The San Francisco call., 1909-07-25
CHAPTER vi
Black Magic

" HE memory OF Clara's increduIous
glance remained with her as some
thing curious. and she was not un-
prepared to be challenged when
the next morning she hurried down into
the hall, drawing on her gloves. CIara's
yawning lightly on the threshold. had
this time no questions for her Re
member the luncheon. she advised,
and. by the way. Ella wants us to sit
In their box tonight Don't forget to
tell Harry"
Flora threw back gay "AII right"
but she was in danger OF forgetting
even the object of their errand once
she and Harry were out in the bright
glare of the street The wind keen
and resinous from the wet Presidfo
woods. blew at their back down the
short block OF pavement and buffeted
them broadside as they waited on the
corner for the slow crawling little car
In spite Of the clustering air Flora In
sisted on the side seat of the dummy"
and catching her hat with one hand.
pressing down her futtering skirts with
the other. she laughed. now sidelong at
Harry, now out at the dancing face OF
the bay
Each succeeding cross street gave up
fash of blue water. The short blocks
slid by. first stone fronts and fresh
lawns. stucco and tiles; then here and
there corner lots; the great gray tow
cred wooden mansions the stock brok-
ers of the seventies built, and below
them, like a contingent OF shabby gen
teel relations, the narrow gray wooden
faces of what was smart" in the six
ties. 1t was continuous progress
backward toward the old. the original
town There was no stately nucleus.
This town was succession OF wild
ening ripples of progress. - each
newer, more polished than the
last. but not different in quail
ity from the odd center that still
teemed-a region Of fraiI wooden rook-
cries full OF foreign contending inter
ests. haunted with the adventures Of its
feyerish past Tt had built itself on
the hopes Of q moment, and what
spread from it still was the spell OF
the new. the changing and the reck-
less 1t drew still from the ends of the
earth. The broad road in over the
mountains. the broad road out over the
ocean made 1t where 1t stood, touching
all trades. a road house Of the world.
Some dim perception OF this touched
Flora as the houses, gliding past. grew
Older, grayer. with sleeper gardens.
narrower streets. here and there even
trees, lone, sentinel. at the edge of cob
bled cutters. From the crest OF the
last hill they had looked a mile down
the long gray throat OF the street to
where the ferry building. lay stretched
out with its one tall tower pricked IN
among the masts OF shipping Half
way between their momentary perch
and the ferry slips the street suddenly
thickened, darkened. swarmed, flying
a yellow pennon high above bIackened
roofs. And now. as they slipped down
the long decline into the foreign quar-
ter the pungent oriental breath Of
Chinatown was blown up TO them. She
breathed il in readily It was pleasant
because it was strange, outlandish-
suggesting a wide web OF life beyond
her own knowledge. She wondered
what Harry was thinking OF 1t. as he
sat with bis passive profile turned from
her to the heather street ahead. She
guessed. by the curl of his nostriI. that
it was only present to him as an IN
pleasant odor 10 be got through with
as quickly as possible; but she was
wrong. He had another thought. This
time. oddly enough. thought for her