Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1915-08-10
CHAPTER XIII.
The Conxalescent.

After a few more days in the Nor
ris chair-days during which he was
idly contented when Margery was
with him, and vaguely dissatisfied
when she was not-Griswold was per-
mitted to go below stairs, where he
met, for the first time since the Grier-
son roof had given him shelter, the
master of Mereside.
The little visit to Jasper Grierson's
library was not prolonged beyond the
inyalid's strength; but notwithstand-
ing its brevity there were inert cur
rents of antagonism evolved which
Margery, present and endeavoring TO
serve as a lightning arrester, could
neither ground nor turn aside.
Griswold took away from the rath-
er constrained fce-breaking in the
bankers library a renewed resolve to
cut his obligation to Jasper Grierson
as short as possible. How he should
begin again the mordant struggle for
existence was still an unsolved prob
lem. OF the one-thousand-doil
spending fund there remained some
thing less than half; for a few weeks
or months he could live and pay his
way; but after that. Curiously
enough the alternative Of another at
tack upon the plutocratic dragon did
not suggest itself. That, he told him.
self, was an experiment tried and
found wanting. But in any event, he
must not outstay his welcome at
Mereside; and with this thought in
mind he crept downstairs daily after
the library episode, and would give
Margery no peace because she would
not let him go abroad in the town.
How sharper than a serpent's
tooth it is to have a thankless'-what
shall 1 say-patient, or guest, or
friend?" she laughed, garbling the
quotation to fit the occasion.
Shakespeare said child" he sug-
gested mildly.
"And so shall l." she gibed-but the
gibe itself was almost a caress. Some
times you remind me Of an impatient
boy who has been promised a peach
and can't wait until it ripens. But If
you must have q reason why 1 won't
drive you this afternoon, you may.
We are going to have tiny little
social function at Mereside this eve
ming, and I want you to be fresh and
rested for it."
Certainly, shall come, if you wish
it." he assented, remembering afresh
his immense obligation; end when the
time was ripe he made himself pre-
sentable and felt his way down the
dimly lighted library stair, being
minded to slip into the social pool by
the route which promised the small
est splash and the fewest ripples.
1t was a stirring Of the Philistine in
him that lead him to prefigure weari-
ness and banality in the prospect.
Without in the least expecting it,
Griswold was a Brahmin Of the Sc
verest type on his social side; easily
disposed to hold aloof and to criticise,
and, as a man eastern-bred, serenely
assured that nothing truly acceptable
in the social sense could come out of
the Nazareth Of the west.
For this cause he was properly hu-
inflated when he entered the spacious
double drawing-rooms and found them
so comfortably crowded by a throng
of conventionally clothed and conven-
tionally behaved guests that he was
Immediately able to lose himself-and
any lingering trace Of self-conscious-
ness-in a company which, if appear
ances were to be trusted, was western
only by reason Of Wahaska's location
on the map.
And the charming young hostess
Hitherto he had known her
only as his benefactress and the
thoughtful caretaker for his comfort.