The Washington herald., 1922-08-25
The Beautiful
And Damned
Continued from ye,t,rdov
By F. Scott Fitzgerald.

sheeriy honorable eyes. She en-
braced his suggestion with luxuri-
Gus intensity. holding II aloft like
a sun Of her own making and bask-
ing in its beams. She strung to-
gether an amazing synopsis for an
extravaganza of martial adventure.
After supper, sprfeited with the
subject. she yawned. She wanted
not to talk but only to read PEN
rod" stretched upon the lounge un-
til at midnight she fell asleep. But
Anthony. after he had carried her
romantically up the stairs. staysv
awake to brood upon the day.
vaguely dissatisfied.
What am 1 going to do?" he be-
gan at breakfast. Here we've been
married a year and we've just wor-
ried around without even being EN-
cient people of leisure"
Yes. you ought to do some
thing" she admitted. being in an
agreeable and loquacious humor.
This was not the first of these dis
cussions. but as they usually de-
veloped Anthony in the role of pro-
tagonist. she had come to avoid
them.
TITS not that I have any moral
computations about work." he con-
tinued. but grampa may die to-
morrow and he may live for ten
years. Meanwhile we're living above
our income and all we've got to
show for IL is a farmers car and
a few clothes. We keep an apart
ment that we've only lived in three
months and a little old house way
off in nowhere. We're frequently
bored and yet we won't make any
effort to know any one except the
same crowd who drift around Cali
fOrnia all summer wearing sport
clothes and waiting for their fami-
lies to die"
How you've changed" remarked
Gloria. "Once you told me you
didn't see why an American couldn't
loaf gracefully"
We'll. damn IT. I wasn't married
And the old mind was working at
top speed and now it's going round
and round like cog-wheel with
nothing to catch 1t. As matter
of fact 1 think that IL l hadn't met
YOU / would have done something.
But you make leisure SO suouS At
tractive@"
"Oh. it's all my fault
Il didn't mean that. and you
know / didn't. But here I'm almost
81 and"
oh" she interrupted In sexation,
you make me tired! Talking as
ing you'll"
Il was just discussing it. Gloria.
Can't / discuss
II should think you'd be strong
enough to settle"
'-something with you with
out"
your own problems without
coming to me. You talk a lot about
going to work. / could use more
money very easily, but I'm not COM
planning. Whether ,ou work or not
/ love you" Her last words were
gentle as fine snow upon hard
ground. But for the moment,
neither was attending to the other
they were each engaged in polishing
and perfecting his own attitude
II have worked-some" This by
Anthony was an imprudent bring
ing up of raw reserves. Gloria
laughed. torn between delight and
derision; she resented his sophistry
as at the same time she admired
his nonchalance. She would never
blame him for being the Intellectual
idier so long as he did it sincerely.
from the attitude that nothing much
was worth doing.
Work" " she scoffed. "Oh, you
sad birdi You buffer. work-that
means a great arranging of the
desk and the lights, great
sharpening of pencils. and Gloria,
don't sing" and Please keep that
damn Tana away from me- and
Let me read you my opening sem
tence.' and I won't be through for
a long time, Gloria, so don't stay
up for me- and a tremendous con-
sumption of tea or coffee. And
that's all. In just about an hour
i hear the old pencil stop scratch
ing and look over. You've got out
book and you're looking up
something. Then you're reading.
Then yawns-then bed and a great
tossing about because you're all full
of caffeine and cso't sleep. Two
weeks later the whole performance
over again"
With much difficulty Anthony re-
ttAHSu d sSdHly OfeeCn-CiOut OF
dignity.
Now that's a slight exaggera-
tion. You know darn wen / sold
an essay to The FIorentine-and il
attracted a lot of attention consid-
ering the circulation of The Flor
entine. And what's more, Gloria.
you know / sat up till o'clock in
the morning finishing it,
ha r.r Z
She lapsed into silence. giving
him rope And II he had not hanged
himself he had certainty come to
the end of it
AT least" he concluded feehly.
I'm perfectly willing to be a war
correspondent"
Rrt so was Gloria. They were
Doth willing-anxIous: tney assured
each other of it. Tie evening ended
on a note of treme ndous sentiment,
the majesty of leisure. the i'll health
Of Adam Patch. love at any cost.
Anthony" she called over. the
BANTER one afternoon a week later,
there's some one at the door
Anthony. who had been lslling in
the hammock on the sun-speckled
south Dorch. strolled around to the
front of the house. A foreign
large and Impressive. crouched like
an immense and saturnine bug at
the foot of the path. A man in a
soft pongee suit, with cap to match,
hailed him
Hello there. Patch. Ran over to
call on you"
1t was Bloeckman: as always. in
finitesimally improved, of subtlerI
intonation. of more convincing ease.
I'm awfully glad you did" An