, 1925-06-10

CHAPTER xIII-continued

rOices, fell no~nchalantly from their
pretty lips. All very fearless and un-
Inhibited and free. That, they told
you, was the main thing. Sometimes
Dirk wished they wouldn't work SO
hard at their play. They were for
ever getting up pageants n plays
and large festivals for charity; vene-
tian fetes, Oriental ~bazaars, charity
balls. In the programme performance
of these many Of them sang better,
acted better, danced better thar most
professional performers, but the whole
thing always lacked the flavor, m
how, of professional performance. On
these affairs they lavished thousands
In costumes and decorations, receiv-
ing in return other thousands which
they sOberly turned owe to the cause.
They found nothing tudicrous in this.
systematically they went into busi-
nest or semi-professional ventures, de-
flying the conventions. Paula did this,
too. SHE ORION of her friends were
forever opening blouse shops; starting
Gifte Shoppes; burgeoning into tea
rooms decorated in crude green and
vermilion and orange and black an
nouncing their utilization with an ad-
vertising agency. These adventures
blossomed, withered, died. They were
the result of postwar restlessness
Many of these girls had worked IN
defatigably during the 1917-191S pc
ROD; had driven service cars. man.
aged ambulances nursed, scrubbed,
conducted canteens. They missed the
pyrifQnnnnf Tho catgcfont,a- 80 nnbin,,a
ment.
They found Dirk fair game, resent
ed Paula's proprietorship. Susans and
james and Kates n Bettye n Sa;.
lys-plain old-fashioned names for
modern, erotic misses-they talked to
Dirk. danced with him, rode with him,
dirted with him. His very unattain-
ableness gave him piquancy. That
Paula Storm had him fast. He didn't
care a boot about girls.
"Oh. Mr.. DeJong," they said. "your
names Dirk. isn't 1t? What a slick
namel What does 1t meanf"
Nothing, l suppose. It's a Dutch
(ndme. Nv people-my fathers peo-
pie-were Dutch, you know"
"A dirk's a sort of sword, isn't 1t,
or poniard? Anyway, 1t sounds very
keen and cruel and fatal-Dirk."
He would flush a little Gone of his
assets) and smile. and look at them,
and say nothing. He found that to
be all that was necessary.
He got on enormously.
Between the girls he met in society
and the girls that worked in his Of
hce there existed a similarity that
struck and amused Dirk. He said.
Take a letter, Miss Roach" to a slim
young creature as exquisite as the
girl with whom he had danced the day
before; or riddle or played tennis or
bridge. Their very clothes were fault
less limitations. They even used the
same perfume. He wondered. idly.
how they did 1t. They were eighteen,
nineteen, twenty. and their faces and
bodies n desires n natural equip
ment made their presence in a business
Office n paradox. an absurdity. Yet
they were capable, too. in a mechanical
sort Of way. Theirs were mechanical
Jobs. They were lovely creatures with
the minds of fourteen-year-old chill
dren. Their hair was shining, perfect
ly undulated. as fine m glossy and
tenderly curling as a young chlld's.
Their breasts were fiat, their figures
s~ingularly .sexless like that of a very
young boy. They were wise with the
wisdom OF the serpent. Their legs
were slim and sturdy. Their mouths
were pouting. soft, pink, the lower lip
a little curled back. petal-wise. like
the moist mouth OF a baby that has
just finished nursing. Their eyes were
wide apart. empty. ~knowledgeous.
They managed their private affairs
like generals. They were cool, remote.
disdainful. They reduced their boys
20 desperation. They were ~brigands,
d~esperadoes. pirates. taking all. giving
little. They came, for the most part,
from sordid homes, yet they knew. in
some miraculous way. all the fine
arts that Paula knew and practiced.
They were corsetless. plant. bewilder-
ing. lovely, dangerous.
Among them Dirk worked immune.
aloof. untouched. He would have been
surprised to learn that he was known
amon them ms Frosty. They admired
and resented him. Not one that did
not secretly dream OF h day when
he would call her into his Office. shut
the door. and say. Loretta" (their
names were ~burbankian monstrosities,
born Of grating the original nppella-
tion onto their own Idea Of beauty In
nomenclature = hence Lorettn. limo
rene, Nadine. Natalie. Ardella), "Lor-
eta. I have watched you for a long.
long time and you must have noticed
how deeply ! admire you"
II wasn't impossible. Those things
happen. The movies had taught them
that. Dirk. all unconscious OF their
pitiless nll-absorbing scrutiny. would
have been still further appalled, to
learn how fully aware they were OF his
personal md prIvate %nffnIrs. They