The Lever - A Novel

William Dana Orcutt

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• Publié par: zawyug
• Publié le: 08 décembre 2010
• Nombre de lectures: 34
• Langue: English

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The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Lever, by
William Dana Orcutt
This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at
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Title: The Lever A Novel
Author: William Dana Orcutt
Release Date: March 21, 2005 [EBook #15430]
Language: English
*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG
EBOOK THE LEVER ***
Produced by Audrey Longhurst, Mary Meehan, and
the Online Distributed Proofreading Team.THE LEVER
BY WILLIAM DANA ORCUTT
AUTHOR OF "THE SPELL," "THE FLOWER OF
DESTINY," "ROBERT CAVELIER," ETC.
1911
"Give me where I may stand, a lever long enough,
and a fulcrum strong enough, and I will move the
world."—ARCHIMEDES.TO MY MOTHER
ELLEN DANA ORCUTT
"SUPREME IN THE STRENGTH OF ASSERTING
THAT WHICH IS EVER WOMAN'S CREED—
JUSTICE AND RIGHT," THIS VOLUME IS
AFFECTIONATELY DEDICATEDTHE LEVERI
The girl leaned forward impulsively from the
leisurely moving victoria and looked back at the
automobile which whizzed by the carriage, along
the maple-lined road leading from Washington to
Chevy Chase; then she as suddenly resumed her
former position when she discovered that the
young man, who was the only occupant of the
motor-car, had slowed down and was gazing back
at her.
"How impertinent!" she exclaimed, flushing,
addressing herself rather than the older woman
beside her. "Of course, it couldn't be Allen; but if it
wasn't, why was he looking back at me? Did you
recognize him, Eleanor?"
"Who's impertinent?" queried Patricia, who sat
between them and exercised a ten-year-old sister's
prerogative.
Mrs. Gorham was quietly amused. "Which question
shall I answer first,
Alice—and who is 'Allen' supposed to be?"
It was the girl's turn to sense the situation. "How
ridiculous!" she laughed. "Of course you wouldn't
know. Allen Sanford and I used to play together
when we were children in Pittsburgh. I haven't seen
him since we moved away after mamma died; but
that really looked like him. I wonder if by anychance it could be?"
"Oh, Alice, he's coming back," announced Patricia
from her point of vantage on her knees, and a
moment later the same automobile, driven at a
speed at which the most conscientious of traffic
guardians could not complain, passed them slowly
at the left. The young man made an effort to
conceal the fact that he was surveying the girl in
the victoria, but Alice cut short his suspense.
"It is! it is!" she cried, eagerly; and with the
recognition made certain the boy shut off his
power, and, springing out of the car, was beside
her before even the discreet coachman could draw
up to the curb.
"I thought I couldn't be mistaken—" he began.
"But you weren't sure," Alice finished for him. "You
were trying to remember a little girl with a pigtail
down her back and horrid freckles all over her face
—now, weren't you?"
"If that's the way you really looked, I evidently
wasn't as fussy about such things then as I am
now," he laughed. "All I remember is that you were
the dandiest little playmate I ever had."
The unexpected compliment caused Alice to turn
quickly to Mrs. Gorham.
"This is Allen Sanford, Eleanor; and this, Allen, is
my mother, sister, and dearest friend all in one.""And my name's Pat," added the child, refusing to
be ignored and holding out her hand cordially.
The boy was even more embarrassed by the
unexpected meeting with the second Mrs. Gorham
than to find Alice developed into so lovely and
fascinating a young woman. He had always
thought of Alice's step-mother, when he had
thought of her at all, as of a type entirely different
from this slender, attractive woman only a few
years older than Alice herself. There was a self-
possession about Mrs. Gorham, a quiet dignity,
which made the difference in their ages seem
greater than it really was; yet, had he not known,
Allen would have thought them sisters. His father
was sceptical when he heard of Gorham's second
marriage: "It's bigamy, that's what it is," were
Stephen Sanford's words. "Gorham is married to
his business. Everything he touches turns into
gold. Business to him is what a great passion for a
woman would be to one man, or a supreme
friendship to another; but the lever which moves
Robert Gorham is neither love nor steel; it is cold,
hard cash."
All this flashed through Allen's mind in that brief
moment of silence after the introduction, but the
thoughts of at least one of the two women had
been equally active. To Alice this chance meeting
recalled a time in her life sanctified by the loss of
her mother, later made easier to look back upon by
the rare sympathy which had existed from the first
between herself and the sweet, tactful woman who
had come into her life, filling the aching void andawakening her to a new interest in her
surroundings. She and Allen had been "chums" in
those early days, and it gratified her to discover
that the boy whom she had admired in a childish
way had become a young man so agreeable to
look upon and so little changed, except in growth,
from the lad she remembered. His six feet of
height carried him to a greater altitude than of old,
his well-developed arms and shoulders showed a
physical strength which his youth had not
promised, but his face wore the same frank, care-
free, irresponsible and good-natured expression
which had made him beloved by all his
acquaintances and taken seriously by none.
Allen's smile returned before he found his voice,
and was so infectious that Alice, Mrs. Gorham, and
Patricia were also smiling broadly.
"It's awfully good to see you again, Alice," he said,
with a sincerity which could not be doubted; "and to
meet you, too, Mrs. Gorham, not forgetting Lady
Pat." And then, as if in explanation, "You see, as
Alice says, she and I were pals when we were
youngsters in Pittsburgh, and I can't realize that
now she's grown up into such a—"
"Do you remember the games of baseball we used
to play together?" Alice interrupted.
"Indeed I do," he responded. "She could throw a
ball overhand just like a boy," Allen continued,
turning to Mrs. Gorham lest he seem to
discriminate in his attentions."She can't do it now, but I can," Patricia remarked,
with an air of superiority, subsiding as Alice
glanced meaningly at her.
"And once you thrashed Jim Thatcher for calling
me a tomboy. Oh, I looked upon you as a real
story-book hero!"
"I suspect that's the only time on record." Allen
laughed again consciously. "That's one epithet I
haven't had hurled at me enough times to make
me nervous." He looked at the horses critically.
"You don't suppose there's any chance of a
runaway here to give me another opportunity, do
you?"
"How about the football games, and the races at
New London?" Alice asked.
"What do you know about those?"
"I read all about everything in the papers. Your
father was so proud that he told my father and
every one about your college record; so, you see,
your friends had no difficulty in keeping posted."
"My father was proud of me?" Allen demanded, in
genuine astonishment. "Haven't you gotten things
a little mixed? That doesn't sound like the pater at
all. He didn't boast any of my record in my studies,
did he?"
"Father didn't say." Alice leaned forward
mischievously. "Did you get your degree cum
laude, Allen?"