Paradise Garden. George Gibbs
it all happened. He didn't think she would really come back, he said, and I chose at the time not to doubt him, but the fact was that he made his way directly upstream after leaving the house, and catching no fish, sat down on a rock near the iron grille. That the girl returned was not Jerry's fault, he said, because he didn't ask her to. But the fact that he was there awaiting her when she arrived shows that the wish was the father to the thought with Jerry. He had been sitting there alone fifteen or twenty minutes "listening for bird calls," as he explained it and had already identified twenty distinct notes when he heard the twenty-first.
It was human. "Hello, Jerry," it said.
It came from the iron railing, behind which the female Una was standing, grinning at him. He got up and walked toward her.
"Hello!" he returned.
"You didn't think I'd come, did you, Jerry?" she asked, though how she could have arrived at that conclusion with the boy sitting there waiting for her is more than I can imagine.
"No, I didn't," he replied, already learning to prevaricate with calm assurance. "Are you coming in?"
"I will if you ask me to."
"I can't do that," he laughed. "You know the rules. But I don't see what I could do to stop you."
"Please invite me, Jerry."
"No, I won't invite you. But I won't put you out if you come."
"Please!"
"Why do you insist?"
"Because—I think you ought to, you know. Just to make me feel comfortable."
"You seemed very comfortable yesterday."
"I think you're horrid."
"Horrid! Because I won't break my promise?"
"But you've made no promise."
"It's understood. See here. I'll turn my back and walk away. If you come in it's not my fault."
"You needn't bother. I'm not coming." She turned and made as though to go.
"Una," he called. "Please. Come in."
She reappeared miraculously, her vanity appeased by Jerry's downfall, bobbed through the bent irons, and rose smiling decorously as Eve must have smiled when she watched Adam first bite the apple.
"Thanks," she laughed, clambering up the rocks. "It's awfully nice of you. I knew you would. I couldn't have come else."
"It doesn't really make much difference, I suppose," said Jerry dubiously.
"What doesn't?"
"Whether I ask you or whether you just come."
"I wouldn't have come if you hadn't."
"Are you sure?"
"Positive. I was just passing this way and I saw you sitting here. I hadn't the slightest intention of coming in. Of course, when you invited me, that made things different."
He laughed and motioned to a rock upon which she sank.
"Tell me," he said, "how you happen to be up here in the mountains alone. You don't belong around here. You didn't know about the wall, or about me, did you?"
"Of course not; not yesterday. But I do now. I asked last night."
"Who did you ask?"
"The people I'm staying with."
"And what did they tell you?"
"They weren't very polite. It doesn't do to ignore one's neighbors. They said you were a freak."
"What's a freak?"
"Something strange, unnatural."
"And do you think I'm strange or unnatural?" he asked soberly.
She looked at him and laughed.
"Unnatural! If nature is unnatural."
"What else do they say?" Jerry asked after a thoughtful pause.
"That your precious Roger is a dealer in magic and spells; that you've already learned flying on a broomstick and practice it on nights when the moon is full; that you're hideously ugly; that you're wonderfully beautiful; that you live in a tree; that you sleep in a coffin; that you're digging for gold; that you've found the recipe for diamonds; that you've—"
"Now you're making fun of me," he laughed as she paused for lack of breath.
"I'm not. If there's anything that you are or aren't that I haven't heard, I can't imagine what it is. In other words, Jerry, you're the mystery of the county. Aren't you glad?"
"Glad? Of course not. It's all such utter rot."
"Of course. But doesn't it make you feel mysterious?"
"Not a bit."
"Doesn't it ever occur to you how important a person you are?"
"How—important?"
"To begin with, of course, you're fabulously wealthy. You knew that, didn't you?"
"Oh, I suppose I've got some money, but I don't let it worry me."
"Do you know how much?"
"No, I haven't the slightest idea."
"Not that you've got millions—millions!"
"If my millions are as impalpable as my broomstick they won't hurt me much," he laughed. And then soberly: "Say, Una, you seem to know a lot more about me than I know about myself."
"I think I do," she returned. "For instance, of course, you couldn't guess that half the match-making mammas of the county are already setting their caps for you."
He looked bewildered at that, I'm sure.
"Do you know," he said, "that I haven't the slightest idea what you're talking about."
"Of course," she laughed. "I forgot. They want to marry you to their daughters."
"Marry! Me! You're joking."
I think he must have seemed really alarmed.
"I'm not. The fat, the small, the lean and the tall. They're all after you. The moment you poke your nose outside the gate next year, they're all going to pounce on you and try to carry you off."
"But I can't marry them all," he said aghast. "Besides I don't want to marry anybody. And I'm not going to."
She couldn't restrain herself now and burst into wild peals of merriment, while Jerry watched her, uncertain whether to be angry or amused. At last he decided to smile.
"You seem to have a lot of fun with me, Una, don't you?"
"I don't mean to. But the picture of you trying to escape the engulfing flood of mammas is too much. I've got to laugh, Jerry. I can't help it."
"Laugh, then. I don't think it's so funny, though."
"But it is. Because I'm sure you'd be too polite to refuse them—any of them."
"Polite! I won't be polite. Just because I'm nice to you isn't any sign. I—I'll send 'em all packing. You'll see."
"Oh, you're brave enough now, but wait—wait!" She bent over, clasping her knees, still shaking with merriment.
"Why, Jerry, you couldn't be impolite to a woman any more than you could fly. You'd do just whatever she said."
"I wouldn't. They're idiots, the lot of 'em. What's the use? What do girls want to get married for, anyway?"
She glanced up at him quickly. Then at the glimpse she had of Jerry's sober profile her wide gaze dulled and then sought the earth before her. It was true then what she believed of him. A child—this gorgeous creature that shaved its face!
"I