The Easiest Way | Page 9

Grand Central at 12:15. I've just time to drink a glass of wine and sprint
for the train. That's why I kept the taxi waiting outside. I hate to go. I
assure you I'd much rather sit here with you. But go I must."
As far as his amours were concerned, women of the Laura Murdock
and Elfie St. Clair type appealed strongly to the broker. Not only did he
enjoy their bohemianism and careless good-fellowship, but he entered
fully into the spirit of their way of living. He professed to understand
them and in a measure to sympathize with them. Entirely without
humbug or cant, he recognized that they had their own place in the
social game. They were outcasts, if you will, but interesting and
amusing outcasts. He rather liked the looseness of living which does
not quite reach the disreputable. Behind all this, however, was a high
sense of honor. He detested and despised the average stage-door
Johnny, and he loathed the type of man who seeks to take young girls
out of theatrical companies for their ruin. Otherwise he had no
objection to his women friends being as wise as himself. When they
entered into an agreement with him there was no deception. In the first
place, he wanted to like them; in the second place he wanted them to
like him. His iron-gray hair, contrasting with their youth, not only made
him look like their father, but his manner towards them was distinctly
paternal. He insisted also on their financial arrangements, being kept on

a strictly business basis. The amount of the living expenses was fixed at
a definite figure and he expected them to limit themselves to it. He
made them distinctly understand that he reserved the right at any time
to withdraw his support, or transfer it to some other inamorata, and he
gave them the same privilege. While he consulted only his own selfish
pleasures, Brockton was not an uncharitable man. He was always ready
to help anyone who was unfortunate, and at heart he sometimes felt
sorry for these women who had to barter their self respect to indulge
their love of luxury. He hoped that some of them would one day meet
the right man and settle down to respectable married life, but he
insisted that such an arrangement could be possible only by the honest
admission on the woman's part of what she had been and the thorough
and complete understanding of her past by the man involved. He was
gruff and blunt in manner, yet well liked by his intimates. They thought
him a brute, almost a savage, but almost every one agreed with Laura
that he was "a pretty decent savage." She and the broker had been pals
for two years, and she had never been happier in her life. He was most
generous with his money and his close relations with several prominent
theatrical managers made it possible for him to secure for her desirable
engagements. There was no misunderstanding between them. He knew
exactly what she was and what she had been. He any way. He always
told her that whenever she felt it inconsistent with her happiness to
continue with him, it was her privilege to quit, and he himself reserved
the same right. As far as such an irregular marital relation as this could
be said to be desirable, it was an ideal arrangement.
"How long will you be gone?" asked Laura, as she toyed with a lobster
claw and glanced around the café, to see who was there.
"I've no idea," answered Brockton. "I may return day after to-morrow
or I may be detained there a week or longer. It's a big job, you know--in
connection with floating a big issue of railroad bonds. There's a barrel
of money in it. I may not get back before you go to Denver."
The girl looked up at him quickly, and laying down her knife and fork,
leaned across the table. Resting her dimpled chin on her ungloved and
tapering hands, which were covered with blazing stones, she said with

more genuine feeling than she had yet shown:
"Oh, Will--it was awfully good of you to get me that engagement and
let me go. A number of girls I know were after it--some with far more
experience than I've had. They're all crazy to play stock at this time of
year. Of course, I don't need the money as much as they do, but I'm
fond of acting and it's a bully way to spend some of the summer.
Besides, I think the air out there--the high altitude--will do me lots of
good."
"That's all very well," rejoined the broker with a grimace of mock
despair, "but what am I going to do all alone in