Grand Forks herald. [volume] (Grand Forks, N.D.) 1916-1955, 1922-08-05

MISUNDERSTANDING
were seeking to get you On = policy. Sim
PIE business. when you're taken back Of the
scenes." 8ss
9 on. what felse DO yon know abou1.
rne?" Z
The stranger settled himself more easily
IN the chair q extended his ltss. They
used to caI you 5Colly and whistis after you.
% II you were a dog"
Bancroft stared into the are.
!" You never felt the desire for revenge for
all the humiliations of your boyhood?"
Bancroft turned. What good would II
DO? In their boots I might have done ex.
actly as they did,
You expect me to believe that the thought
Of reprisal never entered your heart?4"
90, I don't say that. Simply, 1 had no
thought of torturing them. I did have
dreams of going away and coming back
some Kind of a hero; some nonsense like
that. Strike an enemy and you only in.
name him; bring shame to his cheek. and
you vanquisb him."
And now, if you wish, you can turn the
whole village inside out"
III l wish '-thoughtfully. "But 60 on.
Boswell!'
EaAN oAy ~ III yON
none of the villagers. The school children
used to boot at you and their elders to look
upon you with tolerant contempt. But one
day at school you turned suddenly and
thrashed the biggest boy in the lot. After
that they let you alone"
You've got that wight" replied Bancroft,
his astonishment growing.
You have had but three friends; your
housekeeper, a middle aged spinster who
plays the church organss and the principal Of
the village academy. When you were a
little boy you used to go out under the big
elm in the front yard and read, 'Morte
dArthur '-at eight! Imagination. the touch
stone Of all true adventures. Such books,
when most boys would be delvinR into Nick
Carter.
II never had any money to buy books"
Your father must have been a scholar.
with such a library"
~ never saw him take down a book"
"What-such a library and not use it?'-
with the air Of one scandalized.
II imagine the books were the result Of
some foreclosure. TIL books, the vases. the
chairs in the dining room, were all acquired
by foreclosures. probably. AS you seem to
know, he never gave me any money. never
inquired about my comings and goings,
never discussed his affairs in the city; but
he never spoke roughly or laid a hand on
me. Once a year-Christnas-he replen-
ished my wardrobe, cheaply. What money
l ever had l earned at odd jobs-Saturdays
in the grocery and later as a armha on
the nearby farms. I'm tough, physically
recalling the ten thousand in the drawer.
The stranger did not reply; he was staring
with puckered brows at that section Of the
bookshelves that 1anked the. fireplace.
Bancroft went on with his intimate his
tory, never considering that for the first time
in his life he was confding his innermost
secrets to a humdn being, an utter stranger
besides. Il met some queer characters
among the wandering farmhands: a broken
down. actor, a preacher with bad lungs, and
a pugilist with one eye. Each gave me q
little of what he had"
so that you can act, preach, and fight,
if need be" The stranger laughed again.
Bancroft did not like the quality Of this
laughter. 1t eluded him. 1t seemed to come
from behind a wall or from a deep cavern.
What he found himself strangely wanting
was the smile. There it lay, hidden tanta-
lizingly in the corners Of the mans lips.
What would provoke it.
There was a diversion. The stranger rose
abruptly and approached the book shelves.
He took down a book and rifhed the pages.
"Ha!-the essays of Montaigne; the
Frenchman's Koran" He replaced the vol
ume and selected another. "Tristram Shan
d~y-guileless Uncle Toby and the Widow
Wadman" He wandered along the rows Of
books, quoting, commenting.
Bancroft's bewilderment continued to
mount. He could not reconcile the mans
scholarship with the absurd business he was
apparently promoting, the sale of adventures.
Pretense: for Bancroft could\not get away
from the notion that there was a riddle be-
hind the absurdity.
Presently the stranger stopped and drew
out another book. He balanced it on his
hand, and looked away, seemingly drawn
into some other time, some other world. The
hawky outlines Of the face softened visibly,
perhaps under the mellowing influence Of
some tender recollection. He remained en-.
tranced for two or three minutes, until Ban
croft stirred suggestively. The man turned
and stared at his host, with just enough as
tonishment in his expression to convince
Bancroft that he had, for the space. forgotten
his surroundings and rather resented being
returned to them abruptly.
All! that's the marvel OF books. was
miles away. And so you have swallowed all
this stuff "-cynically. How much, have
you digested?"
More than you would expect"
yet | don't suppose you know what
you've got here aside from the fact that eha
library is distinguished for it's taste. There
are first editions for which collectors viii
pay large sums. That Horace is a true Elxa.
vir. You read Latin?" 10
Yes"
The stranger clapped his hands. Vie
torian, eh? Well, well; young folks don't
pay much attention. to Latin these days,
Horace has been relegated to the ash can.
AIRS Poetica-whoever hears Of it these
times? Chloe has become a happer with hair
wads on her ears and chewing gum IN her
cheek"
Bancroft laughed. But for All that he re
ognized that the stranger was hnhbhnx with
jsonic humor, rather an unusual ernotion "a
betray. when the air Of a seller should bs
unctuous- Slip, to talk to some one who
would understand; to expose the acid bites
OF all these years.; for once to throw reservs
and waripess to the winds. why not? It
was patent that the men knew all there was
TO know about Colfingswood Jeremiah Ban
croft. To babble freely, then, since the
stranger could not profit by the sidelixhts
any more than he could by the main. TO
empty the bag and for once drain hiai soul. az