Evening star., 1923-08-26

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TN few moments they were talk
i ing easily. 1t amused them both
to have come from the same house
amused Abercrombie especially. for he
was vain man. rather absorbed, that
evening. in his own early poverty. He
found 1t necessary somehow to make
IL clear in a few sentences that Ave
years after he had gone away from
the house and the town he had been
able to send for his father and mother
to Join him in New York.
Hemmick listened with that exag-
gerated attention which men who
have not prospered generally render
to men who have. He was beginning
family to associate this man with an
Abercrombie who had figured In the
newspapers for several years at the
head of shipping boards and financial
committees.
But Abercrombie. after a moment,
remarked abruptly, 81 don't like 1t here.
1t means nothing to me-nothing-
I've wondered If l did. you know,
that's why | came down. And I've de-
cided I'm through"
Hemmick nodded. thoughtfully,
though without thought He had
never thought There was certain
. luxury in thinking that he had never
set before him he either accepted
them outright If they were compre-
hensible to him or rejected them IL
they required modicum of concen-
traUon. Yet he was not stupid man.
He vas poor and busy and tired. He
was a closed book. half full Of badly
printed. uncorrelated trash.
Just now. his reaction to Aber-
crombie's assertion was exceedingly
simple. Since the remarks proceeded
from man who was a southerner by
birth, who was successful-moreover
who was confident and decisive and
persuasive and suave-he was In
clined to accept them without sus-
picion or resentment
He took one of Abercrombie's
cigars and pulling on II. still with
a stern imitation of profundIty upon
his tired face. watched the color
glide out of the sky and the gray
wells come down. In the stucco
bungalows pianos gave out hot, weary
competitive sound. and soueaky
graphophones filled in the intervals
with patches of whining ragtime until
the impression was created that each
living room in the street opened di-
rectly out into the darkness.
Abercrombie was saying with a
frown. ut was entirely an accident
that l left here. an utterly. blind
chance, and, as it happened the very
train that took me away was full OF
luck for me. The man l sat beside
gave me my start in life" His tone
became resentful. But I'd have
stayed here except that I'd gotten into
scrape down at the high school
L got expelled and my daddy told me
ne didn't want me at home any more,
Why didn't know this town wasn't
any good?"
Well. you'd probably never known
anything better?' suggested Hem
mick mildly.
That wasn't any excuse" insisted
Abercrombie. "It I'd been any good
I'd have known. AS matter of
fact-as-a-matter- he re-
peated slowly, II think that at heart
1 was the sort of boy who'd have
lived and died here happily and never
known there was anything better"
He turned to Hemmick with a look al
most of distress. TT worries me to
think that my-that what's happened
to me can be ascribed to chance. But
that's the sort of boy I think I was.
didn't start off with the Dick Whit
tington idea-I started off by acci-
dent"
\ FTER this confession he stared
1 \ out into the twilight with a de-
jected expression that Hemmick could
not understand. 1t was impossible for
the latter to share any sense of the
Importance of such a distinction-in
fact, from a man of Abercrombie's po-
sition it struck him as unnecessarily
trivial. Still, he felt that some mani
festation of acquiescence was only
polite.
WELL" he offered, its Just that
some boys get the bee to get up and
go away, and some boys don't. hap
pened to have the bee to go north
But didn't. That's the difference be-
tween you and me-"
Abercrombie turned to him in
tently.
You did?" he asked, with unex-
out"
lat one time At Abercrombie's
eagerness Hemmick began to attach
a new importance to the subject. "At
one time" he repeated, as though the
singleness of the occasion was a thing
he had often unused upon.
How old were you?"
"Oh--bout twenty"
What put 1t into your head?"
Well, let me see," Hemmick con-
sidered. II don't know whether 1 re-
member sure enough, but 1t seems to
me that when I was down to the uni
versity--I was there two years-one
Of the professors told me that a smart
boy ought to go north. He said busi-
ness wasn't going to amount to much
down here for some years. And I
guessed he was right. My father died
about then, 80 I got a job as runner
| in the bank here, and I didn't have
much interest In anything except saw
. ing enough money to go north. /
| was bound I'd 60"
why didn't you? Why didn't you?"
insisted Abercrombie In an aggrieved
tone.
WELL" Hemmick hesitated, well,
right near did, but-things didn't
work out and I didn't get to go. 1t
was funny sort of business. 1t all
started about the smallest thing you
can think Of. 1t all started about a
penny"