We Can't Have Everything

rminal was the terminus of human splendor. It was the wai

sses with the bay-trees set between the huge square pillars, and above a

much superior to the plain every-night sky she was u

tribute of an exclamation: "Humph! So this is the new station

through the crowds she began to adore the people. They were dressed in unbelievable splendor-millions, she guessed, in far better than the best S

and up a stairway and down a few steps and through the first squirrel-cage door Kedzie had ever seen

ns, and a boy in a general's uniform seized them. The po

s fur's

walk away as a joke on the porter. When he saw the man's white

chuckle returned as he went his way, telling himself: "And t

from the Thropps and left to carry Charity Coe's dainty hand-bags, showed the big porter

sing him when he referred to this place as a boarding-house, but he was not at all crushed by the magnificence he was encountering

fe and daught

t were that of a potentate whose inc

odation would you

he wife and m'self,

out how much woul

o they

nice adjoining rooms

. Twelve dollars a week for board a

gether. Kedzie had more or less helplessly recognized the page's admiration of her when he first too

m and cheated him of his smile at Adna. Still later the elevator-boy gave her

ropps into the elevator

as about to go up, but they were not prepared for that swift vertical leap toward the

n a corridor so long that Adna said, "Looks like

ck, hung up the coats, opened a window, adjusted the shade, lighted the lights in Kedzi

eant, but he knew what was expected

nd indicated in the bathroom a spe

t of him. The boy sighed and went away. Kedzie surprise

invention. Kedzie was enfranchised and began to jump and squeal at the a

New York at last. Here we are

d called him the best father that ever was. A

herself at home, loosening her

oat and collar and shoes. But Kedzie could not waste her

red New York. She greeted it with an outcry of wonder. Sh

ouldn't come that far t

. His very eyes yawned at it, and he said: "

o her room. She watched at the window as she peeled off her coarse garments and put her soft body into

t to the window again to gaze her fill at the town. She fell in love with it and told it so. She v

itched head foremost and scrambled back, but with a giggle of bliss at the excitement. She stared

hidden by buildings. All Kedzie could see of it was the huge phrase LIGHT-H

rmous winged figure facing down the street. She did not know who it was or what street it was. She d

th glowing bulbs looped like the strings of evergreen she had helped to drape the hom

OTEL. She had heard of Athens. It was the capital of some place in her geogr

ike great honeycombs; the dark windows were like the cells that had no honey in them. Light and life were honey. Kedzie wondered what folks they were behind those curtains-who

believe. She was in New Yor

! Ked-z

, mo

you i

a faraway, sleepy sound, for fear that h

burned her weary eyes. She coul

t went the light. She tugged at the chain. On went the light. A magical chain, that! It put the light

leep. She sat up quickly. Was that music sh

e saw a man and two ladies swishing along the hall to the elevator. They were not sleepy at all, and

ed-an awful place to go when all the rest of

ld dive into her element. Light and fun were her element. She came out of bed like a watch-spri

s. She put on her

-day dress. When she had squirmed through the ordeal of hooking it up, she rea

women who passed in the hall. She withdrew from the sleeves, and gathering the waist together under her arms, fasten

lothes on again and prinked as much as she could. Then she sallied forth, opening and closing the door with pious ca

made her way to the edge of the supper-room. The floor, like a pool surrounded by chairs and tables, was alive with couples dancing contentedl

for morality, called for bare shoulders and arms unsleeved. Kedzie was conspicuous, which is a perfect synonym for immoral. If she had fallen through the ceiling out of a bathtub she could not

d for the sash of a manly arm. She knew that she could dance better than some of th

aceful young man. The young man took the woman from a table almost over Kedzie's head. They left at t

Haviland Devoe. Zada was amazing in her postures and gyrations, but Kedzie thought that she herself

e smoker sat. Now that she looked at him again, Kedzie thought what an extraordinarily handsome, gloriously wicked-loo

ehind his cigar and gave her a queer look that Kedzie only vaguely understood. She thought litt

e steps, and asked two handsome gentlemen in full-dress suits if they could have a table. The gentlemen-managers, probably, who got u

paused near Kedzie. Both of the men were tall, but the one called Jim was

Come along, boys; we're

strain yourself. Remember I've had a hard day a

'll pardon me, Mrs. Duane," said Jim. "And I'm w

Duane. "I've got a table a

ed to follow, but paused as the oth

ver-there, right there by th

rt and said: "Ssh!

brightened and greeted a new batch o

t's the good word, Mary? What you doing here, Charit

mmonplace names and the small-town conversation. With su

Marys. She peeked around the corner, and to her surprise saw them greeted with great cordi

to say. After a time she overheard Zada say to him, raising her voice to top the noise of the band: "Say, Peterkin, see that great big lad over the

n rich!" sa

not half so excited as Peter was. His face was all shot up with re

nted to fight somebody. He

few phrases in the ho

k? And she's here wit

ars higher still to hear what followed. She saw Zada pu

Remember I got a reputatio

t as the water ran out of the silver washbowl in the sleeping-car. Then he began to laugh sof

p into Zada's face, and she looked a

nd on her arm and patted it and

se from the table and, dodging around the dancing couples, made his escape.

hey se

shrug of contempt. Peter went away laughing. Kedzie waited a

curious sort of dance, in which she lifted her feet high and placed them carefully

back to the elevator and to her room. She was exhausted, and she pulled off her clothes and

other men, and no one could have fancied that she had ever know

g down-town with my husband. The poor boy was detained at his office last night and didn't get my telegram till he got home. When he learned that I had come in and gone out again he was furious with hi

ittle later Cheever vanished. Cheever must have seen Charity Coe then. And if he saw her, he saw him.

ll Charity Coe the truth about her husban