By Holworthy Hall. -
He Dealt in Dreams, But Paid in Cold Hard cash His Earthly Debts of Honor ——and Thereby Hangs the Tale. Love and Surprises.
‘ The Seller of Drea
Illustrated by Hubert Mathieu.
v
ms .
... .... r‘nt‘e a b01571") pick-
ed. She had a warm vividness which
. : vents; and they rinsed
let her aside as an individual. Men-
amx out of him. and they telly. he had compared her with s
~ min vountless forms and tire-opal.
You're a champion boxer among other i there were two empty chairs: Nelson
Whigs. aren't you? So versatile." idropped into one of them and smoked.
"You never heard of Jack Twin Sul- l inedimtively. These graph were
- .. . Ilvan. did you? . . .. Really? Well. 3'°“ng_'y°u“‘—y°un“ son '“d'
. 0h. I beg your plrdnn,‘ she said— I‘ve stayed eight rmmds Wm, him l denly filled with a curious hot resent-
- r uni-y. ten-0|! "wooed. end her voice was quite as boyish us That was when l w“ in college I! merit. against the very qualities he
prim-Win pertook of some- her manner. “I beg your pardon. I ,, ‘ ,_ " longed for: youth. and gay-hearted-
. i.'iiilii)'b0f a gel spring. didnl':I mean to interrupt you—but “Wat‘éoc‘gfphon' "“3 i'zfgéw'gt :21: i ness. and spontaneity.
. r'l‘u'il, iii a sys ready wou you mind tellin: me what that mm“ ‘ .. 9..
.\-irl in his heart then-o Freddie. anyhow. mm H I 'u d°wn ‘ mnd‘
was you were just playing?" . Freddie‘s so truth-l .
:i-nonds ambitions: one "Why." said Nelson. "it's a. thing ml" I“ .Neleon scarcely turned “3 he‘d-
. in pm- on the Harvard called The Seller of Dreams."‘ - 0‘ WW" 30‘-
“... was to compo“ Most. women thought that he was She curled up in the other chair.
H1,“ which would mk. laughing at them; and. at, first. theitnd settled herself into comfort. Nel-
. .i... third fl. eventuulyl firmopal was no except‘un. lson went on smoking. There was 8
in particular.‘ And what else could she think? She l silence.
asked him a, few questions about him-i "You‘re an awfully funny man." she
self—whore Li.- livod, what he did. why ‘ SRld. eventually.
he was coming abroad—and in every "In what way?"
response. there was the flavor of re- She inclined a decree or two toward
him. "Oh. it isn't only the way you
act: it's in your eyes. and the way
you talk. You talk of! the top of your
mind all the time—just so nobody can
possibly tell what You're thinking
about. Yesterday morning and then
again today you made me so pro-
" fil"l
Iv'Plllli )uar. however.
,... business failed. al-
nnii this disaster. na-
q~r~vtcd Nelson's whole
vhi'mt‘nl it meat pri-
“as to take. no more
and that if he were to
iii all. he should have
xi 1‘: through. He did it.
f'"
2:;37..r";,::°::.;".:: I m... to a... «mm
W; A (H'lledu‘ at you—but now I‘m just sorry for
you.
‘“:‘r;;"::':r‘; 3‘33; Nelson raised his head. "Sorry for
...
i’ 1' Mess'nn National mgh dd (1 "l t .
1 .~. mother two sisters . e n“ e ‘ '“7 a” ”m ”5' I c“
H ' she. Because I' don t think youd ever
""' “", m “"99“” i behave like that if there weren't some
e fathers debts were lgood reason for. it. You're not a.
.- his pride. He had . humorist. 'x-eally. “'hat is it: Just that-
. ml h- i'nther. but he, you don't like people?" 5
l «f “'m: and now he‘ He continued to smoke, and to med-l
faith
“LN” 01 his end itnto. "No. that isn't it . . . but whyi
h h .Jd t should you bother?"
. ( enoux ." e o .. . I
, --_. bank, "I'm rein: to She hesitated. I dont know if r
.svzt
(if it."
;.i' his hand on Nel- this . .
about . well.
since I was a little
an yway—ever i
pi rl
~ "You don't ow. u. ‘ I've been}
. , .,.., couldn't pay off crazy to see Lurope, and I never ex-i
i \e h d “d period it. Then it fell right into my~
i . i. it in a un r. l‘ lnp, Right out of it. clear sky. And
we ninre'n you can do
,( x'tillr folks." And thi-
hecnuse the cash-
~y..i.l\' loam-d the elder
l . xii-and dollnl’l. Without
now I‘m inning to have ten weeks”;
ten of the most wonderful weeks I‘ll,
ever know." She drew a long breath:
her eyes were shining. "I‘m the luck—
lost person on the whole boat. And
it isn't fair for me to be so hepp)’ all
alone: I wanted to share it with some-
body. And nobody else seemed to-—
nood any of my share. And yester—
but she was iday morning, down in the salon. you
fivcre playing something that titted so
exactly everything I was thinking and
feeling. and you had such a queer
‘. "f‘ii‘,
, , “W- said 34.1,". ticht- She lifted her eyes to him. ll was all the reply he needed.
.‘i ‘iist give me time. Hr.
«in give me time."
»- ninth-d indulmtly.
7.. l tell you what you do.
As he regarded her. he was increas-
ingly conscious of his age. At close
range. she seemed to be twenty—two
:‘i- inst. Because I was or twenty-three. but her eyes and her
. ‘A- being your dnd‘s beet attitude both belonged to seventeen.
. And her eyes were lovely.
“Do you know who wrote it?"
Nelson smiled at her—a smile which.
become it was defensive, was almost
mice. instead of straightforwardness.
She laughed, obliginzly.
more than a little plqued, because it
loomed to her that Nelson was dis-
counting himself. He was good-look-
ing, wpllpolsqnd' metropolitan; and he look on your taco . . . . W911. that be-
told her, “‘llh appropriate epigrams. ' gun 1L And UN!“ 3'0“ equelched me
that he hadn't danced for nineteen jAnd then “Why you dld it ain-in- and
years. that he didn't play bridge. that i l lOMlV‘d you——until 1"! h‘d time 1"
. H r», Nelson had put on
' responsibility Vlllch re-
"'”‘"“- patronizing. "I wrote it my..,.”_-- he couldn't distinguish between one think about “- And then I watched'
l ‘ sisters had married. 5‘“ ’OOR'd at him. looked at the golf club and another. He. denied that 3‘0“—
le observed rho-runny piano. looked back at Set-on. and he rode horse-s. read “(we)“. we,“ to - “The only sincere minute you've
1”“ '"m ‘0 be getting "‘00" no” head. “No—truly. ”“359 baseball games. or frequented the! sprut on 1N! b0“ was when you
“ ‘ " 9" "l“ Nellon "u“ tell “10-" l opera. He added. gratmtotisly. that did!” know I ‘13 “30“th 3! 3’0“: I'm
”tr tighter and worked I "VVhat?" said Nelson. i‘I)on't youI he f‘lllln'l . ,H “.4“ knit. in! or cm— trging to help you."
.inii in consequence. went believe me?” lbrn-dcr. , 9,, r ”.m- could shP know lie stared at her for a long half-
(leek to the receivinx‘ "W’hy—of course not, Not unless, that u].;,,.v;_.,i. hp was a master offmmute. "My guess." said Nelson. ir-
relm’nntly. “is that you come from a
small city somewhere. and you've lived
w iind thence to the, your name’s Rsohnfininoff or Nevin}
uml whm Mr. Hilleror Kreisler. and if it. is . . . Her
.- - .n‘o business for him- eyes had l,ttlu dancing lights in them.
Home cashier. At this “N0. please I really want tr. km.“-
ir-iei rompnny in New who did it."
i in hear of him. and "That's my story," said Nvlson. "and
. .yrml down into W'ell I'm going to stick in it. Especially
now you've committed yourseli."
men. he ivuq vi rmfully shy nmonz wom-
t-n'.’ Iimv could she know that in»
telling iii-r tlio truth. he was also try-,
in; in t‘iinr up the sore spots in liis'il‘ull 80?
in the same place all your life. Isn‘t
ismanyyearassyousreold.
“You take that thing you liked yes-
terday :
Did you ever build up in your mind
a. picture of what Cairo must be like.
or Alexandria.
go out of the smashing sunlight into
a shadow that pretty nearly blinds
you—duto a banner. in. shop—and there
areall
spread out for you. and over it all.
bowing and meaning. and rubbing his
hands. and picturesque as can be. . . .
0h. he's an old bandit. of course. but
still, he's the Seller of Dreams . . . .
that. is.
do. and
“I ll
it yeet
swered
“Yes.”
I'll tell you the idea . . . .
—bully of you."
or Tunis? . . . You "0h!"
"Nobody?"
"Not a. soul."
the treasures of the world
if you think of 1t the way I
it takes hold of you . . . ."
the picture." she said. "I liked
y. But still you haven't an-
3 single thing I asked you. of it.
Nelson realised that
since stopped fretting for the Perla:
Let's begin at the beginning. Who
wrote it?"
“Why I dm." said Nelson. "nineteen he considemd the
years ago. You didn't think I'd take
that heck. did you?”
After
you were—say——twelve?
must have been
you
"I'm nearly forty. And my parents
never even heard it;
have been interested."
She stirred in her
minute.
going to be serious . . .
goat?"
He was alone in the secluded angle
by the mil.
1 in; water. and tried to be exhilamted
{because he was going to France.
. “Gosht"
Iran even trust 501) not to be facetious“ "She didn‘t even believe I‘m thirty-
D€\'8I1 Z "
a
The next day it we. almost tee.-
time when he discovered her, sitting
solitary
side of
deck-chair
son to know. then. that Freddie Dex-
ter had been proposing to her.
that she had asked for a moratorium:
he merely saw his opportunity.
took it.
“I've been loolring for you all day."
he said.
to you r. .
appreciated your bothering about me."
She shook her head. and smiled me-
chanicaily.
explain
everything worse.
thought
any uae in trying to make people into
Ewhat they don‘t want to be.
easier
own valuation' Bo .
much
tell me
Royce-s.
were at school,“
detail of
a pause. she laughed. "TVhen
Your parents
awfully proud of was All”
they wouldn't
chair. “For a
I honestly thought you were
Wasn't I a
He stared at the whiten-
nbout yourself."
said Nelson. half-aloud.
true."
There was a.
and subdued, on the wrong‘
the boot. in somebody else‘s
He had no possible res-
and
change."
and
around, then f"
“I wanted to explain things
- Ind tell you how much I 10”?"
"It's lots
things.
better not to
So often. it just makes
It's all right. I‘ve
it over. and there simply isn‘t:
'that‘.’ All this
It's so
to take them at their
. . . sit down and
about your two Rolls-imy
a bright bay you:
to ?"
a" bills."
and what
It fascinated him, pen'ersely. to tell‘ I"Ant,l” didn‘t
her the truth. once more. in the mast 2 either. ..
literal form. and to see how she die- Hardly,
believed him.
"I've made a fear-fully bad impres-
sion on you. haven't I?" he asked ,
"You‘ve worked hard enough for it." yourself?
"\Vell—if it isn‘t too late—tell me “1'“ “18?“-
how you want me to behave. and I‘ll
She gave him the glance of :i child
’ - .- lhll‘IV-IOVOH Nelson who has been logged one degree too
\ V" }‘l"-‘l<l"nl Of the for; hesitated, turned toward the
.-t t‘ompr'iny. and he hedédoor.
. .mm i» or every penny? “Well." she said. "I liked it—any-
\ iii iilzml signinlt it. He way."
She went out; and Nelson laughed.
sheently. under his breath. He couldn't
blame her; for lie was said to be
the coldest proposition in \i‘all Street.
his fingers were stiff from luck of prac-
tice. and he had written that particular
melody when he was eighteen. . . .
i'iisl fund which [unr-
- ".er and his two acid-
’i r l..'o ll!- had put his
:‘~. Terh. and bought him
.. promising firm of
M i then Nelson was in-
'mpnrtnnt man in a vest
wi Iv'lllldb of it; and out-
er. iv. he hadn't n. friend
It was another day before he met
her, formally. He had been Sitting in
the smoking-room. reading. when
some one coughed for his attention. It
was a tall and l’lllkv .in~i extremely
handsome young man who was the
mnetic pole of the boat. and espec-
tally attractive to the fire-opal.
"Sorry to interrupt your devotions,"
said this young man. genially. ”but
are you on any tug-of—wur team yet?"
i: nf'er he had written
M his father's memory.
il~r Gibraltar Trust
you‘re not looking
Now the Paris
'iitlo supervision. and
r a 1‘ an hour or two I
* the rest of the time. for
”"i'. “Nd then 9‘” l“; "Tug—of—warf" said Nelson. "Not"
"l'n'llllfl just humming The young man sfinne‘L “Then 1 'e
So I‘m going to send
t Vl‘i'IT.
h
N
guess you're on mine That's all right.
Isn't it?”
Nelson put down his book. "To tell
the truth. I'm not even sum 1 can pull
my own weight. 80 perheps you'd
better leave me out of it."
‘ \
\
90‘ \xi
inn-ed over the last cleat
' ' " 'ink. he had a faint flut-
doeade and a half
i4 u
“ ‘ml‘uk’d- he V“ '“d‘ The young’ man shook his head. .4
,. " Mill-“'1' in . small knowintly. "You've got a peach of a 0/
' '~ hurried. modefltely.tt build. and we need you. And besides. /I
_‘ w imvl forgot thnt he WI.- x '-g tipped off you’re, a kidder. my- I
1"l-nlilltin in Well Street. “’3' ’7"
“Per
\
'\
Nelson surveyed him blandly.
be it from me to question your in-
formation, but I'm curious to know
. ‘ir was graying about
l'ilnt‘!‘_ which for sev-
‘l registered upon Nil
r i
I)
e
‘\ v
- ‘skxx
. i
r. wifill‘)’ In which the just 'hgro you [at it." {4
' ""iist hld l WC- 0“
" .mml at least a fellt The young-man bathed. “That's j
'j ' w former iiiusiveosss. .11 right. not-- your rebut-Mon. : .
a“ “iii .1 one-class eteamd' Don't you want to come amnd and
I' l I ""h line: it wan't fashion- meet some of our crowd? My MEI
'1' u fast and it was com. Dexter.“
,, n - - ‘ furthermore. in June. so Nelson sot no end "nt— ,
“' 'i had been available At He met. first. e prim and ”firm ,~
then seven boarding-school
were. and half a dozen young men.
:4 My he fotmd himself shaking
bank with the are-opal. ~
“So glad to meet. you. Mr. Rubin-
stein.” she said. "I‘ve heard your
Wy in I" so often—on the phono-
l'"! ahead of him and m- mph."
‘ " '.i. except
_. _ .. _' i rlor'ioully irresponsible
wrmssemmvd."heweet
on. “don't grow up very often in big
cities. They go there ether-word. some-
biography?
Her eyes puzzled him. "Of course
you know perfectly well.” she said. “I
31 . ,, “- erda he had thought her don't believe a single word you've told times. but they don’t W up there-—
"3 «Tnfifid‘fox.:. be £1"; ’godny he thought her ador- me. And of course you didn't expect not oftai . . . Jon haven't been snub-
"' ' - lliiukmr bu}, u up. are. “I ulcer-tend you've been ubel- me to. Good-by—only next nine won’t bed very men? he sen. mentally.
“’7'“ v » mi.” clan“ mm M m- he .11}, "Thor. a serious you please change your act? Enough "and you've. ailm- been surrounded
“‘ as“. And I ought to warn you is enough." by people who loved you and unrated
.' i new;::;yom‘ WY.” that no matter how timid I look. I‘m As he went below. he was sllchtly you. and belief“ M 'Wfl‘ you
.. . . .- irritable. Here was a slip of a girl did was quite all right. Jimmy bee-nee
t, , MW. which was 0“ Mw" u
. . lnfsctlously. And who took him for a comic. even where you did It. In't thet true! I thought
.._ widen. brought him out he laughed J a '0. I show “M-
*. do ”I do in your spare he told her nothing but
1..»
l“ f with a
bound."
. '- mg .
4 . .. and. ”besid- oomsoee facts. It made nelson feel very 1111- “You mean I‘m, too pascal? 1
pm“ .7 ‘Mnciocir whu“: with.“ WW stable; and instahlllty is one of the nope-slain. Imminent ought
”w. . .4! a.“ m“ an.“ Issue- he! an inspiration. “Wen.“ attributes at youth. to havo beenlaterested at all. I'm
lzi....,f‘“ “°°‘ “u“flwalk. inactyoumlsht Furthermore Momma-pm.“ .
Mm °“"‘°° ‘3‘ "‘ ism cm-t- asked him to pull on a moot-war “No.thati-'tlte£all." Keeleared
er...‘._Thosaloawesm.' “wa .m ,histhsnat. -~
h; a .,j.,,‘._" ""3 “m“? m “" you?" Evidently. he didn’t look as senile ‘
1-... i" M," pk,“ I m» ‘ amuse. sold. may. '1 he! as he had imagined.
rm ”m” “h - ssh-t nest. tho-noun”;
l" "i ‘. a. It .. I ~.
e.—
behave
that way."
I'd
where near
be pleasant ?"
mon."
there'd have
ever met.”
. low.
but whydo
diner-eat....
ii
finest ship afloat.
perfectl on :
long pause
couldn't hurt my feelings as much as
. . Because tonight.
I'm going to believe you. What do
you do in New York?”
"Why, 1 work in a bank. I've got
something to do with
that. could you? .
“No. on business."
“And you've never been abroad be-
time?
elong and pay bills?
“No. I didn‘t want to.
have
"There are all the tressuresoftheworldspreadéutformhe'suddbssdibofmhuflhe's theSellerofDrearns.’
foreign
\
Iamely. "And by the wiy—"
“About that other night—1 just' want.
you to know I think it was perfectly
"Nobody ever took that much trouble
about inc—in all my life.”
She put her hand on his arm- "WHY.
it that’s true—then that's what's the
matter with you—isn‘t it?”
And that was all there was to it:
but a few minutes later. when, they
were drafted into the inevitable choru-
she didn't let herself be switched aside
by Freddie Dexter.
son. and both men were keenly aware
t
She sat by Ne].
hehedlon;
Rochambeau the
It lacked no single
it contained
everything in the world he could re-
motely think of wanting. Her name
On the evening of the tug-of-war
he again succeeded in getting her to
himself. for an hour.
Suddenly he said to her: “Wheneva-
I‘m with you. I have the most extra‘a
ordinary sort ‘of feeling thet you know
everything that's going on in my mind,
anyway. Every now and then I wake
up and and I‘ve only been thinking.
when I thought I was talking.”
"Then I wish you'd really tell use
“I've told you a good dal already.
Suppose I swore it was every word
"You
"You're not coming over just to bat
“I've never been anywhere before."
“But it wasn't true about your not
playing any games. or not having any
fun, or anything. was It?"
"Yes. that was gospel."
"Did you have to work as herd as
Just to get
Or did you want
Itwasto—
”But you went to college?”
"Yes. I worked my way through."
any fun there.
"Then if this is all you‘ve ever had."
ishe said. “and you waited so long for
Iit, why did you make it so hard for
And when I came to you
why couldn‘t
talked to me then?"
He shook his head.
"Vl'hat would you do—lf you could?"
“What would I do?"
in: out at the see. "Why. I suppose
rent an ancestnl
you have
"I don‘t know.”
He was smil-
estate. some-
Paris. and radiate from
is Without any reenter plans: Just
drifting. Don‘t you think that would
“It‘s exactly what I'd do. myself.”
She drew s. lon‘ breath. “That's the
one idea we‘ve always had in com-
Nelson stopped smiling. “Of course.
to be a. princess . . . .
that's understood. You come nearer
to being the princess than anybody I
It was many seconds before she an-
swered. and then her voice was very
“Yes. I‘ve known it for two days
But why do you like no?
0h.it’eallrlght.lwentedyeuh...
you? We're so tenth
mlhsrtandhllmlndmhnof
i
fast. is it?” ‘
“Oh. yea. was Wilkins hu- W, ;
every minute." ' .3:
'Tllseeyousoomthomh." .
Sheahlveredallttles "an“?
pastnine yet? [prowl-ate“
withheddieDexter.‘ _
“Eur-pastunsenaeuy.” all“.
mandstoodup.
For the next forty-eight be.- h
sonstood “puddlm; nu”
uneducated in the
he had rhythm whence-3d“
he had been the show-Dill!" ll *
ell-es. Ifftwereamtterofun'
wrestling on the boat-deck. ha den-3v
pod his coat and went into it
schoolboy. 1“.”
‘ 0n the last night he was
by request. an old Harvard f
when he suddenly awoke no the __
tbnt Nelle Dexter wasn't ~ ‘
Neither we. Alice. He I” b
feet and went away.
h
*5
Now presently the troop-l“
abngthemondwhandmu ‘
a little while in the 1300311th w
in: out over the sea. She was ‘-
eountably lonely.
Dexter. uncommonly trim. had 1“
left her. ‘
himself! If only she could know t“
he had something to exprua.
At this mommt. somebody 5“ Q
play the piano in the don.
At ilrst. she was scarcely aware “1
it. because the music fitted . p.-
fectly with the summer night. It w‘.
as though her own life. with all h
tumult and color and exam I“
sorrow. had been distilled into an“ ‘0
notes. The incense of the Ian was 3
burnincinitandshseouueeeh'
17. through the haze of insane. tn,
_x
. And .. it went on. Mr. no...
sively. there were hot been run“
down her cheeks: she knew. new. N
Nelson himself was playing. there In
the dark salon. and that he was No, --
in; what shehedheard hlmpll-yflnt
first morning. a century ago.
paid Nelson.
only talk to yen." he mid. h-h-
ed. "like that. You didn‘t be-
lieve me. but I did do it.... I ..
did it when I was eighteen; when the
wasn't a person in the world I ecu“
talk to . . .
geography-books at ,
were a real seller of real '
where you oduld to and buy Wm . .
you mt; whatever you've m ,‘
wanted—why. maybe I'd have a M ~ 7 "
but I'm a tired-out. I“
hulk—ind I love you." . ' '
you’re not. Don't you dare b my.
such a. thing to me!” .
"Nor—«he mt of it—eithc? w ,
you want me to talk to you? M 41’:
you want me to try?" - . .
She lifted her eyes to him. It w
all the reply he needed. . ‘
Shednwavalmhreamfiu
lwastbe luckieuperseneah"
choosing.
,mum
as» sun’s-1a- ‘1
than. Or! iIiuflhe
use.“ '
m. m”
ewe. no
“Uh-330'
“vale
i
l,
r
l
Norwalk Chronicler