The Evansville journal. [volume] (Evansville, Ind.) 1866-1870, 1867-06-06

he thought of was the incidents OF the
day-not as they affected his future
advancement, but as they appealed to
his present appetites. He thought OF
the dinner, of the soups and sauces
which had given him hitherto un-
known gustatory thrill; of the de-
licious smack of the mellow
wines; of the feel of the Ak
minister carpet under his feet;
of. the pleasant, half-appreciated
ensemble of warm toned pictures,
white statues and graceful people
about him. The simmer of Mrs.
Prochaska's purple silk crept across
his nerves-the warmth and light and
perfume stepped his senses delicious
~. He felt suddenly that it was for
such things he had been made! By
and by, without having spoken again
to. anybody, he took himself off, back
to his small, cold room up in a second
rate hotel. His depression, and the
reaction were painful, and lasted till
he found himself at Professor Pro-
chaska's, at noon, next day. Miss
Prochaska spoke to him on business,
and to the point: you are perhaps
making some pecuniary sacrifice to
secure your patent, Mr.. Harley?' 1t
was her way to understand people.
Yes, am, he answered.
You are prepared to wait patient
~ for-perhapsfor yearsg'
+" | don't expect any such delay.
The advantages of my process are too
plain
.sYou are aware that it will not be
solely question of advantage"
: " OF what else, then?"
" OfinAuence often, sometimes of
bribery"
He did not believe her Some
other guests were coming, and she
rose to leave him. She said:
" | can help you somewhat, per-
haps. You may come here often.
You will meet people whom it
will be necessary for you to know.
Now, you may go there, into the con
servatory, cut a white camelia and
carry it home. -" Aa4 -
A while after she said to her father,
" am sorry for that yellow named
Kalmuck. Can you do anything TO
help him?
80, | dare say he will get his patent
III
Something quite important, isn't
it?' ass~ ? - Z
Yes. 1t will distinguish, him
when it is known. =
Harley carried home his camelia
and threw it down. What a0as
one foUer? He wanted the wholei
He kicked chair fercely out of his
way. What degraded life he had
ledI Why couldn't all lives be like
Miss Prochaska's? He thought of
Ruth putting on. coal and frying
and sitting down to knit by
the Kitchen fire. He felt that he
wronged her horribly in tasting nee
tar in Paradise and leaving her to fry
and he started to go out on
the avenue and buy her a purple
MORE as a sort of atonement. But
Ruth could not knit by the kitchen
fire in a purple naoiret He remem-
bered this in time, and did
not-v go. He remembered also
thathe could not do her any good by
abstaining from nectar; on the contra
ry, his best plan was to devote every
energy to winning the influence which
was to secure his success and so save
her future. at least. from sausage fry
ing and kitchen fires!
He had never known before how
truly he hated such things. The
knowledge reused him to feverish en-
ergy. He weighed what Miss Proch-
aska had said of the possibility of de-
lay. He counted costs. The simple
economy of his previous life had left
him in entire ignorance of such ex-
penses as he now found himself drawn,
into. But to1recede was impossible
Cost what it might, he must succeed;
he must have redemption from his
past He had few hundred dollars;
that would soon be gone. But when
that was gone, there was their
home. It was Ruth's pro-
perry, to be sure, but she would
do as he said; aud if there was delay
the cottage would have to be sold to
meet expenses. Ruth was capital
manager: she would get on some way;
the struggle could not last great
while, and, as he had said, to recede
was now impossible.
If you are in Washington this Win
ter, you will meet about the Hobbies.
public offices and hotels, a number of
men leading the same feverish, ex-
pectant, desperate. kind of life that
Gilbert Harley had entered on. They
are men of ideas, usually. They are
entertained (for the sake of their
ideas) in elegant salons. They have
toasts drunk to their ideas at select
dinners, and they go from these
places to their hotel attics. sit down
with hot heads and numb fingers, try
to write to their wives and to think of
their homes, and are unable to do it.
Some two or three of these men. in
the course of the Winter, get their
ideas into operation. You hear a
good deal about these two or three.