U.S.A_ - John Dos Passos [451]
Maybe it was the orchids or her looks or the story about
-252-her father's il ness, but the captain asked her to his table and al the officers rushed her, and she had the time of her life on the trip up. The only trouble was that she could only come on deck in the afternoon because she only had that one dress. She'd given George a cable to send so when they got to New York Agnes met her at the dock. It was late fal and Margo had nothing on but a light summer dress, so she said she'd set Agnes up to a taxi to go home. It was only when they got into the cab that she noticed Agnes was wearing black. When she asked her why Agnes said Fred had died in Bel evue two weeks before. He'd been picked up on Twentythird Street deaddrunk and had died there without coming to. "Oh, Agnes, I knew it . . . I had a premonition on the boat," sobbed Margo.
When she'd wiped her eyes she turned and looked at
Agnes. "Why, Agnes dear, how wel you look," she said.
"What a pretty suit. Has Frank got a job?""Oh, no," said Agnes. "You see Miss Franklyn's teashops are doing quite wel . She's branching out and she's made me man-ageress of the new branch on Thirtyfourth Street at sev-entyfive dol ars a week. Wait til you see our new apart-ment just off the Drive. . . . Oh, Margie, you must have had an awful time."
"Wel ," said Margo, "it was pretty bad. His people are pretty wel off and prominent and al that but it's hard to get on to their ways. Tony's a bum and I hate him more than anything in the world. But after al it was quite an experience . . . I wouldn't have missed it."
Frank met them at the door of the apartment. He
looked fatter than when Margo had last seen him and had patches of silvery hair on either side of his forehead that gave him a distinguished look like a minister or an ambas-sador. "Little Margo. . . . Welcome home, my child.
. . . What a beautiful young woman you have become." When he took her in his arms and kissed her on the brow,
-253-she smelt again the smel of bayrum and energine she'd remembered on him. "Did Agnes tel you that I'm going on the road With Mrs. Fiske? . . . Dear Minnie Mad-dern and I were children together." The apartment was a little dark, but it had a parlor, a diningroom and two bedrooms and a beautiful big bath-room and kitchen. "First thing I'm goin' to do," said Margo, "is take a hot bath. . . . I don't believe I've had a hot bath since I left New York."
While Agnes, who had taken the afternoon off from the tearoom, went out to do some marketing for supper,
Margo went into her neat little bedroom with chintz cur-tains on the wal s and took off her chil y rumpled summer dress and got into Agnes's padded dressinggown. Then she sat back in the morrischair in the parlor and strung Frank along when he asked her questions about her life in Havana.
Little by little he sidled over to the arm of her chair, tel ing her how attractivelooking she'd become. Then sud-denly he made a grab for her. She'd been expecting it and gave him a ringing slap on the face as she got to her feet. She felt herself getting hysterical as he came towards her across the room panting.
"Get away from me, you old buzzard," she yel ed, "get away from me or I'l tel Agnes al about you and Agnes and me we'l throw you out on your ear." She wanted to shut up but she couldn't stop yel ing. "Get away from me. I caught a disease down there, if you don't keep away from me you'l catch it too."
Frank was so shocked he started to tremble al over. He'let himself drop into the morrischair and ran his long fingers through his slick silver and black hair. She slammed her bedroom door on him and locked it. Sitting in there alone on the bed she began to think how she would never see Fred again, and could it have been a premonition when she'd told them on the boat that her father was sick. Tears
-254-came to her eyes. Certainly she'd had a premonition. The stearnheat hissed cozily. She lay back on the bed that was so