The Quicksands of Pactolus, Parts X-XI [pp. 513-529]

T HE QUICKSANDS OF PACTOLUS.
train-at the young man's suggestionand expected to spend a full day in the
country. Helen was hilariously gay.
The recollection of what had passed, the
previous evening, between Chetwynd
and herself (mere phrases, no doubt, but
fraught, none the less, with unmistakable significance) had steeped her soul in
a delirium of which mirth was the outwvard expression. The girl was beneath
that mysterious sexual spell which has
power-thank God-to transport even
the meanest of human beings from hell
to heaven. She had entered that region
where the harsh outlines of fact are
shrouded by fancy; where mere oxygen
and nitrogen seem to resolve themselves
into more intoxicating elements; where
every sense is heightened; every energy
more potential.
Dick, it may be added, was also in the
highest spirits. Apart from the prospect
of seeing Phyllis, his errand was a joyous one. He carried a message of peace
and goodwill.
"I'd no idea," cried Helen, as they
walked from the station, "that Menlo
was such a very pretty place. Look
there, Dick. Isn't that perfectly lovely?"
Some slender eucalypti, to the right,
towered skyward, their fairy-like tracery
of foliage delicately outlined, with nature's inimitable finish, against the azure
background. Between and beyond the
pink columns of the trees lay a vast
plain of palpitating verdure, a stubble
field, seduced by early rains into wearing its spring mantle. And far away,
fringing the eastern horizon, were the
hills, the Coast Range; their sides
clothed with chaparral; their peaks bleak
and forbidding. The air was freshly
crisp; the atmosphere crystalline; and
above all, in all, was the Protean renascence of early morning.
"You will catch your death of cold,
mooni(ng over a landscape. I say, I'11
bet you a box of candy that 1 can hop
from here to the corner faster than you
can run. Come on,- one, two, three!"
Off they started as gleefully as children. Dick was ignominiously beaten
by a dozen yards, and puffed like a grampus. Helen laughed at him and offered
revenge. Double or quits over the same
course and under similar conditions. He
refused, attributing his defeat to Nicotina.
In after years Helen recalled this frosty
morning. Unwittingly she was taking
leave of her youth.
"We must stop and see Uncle
Joseph," she exclaimed as they approached Mr. Claggett's cottage.
"We can drop in on our return,
Queenie." He did not add that he
grudged every minute its legitimate sixty
seconds.
"Nonsense, Dick. I would n't offend
Uncle Joseph for anything. There's
the old dear in his garden. Uncle Joseph! Uncle Joseph!"
She ran lightly across the road and
shook hands with Mr. Claggett, who,
dropping his hoe at the first sound of her
voice, had hobbled through the gate to
greet her.
" Jee-roo salem! If it ain't Miss
Helen! An' lookin' fer all the world like
the Queen o' Sheeby! "
"Was she nice looking, Uncle Joseph? "
"I never seen the lady, Miss Helen
I ain't so old as young folks think. But
ye'r lookin' fine, Miss Helen, fine."
"She's not as good as she looks,
Uncle Joseph."
" Yes she is, Master Dick, an' ye know
it. Ther's womenfolk an' womenfolk.
Some ain't worth the cussin', an' others,
like Miss Helen an' Miss Phyllis, make
an old man feel young again."
"Is Miss Phyllis well? " asked Dick
carelessly.
526