第44章

As for Hurstwood, he was alive with thoughts and feelings concerning Carrie.He had no definite plans regarding her, but he was determined to make her confess an affection for him.He thought he saw in her drooping eye, her unstable glance, her wavering manner, the symptoms of a budding passion.He wanted to stand near her and make her lay her hand in his--he wanted to find out what her next step would be--what the next sign of feeling for him would be.Such anxiety and enthusiasm had not affected him for years.He was a youth again in feeling--a cavalier in action.

In his position opportunity for taking his evenings out was excellent.He was a most faithful worker in general, and a man who commanded the confidence of his employers in so far as the distribution of his time was concerned.He could take such hours off as he chose, for it was well known that he fulfilled his managerial duties successfully, whatever time he might take.His grace, tact, and ornate appearance gave the place an air which was most essential, while at the same time his long experience made him a most excellent judge of its stock necessities.

Bartenders and assistants might come and go, singly or in groups, but, so long as he was present, the host of old-time customers would barely notice the change.He gave the place the atmosphere to which they were used.Consequently, he arranged his hours very much to suit himself, taking now an afternoon, now an evening, but invariably returning between eleven and twelve to witness the last hour or two of the day's business and look after the closing details.

"You see that things are safe and all the employees are out when you go home, George," Moy had once remarked to him, and he never once, in all the period of his long service, neglected to do this.Neither of the owners had for years been in the resort after five in the afternoon, and yet their manager as faithfully fulfilled this request as if they had been there regularly to observe.

On this Friday afternoon, scarcely two days after his previous visit, he made up his mind to see Carrie.He could not stay away longer.

"Evans," he said, addressing the head barkeeper, "if any one calls, I will be back between four and five."

He hurried to Madison Street and boarded a horse-car, which carried him to Ogden Place in half an hour.

Carrie had thought of going for a walk, and had put on a light grey woollen dress with a jaunty double-breasted jacket.She had out her hat and gloves, and was fastening a white lace tie about her throat when the housemaid brought up the information that Mr.

Hurstwood wished to see her.

She started slightly at the announcement, but told the girl to say that she would come down in a moment, and proceeded to hasten her dressing.

Carrie could not have told herself at this moment whether she was glad or sorry that the impressive manager was awaiting her presence.She was slightly flurried and tingling in the cheeks, but it was more nervousness than either fear or favour.She did not try to conjecture what the drift of the conversation would be.She only felt that she must be careful, and that Hurstwood had an indefinable fascination for her.Then she gave her tie its last touch with her fingers and went below.

The deep-feeling manager was himself a little strained in the nerves by the thorough consciousness of his mission.He felt that he must make a strong play on this occasion, but now that the hour was come, and he heard Carrie's feet upon the stair, his nerve failed him.He sank a little in determination, for he was not so sure, after all, what her opinion might be.

When she entered the room, however, her appearance gave him courage.She looked simple and charming enough to strengthen the daring of any lover.Her apparent nervousness dispelled his own.

"How are you?" he said, easily."I could not resist the temptation to come out this afternoon, it was so pleasant."

"Yes," said Carrie, halting before him, "I was just preparing to go for a walk myself."

"Oh, were you?" he said."Supposing, then, you get your hat and we both go?"

They crossed the park and went west along Washington Boulevard, beautiful with its broad macadamised road, and large frame houses set back from the sidewalks.It was a street where many of the more prosperous residents of the West Side lived, and Hurstwood could not help feeling nervous over the publicity of it.They had gone but a few blocks when a livery stable sign in one of the side streets solved the difficulty for him.He would take her to drive along the new Boulevard.

The Boulevard at that time was little more than a country road.

The part he intended showing her was much farther out on this same West Side, where there was scarcely a house.It connected Douglas Park with Washington or South Park, and was nothing more than a neatly MADE road, running due south for some five miles over an open, grassy prairie, and then due east over the same kind of prairie for the same distance.There was not a house to be encountered anywhere along the larger part of the route, and any conversation would be pleasantly free of interruption.

At the stable he picked a gentle horse, and they were soon out of range of either public observation or hearing.

"Can you drive?" he said, after a time.

"I never tried," said Carrie.

He put the reins in her hand, and folded his arms.

"You see there's nothing to it much," he said, smilingly.

"Not when you have a gentle horse," said Carrie.

"You can handle a horse as well as any one, after a little practice," he added, encouragingly.

He had been looking for some time for a break in the conversation when he could give it a serious turn.Once or twice he had held his peace, hoping that in silence her thoughts would take the colour of his own, but she had lightly continued the subject.