human
The old sugar business! Fritzie exclaimed reproachfully,
gpt
What’s that?
human
I don’t care!
gpt
Spirituality? echoed Kimberly, with a quiet malice. His laugh annoyed Fritzie, but she stuck to her guns:
human
Spirits, then; or gayety, or life! she cried.
gpt
I don’t care what you call it. Anything besides everlastingly piling up money. Oh, these almighty dollars!
human
You tire of them so quickly, is it, Fritzie? Or is it that they don’t feel on familiar terms enough to stay long with you?
gpt
I simply don’t want to see _all_ of my friends--ossify! Should you?
human
Certainly not,
gpt
Bone black is very useful in our business,
human
Then buy it! Don’t attempt to supply the demand out of your own bones!
gpt
She had a dispute, continued Fritzie,
human
Heavens, have those two got to talking religion?
gpt
George happened to say to Cready Hamilton that Unitarians and Universalists believed just about the same doctrine. When Dora insisted it was not so, George told her she couldn’t name a difference. ’Why, nonsense, George,’ said Dora, ’Unitarians deny the divinity of Christ, but Universalists don’t believe in a damned thing.’ And the funny part of it was, George got furious at her,
human
I suppose you, too, fish,
gpt
My fishing is something of a bluff, he confessed.
human
That is, I fish, but I don’t get anything. My brother really does get the fish, he said as he seated her.
gpt
He campaigns for them--one has to nowadays, even for fish. I can’t scrape up interest enough in it for that. I whip one pool after another and drag myself wearily over portages and chase about in boats, and my guides fable wisely but I get next to nothing.
human
Lazarus.
gpt
It won’t do to say, De Castro maintained,
human
he continued,
gpt
And what about women, my dear? demanded Dolly.
human
I don’t say, take a class of women--take any woman. A woman’s life is nothing but sacrifice. The trouble is that women bear their burdens uncomplainingly. That is where all women make a mistake. My life has been a whole series of sacrifices, and I propose people shall know it.
gpt
No matter, Dolly, suggested Imogene,
human
I should just like the chance to tell my story up there,
gpt
All that Dolly fears, said he, in an aside,
human
Do you find the change so abrupt? and must I confess again to the West?
gpt
Not if you feel it incriminates you.
human
But I don’t,
gpt
Has your home always been there?
human
Yes, in St. Louis; and it is a very dear old place. Some of my early married life was spent much farther West.
gpt
How much farther?
human
So much that I can hardly make anybody comprehend it--Colorado.
gpt
How so?
human
They ask me such wild questions about buffalos and Indians. I have found one woman since coming here who has been as far West as Chicago, once.
gpt
In what part of Colorado were you?
human
South of Denver.
gpt
You had beautiful surroundings.
human
Oh, do you know that country?
gpt
Not nearly as well as I should like to. It is beautiful.
human
More beautiful to me now, I’m afraid, than it was then.
gpt
Any town is quiet for a city girl, of course. Was it a small town?
human
Quite small. And odd in many ways.
gpt
I see; where the people have ’best clothes’----
human
Don’t make fun.
gpt
And wear them on Sunday. And there is usually one three-story building in the town--I was marooned over Sunday once in a little Western town, with an uncle. I saw a sign on a big building: ’Odd Fellows’ Hall.’ Who are the Odd Fellows, uncle?’ I asked. He was a crusty old fellow: ’Optimists, my son, optimists,’ he growled, ’They build three-story buildings in two-story towns.’ What was your town, by the way?
human
Piedmont.
gpt
Piedmont? Kimberly paused a moment.
human
I ought to know something of that town.
gpt
You?
human
The uncle I spoke of built a railroad through there to the Gulf. Isn’t there a town below Piedmont named Kimberly?
gpt
To be sure there is. How stupid! I never thought it was named after your uncle.
human
No, that uncle was a Morgan, , interposed Imogene, listening,
gpt
How interesting! And how could you make such fun of me--having me tell you of a country you knew all about! And a whole town named after you!
human
That is a modest distinction, remarked Kimberly.
gpt
As a boy I was out there with an engineering party and hunted a little. My uncle gave me the town as a Christmas present.
human
A town for a Christmas present!
gpt
I suspected after I began paying taxes on my present that my uncle had got tired of it. They used to sit up nights out there to figure out new taxes. In the matter of devising taxes it is the most industrious, progressive, tireless community I have ever known. And their pleas were so ingenious; they made you feel that if you opposed them you were an enemy to mankind.
human
Then they beguiled Robert every once in a while, interposed Fritzie,
gpt
Fritzie laughed immoderately at the recollection.
human
He put in the fountain and afterward learned there was no water within fifteen miles; they then urged him to put in a water-works system to get water to it.
gpt
I suggested a brewery to supply the fountain, said Arthur, looking over,
human
I haven’t an idea,
gpt
The town voted for prohibition.
human
Fancy, murmured Imogene,
gpt
And what became of the fountain?
human
Oh, it is running; he put in the water-works.
gpt
Generous man!
human
Generous! echoed Hamilton.
gpt
Don’t be deceived, Mrs. MacBirney. You should see what he charges them for water. I should think it would be on his conscience, if he has one. He is Jupiter with the frogs. Whatever they ask, he gives them. But when they get it--how they do get it!
human
Don’t believe Doctor Hamilton, Mrs. MacBirney, said Robert Kimberly.
gpt
I stand better with my Western friends than I do with these cynical Easterners. And if my town will only drink up the maintenance charges, I am satisfied.
human
The percentage of lime in the water he supplies is something fierce, persisted the doctor.
gpt
It is enough to kill off the population every ten years. I suggested a hospital.
human
But didn’t Mr. MacBirney tell me they have a sugar factory there?
gpt
They have, said De Castro.
human
One of Robert’s chemists was out there once trying to analyze the taxes. Incidentally, he brought back some of the soil, thinking there might be something in it to account for the tax mania. And behold, he found it to be fine for sugar beets! Irrigation ditches and a factory were put in. You should see how swell they are out there now.
gpt
Robert has had all kinds of resolutions from the town,
human
Quite true, I _have_ had all kinds--they are strong on resolutions. But lately these have been less sulphurous.
gpt
Well, isn’t it odd? My father’s ranch once extended nearly all the way from Piedmont to the very town you are speaking of!
human
Was that really yours--the big ranch north of Kimberly?
gpt
I spent almost every summer there until I was fifteen.
human
That must have been until very lately.
gpt
No, indeed, it is ten years ago.
human
How curious, he said reflectively;
gpt
I knew the ranch very well.
human
I congratulate you.
gpt
Pray what for?
human
Your success. The evening, you know, was in your honor; and you were decidedly the feature of it.
gpt
I really didn’t suspect it.
human
And you made a perfect success with your unexpected neighbor.
gpt
But I didn’t do anything at all!
human
It isn’t every woman that succeeds without trying. We have been working for a long time to pull Robert out of the dumps. Imogene laughed softly.
gpt
I noticed to-night while you were talking to him that he tossed back his head once or twice. When he does that, he is waking up! Here is your car, Dolly,
human
Arthur is going to take Doctor Hamilton and Fritzie in our car, Imogene, explained Dolly.
gpt
Robert has asked Mrs. MacBirney and me to drive home around the south shore with him.