shall not on that account let you spoil my long-planned trip. I have a little money laid by, and I shall continue the journey at my own expense. In other words, the fact of my being your aunt’s ‘dependent’ need not force you to con- tinue my acquaintance. So in future I beg that you will treat me as you treat the rest of us; in other words, ignore me. That is all, I think. We must be almost at the hotel; I won’t trouble you to escort me farther.” Whipping up her weary donkey, she galloped on through the fast-gathering dusk. He made as if to follow, but his donkey stumbled on the slimy cobbles and fell to its knees. By the time Clive had got the beast to its feet again Madge was out of sight atound one of the sharp corners of the byway. So engrossed had both been in their talk that they had failed to note the set- tling down of dark or the fact that the curving, tortuous course of their path proved it to be one of those innumerable alleys which in the “ native district” of Cairo merge into and depart from the main streets at so obtuse an angle as to mislead even the oldest foreign habitués of the city. As a matter of fact, Clive and Miss Brant had been traveling almost in a cir- cle. The alley forked almost directly in front of the spot where Clive’s donkey stumbled. In doubt as to which road Gomichbooks.co