The Washington herald., 1922-09-29
The Beautiful
And Damned
Continued from Yesterday.
By F. Scott Fitzgerald


OF his men to learn blaeksmithing.
The regiment was filling up to war
strength and he needed most Of his
veterans for drill masters. so he
selected the little Italian, Baptiste,
whom he could most easily spare.
Little Baptiste had never had any
thing to do with horses. His fear
made matters worse. He reap
peared in the orderly room one day
and told Capt Dunning that he
wanted to die IL he couldn't be re-
1ieved. The horses kicked at him.
he said: he was no good at the
work. Finally he fell on his knees
and besought Captain Dunning. in
a mixture of broken English and
scriptursl Italian. TO get him out
OF 1t. He had not slept for three
days; monstrous stations reared
and cavorted through his dreams.
Captain Dunning reproVed the
company clerk (who had burst out
lsughinR), and told Baptiste he
would 90 what he could. But when
he thought IL over he decided that
he couldn't spare a better man.
Little Baptiste went from bad to
worse. The horses seemed to di-
vine his fear and take every ad-
vantage Of it. Two weeks later
a great black mare crushed his
skull in with her hoOfs while he
was trying to lead her from her
stall.
In mid-July came rumors, and
then orders. that concerned
change of camp. The brigade was
TO move to. an empty cantonment,
a hundred miles farther south.
there to he expanded into a divis-
ion. At first the men thought they
were departing for the trenches,
and all evening little groups jab-
beTed in the company street.
Shouting to each other in swaS-
Eering ordinations: "Su-u-ure we
are When the truth leaked on,
il was rejected Indignantly as a
blind to conceal their real desti-
nation. They revelled in their own
Importance. That night they told
their girls in town that they were
going to get the Germans" An
thony circulated for a while among
lue 6IbupS-lntn. SlOpplHk Jll-
ney. rode down TO tell Dot that he
was going away.
She was waiting on the dark We
randa in a cheap white dress that
acccntusted the youth and soft
ness OF her face.
oh" she whispered. I've wanted
YOU so. honey. All this day"
Il have something TO tell you"
She drew him down beside her
on the swinging seat. not noticing
his ominou7 tone.
Tell me-"
We're leaving next week"
Her arms seeking his shoulders
remained poised upon the dark air,
her chin tipped up. When she spoke
the softness was gone from her
voice.
Leaving for France"
No. Less luck than that. Leav-
ing for some darn camp in Missis-
sippi"
She shut her eyes and he could
see that the lids were trembling.
Dear little Dot, life is so damned
hard.
She was crying upon his shoul-
der
so damned hard. so damned
hard" he repeated aimlessly: 'it
just hurts people and hurts peo-
pie. until finally 1t hurts them so
that they can't be hurt ever any
more. That's the last and worst
thing it does"
Frantic. wild with anguish, she
strained him to her breast.
oh. God,' she whispered bro
kenly. you can't go away from
me. I'd die"
lie was finding it impossible to
pass off his departure as a COM
mon. impersonal blow. He was too
near to her to do more than re-
peat. Poor little Dot. Poor little
Dot"
And then what" she demanded
wesrily.
What do you mean?"
You're my whole life. that's all.
Id die for you right now if you
said so. I'd get knife and kill
myself. You can't leave me here"
Her tone frightened MIN.
These things happen" he said
evenly.
Then I'm going with you" Tears
were streaming down her cheeks.
Her mouth was trembling in AM
sCstacy Of grief and fear.
sweet" he muttered sentimen-
tally, "swee, little girl. Don't you
see we'd just be putting off what's
Lound to happen? I'll be going to
France in a few months
She leaned away from him and
clinchinE her fists lifted her face
toward the sky.
Il want to die" she said. as il
moulding each word carefully in
her heart.
Dot" he whispered uncomforta-
bly,. you'll forget. Things are
sveeter when they're lost 1 know
because once I wanted something
ard got it II was the only thing
! ever wanted badly. Dot. And
when I got it it turned to dust in
my hands"
"All right"
Absorbed in himself. he contin-
. we'd:
I've often thought that IL I
hadn't got what l wanted things
might have been different with
me. I might have found something
In my mind and enjoyed putting
: in circulation. might have
teen content with the work of it.
and had some sweet vanity out of
the success. / suppose that at one
time / could have had anything I
wanted, within reason. but that
was the only thing I ever wanted
with any fervor. God. And that
taught me you can't have any
thing. you can't have anything at
all. BecADaA desire lust cheats yo,,