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Otherwise Phyllis

Chapter 5 THE OTHERWISENESS OF PHYLLIS

Word Count: 4205    |    Released on: 01/12/2017

dge Walters, Captain Joshua Wilson, the veteran recorder, former-Sheriff Whittlesey and others, and is included merely to satisfy t

of proportion (as Phil would be the first to point out) may not lightly be ignored. Phil's otherwiseness was always difficult to keep in bounds; it must not

arked an advance. Formal calls were not to Phil's taste, but her aunts had lately been endeavoring to persuade her that it was no longer seemly for her to "drop in" when and where she pleased, but that there were certain calls of duty and ceremony which required her best togs and the leaving

n over his head, and when his glasses presently focused upon her, pretended su

sir, but is

ery looked upon his niece

? What on earth do y

e some money. If the venerable old party I address holds a job inside we might withdraw from the pu

ed smile. Captain Wilson, stumping alon

r in tow

ght the town and wants th

e. She planted herself at the paying teller's cage and waited for Amzi's benevolent countenance to appear at the wicket. She held up her cardcase that he might have the full benefit of her splendor, extracted a small bit of paper, and passed it

o surprise. He threw it

good. W

? You do

irkwood-without

on't want to come as near s

he tall desk behind her to make the indorsement. H

efforts, Phil?" h

t say so. I suppose

etr

r a poem out of my green little cantaloupe? That's half what Milton got f

ndifference was an old game of theirs, a part of the te

to

anuscripts weighed, and nervously looking round for fear of being caught. Nan says it's a kind of literary measles people have in In

ast time I ate supper at Josie's. I must have

?lo

ssi

piece I read at the high-school com

; I nearly laughe

'most anybody. So I touched it up and put in a few new dogs I've got the boys in Landers's livery-stable taking care of, and sent it to three magazines. The first two regretted, but the third fell for

"it sounds like easy mo

e and swinging it by its short chain. "Just credit me with

re the entrance with his astrakhan collar drawn up about his ears. He had on

ragically, noting Phil's glowin

off a party for a bunch of girls at your expense. What is that on the boards? You don

gh. "That booking-office is a den of thieve

ck to the door of his theater as though shielding it f

doing so. Her standard of uncles was high. She had never admitted her aunts' husbands to a share in a relationship that was ennobled by Amzi Montgomery. Fosdick was usually "Paul" to Phi

n who suffers mutely the most unkindest cut of

l. Of course you knew the piece

t to rout and confusion the lords of the drama who had rejected it. Five thousand dollars had been spent and the play had failed dismally. Nor was this the first of Hastings's misadventures of the same sort. Phil analyzed her uncle's gloom and decided that

suppose if a play

American drama; that was all. The same money put into music

of The Hastings, "I'll tell you how you can mak

in no humor for trifling. His own balance at the bank was negligible, and his wife had war

aternity dances, put a neat red-haired girl in a box on the sidewalk, get one of the foot

g salt in his wounds. He

s of you. After all I've tried to do to lift this dingy villa

s rotten. Coarse and stupid. Why not spend a few dollars changing the front of this joint and put on good pictures? The people who keep the pictures moving in Indianapolis sit around the fire Sunday evenings and burn money-it comes in so fast the banks haven't room for it. Call this 'The Home Fireside'-no nickelod

ove,

ther on met Jack Whittlesey the sheriff,

pe not. Uncle Alec is goin'

f you're sure the judge is going

court-room Judge Walters, with his feet on the judicial desk, was gazing at the ceiling, as was his habit when trials grew tedious. As Phil entered, he jerked down his feet, sat erect, snapped his fingers at the bailiff, and directed the placing of a chair within the space set apart for the bar. Phil smiled her thanks, and made herself comfortable with her back to the clerk's desk. The case in progres

occurred and the signaling, but without avail. The attorney for the company looked on with an amused smile of unconcern. Both the motorman and the conductor had been carefully rehearsed in their testimony and there was little likelihood that plaintiff's counsel would be able to trap them. Waterman was going back and forth over the time of day, atte

not notice her. He was making no headway, and was about to drop the witness when

a fact that the brake of your car was out of order and whether

s-examination. The judge returned to the bench with renewed interest and overruled the objection. The witness admitted t

he scene of this collision, and did not stop your car bec

sel was unable to protect him. He admitted that the brake m

was worn out and you couldn't have stopped at that cr

y to the company's lawyer. The judg

car," the man, now thoroughly c

nother cue from Phil, then strode

ngers on your car? W

t?" faltered

a passenger waiting at Stop 7 and that you ran by

see clearly whether any passenger was waiting at Stop 7. After sparring between counsel, Phil was placed upon the stand and swo

d. (She always signed herself Phil at sch

oberly. "It is essential that the record id

, as she had walked across the fields to that particular stop to meet the car on its scheduled hour. She had stood upon the track and waved the flag placed in the shed at the stop for that purpose, but to her disgust t

ho had come from Indianapolis to try the case, asked Phil iron

to ride with motormen sometimes, back and forth t

in the jury box bent forward attentively as she met the lawyer's questions. He was a young man and Phil was undeniably prett

the jury whether you ever rode in the ca

," repli

l you're not sure he's the man who was

ase from her white-glo

fident of it,"

ust how it is you remember him-how you identify him as

y want me to tell

torney returned sharply, misr

and he always ran faster than the other motormen,-you could tell his car at night if you didn't see it because it ran so fast,-and he's the same man wh

sought vainly to interrupt, should be stricken out, "the plaintiff rests. We will waive argument in this case," he added i

looked down at

associate counsel for plaintiff, but in any event, I suggest

om and resumed her wal

Mrs. Hastings had been abroad and to New York while the others had been denied these recreations and delights. If his wife's faith in him had been shaken by his inability to grasp the fortune which always seemed just within reach; and if, on Christmas and New Year's and Thanksgiving Day, when they met at Amzi's, he was a bit uncomfortable, knowing that his wife's share of the Montgomery money h

, P

, P

Traction? They say your pa's go

rint it in the papers.

lothes. The competition in the family is hot enough now without you butting in. Hastings is in mourning at

ut by the flour mill the other day when I was walking for my he

to pull that scheme out, but it takes time. You know t

time I was in Indianapolis I saw a lot of new houses built out of brick that looked just about like those pink-and-yellow effects you started in on. They came from over in Ill

t, Phil; but they

t name did you g

Finish.' Nothing the ma

ick' house! You've got to get a lot better, Paul. Try once more and call 'em the 'Daffodil' or the 'Crocus'-something that sounds springlike and cheerful. And play up local pride-a Hoosier prod

an old dog a new name. I've a good

send me up a couple of those brick

d sample. If Phil had been a prig or fresh or impertinent, she would not have been the idol of Main Street. A genius for being on the spot when events are forward must be born in one, and her casual, indifferent air contributed t

ers; and the judge would answer, "Otherwise Phyllis." And the judge w

he whole, a pr

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