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iStockPhoto.com/aelitta
PKG SE HR5
5th Edition
• Angelo S. DeNisi

• Ricky W. Griffin
Contributors
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Development

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Creators
• Angelo S. DeNisi

• Ricky W. Griffin
Copyright

PKG SE HR5

COPYRIGHT © 2020, 2018, Cengage Learning, Inc.

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1
The Nature of Human Resource Management
• Chapter Introduction

• 1-1 Contemporary Human Resource Management Perspectives

• 1-2 Evolution of the Human Resource Function

• 1-2a Origins of the Human Resource Function

• 1-2b Personnel Management

• 1-2c Human Resource Management in the Electronic Age

• 1-2d Emerging Human Resource Challenges

• 1-3 Goals of Human Resource Management

• 1-3a Facilitating Organizational Competitiveness

• 1-3b Enhancing Productivity and Quality

• 1-3c Complying with Legal and Social Obligations

• 1-3d Promoting Individual Growth and Development

• 1-4 The Setting for Human Resource Management

• 1-4a Human Resource Management as a Staff versus Line Function

• 1-4b The Human Resource Department in Smaller versus Larger Organizations

• 1-4c The Human Resource Management System

• 1-5 Human Resource Managers

• 1-5a Professionalism and Human Resource Management

• 1-5b Careers in Human Resource Management

• Chapter Review
• Chapter Review 1 Learning Objectives/Key Terms/Key Legislation
Chapter Introduction

Learning Objectives

1-1 Describe the contemporary human resource perspectives

1-2 Trace the evolution of the human resource function in organizations

1-3 Identify and discuss the goals of human resource management

1-4 Discuss the setting for human resource management

1-5 Describe the job of human resource managers from the perspectives of
professionalism and careers

Opening Case:

Promoting Profits through People

At first glance, Google, Hilcorp, and Quicken Loans appear to have little in common.
After all, one is a software development company, one is an oil and gas producer,
and one is a financial services business. They are headquartered in different states,
use different resources, sell different products, have different organizational
structures, and do not directly compete with one another. But they do share a few
things in common: They have all been cited as among the most admired companies
in the United States by Fortune magazine, they routinely appear on lists of the best
places to work, and they are consistently profitable.

So, what else do they have in common? They invest heavily in attracting the best
employees and then work diligently to train them and offer them rewarding career
opportunities. They pay well, offer good benefits, and strive to make their employees
feel valued. And while many different things determine a firm’s profitability, the
relationships Google, Hilcorp, and Quicken Loans have with their employees has a
strong impact on their success.

Google, for example, offers stock options and health-care benefits to all of its
employees, even those who only work part-time. The firm also keeps all of its
employees informed about its business strategy, its profitability and growth goals,
and career opportunities. In December 2010, the CEO of Hilcorp pledged to give
every employee $100,000 if the firm doubled its equity value, net production, and
reserves by the end of December 2015. The goal was met, and the firm made good
on its promise. Quicken Loans offers a $20,000 forgivable loan when employees
 want to buy their first home and then adds another $5,000 for decorating or
improvements.

“In order to create better alignment across all employees, our bonus
structure treats everyone equally. We have a culture that we are all in this
together.”

— GREG LALICKER, PRESIDENT OF HILCORP

In addition to Google, Hilcorp, and Quicken Loans, of course, there are many other
businesses today that see their employees as a major contributor to their
competitive advantage. For instance, Wegmans Food Markets, The Container Store,
Genentech, USAA, FedEx, Marriott International, and KPMG are also among the
firms that routinely appear on lists of good places to work and also consistently post
consistent growth, profit, and other indicators of financial success. The bottom line is
that while there are many routes to business success, treating employees well is
often the best way to go.

Think It Over

1. Given the success enjoyed by Hilcorp, Google, and Quicken Loans, why
don’t all firms use similar approaches to managing their employees?

2. If you were starting a new business, what kind of relationship would you
want to have with your employees? How would you go about trying to
achieve this?

Regardless of their size, mission, market, or environment, all organizations strive to achieve
their goals by combining various resources into goods and services that will be of value to
their customers. Economists traditionally thought in terms of concrete physical resources
such as ownership investment, sales revenues, and bank loans to provide capital and to
cover expenses necessary to conduct business. Material resources such as factories,
equipment, raw materials, computers, and offices also play an important role in the actual
creation of goods and services and are easy to think about when we discuss a firm’s
resources. But managers are beginning to view less tangible resources as the most critical
for gaining a competitive advantage.

For example, successful organizations need information not only about consumers but also
about the firm’s competitive environment to help managers make decisions, solve problems,
and develop competitive strategies. Many people refer to such resources as knowledge-
based resources. That is, organizations need to know how to get information and how to
use that information. We discuss knowledge-based resources and knowledge workers later
in this chapter and throughout the book, but for now it is sufficient to note that most (but not
all) of this critical knowledge tends to reside in the people in the organization. Therefore,
many experts in the field have come to recognize that no set of resources is more vital to an
organization’s success than its human resources.

Human resources (HR) (are the people an organization employs to carry out various jobs,
tasks, and functions in exchange for wages, salaries, and other rewards.) are the people an
organization employs to carry out various jobs, tasks, and functions in exchange for wages,
salaries, and other rewards. Human resources include everyone from the CEO, who is
responsible for the overall effectiveness of the organization, to the custodian who cleans the
offices after everyone else goes home. Each employee, in his or her own way, is a vital
ingredient that helps determine the overall effectiveness—or lack of effectiveness—of the
organization as it strives to accomplish its goals and objectives.

Human resource management (HRM) (is the comprehensive set of managerial activities
and tasks concerned with developing and maintaining a qualified workforce—human
resources—in ways that contribute to organizational effectiveness.) refers to the
comprehensive set of managerial activities and tasks concerned with attracting, developing,
and maintaining a qualified workforce—human resources—in ways that contribute to
organizational effectiveness. As we will see, more and more organizations are coming to
appreciate the dramatic impact that effective HRM can have on all aspects of the
organization. But in addition to organizations paying more attention to HRM in general,
there are also several more recent developments in the field that may elevate the HRM
function even higher. Several of these involve notions of talent management and the
idea of a differentiated workforce. We will examine these new developments as part of
our broad discussion of the field of HRM in this chapter. This discussion will serve as the
basis for more detailed discussions of specific aspects of HRM in subsequent chapters. We
begin with a look at contemporary HRM and the current field and then briefly trace the
history of the field. We then identify and discuss goals of the HRM function before
examining how the responsibilities for HRM are shared as staff and management functions.
The HR department in different kinds of organizations is then discussed. Finally, we focus
on the professionalism and career development of HR managers themselves.
1-1 Contemporary Human Resource Management Perspectives
In most organizations today, the role of HRM has become quite important. This results partly
from a growing realization of the importance of people as a source of competitive
advantage, but there are also more practical reasons. For instance, the passage of Title VII
of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 (and various court decisions that followed it) made it clear
that organizations had to find ways to hire, reward, and manage people effectively within the
limits of the law. As a result, the HRM function came to require dedicated professionals who
could balance legal and ethical concerns with the need of organizations to survive and be
profitable. If a firm did not employ qualified managers in these roles, then they faced
increased risks of serious financial penalties and legal fees.

The view of HRM as part of the legal

enforcement arm of an organization is
largely applicable only in the United Managers around the world have
States. Yet managers around the world come to understand that properly
have come to understand that properly managed human resources can be
managed human resources can be an an important source of competitive
important source of competitive advantage in an increasingly
advantage in an increasingly competitive world.
competitive world. In fact, as noted
earlier, human resources are the
organization’s most important
resources. Hiring the right people,
equipping them with the right skills, and then providing an environment in which they can
truly contribute can substantially affect the quality and quantity of whatever goods or
services the organization produces. Properly motivated and committed employees can add
immeasurable value to an organization’s bottom line. Given the shift in competitiveness, top
executives in most firms now see that HRM practices and policies significantly affect their
ability to formulate and implement strategy in any area and that other strategic decisions
significantly affect the firm’s human resources as well.

It was only natural, therefore, that HRM would eventually be elevated to the same level of
importance and status as other major functional areas of the firm. The top HR executive
at most companies today has the status of vice president or executive vice president and is
a fully contributing member of the firm’s executive committee, the body composed of key top
managers that makes major policy decisions and sets corporate strategy. Today, most firms
use a term such as human resource management to reflect more accurately the
sophistication and maturity of the function. But some people argue that even this term is
outdated and does not do justice to the role the HR manager plays. Instead, some
organizations have moved toward using more specialized terminology that fits their
corporate culture more closely. The top HR executive at Southwest Airlines, for example,
has the title of Vice President for People, while other firms, recognizing the importance of
HR as knowledge resources, have started using titles such as chief knowledge officer. To
keep things simple, though, we will use the human resource management terminology
throughout this book.

Contemporary Challenges in HR

Labor Shortage? Or Labor Surplus?

During good times and bad, one thing is true: some businesses and industries will
be cutting jobs and laying off workers. But other businesses and industries will be
adding new jobs and hiring new employees. During challenging economic times like
we’ve faced in the past decade or so, the press routinely reports large job cuts and
predicts high unemployment. For example, plunging oil prices in 2015 and 2016 led
many energy companies such as Shell, Schlumberger, BP, and Halliburton to
impose significant job cuts. Many highly qualified engineers and geologists found
themselves looking for work. But as oil prices began to increase in 2017 and 2018,
those same companies started to hire new engineers and geologists.

“It’s time to plan for a massive demographic shift. Discourage retirement,

encourage retraining, and encourage immigration.”

— USA TODAY

But at the same time, U.S. businesses in some sectors are facing a growing labor
shortage. How can we explain this apparently contradictory trend? There are
actually several reasons. First, we have entered the retirement bulge associated
with the baby boomer generation. This means that there are more workers retiring
than there are younger workers entering the workforce. Second, the U.S. workforce
has a growing misalignment between what workers can and are willing to do and
what employers need for them to do, and between where jobs are located and
where workers live.

Take construction, for example. During the economic downturn that started in 2008,
literally hundreds of thousands of construction workers were laid off. Given the
dearth of jobs and what they saw as limited prospects in the future, many of these
workers decided to retire. Others moved to states where there was more demand for
their services. Still others changed fields, taking jobs as truck drivers, factory
workers, or roughnecks in what were then booming oil and gas fields. But now that
construction is coming back, many building contractors are having trouble finding
carpenters, plumbers, electricians, and other skilled workers.

Even some professional jobs are facing the same challenges. Take airline pilots, for
example. There are about 90,000 commercial pilot jobs in the United States. A
 growing number of retirements coupled with new work rules requiring that pilots
have more time to rest between flights and projected growth in air traffic combine to
predict a shortage in the very near future. Some experts, for instance, project that
there will soon be 8,000 or so openings a year. The major airlines such as Delta and
American will likely not be impacted much by this, but shortages will likely occur in
the regional airlines, especially because those pilots will be among the most
qualified for openings in the bigger airlines.

To complicate things even more, there are regional differences in job shortages and
surpluses as well. For example, because so many energy companies have large
operations in Texas and Louisiana, many petroleum engineers live in these states
because there are generally more jobs available. But an energy company in the
Northeast may have a harder time finding petroleum engineers because fewer of
them choose to live there.

Markus Mainka/Shutterstock.com

Think It Over

1. As an employee, how might you best prepare yourself for impending labor
shortages in some fields? For potential labor surpluses in other fields?

2. As an HR manager, what might you do to entice workers where there is a

labor shortage? What might you do to soften the impact of layoffs caused
by an economic downturn?

Many aspects of the modern HRM function actually date back to the 1980s and 1990s. It
became apparent to many firms then that they were not able to compete effectively in the
global marketplace. Some of these firms went out of business, and employees lost their
jobs. Some firms were acquired by other, more successful companies, and in the aftermath,
many employees of the acquired firm were seen as redundant and let go. Still other firms
sought mergers with former or potential competitors in the hope of forming a new joint
enterprise that could compete successfully. But again, in most cases, merged companies
often did not find the same need for as many employees, and many workers lost their jobs.

Instead of simply managing the layoffs following a merger or acquisition, HR executives

were part of the team deciding which firms to merge with or to acquire outright. HR
managers could help to identify the critical human resources that the firm would need in the
future, and they could also help to identify other firms that might already have those
resources and thus be prime targets for takeovers or mergers. As knowledge became more
critical in gaining competitive advantage, HR managers helped define strategies to acquire
or develop knowledge resources. They also developed strategies for ensuring that any
knowledge acquired was fully dispersed throughout the organization. With firms competing
more broadly on a global basis, these factors become even more critical as firms try to
integrate work processes and employees from diverse cultures around the world.

At the same time that HR managers were taking on a more strategic role, many
organizations began shrinking the more traditional roles played by HR managers. As these
organizations looked for new ways to be competitive by reducing costs, they often explored
activities within the company that could be done more efficiently by outsiders. Cleaning and
maintenance were easy functions to replace, but, for example, many international airlines
outsource their on-board catering to Lufthansa.

This trend has spread to other areas as well. Today, many large organizations hire outside
firms to handle payroll, insurance and benefits, and even recruitment and selection in some
cases. This practice, commonly known as outsourcing (is the process of hiring outside
firms to handle basic HRM functions, presumably more efficiently than the organization
could.) , has resulted in smaller internal HR staffs and more reliance on outside consultants
to provide the services once provided by those staffs. Thus, although the importance of
HRM activities is growing, the importance of HR departments may be shrinking, and the
kind of work performed by HR managers is certainly changing as the size of the HR function
is shrinking.

Outsourcing can indeed be an important competitive weapon for organizations. If done

properly, outsourcing results in more efficient operations. Outside firms that are hired benefit
from the fact that they perform the same tasks for many companies. In addition, outsourcing
tends to eliminate jobs that are more repetitious and perhaps dull. As a result, the
employees who work on these jobs are more likely to be dissatisfied at work, which can
have a tremendous cost for the firms. But not all functions can be outsourced for
competitive advantage. Thus, it is critical that a firm retain any function that is either of
strategic importance in its own right (i.e., strategic planning) or can lead to some advantage
because the firm is especially expert at this function (e.g., selection or training). Therefore,
the issue for most firms today is not whether to outsource but what to outsource and what to
keep in-house.

Furthermore, many firms are beginning to realize that not all positions and not all employees
contribute equally to firm performance. This is the notion behind the idea of a differentiated
workforce. Some positions are more critical to the firm’s effective performance, and these
positions should receive the lion’s share of the attention. The best people must be recruited
and trained for these positions, and turnover in these positions is especially costly. Likewise,
not all employees are equally valuable to the firm, and the idea behind talent management
is that extra care must be taken to attract and then retain “stars,” including using large
financial incentives to retain them. These movements are making HRM even more complex.

In addition, the legal imperatives that in large part elevated the importance of the HRM
function are changing and becoming more complex. In what has been termed a post–
affirmative action world, issues regarding differential test performance of members of
different ethnic and racial groups, especially in high-stakes situations (where jobs or
entrance into academic institutions are involved), are becoming more rather than less
complex. How do we address differences in test scores in a society where credentialing and
accountability are becoming more important, and when we still haven’t figured out how to
deal with the diversity our society presents us?

In addition, as laws and attitudes change relative to gay rights, including same-sex
marriages, problems of benefits and legal protection suggest that diversity management will
become even more complicated in the future.

Of course, the world has changed in many other ways over the past decades. Beginning
with the attacks of September 11, 2001, issues of security have become much more
important in the United States. These concerns manifest themselves initially in the need to
attract, select, train, and motivate airport security personnel who serve as the first line of
defense against terrorism. These tasks fall squarely in the domain of HRM, increasing the
stakes involved in getting these practices right. Then, in 2005, Hurricanes Katrina and Rita
devastated the Gulf Coast of the United States, and the results illustrated new demands for
security of employee records and open lines of communication with employees. The arrival
in 2017 of Hurricane Harvey reinforced the vulnerability of business operations to natural
disasters and further emphasized the need for better HR information systems.

But more recent terrorist attacks in San Bernardino, CA; Paris, France; and Istanbul,
Turkey; among others, have added further levels of complications. Not only has the need for
security—at all levels—been made clear, but these attacks by radical Islamist groups have
triggered new waves of fear and mistrust of all Muslims, which presents problems for HRM
in terms of legal concerns and may also serve to limit immigration from certain parts of the
world, which may further challenge HRM to find qualified people. Unfortunately, there are
also threats that do not come from terrorists. An example occurred in February 2016, when
an employee of a lawn care company in Kansas left after his shift was completed and then
returned to shoot 14 people. The reasons for the shooting are not entirely clear, but the
shooter had been served with a restraining order to keep away from his girlfriend, just
before the shooting began. In any event, this incident was just one more example of the
threat of workplace violence facing all employees at all locations.

The administration of President Trump has also generated some new uncertainty. After
years of campaigning on the replacement to the Affordable Health Care Act (“Obamacare”),
the Republican-controlled House and Senate failed to agree on a new plan for how to repeal
and replace the it. The president, however, has signed several executive orders that have
weakened the effects of the act by removing the mandate for insurance and by ending
the government subsidies that helped lower income families to afford insurance. These
orders have likely raised the cost for health care for many Americans and have left those
who were able to receive benefits under the Affordable Care Act uncertain about their
future. The Trump administration did manage to pass major revisions to the country’s tax
structure. Although there is some uncertainty about how individuals will be affected by the
changes, it is clear that corporate tax rates will come down. In fact, in early 2018, several
large corporations announced that they would give a share of their anticipated tax savings
to their employees in the form of pay raises and/or bonuses. It remains to be seen what
the long-term effects of the new tax plan and the resulting increase in the federal deficit will
have, but the possibility that employees will benefit, not only by lower taxes but also by
higher wages, is an interesting one from the HRM perspective.

Another source of uncertainty grows from questions about immigration. The president
campaigned on a policy of stopping illegal immigration and sending illegal immigrants back
to their home countries. But it turns out that this latter piece is more difficult than had been
anticipated. Groups of immigrants who brought family members into the United States via
what’s known as “chain migration” are concerned that their family members will be deported
under various proposed bills. Democrats have fought against punishing these “dreamers”
and have opposed changes to DACA (Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals), which is the
law that has protected them from deportation, and have even proposed a path to citizenship
for these individuals. Battles between parties have resulted in two short-term shut-
downs of the U.S. government over the budget, with some Republicans arguing that funding
for a border wall with Mexico must be part of any deal, and some Democrats arguing that
any budget bill must also protect the “dreamers.” The president’s position on these issues is
not always clear, and despite bipartisan efforts to come up with a compromise, the future of
immigration policies in the United States is uncertain. In early 2018, the Supreme Court
refused to hear a case concerning the president’s proposed ending of DACA, but this simply
means that lower court injunctions will stand for now with the future still cloudy. The Court
did decide to hear a case regarding President Trump’s travel ban against people from
mostly Muslim countries (i.e., Iran, Libya, North Korea, Somalia, Syria, Venezuela, and
Yemen), and in a 5–4 decision ruled that the travel ban was legal and should be upheld.
As we will discuss in Chapter 7, changes in immigration policy can have serious effects for
companies seeking to fill many types of jobs.

Also, the Supreme Court, now back to full strength as of April 2017, with the appointment of
Other documents randomly have
different content
houseclean her sentiments. A man never likes to throw anything away, you
know, according to the tradition. He doesn’t like to throw away sex. He’s
used it badly, spotted it up and all that—in his lucid moments he’ll even
admit it. But none the less it’s very often the one thing which can excite his
tenderness and reverence and when he sees us invade the home, as he says,
it isn’t that he’s afraid the dishes won’t get washed. He says that, but what
he is afraid of is that we’ll find the secret places of his sentiment and ravish
them. I’m awfully sorry for some of the men. They’re going through a lot
just now. They seem to feel so left out, under all their loud jocosity and
foolish talk—you know,” she ended a little weakly.
“I know. I’ve been sorry for Gage myself. Terribly sorry for him. But I
don’t see how one can make concessions. What I’m afraid of is that in his
bitterness he’ll break Helen down. And she might give in but she’d never
forgive him now.”
“You’ve done some speedy work, haven’t you? Smashed up homes and
everything. What happened to your own pet Sinn Feiner?”
“He’s lecturing somewhere or other.”
“Is that all off?”
“It never was on.”
“You couldn’t get absorbed in his enthusiasm because you’ve got one of
your own, haven’t you?”
“I have yours.”
Mrs. Thompson patted her affectionately on the arm. Her contacts were
all warm and intimate. With men and women alike, she seemed to get inside
their minds and look out on the world as they saw it.
“You’re a dear girl,” she told her, “but you must remember that humanity
is a bigger thing even than feminism, Margaret. Be a little more tender
towards the poor men. After all, they can’t all be transported.”
All afternoon the crowds swelled. In the evening the great hotel dining-
rooms were filled with people who represented almost everything—power,
wealth, notoriety, ambition. Headquarters were established. Newspaper men
idled to and fro, joking, prophesying, gossiping. Underneath the fatuousness
of much of the pretense that this was a great popular meeting, most of the
people knew that the rules were already laid down and things would take
their course—must take their course. And yet there was a certain amount of
fair speculation as to whether in some way the great leaders might not be
outwitted after all—whether some new element might not show sudden
strength, whether the unorganized, half formulated hopes and ideals of
millions of ordinary people might this time put themselves across and lead
instead of follow. The Convention, like the world, was attuned to surprises,
revolts, inexplicable overturnings.
Helen was more than excited. A little less than two days ago she had felt
that she could not go on with this—that the personal agony had to be fought
out first. To her amazement she found that Margaret had been right. Helen
had always agreed with her that women were really not dependent on
emotion but that had been because Margaret’s contention seemed
reasonable and to take the other side hardly worthy. An inner feeling had
persisted that after all Margaret was unmarried and didn’t—couldn’t know
the strength of the emotional pull. But now she found herself breaking
through personal emotional wreckage to impersonal interest—or if not
impersonal interest at least interest in which sex played no part. She had at
first kept up the signs of control because she must. Now she no longer
needed the signs. She thought of Gage almost dispassionately. Now and
then the tragedy of the ruined feeling between them shook her violently. But
she could see their situation spread out before her. She could see it in
relation to the children, to other work. She could see where things must be
stopped in that they did not improve. And most of the time she hardly
thought of Gage at all. She was responding to all the excitement and interest
and admiration around her. She felt part of a great organization about to act
in ways which would affect the world. The great sensibility of her woman’s
imagination, undulled by much experience in the direction of things beyond
her contact, was played upon by a vision of great power which she might
help direct.
For the first time she understood what Margaret meant by the freedom of
women and why she was not content with the formal letting down of the
gates. She understood what some of the others meant when they talked of
the easy contemporary victories as obscuring the real things which women
needed.
The best of them did not talk the lingo of the “new day.” They knew that
any day was not new long enough to get used to its title. They talked of
adjustment of contemporary circumstances to an evolution as old as that of
civilization, as old as that of man—merged with male development and yet
distinct from it again. They avoided catch words and the flattery which was
sprinkled so thickly, avoided it not pedantically but with humorous
knowledge of its purpose.
They dined with Mrs. Thompson and three other women and held a kind
of informal court afterwards in one of the parlors of the hotel. Every notable
man who came into the hotel seemed to want a word with Mrs. Thompson.
She had a way with them that they all liked, a kind of keen camaraderie,
especially effective in a woman who, like Mrs. Thompson, could never be
accused of trying out any arts of sex attraction. They liked her company and
her brisk tongue and there was added interest in finding such company in a
woman. Helen met the Senators—the men whose names the party conjured
with and handled them as she handled most people—skillfully.
It was a little after nine when Helen saw Gage at the end of the room.
She had been talking with a gray haired, affable Senator who was telling her
what a beneficent influence the women were to have on the Convention and
she was excited, amused and sparkling. She was wearing a dinner dress of
black lace that Gage had always liked and as she caught his eyes on her that
was the first thought which flashed through her mind. It was followed by a
quick appraisal of Gage himself. He was looking a little untidy and showing
clearly the signs of recent strain and worry.
He did not make his way to her at once. He stopped to talk casually to
some men whom he knew. Helen thought suddenly that Gage was not a big
man politically. He did not have nearly as much prestige as Mrs. Thompson
of course, not nearly as much strength as she herself might have—. She saw
Margaret introducing him to Mrs. Thompson. His manners were bad. He
had none of the easy pleasant way with which the other men had come up to
her. He must be making an extremely bad impression. It humiliated her
somewhat. They were still too close for her not to feel that.
She joined the group where were Gage and Mrs. Thompson and
Margaret.
“Have you had a good day, Gage? I called up the house and the children
are fine. Not a trace of their colds, Esther said.”
He nodded gravely. Their eyes met, denying any intimacies of exchange,
coldly, a little cruelly.
“I hear your wife is to make the prize seconding speech to-morrow, Mr.
Flandon,” said Harriet Thompson, bending towards him.
 “I have no doubt of it,” said Gage.
“Do your views agree?” asked the older woman lightly.
“Very seldom,” answered Gage. He had not made it light. It was like the
flick of a whip.
Margaret interposed.
“Gage doesn’t believe in women’s progress, Harriet—don’t get him
started, please.”
“I wish he would get started. There are plenty of times when I think
we’re all talking balderdash and it would be a relief to hear some one give
testimony against us. What is the matter with women, Mr. Flandon?”
Gage’s tired, half-haunted eyes looked at her as if he suspected mockery
but he found none.
“According to most belief, there is nothing the matter with them. They
are supremely successful. They’ve got what they wanted. If they don’t like
the taste of their little mess of pottage as they eat it, it will be unfortunate.”
“You don’t think they will like it?”
“I may be mistaken. It may suit their taste.”
“I’m afraid it won’t but it’s the best food we’re able to provide so far.
Perhaps we’ve overpaid for it.”
“You have.”
He stopped, abruptly conscious of being drawn into discussion in public.
Margaret and Helen had been listening to the brief dialogue, and he
stiffened to the sense of their presence.
“I can’t stay, Helen—I’ve an appointment. Is there anything I can do?”
She walked with him to the end of the room, impelled by a desire to
preserve what she could of appearances but more by an unexpected pain at
having him leave her. She did not want him to stay—she was clear about
that, but she hated to have him go away in that lonely fashion. The
gentleness that welled up only lasted for a moment. He was ugly still. She
could tell by the set of his lips. It brought back her terribly painful
memories.
“Good night, Gage.”
That was all. Towards morning Gage went to bed. He had been drinking
other people’s whisky and he was ill enough to suspect it had not been good
stuff.

II

He did not go to the great Auditorium until the next afternoon. It took
some time to get himself into shape. The heat had begun, heat which settled
thickly on the city for three days and played its own part in making possible
agreements and compromises. By noon the smart look, the brisk look had
gone from everything and everybody and the sticky battle with the weather
had begun. Gage had met some men from his own part of the country and
they entered the great hall where the banners hung limp from the ceiling
and the delegates were already coming back to their places after the noon
recess. Gage did not look for his wife but after a while he saw her—as usual
looking the mistress of herself. His head was hot and thick and he hated her
for the fine mastery of her health and beauty. He wanted to see her in tears
—prostrate—and because he knew his desire was ugly he slipped down in
his own self-respect, which already was becoming such a frail reed to cling
to.
All that day he did not go near her. He watched her furtively sometimes
while he was in the auditorium but most of the time he spent with other men
in hotel rooms which grew hotter in spite of the efforts of electric fans and
all the time the whisky which he drank made his brain hot and seething with
misconceptions and desires and hatreds.
By the afternoon of the second day it had settled down to an endurance
meeting.
Watching the restless, heated crowd, going through the same old
formalities, Gage wondered whether Helen was aware now what kind of
game this was she had chosen to sit in—whether the farce of it was clear.
He did not wonder clearly. It was a kind of vindictive spite which pricked a
muddled brain.
He had not intend to be there when she spoke but in the end he stayed.
He heard the round commonplace phrases of the man who was nominating
the candidate she was working for—a good man, as Gage admitted—better
caliber than most, but without a ghost of a show for nomination. He listened
with irritation to the outburst of applause. Then he saw his wife before the
great crowd. It seemed quite unreal.
 He had not guessed her voice would carry like that. He had not known
she would show up like that. She came like a breath of cool air into that
heated place. In her blue linen gown and white feather hat she looked cool,
fresh, immaculate. When she spoke they listened to her and for a few
minutes Gage caught himself listening eagerly. She was talking well. No
nonsense. It was to the point. Just then he heard a man behind him.
“Some looker, isn’t she? That’s the kind of dames we ought to have in
politics all right.”
Blind rage swept over Gage again. He wanted to turn on the man and
fight. But he did nothing of the sort, being held by a thousand inhibitions.
Instead he watched his wife and as she talked he seemed to see her offering
her beauty to the crowd, seemed to see in every man’s face—as they
watched her—amusement, desire, lust.
He heard the burst of applause when she finished, applause with real
enthusiasm and at every hand clap he felt fury rising. Getting up, he found
his way to the door.
If Helen had expected a tribute from him, piled on the many she received
that night, she was mistaken. Men, women, newspapers all congratulated
her on having put some real fire into the speeches. Her speech, printed and
flashed all over the country was given its own share of praise. It was clear,
forceful, new in its outlook. The women of the country had chosen a good
spokesman, said the papers. But from Gage there was only a note at the
hotel, saying briefly that he had thought it best to return to St. Pierre—the
convention was the usual farce.
Helen twisted his note in her hands.
“So he couldn’t stay away from Freda Thorstad even that long,” she
thought. “Well,—”
 CHAPTER XVI

MR. SABLE STARTS SOMETHING

W HAT Mr. Sable had counted on was that Gage, once away for the
Convention, with his wife travelling with him, would stay away for a
week or so. In any case, he had taken matters rather summarily into
his own hands in the case of Freda Thorstad. The presence of the girl in the
office was to him like an open scandal. He knew that she had to get out of
the office and the time to get her out was while Gage was away. Of course
Flandon might raise trouble when he came back but there would be no
scene with the girl and he could put it flatly and finally that amours had to
be conducted outside of the office if at all. He was extremely correct and
secure in his own position and he felt he was most delicate.
So he was at the office a little earlier than usual the morning after Gage
left for the Convention. Freda was at her desk sorting the first batch of mail.
She looked very neat and capable, in her white blouse open a little at the
throat, her thick golden red hair pulled back smoothly from her forehead,
and her head industriously bent over her letters.
“Will you come in my office for a moment, Miss Thorstad?”
Freda followed him obediently. He closed the door and, taking his arm
chair, left her standing a little dubiously before him.
“Miss Thorstad,” he said, “I think—er—that it will be best for you to
sever your connection with this office.”
His tone, wholly disapproving, weighted with meaning, told his reasons
with almost comic flatness.
Freda’s brow contracted and she looked sharply at him. Then she
laughed. A brazen laugh, he would have said. Truly a laugh with no more
fear or care or apprehension in it than the laugh of any child who comes
upon something ridiculous.
Mr. Sable frowned. She was a hussy, he thought. Might try to bulldoze
him a little—he became increasingly stern.
“I have no desire to go into our reasons for this but I think it will be best
for you to simply leave at once. You may find the work too heavy for you. I
am sure you understand that no office of this kind could take the situation
differently.”
“Wouldn’t it be better for me to wait until Mr. Flandon’s return?” she
asked.
He had feared that.
“Surely you understand that your presence here is embarrassing to Mr.
Flandon,” he said sharply.
If she had guessed what he suspected she might have contended. But all
that he said struck her as true. She evidently was being gossiped about and
if it did make it embarrassing for Mr. Flandon—Perhaps that was why he
had been so over courteous, to conceal a deep embarrassment.
“Very well, Mr. Sable,”—she straightened her shoulders a little—“I shall
not go on with my work here.”
“Exactly.” With victory so easily accomplished, Mr. Sable became
different, adept at smoothing things over. “Of course when a young lady
cannot typewrite, an office like this has hardly the right kind of work—”
“I know that. I told Mr. Flandon that at the start.”
“Mr. Flandon being absent, I will give you a check for this week’s
work.”
“I’ve done only one day’s work, Mr. Sable. It is only”—she calculated
—“two and a half dollars.”
She took his check for that—he did not dare press the point—and left his
office. Mr. Sable smoothed his little white mustache, straightened his papers
with the air of having done a good day’s work already, and pressed the
buzzer for his own secretary.
It was only half past nine o’clock. Freda got her hat and coat from the
tiny dressing-room. Her desk was in order and there was no use in fussing
over it. She wanted to get out into the clean air. The pompous little lawyer’s
insinuations while they did not strike deep enough to insult her, made her
feel soiled and dirty.
Cele followed her into the dressing-room.
“Where you going?”
“Going out to look for a job.”
“He let you out?”
 “That’s the substance of his message.”
“Well—I call that—” Cele stopped, a veil of thought coming over her
eyes. “Look here,” she went on, “if there’s anything I can do—” She
stressed the last word violently, as if the need for action pressed upon her.
“Not a thing.”
“You aren’t going back to—what-you-may-call-it? The place you came
from?”
“Mohawk? No—mother’s coming here in a day or two. I’ll wait, and
look for a job.”
“A job,” said Cele, reflectively, “don’t worry too much, will you? Say—
I’ll be around to see you to-night. I think it’s rotten.”
Freda went out, wondering if the slanderous tongues had found even
Cele’s ear.
But she did not linger on thoughts of her dismissal. She was sorry to
leave Mr. Flandon so, but after all he knew and understood and the whole
business was so temporary anyway. Gregory should be back any day now—
and they would go away and never think of such ugliness any more. It was
like her that no thought of personal justification, of setting people straight
on the gossip, ever entered her head. She wanted to shake them off—that
was all. She wanted to get away into light and clearness and cleanness with
Gregory. And it seemed to her that merely being with Gregory would make
an atmosphere like that.
She had received no letter from him in five or six days now and she
missed one sadly. She needed that written touch of vigor and sweetness
which set her days aflame with happiness. Especially now, with the
knowledge that she was probably to bear his child. The lack of an address
so she might send him that delightful information was distressing. She
could have reached him through his lecture bureau but she had a dread of
the letter going astray if it were not sent directly to him. Not a word or
thought of resentment did she allow to penetrate her love. She kept herself
free from that. It was harder to keep fear away.
She was strolling along, passing through the shopping district, now and
then stopping to look idly at something in the window when she heard
herself greeted. Looking up she saw Ted Smillie. He was quietly affable and
there seemed no escape from speaking to him.
 “How are you, Freda?” he asked calmly.
She resented his use of her name though he had come to using it before
their disastrous evening.
“Quite well,” she said, and looked at him evenly, waiting for him to pass
her.
He did not pass. He lingered, showing in his face the return of that avid
attraction which he had felt so strongly before. She was thinner than she
had been when he had seen her last and the shadows under her eyes made
her face more delicate—more interesting!
“I wanted to see you again and luck’s come my way. You know that I did
call on you the next day at the Brownleys’ and found you’d gone. I’m afraid
I acted like an awful fool that night. Didn’t I?”
“Worse than that.”
“But it truly wasn’t my fault. I had been drinking. I know I can’t stand
the stuff. And you made me quite lose my head.”
She reflected that of course it hadn’t been his fault as much as Barbara’s.
And not knowing or dreaming that he was the agency which had violated
the privacy of those two days at the Roadside Inn, she did not persist in
great resentment. She disliked him of course but she was very idle and
ready for distraction.
He went on talking, eagerly.
“It’s been on my mind ever since. I hated to let you think I was like that.
Look here, Freda, I’ve got a free afternoon. Come in and have a cool drink
somewhere with me—won’t you?”
“I don’t think so,” said Freda.
“Please.”
“I might hurt your reputation,” she said, with a scornful little laugh. “I
understand I’m causing a lot of talk among your friends.”
“They always talk about every one—especially if a girl has the courage
not to be conventional—”
She did not trust him in the least. Nor did she like him. It was sheer
ennui which made her consent. She needed company.
They went to the tea room of a hotel, a cool place, furnished with
abundant white willow and great palms. Freda had not been in such a place
before and she, as ever, was esthetically responsive to the oasis of comfort
and coolness it made in the sweltering city. Ted ordered for her—a tall glass
of cool Russian tea with mint leaves and thin lettuce edged sandwiches. His
solicitude for her comfort dulled the edge of whatever resentment she had
towards him—she had never bothered to preserve much.
“And what are you doing? Did I hear you were working—like all
modern women?”
“Working I was—like all women who need the money,” she answered,
“but I’m not working now.”
“You’re not going back to Mohawk?”
She remembered part of his proposition that she need not go back to
Mohawk, made some weeks ago, glancing at him guardedly, thinking with a
certain amount of interest that this was the very young man who had made
suggestions which should have barred him permanently from her presence.
Here she was, taking his iced tea. Things were queer. She didn’t even feel
particularly angry at him. There wasn’t any use pretending false rigors.
“I don’t know,” she said, as she had said before.
“I’m glad you left the Brownleys’ anyhow. Are you living with other
friends?”
“No—I’ve a room by myself.”
Obviously he liked that and the visible signs of his liking amused her.
“Can I come to see you once in a while?”
“Oh, no, indeed. I shouldn’t in the least like you as a caller.”
He was undisturbed.
“I’ll have to make you change your mind somehow.”
She shrugged her shoulders slightly, delicately, in negation.
“Do you know how much I’ve thought about you since that night?” he
asked, bending a little closer to her.
“How much?”
“All the time.”
She pushed her glass away from her.
“Don’t be silly. I’m not a half-wit, Ted. I think you ought to be ashamed
of yourself. You know quite well you’re engaged to Barbara Brownley. Her
mother told Miss Duffield that.”
 His face darkened.
“Well,” he said, “I thought you were above a lot of silly conventions.”
She smiled serenely. “I am.”
“Then—just because a man is engaged to a woman is no reason why he
should never speak to any one else.”
“No—that would put a pretty high penalty on such things, wouldn’t it?”
“People are getting over their old fashioned notions about such things.
Men and women aren’t simpletons as they used to be, you know. We’re
regarding these things in a modern way. More like the French,” he said
largely.
“The French—oh, yes,” said Freda, gravely, “you mean having wives
and mistresses too. I’ve often wondered if the French couldn’t sue us for
libel for the things provincial Americans think about them.”
He flushed. “Are you making fun of me?”
“Gracious, no.” But he knew from her laugh that she was. “Why should I
make fun of you?”
She was enjoying herself. She felt so secure, so strong. It was fun to bait
this temperish young man, make him scuttle about for phrases which had no
effect on her at all.
“Anyway you know how I feel.” He pushed aside the glasses and plates
between them and bent himself over the tiny table towards her. She sat back
in her chair promptly.
“You know how I feel,” he persisted, “I never cared for a girl as I’ve
cared for you.”
“Then,” said Freda, with an air of great simplicity, “why not ask me to
marry you?”
He threw out his hands in a theatrical gesture of despondency.
“I’m tied hand and foot. This marriage of mine has been cooked up by
our families. It’s all arranged for us.”
“I know,” said Freda wisely, “as in France.”
He glanced sharply at her.
“But,” said Freda, “the modern way is not to let your parents put that
sort of thing over. Truly. One simply says, ‘Mother—I will wed the girl of
my choice.’ ”
 “You are making fun of me.”
“Well—who wouldn’t?” Freda collapsed into a laugh. “Here I sit,
listening to you make the funniest clandestine love in the world. You feel
you’ve got to do it—to uphold your reputation as a—Frenchman! And if
you slipped into a serious situation you’d be aghast. You don’t care a thing
about me and you know it.”
“Ah, don’t I?” He looked for a moment as if he did.
“You probably care a little about corrupting me. Now look here, Ted,
please stop talking such nonsense. You can’t shock me and it’s pretty hard
to insult me—I am a little ashamed of not being more insulted—but you
probably could make me very angry by persisting in trying to involve me in
petty vice. In the first place I don’t like it. In the second place, if I ever went
in for vice, it would be on a larger scale than you could dream of. I haven’t
the slightest intention of—being French! You’d better go along and make
love to Bob Brownley. She’ll bring some excitement into your life, I think.
The reason I’m not more angry with you is that you were, indirectly, the
cause of the greatest bit of luck that ever happened to me.”
“What?”
“I wouldn’t dream of telling you. But I’m awfully obliged for the tea—
truly. It set me up. Shall we go?”
He was not so easy to repulse. He got up and pulled his chair around to
her side of the table.
“Freda,” he tried to take her hand, “if I gave up Bob would you let me
see you?”
“I wouldn’t if you gave up the world.”
She rose a little impatiently, feeling that this was going too far, and
started for the door of the dining-room.
“At least you’ll tell me where you live?” he pressed her. “Let me go
home with you now.”
“Don’t you have to work in the middle of the afternoon?”
“Nobody’s working much. It’s too hot.”
“Then go play with Barbara. I’ve other things to do.”
Possibly it was the heat and the sense of effort which got nowhere that
made Ted’s face intense and angry. He saw her about to slip away again.
 “You can’t go like this, Freda, I’ve only just found you.”
“You’d better let me,” answered Freda, “because I see Maud Dubonnet
looking at you and she knows you and obviously isn’t intending to speak to
me though I lunched at her house, so you see it will be hot with you when
Barbara hears this.”
Against his will Ted looked up and saw Maud truly, with two other girls
and three young men coming into the room. They had to pass Ted and Freda
as they stood there, discussing. Maud Dubonnet was the only one of the
group whom Freda knew. The others all evidently knew Ted and glanced at
him with some interest. Maud did not look at Freda. She held her head
stiffly as she passed, then said something to the others which made them
turn with an attempt at casualness to look at the man and girl. Ted delayed
no longer. He followed Freda out.
“You see it doesn’t pay to do things Barbara won’t like. This will get
back to her before to-morrow and she won’t be pleasant.”
Ted’s mouth set in an rather ugly line.
“I’ll manage Bob all right.” He looked at Freda. Her face under the plain
white hat she wore was mocking, insubordinate, fascinating. “But I want to
see you again. To-night?”
“Nonsense. Good-by, Ted. Be good and make your peace with Bob.”
She turned and went in the opposite direction from the one in which they
had started, going into the first big department store and retiring to the
ladies’ waiting-room where she wrote a letter to her father, and mailed it.
Then, having made sure she was rid of Ted she went home. The afternoon
dragged along. She read and thought and on an impulse went out again to
go to the railway station and get some time tables. She wanted to see just
how far Gregory had been away from her when he last wrote.
Each time the postman approached the house there was a leap of her
heart. Four times a day he came and each time he brought fresh hope. She
would play tricks on herself as she went down to look in the mail box she
shared with the people who rented the apartment in which she stayed. Each
time she put her hand in the box she hesitated before she looked, then
looked quickly as if to catch fate before it tricked her. But it would be an
advertisement of a corset firm for Mrs. Miller, an envelope with
unmistakable savor of a bill about it, a postcard, a white Louisine envelope
with a woman’s handwriting on it. How she hated all the flatness of the
Miller mail.
Each envelope she took in her hands seemed to be mischievously
metamorphosed into one of these stupid envelopes which represented such
dull contact with the outside world. Nothing to do but to go upstairs and
read all over again the old messages of love from him—to wear her
wedding ring in the privacy of her room—to make endless computations on
the presumable date of her child’s birth—to read with unfailing zest and yet
slight nausea the rather mawkish pages of “What Every Mother Should
Know” which she had shamefacedly but defiantly bought at a book shop,
feeling the necessity for some practical knowledge of marriage.

The next day, breaking through her apprehension and her waiting,
cutting across her vague fears, came the letter. It lay between an
announcement of the opening of a new hair dressing parlor and Mr. Miller’s
water and light bill. How could she hope that the other white envelope
would be anything more interesting? Then she turned it over and the
address stared at her blackly. It was addressed to Mrs. Gregory Macmillan,
in an unfamiliar hand, postmarked at the town from which Gregory had last
written. Gregory always addressed her letters to Freda Thorstad to avoid
any explanations to the Millers. A quick faint fear came over her. She
almost crushed the letter as she flew up the stairs and with her back against
her door faced the envelope again.
Then steeling her mind and her heart, presenting only outer senses to
what blow it might contain, she opened it. The written words made their
sense clear, like some amazingly vital story that thrilled every nerve.
“My dear Mrs. Macmillan:
I obtained your address from your husband and I am writing you to tell
you that he is extremely ill. We have done our best for him and he has a
nurse with him constantly but I feel that you should come to him if it is at
all possible. I do not know what responsibilities of family may hold you but
I think it my duty to inform you that your husband is very sick. He lectured
here on the fourteenth and the next morning the proprietor of this hotel
called me to attend him. I found him in the first stages of typhoid and had
him removed to a hospital here which is comfortable and where we have
given him every attention. At a time like this his family should be with him.
I regret that I must be the agent of such distressing news.
Faithfully yours,
L. D. Merritt, M.D.”
She read it through twice carefully. The thing struck her as quite unreal,
although she had speculated on the possibility of his illness.
Then her mind, working reasonably, went on. She thought of trains and
money. She had fifty—no forty-nine dollars and seventy-five cents. It
wasn’t enough, she knew.
She had the time tables which she had obtained the day before. She
studied them, her body held tautly, her face calm, showing a control which
had come unconsciously. She could leave at three fifteen that afternoon.
She’d have to change trains at midnight. She’d get there at noon next day.
There was money. She must have money. No one to get it from unless she
wired her father—better not—Miss Duffield away—Mr. Flandon away—
Cele had none. She thought even of Ted Smillie. Better not—she’d pawn
something. That was what people did when they needed money.
Like most girls she had a small collection of semi-precious jewelry—
nothing of great value. She opened the little mock-ivory box on her dressing
table and considered the contents carefully. Then she closed it, put on her
hat and stuck the box in her pocket.
Pawning was unlike any experience she had ever had and not as exciting
as books had led her to believe. She felt no shame—only a vague hostility
to the pawnbroker. She hated his having so obviously the best of the
transaction. He was scornful in her array of articles to sell—the gold
bracelet that had cost her father thirty-five dollars—the little one carat
diamond ring that had been her mother’s—the opal ring—the seal ring—the
little silver locket.
In the end he gave her thirty-three dollars, and with the money in her
hands she immediately got his point of view. She had exchanged a lot of
things which meant little to her for the boundless power of thirty-three
dollars which added to forty-nine made eighty-two.
She bought a ticket to Fairmount, Montana. It cost her twenty-eight
dollars and sixty-four cents. She put it in her purse and went home, a
splendid sense of action stirring her.
It took her a very short time to pack her bag. There remained two hours
before the train. She spent it sitting in her room and letting the knowledge
of what she was doing penetrate her mind. It occurred to her that she should
let some one know where she was going but in the face of Gregory’s illness
it seemed even less possible to confide the news of her marriage. That was
to have been a glorious revelation to a few people. She could not turn it into
tragedy, so she decided to tell no one.
To her father she wrote a letter.
Yet even to him she could not tell the facts. It seemed now when
circumstances seemed to imperil her secret that she clutched it even more
tightly to herself. She could not bear the thought of comment breaking in
like a destructive barrage on the secret glory and beauty she cherished. In
her absorption she did not think much of consequences or possible worry
for any one. Only as she told Mrs. Miller that she wanted to pay up for her
week and that she had been called out of town, did it occur to her from a
comment of Mrs. Miller’s, that her mother was coming in a day or two. The
complication puzzled her—then she overrode it boldly. It was one of the
things that had to be. So she wrote a note for her mother and entrusted it to
Mrs. Miller. It was only a few lines to tell her that she had left the city
—“I’m sorry that I can’t be more definite about my plans. There’s nothing
to worry you, mother. It’s quite all right and I’m not doing anything I
shouldn’t. So please don’t worry about me. Only trust me, won’t you? I
know you will.” She sent her love and for all her assurances on paper that
she knew her mother would trust her she sealed it with a dubious look.
In the letter to her father she was, if not more informative, at least more
expansive.
 It was incoherent, reassuring, happy, sad—the kind of letter that carries
with it great fear to the one who reads it and who sees how delicate the
balance is on which the future is being weighed.
Freda mailed the note to her father, left the one for her mother with Mrs.
Miller and went to the station. Almost before she knew it the long train,
with a jerk of its loose hung body had gathered itself together and moved
out of the yards through the scattering, blackened railroad district. She
watched the little houses and let her mind sink into a blur of remembrance
and anticipation. She was going to Gregory. No more waiting for letters, no
more dreams. Whatever it was that was to come, it was reality—something
to feel and to do—not to wait for.
She slipped her wedding ring on her finger and displayed her hand a
little absurdly on the edge of the window casing. Marvelous symbol—that
ring, she thought. Too bad that people had come to regard it so disdainfully.
How ill it must have been treated to have sunk into such disrepute. Across
the aisle of the day coach she saw a like ring on the hand of a woman. It
was a fleshy hand and the coarse pink skin pushed itself up on either side of
the encircling band but Freda felt kinship and friendliness. With this
unknown woman, with the unintelligent face she almost felt it possible to
converse intimately—as if she might cross to her and say, “I am Mrs.
Gregory Macmillan. Are you going far?”
When the shadows fell thick across the prairie and a white-coated waiter,
a shade more important in his manner that he had been in passing through
the Pullmans, had intrigued a fair number of the day-coach passengers into
the diner, Freda rose a little stiffly. Her chin had red marks on it where she
had cupped it in her hand for so long and there were streaks of coal dust
under her eyes. She made a perfunctory and inadequate attempt to look
presentable and faced a new adventure. She had never eaten on a train in
her life.
The warm bustle and luxury of the place stirred her senses and brought
her out of her lonely rhapsody into an appreciation of what went on around
her. The adventure spirit came to the surface. Freda Thorstad—sitting at a
tidy table in a dining-car, on the way to her husband. There was no
disloyalty to Gregory’s illness that she could not resist the enchantment of
shining dishes which looked like silver and warm and savory smells and
smiling, interesting travelers, with above and around it all the clatter and
rush of the train, moving on to a hundred destinations, a hundred tragedies
and comedies and romances. Her thoughts at least admitted no staleness as
a possibility.
The meal stood out in her memory. She never forgot it. Tentatively she
ordered, tea, biscuits and lamb chops. When the lamb chops came they lay
on a platter with little sprigs of parsley offering them up and made her very
hungry. They looked delightful but inadequate. She ate hungrily, for these
last few days she had had little food.
Four—five—dragging hours. She bought a magazine with a flaring girl
on its cover and read avidly, her mind sinking into its soporific fiction with
weariness, getting respite from her own sharp and vivid thoughts.
The conductor came to tell her that this was her station. He lifted her
heavy bag for her and carried it to the foot of the steps of the coach.
Then came the excitement of the swoop and pause of the Flyer. Freda
was bundled aboard, hat awry, nervously watching for her bag, taken from
her hands by some one, porter or conductor. The curtains swung from all
the berths. The porter’s voice was low and lazy. He showed her to lower six
—a little cubby hole with curtains drawn aside, revealing the delightful
neatness of the berth. Freda knew even less of sleeping on trains than she
did of eating there. Awkwardly she managed to undress and crept in
between the thick white sheets. In the darkness she lay awake, wondering.
Wondering at the rush and sound and the mysteries shrouded behind green
swinging curtains. When the train shrieked a signal or stopped lurchingly at
some station she pushed up the curtain beside her and, propped on her
pillows, lay looking into the night tasting the full delight of inexperience.
At last she fell asleep and dreamed of Gregory. It was a frightening dream.
He did not know who she was, did not remember her. Towards dawn she
pushed her way out of it and woke up to see the rain falling lightly over the
even country and to realize that she was begrimed with the coal dust and
sticky with heat.
At noon she reached Fairmount and stood in the station looking about
her for information. The excitement of the last lap and approaching climax
of her journey overcame her fatigue and her eyes were brilliant. She
decided to take a taxi to the hospital and chose at random one from a row of
disheveled looking “For Hire” machines waiting for the daily debouch of
passengers from the Flyer. She climbed in with her bag and closed the
shaky door, and the driver started his motor. Freda’s heart was racing. The
cab could not go fast enough—nor slow enough. It seemed to her as if she
could not bear what might be waiting of joy or sorrow, as if emotion was
welling up so strong that it would burst its bounds and overcome her.
Through the dusty cab windows she saw Fairmount—ill developed wooden
houses with unhealthy looking trees giving little shade—a business district
of twelve or fifteen squares with all the machinery of business being
conducted as it was at this hour in hundreds of other First National Banks
and Gilt Edge Stores and Greek Restaurants and brick office buildings. The
cab whisked through it rapidly and came to a section of broader streets
where more impressive looking houses of brick or stone appeared at
leisurely intervals. A little park with a dusty looking playground adjoining
it. A row of apartments and there on the corner where a “Silent Zone” sign,
awry and disregarded by a group of boys playing in the street made a vain
appeal, was St. Agatha’s Hospital.
Inside the little entry was an office with three or four glass windows,
behind which she looked for an informant. A slim, weary looking nun came
at last, looking at her from behind steel rimmed glasses without curiosity.
“Macmillan—yes,” she said, “you’re—?”
“I’m his wife.”
The nun accepted the fact simply and as if she yielded Freda certain
rights and privileges. Freda felt frightened. She wanted to go into Gregory’s
room, kneel down by his bed and tell him to get well. She could see it
wasn’t going to be as direct as that.
A buzzing, muffled bell, sounded by the nun, had summoned a nurse,
who came into the office thumping heavily on her flat rubber-heeled shoes.
She was commissioned to take Freda to the last room in corridor “A”—the
“typhoid case.” Freda left her bag in the office and followed the nurse, as
she clumped indifferently along. The presence of the nurse bothered her.
She wanted to get rid of her—tell her she would go on alone but she did not
dare. In corridor “A” the nurse gave her a chair.
“I’ll find his nurse and see if you can see him now.”
“I’m his wife,” said Freda.
The nurse nodded.
“I’ll get the nurse first. She wouldn’t like me to bring any one in without
calling her first, you see.” She smiled a little as she explained this