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About The Oregon daily journal. (Portland, Or.) 1902-1972 | View Entire Issue (June 28, 1914)
Out of the Depths By Robert W. Chambers (Copyright by Th North American Company.) ..fTiirvw m - 1 """i u ii i ii mm ii i iiimuiii imi mi-ii -yyaraw ' "wj r'-3r- -Vi. -trf , T-l r - V j-J tfi . , - .tfsSMsBsVBk ., . ' i is .. . .. ,7 tt. " lrSsa if -mmf DUST and wind bad subsided; there seemed to be a bint of rain in the starless west Because the August evening had become op pressive, the club windows stood wide open as though gaping for the outer air. Rugs and curtains had been removed; an incandescent light or two accen tuated the emptiness of ' the rooms; here and there shadowy servants prowled, gilt buttons sparkling through the obscurity, their footsteps on the bare floor Intensify leg the heavy quiet Irvto this week's-end void wandered young Shannon, drifting aimlessly from library to corridor, finally enter ing the long room where the portraits of dead governors smirked through the windows at the deserted avenue. As his steps echoed on the rugless floor, a shadowy something detached itself from the depths of a padded, armchair by the corner window, and a voice he recog nized greeted htm by name. v "You here, Harrod!" he exclaimed. "Thought you were at Bar Harbor." "I was. r had business In town. "Do you stay here long?" "Not long," said Harrod slowly. Shannon dropped Into a chair with a yawn which ended In a groan. "Of all God-forsaken places," he began, "a New Tork cltib In August" Harrod touched an electric button, but no servant answered the call. Presently Shannon, sprawling in (his chair. Jabbed the button with the ferrule of his walking stick, and a servant took the order, repeating as though he had not understood: "Did you say two, sir?" "With olives dry," nodded Shannon Irritably. They sat there in alienee until the tinkle of Ice s roused them, and "Double luck to you," muttered Shannon; then, with a scarcely audible sigh. "Bring two more and bring a dinner card." And turning to the older man, "You're dining, Harrod?" "Ifi you like." A servant came and turned on an electric Jet; Shan non, scanned the card under the pale radiance, scribbled on the pad, and handed It to the servant "Did you put- down my name?" asked Harrod curiously. "No, you'll dine with me if you don't mind." "I don't mind for this last time." "Going away again?" "Yes." Shannon signed the blank and glanced up 'at his friend. "Are you well?" he asked abruptly. Harrod, lying deep in his leather chair, nodded. "Oh, you're rather white around the gills. We'll have another." - "I thought you had cut that out. Shannon." ""'! . i u 111 4 lA t "Her hands fell from her face and their . eyes met "Cut what out?" "Drinking." "Well, I haven't" said Shannon sulkily, lifting bis glass and throwing one knee over the other. -"P laei ,tme ,aw you- ou ttia you would cut it observed Harrod. "Well, what of it?" "But you haven't?" "No, my friend." "Can't you stop?" "I could now. Tomorrow I don't know; but I know well' enouirl) I couldn't day after tomorrow. And day after tomorrow I shall not care." .. A short silence and Harrod said: "That's why X eme back here." - "What? "To stop you." Shannon regarded him in sullen amazement A servant announcing dinner brought them to their feet; together they walked out Into the empty dining room and seated themselves by an open window. Presently Shannon looked up with an Impatient laugh. "For heaven's sake let's be cheerful, Harrod. JJ you knew how the Infernal town had got on my nerves. "That's what I came back for, too," said Harrod with his strange white smile. "I knew the world was fighting you to the ropes." "It is; here I stay on. day after day, on the faint dhanes of something doing." He shrugged his shoulders. "Business Is worse than dead; I can't hold on much longer. You're right;, the world has' hammered me ts the ropes, and it will be down and out ror me unless "Unless you can borrow on your own terms?" "Yes, but I can't" Ton are mistaken. "Mistaken? Who will "I will." - . . "You! Why, man, do you know how much I need? Do you -know for how long I shall need it? Do you know what the chances are of my making good? You I Why, Harrod, I'd swamp youl You can't afford" "I can afford anything now." Shannon stared: "You have struck something?" "Something that puts me beyond want" He fumbled In his breast pocket drew out a portfolio, and from the flat leather case he produced a numbered check bearing his signature, but not filled out "Tell them to bring pen and ink," he said. Shannon, perplexed, signed to a waiter. When the Ink was brought Harrod motioned Shannon to take the pen. Before I went to Bar Har bor," he said, "I had a certain sum" He hesitated, men tioned the sum in a low voice and asked Shannon to fill In the check for that amount "Now blot It pocket It and use it" he' added listlessly, looking out into the lamp lighted street Shannon, whiter than his friend, stared at the bit of per forated yellow paper. "I can't take It" he stam mered "my security is rotten, I tell you" "I want no security; I I am beyond want" said Har rod. "Take It; I came back here for this partly for this." "Came back here to to help me! " "To help you. Shannon. I had been a lonely man in life; I think you never realized how much your friendship has been to roe. I had nobody no intimacies. You never under stood you . with all your friends that I cared more for our casual companionship than for anything in the world." Shannon bent his head. "I did not know It" be said. Harrod raised his eyes and looked up at the starless sky: Shannon ate In silence; into his young face, already marred by dissipation, a strange light had come. And little by little order began to emerge from his whirling senses; . he saw across an abyss a bridge gilt terlng, and beyond that beck oning to him through a whits glory, all that his heart de sired. "I was at the ropes," hs muttered; . "how ' could you know It Harrod? I I never whined" ' a "I know more than I did yesterday," said Harrod, rest ing his pale face on one ' thin hand. Shannon, nerves on edge, all aquiver, the blood racing through every vein, began to speak excitedly: "It's like a dream one of the blessed sort Harrod! Harrod! the dreams I've had this last year! And I try I try to understand what has happened what you have done for me. I can't I'm shaking all over, and I suppose I'm Bitting here eating and drinking, but" He touched his 'glass blindly; It tipped and crashed to the floor, the breaking froth of the wine hissing on the cloth. "Harrod! Harrod! What sort of a 'man am I to deserve this of, you? WWt can I do" "Keep your nerve or one thing." "I will! you mean that!" touching the stem of the new glass, which the waiter had brought and was filling. . He struck the glass till it rang out a clear, thrilling, crystalline note, then struck it more sharply, lit splin tered with a soft splashing crash. , "Is that 'all?" he 'aughed. "No. not alt' . ' "What more will, you let me do?" "One thing more. Tell them to serve coffee below." So they passed out of the dining room, through the deserted corridors, and descended the stairway to the lounging room. It was unlighted and empty; Shannon stepped back and the elder man passed (him and took tJhe corner chair by the window the same seat where Shannon, had first seen him sitting ten years before, and where he always looked to find him after the ending of a .business day. And continuing his thoughts the younger, man spoke aloud Impulsively: "I remember 'perfectly well how we met Do you? You had Just come back to town from Bar Harbor, and I saw you stroll in and seat yourself In that corner, and because I was sitting next you, you asked if you might inc'ude me In your order do you remember?" "Yes, I remember." "And I told you I was a new member here, and you pointed out the portraits of all those dead governors ; of the club, and ' told me what good fellows they had been. I found out later that you yourself were a gov ernor of the club. . i ' "Yes I was." Harrod's shadowy faca swerved toward the window, his eyes resting on the familiar avenue, empty now save for the policeman opposite, and the ragged chil dren of, the poor. In August the high tide from the slums washes Fifth avenue, stranding a ; gasping flotsam at the thresholds of the absent, ' , "And I remember, too, what you told me," continued Shannon. "What?" said Harrod, turning noiselessly to confront bis friend. "About that child. ' Do you remember? That beauti ful dhild you saw? Don't you remember that you told me how she used to leave her governess and talk to you on the rocks " . .; "Yes," said Harrod. "That too, is why I came back to her. Shannon, and the years draw nigh. Listen to ma" There was a silence ; Shannon, mute and perplexed, set his coffee on the window-sill and leaned back, flick-., ing the ashes from bis edgar; Harrod passed bis hands slowly over bis hollow temples: "Her parents are dead; she is not yet twenty; she is not equipped to support herself In life; and she Is beautiful. What chance has she. Shannon?" The other was sdlerrt ' "What chance?" repeated Harrod. -And, when X tell you that she is unsuspicious, and that she reasons only with ber heart, answer me; what chance has she with a man? For you' know men, and so do X, Shannon, so do I." "Who is she. Harrod?" "The victim of divorced parents awarded to her mother. Let her parents answer; they are answering now. Shannon. But their plea Is no concern of yours. .What concerns you is the living. The child, s&pwn to womanhood. Is here, advertising for employment hers in New York, asking for a chance. What chance has she?" , "When did you learn this?" asked Shannon soberly. "I learned it-rtonlghtr-everything concerning her to night an hour before I I met you. That Is why I re turned. Shannon, listen to me attentively; listen to every word X say. Do you remember a passing fancy yon had this spring for a blue-eyed girl you met every morning on your way downtown? Do you remember that, as the face as they halted. "Answer me. Shannon, where are we going r "To her. You know itl Harrod! Harrod I How did you know? I I did not know, myself, until an hour be fore I met you; I had not seen her In weeks I had not dared to for all trust in self was dead. Today.' down town. I faced the crash and saw across tomorrow the end of alt Then, In my Journey hell ward tonight Just at dusk,-we passed each other, and before I understood what X had done we were side by side. And almost in stantly I don't know bow she seemed to sense the ruin before us both for mine was heavy on my soul, Harrod. as X stood, measuring damnation with smiling eyes at the brink of it there. And she knew I was adrift at last" He looked up at the house before Mm. I said X would come. She neither assented nor denied me. nor asked a question. But In her eyes. Harrod. I saw what one sees tn 'the eyes of children, and it stunned me What shall I dor "Go to her and look again," said Harrod. "That la what X have come back to ask of you. Goodby." Hs turned, his shadowy face drooping, and Shannon followed to the avenue. There, In the whits outbreak of electric lamps, he saw Harrod again as he had always known him. a hint of a smile In his worn eyes, the well shaped mouth edged with laughter, and he was saying, "If s all la a llfletime, Shannon and more than you sus pectmuch more. You have not told me her name yet 7" "I do not know it f , - s. . , - A : J V " v ;- i 1 Will ' SimmBm mMmi U H i H ' I'll rSII ivmm nWAvUw Will A VwWl$3l M $ru f 'I can't take it,' he starnmered my security is rotten, I tell you'" here to tell you the rest For the evil days have corns days went on, little by little she came to return your glance? then your smile? then, at last your greeting? " And do you remember, once, that you told me about It in a moment of depression told me that you were close to infatuation, that you believed her -to be everything sweet and Innocent that you dared not drift any further, knowing the chances and knowing the end bitter un happiness either way whether In guilt or Innocence" "I remember," said Shannon hoarsely. "But that Is ; not cannot be" "That is the girl." "Not the child you told me ofl- "Yes." "How when did you know" ' "Tonight I know more than that Shannon. Tou will learn It later. Now ask me again, what it is that i you may do." "I ask It" said Shannon under his breath. "What am I to do?" For a long while Harrod sat silent, staring out of the dark window; then, "It Is time for us to go." "You wish to go out?" "Yes; we will walk together for a little while as we did in the old days. Shannon only a little while, for I must be going back." "Where are you going, Harrod?" But the elder man toad already, risen and moved toward the door; and Shannon picked up his hat and followed him out across the dusky lampllgihted. street Into the avenue they passed under the white, un steady radiance of arc .lights which drooped like huge lilies from stalks of bronze; (hers and there the front of some hotel lifted, like a cliff. Its window-pierced facade pulsating with yellow light or a White marble mass, cold and burned out spread a sea of shadow over the glimmering asphalt At times the lighted lamps of cabs flashed in their faces; at times figures passed like specters; but Into the street where they, were now turn ing were neither lamps nor people nor sound, nor any light, save, far in the obscure vista, a dull bint of Usht ning edging the west 1 : Twice Shannon had stopped, peering at Harrod, who neither halted nor slackened his steady, noiseless pace; and the younger man, hesitating, moved on again, quick ening: his steps to his friend's side. i "Where are are you going?" ; "Do you not know?" The color died out of Shannon's face; he spoke again, forming; his words slowly with dry lips: "Harrod, why why do you come Into this street tonight? What do you know? How do you know? X tell you I X cannot endure this this tension" , , "She Is enduring It - I i ; "Good God! "Yes, God is good, said Harrod, turning bis haggard "Ah. she will tell you if you ask. Say to her that I remember her there on the sea rocks. Bay to her that I have searched for her always, but that it was only to night I knew what tomorrow she shall know and you. Shannon, you too shall know. Goodby." "Harrod! wait Don't don't go" He turned and looked back at the younger man with that familiar gesture he knew so well. It was final, and Shannon swung blindly on Ms heel and entered the street again, eyes raised to the high lighted window under which (he had halted a moment before. Then he mounted the steps, groped in the vesti bule for the Illuminated number, and touched the electrlo knob. The door swung open noiselessly as he entered, closing behind him with a soft click. Up he sped, mounting stair on stair, threading the narrow hallways, then upward again, until of a sudden she stood confronting him. bent forward, white hands tightening on the banisters. Neither spoke. She straightened1 slowly, fingers re laxing from the polished rail. Over her shoulders he saw a laxnpllghted room, and she - turned and looked backward " at the threshold and covered her face with botfh hands. "What is Hr he whispered, bending close to her. "Why do you tremble? You need not There is noth ing In all the world you need fear. Look into my eyes. Even a child may read them now." Her hands fell from her face and their eyes met and what, she read In his, and he in 'Overs, God knows, for she swayed where she stood, lids closing; yielding bands and lips and throat and hair. She cried, too, later, her hands on his shoulders where (he knelt beside her, holding him at arm's length from her fresh young face to search his for the menace she once had read there. But K was gone tb&t menace she bad read and vaguely understood, and she cried a little more, one arm around his head pressed doss to her side. : "From the very first the first moment I saw you," he said, under his breath, answering the question aquiver on her lips lips divinely merclfiul. repeating the lovers' creed and. ths confession of faith for which, perhaps, all souls In love are shriven in the end. "Nsidal NaMa!" for hs bad learned her name and could not have enough of It "all that the world holds for me of good Is here, circled by jny arms. Not mine the manhood to win out- alone but there is a man who came to me tonight and stood sponsor for the falling - soul within me. '-'How he knew my peril and yours, God knowa But hs cams like tats and held his buckler before me, and he led me here and set a flaming sword before your door ths door of the child he loved there on ths sea rocks ten years ago. Do you remember? He said you would. And hs Is no archangel this man among men, this friend with whom, unknowing, X have this night wissttst facs to face. His name Is Harrod." "My name!" She stood up straight and pals, with! a the circle of his arms; he rose, too, speechless,' unoer- taln then faced her, white and appalled. She said: "He-be followed us to Bar Harbor. X was a child. I remember. X hid from my governess and ' talked wjth him on the rocks. Then we went away. I I lost my father." Staring at her. his stiffening Up ( formed a word, but no sound cams. "Bring him to me!" shs Whispered. "How can hs know I am hers and stay awayl Does hs think I have forgotten? Does he think shame of me? Bring him te me!" She caught his hands tn hers and kissed them pas sionately; she framed his face in her small hands of a child and looked deep, deep into his eyes: "Oh, ths happiness you have brought! I love you! You with whom I am to enter paradise! Now bring ttdm to me!" Shaking, amazed, stunned in a Whirl of happiness and doubt he crept down the black stairway, feeling his way. The doors swung noiselessly; he was almost running when he turned into the avenue. The trail of white lights starred this path; the solitary street echoed his haste, and now he sprang Into the wide doorway of the club, and as he passed, the desk clerk leaned for ward, handing him a telegram. He took It halted, -breathing (heavily, and asked for his friend. "Mr. Harrod 7" repeated the clerk "Mr. Harrod , has not been here In a month, sir." "What? X dined with Mr. Harrod here at I o'clock!" he laughed. "Sir? I I beg your pardon, sir, but you dined here alone tonight" "Send for the steward!" broke in Shannon lmpa- : ' tlently, slapping Ms open palm with tttie yellow envelope. The steward came, followed by the butler, and to a quick question from the desk clerk, replied: "Mr. Harrod has not been In the club for six weeks." 'But I dined with Mr. Harrod at S! Wllklns, did you not' serve us?" "I served you. sir; you dined alone" the butler hesi tated, coughed discreetly; and the steward added, "Tou ordered for two, sir" Something in the steward's troubled face silenced Shannon; the butler ventured: "Beg pardon, sir, but we the waiters thought you might be 111, seeing how you talked to yourself and called for ink to writs upon ths cloth and broke' two glasses, laughing like" Shannon staggered, turning a ghastly visage from one to another. Then his dazed gaze centered upon the telegram crushed in his hand, and shaking from head to foot be smoothed It out and opened the envelope. But it was purely a matter of -business;. he was re quested to come to Bar Harbor and. receive a check, drawn to his order, and perhaps aid to identify the body of a drowned man in the morgue. The Queer Titles of Kings T T THEN Theodore Roosevelt and the king of Spain yy recently met. a striking contrast was afforded those who happened to think -of the titles which thstwo men bore. It was a contrast arising from ths opposition of democracy and monarchy and dependent . upon the great claims which royalty levies upon a grandeur-loving people. The American, who had been the chief executive of a land beside which Spain was a fraction, was known as plain "Colonel." Perhaps some of the more dignified nobles presented him as the "ex presldent of the "United States," but usually he went by the title of Colonel. King Alfonso,' on the other band, is the proud possessor of forty-two Independent and sepa rate titles. His list of suffixes would form the major part of almost any letter which he might write. What ever his predecessors might have been, 'whatever claims they made in their dignities, he has preserved as trailers to his individual name of Alfonso. Quite amusing is his claim to territories which have long since passed from under the Spanish domination. For instance, he is. along toward the last of his outlay of pretenses, "King of the East Indies,"' "King of ths West Indies." "King of Gibraltar." "King of India" and. with a bombast and sweeping magnificence.. "King of Oceania." Such pretentiousness lends an almost opera bouffe flavor to the resonant terms such as "King of Castile." "King of Arragon." "King of Navarre" and "King of Calacla." ' v . To" the Spanish don this pomp and show appeals with unction. Nor is it peculiar to ths Romance nations, this worship of grandeur. The emperor of Austria boasts sixty-one extra titles, and ths sultan of Turkey eighty two. The sultan has by far ths most laughable list of names. Hs starts out by being high prince and lord of lords. Then he specifies in great detail practically all of the states and cities and even districts of the Orient 'and explaining after each of the various names that hs Is ruler of "all the forts, citadels, purlieus and neighborhood thereof." Nothing is presumed to belong to any one else. A land may have never belonged to Turkey, except in some transient raid or invasion, but that matters not to the sultan; he adds it to his string, calm and indifferent to the progress of other nations. Hs loves to proclaim . his religious prominence. "Head of the Faithful," "Su- " preme Lord of all the followers of the Prophet," "Direct and Only Lieutenant on Earth of Mahomet" are some of his most extravagant phrases. His more nearly valid title of "King of Jerusalem" is also claimed by his more civilized brother rulers. The emperor of Austria, the pope and the kings of Spain and Portugal all announce in their titles that they havs under their thumbs ths' Holy Land. , ,- The kaiser with his love of publicity has seventy-two. ' Most of the states of Germany are included In the list of the Prussian king, and have been ever since the union of the states. ,.";' - King George of England has a very modest outlay it comparison. It merely reads: "George V, by ths Gracs of God of ths United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland and of the British Dominions beyond ths seas. King, De fender of the Faith, Emperor of India." Some of the lesser nobles in Britain boast of long lists, the duke of Argyll leading with twenty-seven itles. The people who have been reared under the shadow ' of divine-right worship have become so used to the high sounding phrases and lofty titles that they would regard any lopping 'oft of titles as- a sacrilege. They do not however, as some free Americans think, really believe that their rulers are rightfully lords over all they claim. It is merely their way of giving dignity and royalty to their ' kings, and they delight to mouth ths oratorical phrases and delight themselves with ths remembrances that ones they possessed the control of countries and sections long since gone into the power of younger nations. It is a thing that the republic of the. United States cannot understand fully, and one which it does not cars to understand. Past achievements are lost sight of in ths needs of the moment Ex-President Taft is a college oro- the United States" every time he ventures forth into public view. Yet such a title would be far mors valid than Franz-Josefs claim to being "King of Jerusalem. Theodore Roosevelt - will be plain "Colonel" while Alfonso wUl bs "King of India." it