The men I knew, the kind, I hope, I was, would ruin
themselves a hundred times before compromising a woman. Polder appears
to understand that. And women I had the privilege of meeting sacrificed
themselves with a smile for what you dismiss as mere stupidity. God
knows which is right. They looked the loveliest of creatures then. There
was a standard, we thought high.... Things a man couldn't do. But I
don't know--it seems so long ago." He stopped to watch James Polder take
a sip of the mixture in his hand. The latter tasted it slowly, and then
emptied the goblet. His face was blank, with eyes nearly closed.
"I could carry Jimmy up in my hands," Mariana said. "Don't," she added
vaguely, as he squeezed out the remaining half of his orange and poured
fresh brandy into it. "It's curious," he told her; "not at all bad."
They moved out of the dining room, and Mariana and Polder continued to
the porch. Howat stood with a hand resting on the mahogany cigarette
box; he had the feeling of a man unexpectedly left by a train thundering
into the distance. It would not stop, back, for him now; he was dropped.
He sank relaxed into an accustomed chair; his brain surrendered its
troubling; the waking somnolence settled over him. He was conscious of
his surrounding, recognized its actuality; yet, at the same time, it
seemed immaterial, like the setting of a dream.
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