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 THE 
 
 REGISTER 
 
 JTarce 
 
 By W. D. HOWELLS 
 
 BOSTON AND NEW YORK 
 HOUGHTON, MIFFLIN AND COMPANY 
 
 1S92
 
 Copyright, 18S3, by Harper & Brothers; 
 
 AND 18S4, BY VV. D. HOWELLS. 
 
 All rights reser-vcd. 
 
 The Riverside Press, Cambridge, Mass., U. S. A. 
 Printed by H. O. Houghton & Company.
 
 THE REGISTER 
 Jawe 
 
 2062(50
 
 THE EEGISTEE. 
 
 MISS ETHEL REED AND MISS HENRIETTA 
 SPAULDIXG. 
 
 "TN an upper chamber of a boarding- 
 house in Mehmchthon Place, Boston, 
 a mature, plain young lad}^ with ever}^ 
 appearance of establishing herself in the 
 room for the first time, moves about, be- 
 stowing little touches of decoration here 
 and there, and talking with another }'Oung 
 lad}^ whose voice comes through the open 
 doorway of an inner room.
 
 6 THE REGISTER. 
 
 Miss Ethel Reed, from within : " What 
 in the world are j'ou doing, Nettie ? " 
 
 Miss Henrietta Spaulding : " Oh, stick- 
 ing up a household god or two. What 
 are 30U doing?" 
 
 Miss Reed: " Despairing." 
 
 Miss Spaidding : "Still?" 
 
 Miss Reed, tragicalk : ' ' Still! How 
 soon did you expect me to stop ? I am 
 here on the sofa, where I flung myself 
 two hours ago, and I don't think I shall 
 ever get up. There is no reason why I 
 ever should." 
 
 Miss Spaidding, suggestively': "Din- 
 ner." 
 
 Miss Reed: " Oh, dinner ! Dinner, to 
 a broken heart ! " 
 
 Miss Spaidding ; " I don't believe your 
 heart is broken."
 
 THE REGISTER. 7 
 
 Miss Reed: " But I tell you it is ! I 
 ought to know when my own heart is 
 broken, I should hope. What makes you 
 think it isn't? " 
 
 Miss Spaulding : "Oh, it's happened 
 so often ! " 
 
 Miss Beed : "But this is a real case. 
 You ought to feel my forehead. It 's as 
 hot/" 
 
 Miss Spaulding : " You ought to get up 
 and help me put this room to rights, and 
 then 3'ou would feel better." 
 
 Miss Reed: "No ; I should feel worse. 
 The idea of household gods makes me 
 sick. Sylvan deities are what / want ; 
 the great god Pan among the cat-tails 
 and arrow-heads in the 'ma'sh' at Ponk- 
 wasset ; the dr3'ads of the birch woods — 
 there are no oaks — the n3'mphs that
 
 8 THE REGISTER. 
 
 haunt the heights and hollows of the 
 clear old mountain; the — " 
 
 Miss Spaulding : " Wha-a-at? I can't 
 hear a word 3'ou .saj'." 
 
 Miss Reed: " That 's because 3'ou keep 
 fussing about so. Whj^ don't 3'ou be 
 quiet, if you want to hear?" She lifts 
 her voice to its highest pitch, with a 
 pause fordistinctness between the words : 
 " I 'm heart-broken for — Ponkwasset. 
 The dryads — of the — birch woods. The 
 nymphs — and the great — god — Pan — 
 in the reeds — b}' the river. And all — 
 tliat — sort of — thing ! " 
 
 Miss Spaulding: " You know verj' 
 well you're not." 
 
 Miss Reed: "I'm not? AA'hat's the 
 reason I 'm not ? Then what am I heart- 
 broken for?"
 
 THE REGISTER. 9 
 
 Miss Spaulding : "You're not heart- 
 broken at all. You know very well that 
 he '11 call before we 've been here twenty- 
 four hours." 
 
 Miss Reed: "Who?" 
 
 Miss Spaulding : ' ' The great god 
 Pan." 
 
 Miss Reed: "Oh, how cruel you are, 
 to mock me so ! Come in here and 
 sj'mpathize a little ! Do, Nettie." 
 
 Miss Spaiddiiig : "No; you come out 
 here and utilize a little. I 'm acting for 
 3our best good, as they say at Ponk- 
 wasset." 
 
 Miss Reed: "When they want to be 
 disagreeable ! " 
 
 Miss Spaidding : *' If this room isn't 
 in order by the time he calls, 3'ou '11 be 
 everlastii]oly diso;raced.
 
 10 THE REGISTER. 
 
 Miss Reed: "I'm that now. I can't 
 be more so — there 's that comfort. What 
 makes yon think be '11 call ? " 
 
 Miss Sjiaulding : "Because he's a 
 gentleman, and will want to apologize. 
 He behaved very rudely to you." 
 
 Miss Reed: "No, Nettie; /behaved 
 rudely to him. Yes ! Besides, if he 
 behaved rudelj^ he was no gentleman. 
 It's a contradiction in terms, don't you 
 see? But I'll tell 3'ou what I'm going 
 to do if he comes. I 'm going to show a 
 proper spirit for once in my life. I 'm 
 going to refuse to see him. You've got 
 to see him." 
 
 Miss Spend ding : "Nonsense ! '^ 
 
 Miss Reed: "Why nonsense? Oh, 
 why ? Expound ! " 
 
 Miss Spaulding : "Because he wasn't
 
 THE REGISTER. 11 
 
 rude to me, and he does n't want to see 
 me. Because I 'm plain and you 're 
 pretty." 
 
 Miss Reed : * ' I 'm nol ! You know it 
 perfectly well. I 'm hideous ! " 
 
 Miss Spaulding: "Because I'm poor, 
 and you 're a person of independent 
 property." 
 
 Miss Reed: " Dependent property, I 
 should call it : just enough to be useless 
 on! But that's insulting to ^i/w. How 
 can you sa}' it 's because I have a little 
 money ? " 
 
 Miss Spaidding : " Well, then, I won't. 
 I take it back. I '11 say it 's because 
 you're j'oung, and I'm old." 
 
 Miss Reed: " You're not old. You 're 
 as young as anybodj', Nettie Spaulding. 
 And you know I'm not young; I'm
 
 12 THE REGISTER. 
 
 twent3^-seven, if I'm a da}'. I'm just 
 dropping into the grave. But I can't 
 argue with 3'ou, miles off so, an}^ longer." 
 Miss Reed appears at the open door, drag- 
 ging languidl}^ after her the shawl which 
 she had evidentl}^ drawn round her on the 
 sofa ; her fair hair is a little disoixlered, 
 and she presses it into shape with one 
 hand as she comes forward ; a lovelj' 
 flush vies with a heavenly pallor in her 
 cheeks ; she looks a little pensive in the 
 arching eyebrows, and a little humorous 
 about the dimpled mouth. " Now I can 
 prove that you are entirely wrong. 
 Where were you ? — This room is rather 
 an improvement over the one we had last 
 winter. There is more of a view " — 
 she goes to the window — " of the houses 
 across the Place ; and I always think the
 
 THE REGISTER. 13 
 
 swell front gives a pretty shape to a room. 
 I 'm sorrj' they 've stoi)pecl building them. 
 Your piano goes ver}' nicel}- into that 
 little alcove. Yes, we 're quite palatial. 
 And, on the whole, I'm glad there's no 
 fire-place. It's a pleasure at times ; but 
 for the most part it 's a vanit}^ and a 
 vexation, getting dust and ashes over 
 everything. Yes ; after all, give me the 
 good old-fashioned, clean, convenient 
 register ! Ugh ! My feet are like ice." 
 She pulls an easy-chair up to the register 
 in the corner of the room, and pushes 
 open its valves with the toe of her slipper. 
 As she settles herself luxurioush' in the 
 chair, and poises her feet daintilj' over 
 the register : ''Ah, this is something like ! 
 Henrietta Spaulding, ma'am ! Did I ever 
 tell you that you were the best friend I 
 have in the world?"
 
 14 THE REGISTER. 
 
 Miss Spaulding^ who continues her 
 work of arranging the room: "Often." 
 
 Miss Reed: " Did 3'ou ever believe it? " 
 
 Miss Spauldimj : "Never." 
 
 Miss Reed: "Wliy?" 
 
 Miss Spaulding^ thoughtfuU}' regard- 
 ing a vase which she holds in her hand, 
 after several times shifting it from a 
 bracket to the corner of her piano and 
 back : "I wish I could tell where you 
 do look best ! " 
 
 Miss Reed^ leaning forward wistfull}', 
 with her hands clasped and resting on her 
 knees : " I wish you would tell me why 
 3'ou don't believe yoii 're the best friend 
 I have in the world " 
 
 Miss Spaulding^ finally placing the 
 vase on the bracket : ' ' Because you 've 
 said so too often."
 
 THE REGISTER. 15 
 
 Miss Reed: "Oh, that's no reason! 
 I can prove to 3-011 that you are. Who 
 else but 3-ou would have taken in a home- 
 less and friendless creature like me, and 
 let her stay bothering round in demoraliz- 
 ing idleness, while 3'ou were serioush' 
 teaching the 3'oung idea how to drub the 
 piano ? " 
 
 Miss Spaulding : " Anybody who want- 
 ed a room-mate as much as I did, and 
 could have found one willing to pay more 
 than her share of the lodging." 
 
 Miss Reed^ thoughtfulh' : "Do you 
 think so, Henrietta?" 
 
 Miss Spaidding ; " I know so." 
 
 Miss Reed: "And you're not afraid 
 that you wrong yourself?" 
 
 Miss Spaulding : " Not the least." 
 
 Miss Reed: " Well, be it so — as they
 
 16 THE REGISTER, 
 
 say in novels. I will not contradict 3'ou ; 
 I will not say you are my hest friend ; I 
 will merely say that you are m}^ only 
 friend. Come here, Henrietta. Draw up 
 your chair, and put your little hand in 
 mine." 
 
 Miss Spaulding^ with severe distrust : 
 "What do you want, Ethel Reed?" 
 
 31{ss Reed : "I want — I want — to 
 talk it over with 3'ou." 
 
 Miss Spaulding^ recoiling: "I knew 
 it! Well, now, we've talked it over 
 enough ; we 've talked it over till there 's 
 nothing left of it." 
 
 3Iiss Reed: "Oh, there's everything 
 left ! It remains in all its original enor- 
 mit}^ Perhaps we shall get some new 
 light upon it." She extends a pleading 
 hand toward Miss Spaulding. " Come,
 
 THE REGISTER. 17 
 
 Henrietta, m}- onl}' friend, shake I — as 
 the ' good Indians ' say. Let 3'our Ethel 
 pour her hacknej'ed sorrows into jour 
 bosom. (Such an uncomfortable image, 
 it always seems, does n't it, pouring sor- 
 rows into bosoms ! ) Come ! " 
 
 Miss Spaulding^ decidedly: "No, I 
 won't ! And you need n't tr}* wheedling 
 an}' longer. I won't sympathize with 
 you on that basis at all." 
 
 Miss Reed: " AVhat shall I try, then, 
 if you won't let me try wheedling ? " 
 
 Miss Spaulding^ going to the piano 
 and opening it : " Try courage ; try self- 
 respect." 
 
 Miss Reed: "Oh, dear I when I have n't 
 a morsel of either. Are you going to 
 practise, 3'ou cruel maid? " 
 
 Miss Spaulding : "Of course I am.
 
 18 THE REGISTER. 
 
 It 's half-past four, and if I don't do it 
 now I sha'n't be prepared to-morrow for 
 Miss Robins : she takes this piece." 
 
 Miss Reed: "Well, well, perhaps it's 
 all for the best. If music be the food of 
 
 — umph-umph ! — you know what ! — 
 play on." They both laugh, and Miss 
 Spaulding pushes back a little from the 
 piano, and wheels toward her friend, 
 letting one hand rest slightly on the 
 keys. 
 
 Miss Spanlding : "Ethel Reed, you're 
 the most ridiculous girl in the world." 
 
 3Iiss Reed: " Correct ! " 
 
 3Ess Spaulding : " And I don't believe 
 you ever were in love, or ever will be." 
 
 3Iiss Reed: " Ah, there you wrong me, 
 Henrietta ! I have been, and I shall be 
 
 — lots of times."
 
 i 
 
 THE REGISTER. 19 
 
 Miss Spaulding : ''Well, what do you 
 want to sa}' now? You must hurry, for 
 I can't lose any more time." 
 
 3Iiss Reed: '' I will free m}' mind with 
 neatness and dispatch. I simph" wish to 
 go over the whole afTair, from Alfred to 
 Omaha ; and you 've got to let me talk 
 as much slang and nonsense as I want. 
 And then I '11 skip all the details I can. 
 Will you?" 
 
 3Iiss Spaulding, with impatient pa- 
 tience : ''Oh, I suppose so!" 
 
 3Iiss Reed: ''That's A^ery sweet of 
 you, though you don't look it. Now, 
 where was I? Oh, 3-es ; do you think it 
 was forth-putting at all, to ask him if he 
 would give me the lessons ? " 
 
 Miss Spaidding : "It depends upon 
 wh}' you asked him."
 
 20 THE REGISTER. 
 
 Miss Reed ; " I asked him from — from 
 — Let me see ; I asked him because — 
 from — Yes, I say it boldly ; I asked 
 him from an enthusiasm for art and a 
 sincere wish to learn the use of oil, as he 
 called it. Yes ! " 
 
 Miss Spaulding : " Are 3'ou sure? " 
 
 Miss Reed: "Sure? Well, we will 
 sa}' that I am, for the sake of argument. 
 And, having secured this basis, the ques- 
 tion is whether I was n't bound to offer 
 him pa}" at the end, and whether he 
 was n't wrong to take my doing so in 
 dudgeon." 
 
 Miss Spaulding : " Yes, I think he was 
 wrong. And the terms of his refusal 
 were xqyy ungentlemanly. He ought to 
 apologize most amply and humbl}." At 
 a certain expression in Miss Reed's face,
 
 THE REGISTER. 21 
 
 she adds, with severit}- : " Unless 3'ou 're 
 keeping back the main point. Yon usu- 
 allj' do. Are 3'ou? " 
 
 Miss Reed: "No, no. I've told 3011 
 ever}*thing — everj-thing ! " 
 
 Miss Spaulding : " Then I sa}^, as I said 
 from the beginning, that he behaved very 
 badlv- It was ver}' awkward and very 
 painful, but you 've realh' nothing to 
 blame 3'ourself for." 
 
 Miss Reed, ruefully : " No-0-0 ! " 
 
 Miss Spaulding : " What do you mean 
 by that sort of ' No ' ? " 
 
 Miss Reed : ' ' Nothing." 
 
 Miss Spmdding, sternl}' : "Yes, 3'ou 
 do, Ethel." 
 
 Miss Reed: "I don't, really. What 
 makes you think I do ? " 
 
 Miss Spaulding : "It sounded verv dis- 
 honest."
 
 22 THE REGISTER. 
 
 3Iiss Reed: "Did it? I didn't mean 
 it to." Her friend breaks down witli a 
 laugh, while Miss Reed preserves a de- 
 mure countenance. 
 
 Miss Spaulding : ' ' Wliat are you keep- 
 ing back ? " 
 
 3fiss Reed: " Nothing at all — less 
 than nothing ! I never thought it was 
 worth mentioning." 
 
 Miss Spaulding: " Arc 3'ou telling me 
 the truth?" 
 
 Miss Reed: " I 'm telling 3-ou the truth 
 and sometliing more. You can't ask bet- 
 ter than tliat, can you?" 
 
 Miss Spaidding^ turning to her music 
 again : " Certainl}" not." 
 
 Miss Reed^ in a pathetic wail: ''Oh, 
 Henrietta, do you abandon me thus? 
 Well, I will tell you, heartless girl ! I 'vo
 
 THE REGISTER. 23 
 
 only kept it back till now because it was 
 so extremely mortifying to 1113' pride as 
 an artist — as a student of oil. Will you 
 hear me ? " 
 
 Ml8s Spaulding^ beginning to play : 
 "Xo." 
 
 Miss Reed, with burlesque wildness : 
 "You shall!" Miss S. involuntarih' 
 desists. " There was a moment — a fatal 
 moment — when he said lie thought he 
 ought to tell me that if I found oil amus- 
 ing I could go on ; but that he did n't 
 believe I should ever learn to use it, and 
 he could n't let me take lessons from him 
 with the expectation that I should. 
 There I " 
 
 Miss Spaiddlng, with awful reproach : 
 "And you call that less than nothing? 
 I 've almost a mind never to speak to vou
 
 24 THE REGISTER, 
 
 again, Ethel. How could 3^011 deceive 
 me so ? " 
 
 Miss Reed : ' ' Was it really deceiving ? 
 / should n't call it so. And I needed 
 3'our sj^mpathy so much, and I knew I 
 should n't get it unless you thought I was 
 altogether in the right." 
 
 Miss Spaulding : ' ' You were altogether 
 in the wrong I And it 's you that ought 
 to apologize to him — on your bended 
 knees. How could you offer him money 
 after that? I wonder at you, Ethel ! " 
 
 Miss Reed: "Why — don't you see, 
 Nettie ? — I did keep on taking the les- 
 sons of him. I did find oil amusing — 
 or the oiUst — and I kept on. Of course 
 I had to, off there in a farm4iouse full of 
 lady boarders, and he the onl}' gentleman 
 short of Crawford's. Strike, but hear
 
 THE REGISTER. 25 
 
 me, Henrietta Spaulding ! What was I 
 to do about the half-dozen lessons I had 
 taken before he told me I should never 
 learn to use oil? Was I to offer to pay 
 him for these, and not for the rest ; or 
 was I to treat the whole series as gratui- 
 tous? I used to lie awake thinking about 
 it, I 've got some little tact, but I 
 couldn't find an}' way out of the trouble. 
 It was a box — 3'es, a box of the deepest 
 dye ! And the whole affair having got to 
 be — something else, don't 3'ou know? — 
 made it all the worse. And if he 'd only 
 — onlv — But he did n't. Not a sylla- 
 ble, not a breath ! And there I was. I 
 had to offer him the money. And it's 
 almost killed me — the wa}' he took my 
 offering it, and now the way you take it ! 
 And it's all of a piece." Miss Reed
 
 26 THE REGISTER. 
 
 siicldeiil}' snatches her handkerchief from 
 her pocket and buries her face in it. — 
 "Oh dear — oh dear! Oh! — hu, hu, 
 hii ! " 
 
 Miss Spaulding^ relenting: "It was 
 awkward." 
 
 Miss Reed: "Awkward! You seem 
 to think that because I carry things off 
 hghtly I have no feeling." 
 
 Miss Spaulding : ' ' You know I don't 
 think that, Ethel." 
 
 Miss Reed^ pursuing her advantage : 
 "I don't know it from you, Nettie. I 've 
 tried and tried to pass it off as a joke, 
 and to treat it as something funny ; but 
 I can tell you it's no joke at all." 
 
 Miss Spaulding^ sympatheticallj' : "I 
 see, dear." 
 
 Miss Reed: "It's not that I care for 
 him — "
 
 THE REGISTER. 27 
 
 Miss Spaulding : "Why, of course." 
 
 Miss Reed: '• For I don't, in the least. 
 He is horrid every way : bhint, and rude, 
 and horrid. I never cared for hirn. But 
 I care for iU3'self ! He has put me in the 
 position of having done an unkind thing 
 — an unladylike thing — when I was only 
 doing what I had to do. Why need he 
 have taken it the wa}' he did? Why 
 could n't he have said politely that he 
 could n't accept the mone}' because he 
 had n't earned it? Even that would have 
 been mortif3'ing enough. But he must 
 go and be so violent, and rush off, and — 
 Oh, I never could have treated anybod}' 
 so ! " 
 
 Miss Spauldinr/ : " Not unless you were 
 very fond of them." 
 
 Miss Reed: "What?"
 
 28 THE REGISTER. 
 
 Miss Spaulding: " Not unless you were 
 very fond of them." 
 
 Miss Reed^ putting away her handker- 
 chief: " Oh, nonsense, Nettie ! He never 
 cared anything for me, or he could n't 
 have acted so. But no matter for that. 
 He has fixed everything so that it can 
 never be got straight — never in the 
 world. It will just have to remain a 
 hideous mass of — of — / don't know 
 ':vhat; and I have simply got to go on 
 Vrithering with despair at the point where 
 I left off. But I don't care! That's 
 one comfort." 
 
 Miss Spaidding: " I don't believe he'll 
 let 3'ou wither long, Ethel." 
 
 Miss Reed: ''He's let me wither for 
 twenty-four hours alread}' ! But it 's 
 nothing to me, now, how long he lets me
 
 THE REGISTER. 29 
 
 wither. I 'm perfectlj- satisfied to have 
 the affair remain as it is. I am in the 
 right, and if he comes I sliall refuse to 
 see him." 
 
 Miss Spaulding : '"Oh no, you won't, 
 Ethel ! " 
 
 Miss Reed: "Yes, I shall. I shall re- 
 ceive him ver}' coldl}'. I won't listen to 
 an}' excuse from him." 
 
 Miss Spaulding: " Oh yes, 3'ou will, 
 Ethel ! " 
 
 Miss Reed: "No, I shall not. If he 
 wishes me to listen to him he must begin 
 b}' humbling himself in the dust — jes, 
 the dust, Nettie ! I won't take anything 
 short of it. I insist that he shall realize 
 that I have suffered." 
 
 3Iiss Spaulding : " Perhaps he has suf- 
 fered too ! "
 
 30 THE REGISTER. 
 
 Miss Reed: '' Oh, he suffered ! " 
 
 Miss Spaulding : " You know that he 
 was perfectl}' devoted to you." 
 
 Miss Reed : " He never said so." 
 
 Miss Spaidding : "Perhaps he did n't 
 dare." 
 
 Miss Reed : "He dared to be veiy 
 insolent to me." 
 
 3Iiss Spaulding : " And a'ou know 3'ou 
 liked him very much." 
 
 3Ilss Reed: " I won't let 3'ou sa}^ that, 
 Nettie Spaulding. I didnt like him. I 
 respected and admired him ; but I did n't 
 like him. He will never come near me ; 
 but if he does he has got to begin by — 
 b}' — Let me see, what shall I make hhn 
 begni by doing? " She casts up her eyes 
 for inspiration while she leans forward 
 over the register. "Yes, I will! He 
 has got to begin by taking that money ! "
 
 THE REGISTER. 31 
 
 Jf/ss Spaulding : "Ethel, you wouldn't 
 put that affront upon a sensitive and high- 
 spirited man ! " 
 
 Miss Reed: " Would n't I ? You wait 
 and see, Miss Spaulding ! He shall take 
 the money, and he shall sign a receipt 
 for it. I '11 draw up the receipt now, so 
 as to have it read}', and I shall ask him 
 to sign it the moment he enters this door 
 — the ver}^ instant ! " She takes a port- 
 folio from the table near her, without ris- 
 ing, and writes : " ' Received from Miss 
 Ethel Reed one hundred and twent3'-five 
 dollars, in full, for twenty-five lessons in 
 oil-painting.' There — when Mr. Oliver 
 Ransom has signed this little document 
 he ma}' begin to talk ; not before ! " She 
 leans back in her chair with an air of 
 pitiless determination.
 
 32 THE REGISTER. 
 
 Miss Spaulding : " But, Ethel, ^'Oii 
 don't mean to make him take money for 
 the lessons he gave 3'ou after he told 3'ou 
 you could n't learn anything? " 
 
 Miss Reed^ after a moment's pause : 
 "Yes, I do. This is to punish him. I 
 don't wish for justice now ; I wish for 
 vengeance ! At first I would have com- 
 promised on the six lessons, or on none 
 at all, if he had behaved niceh' ; but after 
 what's happened I shall insist upon pay- 
 ing him for every lesson, so as to make 
 him feel that the whole thing, from first 
 to last, was a purely business transaction 
 on m}' part. Yes, 2i purely — business — 
 
 TRANSACTION ! " 
 
 Miss Spmdding, turning to her music : 
 " Then I've got nothing more to say to 
 you, P:thel Reed."
 
 THE REGISTER. 33 
 
 Miss Reed : "I don't sa}' but what, 
 after he 's taken the mone}^ and signed 
 the receipt, I'll listen to anything else 
 he's got to say, very willingly." Miss 
 Spaulding makes no answer, but begins 
 to play with a scientific absorption, feel- 
 ing her way fitfully through the new piece, 
 while Miss Reed, seated by the register, 
 trifles with the book she has taken from 
 the table.
 
 II. 
 
 MR. GRIKNIDGE AND MR. RANSOM; THEN 
 MISS SPAULDING AND MISS REED. 
 
 The interior of the room of Miss Spanl- 
 dlng and Miss Eeed remains in view, 
 while the scene discloses, on the other 
 side of the partition wall in the same 
 house, the bachelor apartment of Mr. 
 Samuel Grinnidge. Mr. Grinnidge, in 
 his dressing gown and slippers, with his 
 pipe in his mouth, has the effect of having 
 just come in ; his friend Mr. Oliver Ran- 
 som stands at the window, staring out 
 into the November weather. 
 
 Grinnidge : ' ' How long have 3'ou been 
 waitins: here?"
 
 THE REGISTER. 35 
 
 Ransom: ''Ten minutes — ten years. 
 How should I know ? " 
 
 Grinnidge : " AVell, I don't know who 
 else should. Get back to-day ? " 
 
 Ransom: "• Last night." 
 
 Grinnidge: " Well, take off j'our coat, 
 and pull up to the register and warm 
 your poor feet." He puts his hand out 
 over the register. " Confound it ! some- 
 body 's got the register open in the next 
 room ! You see, one pipe comes up from 
 the furnace and branches into a V just 
 under the floor, and professes to heat 
 both rooms. But it don't. There was 
 a fellow in there last winter who used to 
 get all mj' heat. Used to go out and 
 leave his register open, and I 'd come in 
 here just before dinner and find this place 
 as cold as a barn. We had a running:
 
 36 THE REGISTER. 
 
 fight of it all winter. The man who got 
 his register open first in the morning got 
 all the heat for the day, for it never 
 turned the other way when it started in 
 one direction. Used to almost suffocate 
 — warm, muggy days — maintaining my 
 rights. Some piano-pounder in there this 
 winter, it seems. Hear? And she has n't 
 lost anj^ time in learning the trick of the 
 register. What kept you so late in the 
 country ? " 
 
 Ransom^ after an absent-minded pause : 
 " Grinnidge, I wish you would give me 
 some advice." 
 
 Grinnidge: "You can have all you 
 want of it at the market price." 
 
 Ransom : "I don't mean your legal 
 advice." 
 
 Grinnidge: "I'm sorry. What have 
 you been doing ? "
 
 THE REGISTER. 37 
 
 Ransom: "I've been making an ass 
 of m3'self." 
 
 Grinnidge : "Wasn't that rather su- 
 perfluous ?" 
 
 Ratisom : "If ,you please, yes. But 
 now, if you 're capable of listening to 
 me without any further clispla}' of 3'our 
 cross-examination wit, I should like to 
 tell you how it happened." 
 
 Grinnidge : "I will do m}* best to 
 veil my brilliancy. Go on." 
 
 Ransom .* " I went up to Ponkwasset 
 early in September for the foliage." 
 
 Grinnidge : " And staid till late in Oc- 
 tober. There must have been a reason 
 for that. What was her name ? Foli- 
 age ? '* 
 
 Ransom, coming np the corner of the 
 chimney-piece, near which his friend sits,
 
 38 THE REGISTER. 
 
 and talking to bim directly over the re- 
 gister : " I think 3'ou '11 have to get along 
 withont the name for the present. I '11 
 tell 3'ou b3'-and-b3\" As Mr. Ransom 
 pronounces these words, Miss Reed, on 
 her side of the partition, lifts her head 
 with a startled air, and, after a moment 
 of vague circumspection, listens keenly. 
 '' But she wa& beautiful. She was a blonde, 
 and she had the loveliest eyes — ej^es, 
 you know, that could be funny or tender, 
 just as she chose — the kind of eyes I 
 always liked." Miss Reed leans forward 
 over the register. ' ' She had one of those 
 faces that alwa3's leave 3'ou in doubt 
 whether the3' 're laughing at 3'ou, and so 
 keep you in wholesome subjection ; but 
 you feel certain that they 're good.^ and 
 that if they did hurt you by laughing at
 
 THE REGISTER. 39 
 
 3'ou, theN' 'd look sony for 3'ou afterward. 
 "When she walked you saw what an ex- 
 quisite creature she was. It alwa3's made 
 me mad to think I could n't 'paint her 
 walk." 
 
 Grinnidge .' " I suppose 3'ou saw a good 
 deal of her walk." 
 
 Ransom: ''Yes; we were off in the 
 woods and fields half the time together." 
 He takes a turn toward the window. 
 
 3Iiss Reed, suddenly shutting the regis- 
 ter on her side : " Oh ! " 
 
 3Iiss Spmdding^ looking up from her 
 music : " What is it, Ethel? " 
 
 3Iiss Reed : ''Nothing, nothing; I — 
 I — thought it was getting too warm. 
 Go on, dear ; don't let me interrupt you." 
 After a moment of heroic self-denial she 
 softh' presses the register open with her 
 foot. .
 
 40 THE REGISTER. 
 
 Ransom., coming back to the register ; 
 "It all began in that wa}^ I had the 
 good fortune one day to rescue her from 
 a — cow." 
 
 Miss Reed: "Oh, for shame ! " 
 
 Miss Spaulding., desisting from her 
 piano: "What is the matter?'* 
 
 Miss Reed., clapping the register to : 
 "This ridiculous book! But don't — 
 don't mind me, Nettie." Breathlessl}' : 
 " Go — go — on ! " Miss Spaulding re- 
 sumes, and again Miss Reed softly 
 presses the register open. 
 
 Ransom, after a pause : "The cow was 
 grazing, and had no more thought of 
 hooking Miss — " 
 
 Miss Reed: " Oh, I didn't suppose he 
 would! — Go on, Nettie, go on! The 
 liero — such a oroose ! "
 
 THE REGISTER. 41 
 
 Ransom: " I drove her awaj' with m}' 
 camp-stool, and Miss — the young lady 
 — was as grateful as if I had rescued 
 her from a menagerie of wild animals. 
 I walked home with her to the farm- 
 house, and the trouble began at once." 
 Pantomime of indignant protest and bur- 
 lesque menace on the part of Miss Reed. 
 "There wasn't another well woman in 
 the house, except her friend Miss Spaul- 
 ding, who was rather old and rather 
 plain." He takes another turn to the 
 window. 
 
 Miss Reed: "Oh!" She shuts the 
 register, but instantly opens it again. 
 " Louder, Nettie." 
 
 Miss Spaulding., in astonishment : 
 "What?" 
 
 Miss Reed: "Did I speak? I did n't 
 know it. I — "
 
 42 THE REGISTER. 
 
 Miss Spaulding^ desisting from prac- 
 tice : ' ' What is that strange, hollow, 
 rumbling, mumbling kind of noise?" 
 
 Miss Reed., softlj" closing the register 
 with her foot : " I don't hear an}- strange, 
 hollow, rumbling, mumbling kind of noise. 
 Do you hear it now 'f " 
 
 3Ess Spcndding : ' ' No. It was the 
 Brighton whistle, probabl}^" 
 
 Miss Reed: "Oh, very likely." As 
 Miss Spaulding turns again to her prac- 
 tice Miss Reed re-opens the register and 
 listens again. A little interval of silence 
 ensues, while Ransom lights a cigarette. 
 
 Grinnidge: "So you sought opportu- 
 nities of rescuing her from other cows ? " 
 
 Ransom., returning: "That wasn't 
 necessary. The young lad}^ was so im- 
 pressed by my behavior that she asked
 
 THE REGISTER. 43 
 
 if I would give her some lessons in the 
 use of oil." 
 
 Grinnidge : " Slie thought if she knew 
 how to paint pictures like yours she 
 would n't need any one to drive the cows 
 aw^ay." 
 
 Ransom: "Don't be farcical, Grin- 
 nidge. Tliat sort of thing will do with 
 some victim on the witness stand who 
 can't help himself Of course I said I 
 would, and we were off half the time 
 together, painting the loveliest and lone- 
 liest bits around Ponkwasset. It all 
 went on very well, till one day I felt 
 bound in conscience to tell her that I 
 did n't think she would ever learn to 
 paint, and that if she was serious about 
 it she 'd better drop it at once, for she 
 was wastine: her time."
 
 44 THE REGISTER. 
 
 Grinnidge, getting up to fill his pipe : 
 " That was a pleasant thing to do." 
 
 Ransom ; *" ' I told her that if it amused 
 her, to keep on ; I would be only too glad 
 to give her all the hints I could, but that 
 I ought n't to encourage her. She seemed 
 a good deal hurt- I fancied at the time 
 that she thought I w^as tired of having her 
 with me so much," 
 
 Miss Reed: ^' Oh, did you, indeed!" 
 To Miss Spaulding, who bends an aston- 
 ished glance upon her from the piano: 
 "The man in this book is the most con- 
 ceited creature, Nettie. Play chords — 
 something very subdued — ah ! " 
 
 Miss Spaulding : *' What are you talk- 
 ing about, Ethel?" 
 
 Ransom : "That was at night ; but the 
 next da}' she came up smihng, and said
 
 THE REGISTER. 4o 
 
 that if I did n't mind she would keep on 
 — for amusement ; she was n't a bit dis- 
 couraged." 
 
 Miss Reed: "Oh!— Go on, Nettie; 
 don't let m}' outbursts interrupt 3'ou." 
 
 Ransom ; " I used to fanc}' sometimes 
 that she ivas a little sweet on me." 
 
 Miss Reed: "You wretch! — Oh, 
 scales, Nettie ! Play scales ! " 
 
 Miss Spaidding: " Ethel Reed, are 
 3^ou craz}'? " 
 
 Ransom^ after a thoughtful moment : 
 " Well, so it went on for the next seven 
 or eight weeks. AYhen we were n't sketch- 
 ing in the meadows, or on the mountain- 
 side, or in the old punt on the pond, we 
 were walking up and down the farm- 
 house piazza together. She used to read 
 to me when I was at work. She had a 
 heavenh" voice, Grinnidge."
 
 46 THE REGISTER. 
 
 Miss Reed: "Oh, 3^011 sill}^ sill}' 
 thing ! — Really this book makes m€ sick, 
 Nettie." 
 
 Ransom : " Well, the long and the 
 short of it was, I was hit — hard, and I 
 lost all courage. You know how I am, 
 Grinnidge." 
 
 3Iiss Reed, softly : '^ Oh, poor fellow ! " 
 
 Ransom: "So I let the time go by, 
 and at the end I had n't said anything." 
 
 Miss Reed: "No, sir! You hadntf" 
 Miss Spaulding graduall}' ceases to pla}', 
 and fixes her attention wholly upon Miss 
 Reed, who bends forward over the regis- 
 ter witli an intensel}' excited face. 
 
 Ransom : " Then something happened 
 that made me glad, for twenty-four hours 
 at least, that I had n't spoken. She sent 
 me the money for twenty-five lessons.
 
 THE REGISTER. 47 
 
 Imagine bow I felt, Grinnidge ! What 
 could I suppose but that she had been 
 quietly biding her time, and storing up 
 her resentment for my having told her 
 she could n't learn to paint, till she could 
 pay me back with interest in one supreme 
 insult?" 
 
 M\S8 Reed^ in a low voice : "Oh, how 
 could you think such a cruel, vulgar 
 thing?" Miss Spaulding leaves the piano, 
 and softl}' approaches her, where she has 
 sunk on her knees beside the register. 
 
 Rmisom : "It was tantamount to tell- 
 ing me that she had been amusing herself 
 with me instead of m}- lessons. It re- 
 manded our whole association, which I 
 had got to thinking so romantic, to the 
 relation of teacher and pupil. It was a 
 snub — a heartless, killing snub ; and I
 
 48 THE REGISTER. 
 
 could n't see it in any other light." Ran- 
 som walks away to the window, and looks 
 out. 
 
 Miss Reed^ flhiging herself backward 
 from the register, and hiding her face in 
 her hands : " Oh, it was n't ! it was n't ! 
 it was n't ! How could you think so? " 
 
 Miss Spaulding^ rushing forward, and 
 catching her friend in her arms : " What 
 is the matter with you, Ethel Reed? 
 What are you doing here, over the regis- 
 ter? Are 3'ou trying to suffocate your- 
 self ? Have you taken leave of your 
 senses ? " 
 
 Grinnidge : "Our fair friend on the 
 other side of the wall seems to be on the 
 rampage." 
 
 Miss Spaulding^ shutting the register 
 with a violent clash : " Ugh ! how hot it 
 ■'s here ! "
 
 THE REGISTER. 49 
 
 Grwnidge : "Doesn't like your con- 
 versation , apparentl}'." 
 
 Miss Reed., frantically pressing forward 
 to open the register: "Oh, don't shut 
 it, Nettie dear ! If 3-ou do I shall die ! 
 Do-o-n't shut the register !" 
 
 Miss Spaidding : " Don't shut it ? 
 Why, we 've got all the heat of the fur- 
 nace in the room now. Surely you don't 
 want any more?" 
 
 3Iiss Reed: " Xo, no; not an}- more. 
 But — but — Oh dear ! what shall I do ? " 
 She still struggles in the embrace of her 
 friend. 
 
 Grinnidge., remaining quietly at the 
 register, while Ransom walks awaj' to the 
 window : " Well, what did 3-ou do? " 
 
 Miss Reed: "There, there! They're 
 commencing again ? Do open it, Nettie.
 
 00 THE REGISTER. 
 
 1 ivill have it open ! " She wrenches her- 
 self free, and dashes the register open. 
 
 Grinnidge : "Ah, she's opened it 
 again." 
 
 Miss Reed^ in a stage-whisper : ' ' That 's 
 the other one ! " 
 
 Ransom^ from the window : " Do? 1*11 
 tell you what I did." 
 
 Miss Reed: "That 's 01— Mr. Ransom. 
 And, oh, I can't make out what he's 
 saying ! He must, have gone awa}' to 
 the other side of the room — and it 's at 
 the most important point ! " 
 
 Miss Spaulding^ in an awful undertone : 
 " Was that the hollow rumbling I heard? 
 And have you been listening at the reg- 
 ister to what the}" 've been saying? Oh, 
 Ethel!'' 
 
 Miss Reed: " I have n't been listein«g, 
 exactly.'*
 
 THE REGISTER. 51 
 
 Miss Spaidding : ' ' You have ! You 
 have been eavesdropping ! " 
 
 Miss Reed : " Eavesdropping is listen- 
 ing through a ke^-hole, or around a cor- 
 ner. This is very different. Besides, 
 it 's Oliver, and he 's been talking about 
 me. Hark ! " She clutches her friend's 
 hand, and where they have crouched 
 upon the floor together, pulls her forward 
 to the register. " Oh dear, how hot it 
 is ! I wish they would cut off the heat 
 down below." 
 
 Grinnidge^ smoking peacefully through 
 the silence which his friend has absent- 
 mindedl}' let follow upon his last words : 
 "Well, you seem disposed to take your 
 time about it." 
 
 Ransom: "About what? Oh, yes! 
 Well — "
 
 52 THE REGISTER, 
 
 Miss Reed: '- 'vSh I Listen." 
 Miss Spaulding ; " I won't listen. It 's 
 shameful ; it 's wicked ! I don't see 
 how you can do it, Ethel ! " She re- 
 mains, however, kneeling near the regis- 
 ter, and she involuntarily inclines a little 
 more toward it. 
 
 Ransom : " — it is n't a thing that I 
 care to shout from the house-tops." He 
 returns from the window to the chimne}-- 
 piece. " I wrote the rudest kind of note, 
 and sent back her letter and her mone}^ 
 in it. vShe had said that she hoped our 
 acquaintance was not to end with the 
 summer, but that we might sometimes 
 meet in Boston ; and I answered that 
 our acquaintance had ended already, and 
 that I should be sorry to meet her anj'- 
 where asfain."
 
 THE REGISTER. 53 
 
 Grinnidge: "Well, if you wanted to 
 make an ass of yourself, 3'ou did it prettj- 
 completely.'* 
 
 Miss Beed, whispering : ' ' How witty 
 he is ! Those men are always so humor- 
 ous with each other." 
 
 Ransom: "Yes; I didn't do it by 
 halves." 
 
 Miss Reed, whispering: "Oh, that's 
 funn}^, too ! " 
 
 Grinnidge: "It didn't occur to you 
 that she might feel bound to pa}^ you for 
 the first half-dozen, and was embarrassed 
 how to offer to pay for them alone ? " 
 
 Miss Reed: "How he does go to the 
 heart of the matter ! " She presses Miss 
 Spaulding's hand in an ecstasj' of ap- 
 proval. 
 
 Ransom : " Yes, it did — afterward."
 
 54 THE REGISTER. 
 
 Miss Reed^ in a tender murmur : " Oh, 
 poor Oliver ! " 
 
 Ransom : ' ' And it occurred to me tliat 
 she was perfectly right in the whole 
 affair." 
 
 Miss Reed : "Oh, how generous ! how 
 noble I " 
 
 Ransom : "I had had a thousand 
 opportunities, and I had n't been man 
 enough to tell her that I was in love with 
 her." 
 
 Miss Reed: " How can he say it right 
 out so bluntly ? But if it 's true — - " 
 
 Ransom: "I couldn't speak. I was 
 afraid of putting an end to the affair — 
 of frightening her — disgusting her." 
 
 Miss Reed: " Oh, how little they know 
 us, Nettie ! " 
 
 Ransom : " She seemed so much above
 
 THE REGISTER. 55 
 
 me in ever}' wa}' — so sensitive, so re- 
 fined, so gentle, so good, so angelic ! " 
 
 Miss Reed: "There! Now do 3'ou 
 call it eavesdropping? If listeners never 
 hear an}' good of themselves, what do 
 you sa}' to that ? It proves that I have n't 
 been listening." 
 
 Miss Spaulding : " 'Sh ! The}' 're say- 
 ing something else." 
 
 Ransom : " But all that 's neither here 
 nor there. I can see now that under the 
 circumstances she could n't as a lady 
 have acted otherwise than she did. She 
 was forced to treat our whole acquaint- 
 ance as a business matter, and I had 
 forced her to do it." 
 
 Miss Reed: " You had^ you poor 
 thing ! " 
 
 Grinnidge: ""Well, what do you in- 
 tend to do about it? "
 
 56 THE REGISTER. 
 
 Ransom: "Well — " 
 
 Miss Reed: '"Sh!" 
 
 Miss Spaulding : " 'Sh ! " 
 
 Ransom: " — that's what I want to 
 submit to you, Grinnidge. I must see 
 her." 
 
 Grinnidge: "Yes. I'm glad /must n't." 
 
 Miss Reed, stifling a laugh on Miss 
 Spaulding' s shoulder : ' ' They 're actualh^ 
 afraid of us, Nettie ! " 
 
 Ransom: "See her, and go down in 
 the dust." 
 
 Miss Reed: " My very words ! " 
 
 Ransom .' " I have been trying to think 
 what was the very humblest pie I could 
 eat, by wa}' of penance ; and it appears 
 to me that I had better begin by saying 
 that I have come to ask her for the 
 money I refused."
 
 THE REGISTER. 57 
 
 Miss Reed^ enraptured : " Oh ! does n't 
 it seem just like — like — inspiration, 
 Nettie ? " 
 
 Miss Spaulding : " 'Sh ! Be quiet, do ! 
 You '11 frighten them away ! " 
 
 Grinnidge : ' ' And then what ? " 
 
 Ransom : " What then? I do n't know 
 what then. But it appears to me that, 
 as a gentleman, I 've got nothing to do 
 with the result. All that I've got to 
 do is to submit to my fate, whatever 
 it is." 
 
 Miss Reed^ breathlessly : " What prince- 
 I3' courage ! What delicate magnanim- 
 it}' ! Oh, he needn't have the least fear ! 
 If I could only tell him that ! " 
 
 Grinnidge^ after an interval of medita- 
 tive smoking : " Yes, I guess that 's the 
 best thing 3011 can do. It will strike her
 
 58 THE REGISTER. 
 
 fanc}', if she 's an imaginative girl, and 
 she '11 think you a fine fellow." 
 
 Miss Reed: " Oh, the horrid thing ! " 
 Grinnidge : "If 3'ou humble 3'ourself 
 to a woman at all, do it thoroughly. If 
 you go half-way down she '11 be tempted 
 to push 3^ou the rest of the way. If 3'ou 
 flatten out at her feet to begin with, ten 
 to one but she will pick 3'ou up." 
 Ransom: " Yes, that was m3' idea." 
 Miss Reed: "Oh, was it, indeed! 
 Well ! " 
 
 Ransom: "But I've nothing to do 
 with her picking me up or pushing me 
 down. All that I 've got to do is to go 
 and surrender m3'self." 
 
 Grinnidge: " Yes. Well ; I guess you 
 can't go too soon. I like your company ; 
 but I advise you as a friend not to lose 
 time. Where does she live? '*
 
 THE REGISTER. 59 
 
 Ransom : " That 's the remarkable part 
 of it: she Hves in this house." 
 
 Miss Reed and Miss Spmdding, in sub- 
 dued chorus : " Oh I " 
 
 Grinnidge^ taking his pipe out of his 
 mouth in astonishment : '' No ! " 
 
 Ransom ; " I just came in here to give 
 my good resolutions a rest while I was 
 screwing m}- courage up to ask for her." 
 
 Miss Reed: "Don't 3'ou think he's 
 very humorous? Give his good resolu- 
 tions a rest ! That 's the way he always 
 talks." 
 
 Miss Spaulding: " 'Sh ! " 
 
 Grinnidge : "You said you came for 
 my advice." 
 
 Ransom: " So I did. But I didn't 
 promise to act upon it. Well ! " He 
 goes toward the door.
 
 60 THE REGISTER, 
 
 Grinnidge, without troubling himself to 
 rise : " Well, good luck to 3'ou ! " 
 
 Miss Reed : ' ' How droll they are with 
 each other ! Don't 3'ou like to hear them 
 talk? Oh; I could listen all day." 
 
 Grinnidge, calling after Ransom : "You 
 haA^en't told me your duck's name." 
 
 Miss Reed : ''Is that what they call us? 
 Duck ! Do you think it 's ver}^ respect- 
 ful, Nettie? I don't believe I like it. 
 Or, 3'es, why not ? It's no harm — if I 
 am his duck ! " 
 
 Ransom,, coming back : " Well, I don't 
 propose to go shouting it round. Her 
 name is Miss Reed — Ethel Reed." 
 
 Miss Reed : ' ' How can he ? " 
 
 Grinnidge: "Slender, willowy part}^, 
 with a lot of blonde hair that looks as if 
 it might be indigenous ? Rather pensive- 
 looking ? "
 
 THE REGISTER. 61 
 
 Miss Reed: "Indigenous! I should 
 hope so ! " 
 
 Ransom : "Yes. But she is n't pensive. 
 She's awfully deep. It makes me shud- 
 der to think how deep tliat girl is. And 
 when I think of my courage in daring to 
 be in love with her — a stupid, straight- 
 forward idiot like me — I begin to respect 
 myself in spite of being such an ass. 
 Well, I 'm off. If I sta}' any longer I 
 shall never go." He closes the door after 
 him, and Miss Reed instantly springs to 
 her feet. 
 
 Miss Reed: " Now he '11 have to go 
 down to the parlor and send up his name, 
 and that just gives me time to do the 
 necessar}' prinking. You stay iiere and 
 receive him, Nettie." 
 
 Miss SpcmlditKj : "Never! After
 
 62 THE REGISTER. 
 
 what's happened I can never look him 
 in the face again. Oh, how low, and 
 mean, and guilt}* I feel ! " 
 
 Miss Reed, with surprise : '' Wh}', how 
 droll ! Now /don't feel the least so." 
 
 Miss SpauJding : " Oh, it's ver}' differ- 
 ent with you. You're in love with him." 
 
 Miss Reed: " For shame, Nettie ! I'm 
 not in love with him." 
 
 Miss Spaulding : ''And you can ex- 
 plain and justify it. But I never can 
 justify it to myself, much less to him. 
 Let me go, Ethel! I shall tell Mrs. 
 McKnight that we must change this room 
 instantly. And just after I 'd got it so 
 nearly in order ! Go down and receive 
 him in the parlor, Ethel. I can't see 
 him." 
 
 Miss Reed: ''Receive him in the par-
 
 THE REGISTER. 63 
 
 lor ! Wli}', Nettie dear, 3'ou 're crazy ! 
 I 'm going to accejtt him ; and how can I 
 accept him — with all the consequences — 
 in a public parlor? No, indeed ! If 30U 
 won't meet him here for a moment, just 
 to oblige me, 3'ou can go into the other 
 room. Or, no — you 'd be listening to 
 ever}' word through the kej'-hole, you 're 
 so demoralized ! " 
 
 Miss Spauldivg : '•- Yes, yes, I deserve 
 3'our contempt, P^thel." 
 
 Miss Reed., laughing : ' ' You will have 
 to go out for a walk, you poor thing ; 
 and I 'm not going to have you coming 
 back in five or ten minutes. You have 
 got to sta3' out a good hour." 
 
 Miss Spaulding, running to get her 
 things from the next room: "Oh, I'll 
 stay out till midnight ! "
 
 64 THE REGISTER. 
 
 Miss Reed^ responding to a tap at the 
 door : " Ye-e-s ! Come in ! — You 're 
 caught, Nettie." 
 
 A maid-servant.) appearing with a card : 
 " This gentleman is asking for you in the 
 parlor, Miss Reed." 
 
 Miss Reed : " Oh ! Ask him to come 
 up here, please. — Nettie ! Nettie ! " She 
 calls to her friend in the next room. 
 " He's coming right up, and if you don't 
 run you 're trapped." 
 
 Miss Spaidding^ re-appearing, cloaked 
 and bonneted: "I don't bhime you^ 
 Ethel, comparatively speaking. You can 
 say that everything is fair in love. He 
 will like it, and laugh at it in you, be- 
 cause he '11 like everything you 've done. 
 Besides, you've no priaiciples, and I 
 have.'''
 
 THE REGISTER. 65 
 
 Miss Reed: ' ' Oh, I 've lots of principles, 
 Nettie, but 1 've no practice ! " 
 
 Miss Spaulding : ' ' No matter. Tliere 's 
 no excuse for me. I listened simply be- 
 cause I was a woman, and could n't help 
 it; and, oh, what will he think of me?" 
 
 Miss Reed: '' I won't give you awa}^ ; 
 if you really feel so badly — " 
 
 Miss Spaulding : "Oh, do you think 
 you can keep from telling him, Ethel 
 dear? Try! And I will be 3'our slave 
 forever ! " Steps are heard on the stairs 
 outside. " Oh, there he comes!" She 
 dashes out of the door and closes it after 
 her, a moment before the maid-servant, 
 followed by Mr. Ransom, taps at it.
 
 III. 
 
 MISS REED AND MR. RANSOM ; THEN MR. 
 GRINNIDGE. 
 
 Miss Reed opens the door and receives 
 Mr. Ransom with well-affected surprise 
 and state, suffering him to stand awk- 
 wardl}' on the threshold for a moment. 
 
 She, coldly : " Oh ! Mr. Ransom ! " 
 He, abruptlj^ : " I 've come — " 
 She : " Won't 3'ou come in ? " 
 He, advancing a few paces into the 
 room : " I ' ve come — " 
 
 She, indicating a chair : " Will you sit 
 
 down ? " 
 
 He: "I must stand for the present.
 
 THE REGISTER. 67 
 
 I've come to ask you for that mone}', 
 Miss Reed, which I refused yesterday, in 
 terms that I blush to think of. I was 
 altogether and wholly in the wrong, and 
 I 'm ready to offer any imaginable apology 
 or reparation. I'm ready to take the 
 mone}' and to sign a receipt, and then to 
 be dismissed with whatever ignominy 
 you please. I deserve anything — everj'- 
 thing!" 
 
 She: "The money? Excuse me; I 
 don 't know — I 'm afraid that I 'm not 
 prepared to pay you the whole sum to- 
 day." 
 
 He^ hastily : " Oh, no matter ! no mat- 
 ter ! I don't care for the money now. 
 I merel}' wished to — to assure you that I 
 thought 3'ou were pei-fectl}' right in offer- 
 ing it, and to — to — " 
 
 She.^ "AVhat?"
 
 68 THE REGISTER. 
 
 He : " Nothing. That is — ah~ah— " 
 
 She : "It 's extreme]}' embarrassing to 
 have people refuse their money when it 's 
 offered them, and then come the next da}^ 
 for it, when perhaps it is n't so convenient 
 to pay it — very embarrassing." 
 
 He, hotly: " Bat I tell you I don't 
 want the money! I never wanted it, 
 and would n't take it on any account." 
 
 She: "Oh! I thought you said 3'ou 
 came to get it ? " 
 
 He: "I said — I did n't say — I meant 
 ■ — that is — ah — I — " He stops, open- 
 mouthed. 
 
 She., quietl}' : " I could give you part 
 of the money now." 
 
 He: " Oh, whatever you like ; it 's in- 
 different — " 
 
 She : " Please sit down while I write a
 
 THE REGISTER. 69 
 
 receipt." She places herself deliberately 
 at the table, and opens her portfolio. ' ' I 
 will pa}' you now, Mr. Ransom, for the 
 first six lessons you gave me — the ones 
 before you told me that I could never 
 learn to do anything." 
 
 He^ sinking mechanically into the chair 
 she indicates : " Oh, just as j'ou like ! " 
 He looks up at the ceiling in hopeless 
 bewilderment, while she writes. 
 
 She^ blotting the paper: "There! 
 And now let me offer you a little piece 
 of advice, Mr. Ransom, which ma}' be 
 useful to you in taking pupils hereafter." 
 
 He^ bursting out: "I never take 
 pupils ! " 
 
 She: "Never take pupils! I don't 
 understand. You took me'' 
 
 He, confusedly: "I took you — yes.
 
 70 THE REGISTER. 
 
 You seemed to wish — 3'ou seemed — the 
 case was peculiar — peculiar circum- 
 stances." 
 
 She^ with severit}^ : ''May I ask why 
 the circumstances were peculiar? I saw 
 nothing peculiar about the circumstances. 
 It seemed to me it was a very simple 
 matter. I told you that I had always 
 had a great cui'iosit}' to see whether I 
 could use oil paints, and I asked j-ou a 
 very plain question, whether 3'ou would 
 let me study with you. Did n't I? " 
 
 He: "Yes." 
 
 She: "Was there anj'thing wrong — 
 anythmg queer about my asking you ? " 
 
 He: "No, no! Not at all — not in 
 the least." 
 
 She : " Did n't you wish me to take the 
 lessons of you ? If 3'ou did n't, it w\as n'l 
 kind of you to let me."
 
 THE REGISTER. 71 
 
 He: "Oh, I was perfecth' willing — • 
 very glad indeed, veiy much so — cer- 
 tainly ! " 
 
 She : "If it was n't 3'our custom to take 
 pupils, 3'ou ought to have told me, and I 
 would n't have forced myself upon 3'ou." 
 
 ^6, desperateh* : "It wasn't forcing 
 3'ourself upon me. The Lord knows how 
 humbl}' grateful I was. It was like a 
 hope of heaven ! " 
 
 She: "Really, Mr. Ransom, this is 
 ver}' strange talk. What am I to under- 
 stand by it? Whf/ should you be grateful 
 to teach me ! Wh}- should giving me 
 lessons be like a hope of heaven ? " 
 
 He: "Oh, I will tell you ! " 
 
 She: "Well?" 
 
 ffe, after a moment of agon}- : ' ' Be- 
 cause to be with vou — "
 
 72 THE REGISTER. 
 
 She: "Yes?" 
 
 He: " Because I wished to be with 
 you. Because — those days in the woods, 
 when 3'Ou read, and I — " 
 
 She: " Painted on ni}' pictures — " 
 
 He: "Were the happiest of my life. 
 Because — I loved 3'ou ! " 
 
 She: "Mr. Ransom!" 
 
 He: ^^ Yes, I must tell you so. I loved 
 you ; I love you still. I shall always love 
 you, no matter what — " 
 
 She : ' ' You forget j^ourself, Mr. Ran- 
 som. Has there been anything in my 
 manner — conduct — to justif}' you in 
 using such language to me ? " 
 
 He: "No — no— " 
 
 She: "Did you suppose that because 
 I first took lessons of you from — from 
 — an enthusiasm for art, and then con-
 
 THE REGISTER. 73 
 
 tinned them for — for — amusement, that 
 I wished you to make love to me ? " 
 
 He: "No, I never supposed such a 
 thhig. I 'm incapable of it. I beseech 
 3'ou to beUeve that no one could have 
 more respect — reverence — " He twirls 
 his hat between his hands, and casts an 
 imploring glance at her. 
 
 She: " Oh, respect — reverence ! I 
 know what the}' mean in the mouths of 
 men. If 3'ou respected, if you reverenced 
 me, could you dare to tell me, after my 
 unguarded trust of you during the past 
 months, that you had been all the time 
 secretl}' in love with me ? " 
 
 He^ plucking up a little courage: "I 
 don't see that the three things are incom- 
 patible." 
 
 She : "Oh, then you acknowledge that
 
 74 THE REGISTER. 
 
 3'oii did presume upon something j'ou 
 thought 3^ou saw in me to tell me that 
 3'ou loved me, and that jou were in love 
 with me all the time?" 
 
 He^ contritely : "I have no right to 
 suppose that you encouraged me ; and 
 yet — I can't den}" it now — I was in love 
 with 3'ou all the time." 
 
 She : " And you never said a word to 
 let me believe that 30U had any such feel- 
 ing toward me ! " 
 
 He: "I — I — " 
 
 She: "You would have parted from 
 me without a syllable to suggest it — 
 perhaps parted from me forever? " After 
 a pause of silent humiliation for him : 
 "Do 3'Ou call that brave or generous? 
 Do you call it manly — supposing, as you 
 hoped, that /had an.y such feeling?"
 
 THE REGISTER. 75 
 
 He: " Xo ; it was cowardly, it was 
 mean, it was iinmanl}'. I see it now, 
 but I will spend m}' life in repairing the 
 wrong if you will onl}' let me." He im- 
 petuousl}^ advances some paces toward 
 her, and then stops, arrested bj- her 
 irresponsive attitude. 
 
 She^ with a light sigh, and looking 
 down at the paper, which she has con- 
 tinued to hold between her hands : 
 ' ' There was a time — a moment — when 
 I might have answered as 3'ou wish." 
 
 He: "Oh! then there will be again. 
 If you have changed once, you ma}' 
 change once more. Let me hope that 
 some time — any time, dearest — " 
 
 She^ quenching him with a look : 
 "Mr. Ransom, I shall never change 
 toward vou ! You confess that vou had
 
 76 THE REGISTER. 
 
 3' our opportunity, and that you de- 
 spised it." 
 
 He: " Oh ! not despised ! " 
 
 She: " Neglected it." 
 
 He: "Not wilfull}' — no. I confess 
 that I was stupidly, vilely, pusillan — 
 pusillan — illani — " 
 
 She: '"Mously — " 
 
 He : " Thanks — 'mously unworthy of 
 it ; but I did n't despise it ; I did n't 
 neglect it ; and if 3'ou will onl}^ let me 
 show b}' a lifetime of devotion how dearly 
 and truly I have loved you from the first 
 moment I drove that cow awa}' — " 
 
 She: "Mr. Ransom, I have told you 
 that I should never change toward aou. 
 That cow was nothing when weighed in 
 the balance against 3'our being willing to 
 leave a poor girl, whom you supposed
 
 THE REGISTER. 11 
 
 interested in you, and to whom 3'ou had 
 paid the most marked attention, without 
 a word to show her that 3-ou cared for 
 her. What is a cow, or a whole herd of 
 cows, as compared with obUging a young 
 lad}' to offer 30U mone}' that you had n't 
 earned, and then savagely flinging it back 
 in her face ? A yoke of oxen would be 
 nothing — or a mad bull." 
 
 He: "Oh, I acknowledge it! I con- 
 fess it." 
 
 She : ' ' And you own that I am right 
 in refusing to listen to you now ? " 
 
 Be, desolate I3' : '' Yes, yes." 
 
 She: ''It seems that you gave me 
 lessons in order to be with me, and if 
 possible to interest me in you ; and 
 then 3'ou were going awa}' without a 
 word."
 
 78 THE REGISTER. 
 
 He., with a groan : " It was onty because 
 I was afraid to speak." 
 
 She: " Oil, is that any excuse?" 
 
 He: " No ; none." 
 
 She: " A man ought alwaj's to have 
 courage." After a pause, in which he 
 stands before her with bowed head : 
 " Then there is nothing for me but to 
 give you this money." 
 
 He., with sudden energ}- : " This is too 
 much ! I — " 
 
 She^ offering him the bank-notes : ' ' No ; 
 it is the exact sum. I counted it very 
 care full}'." 
 
 He: "I won't take it; I can't! I'll 
 never take it ! " 
 
 She., standing with the monej^ in her 
 outstretched hand: "I have your word 
 as a gentleman that you will take it."
 
 THE REGISTER. 79 
 
 He., gasping : '' Oh, well — I will take 
 it — I will — " He clutches the money, 
 and rushes toward the door. " Good- 
 evening ; ah — good-by — " 
 
 /S/^e, calling after him: "The receipt, 
 Mr. Ransom ! Please sign this receipt ! " 
 She waves the paper in the air. 
 
 He: "Oh, yes, certainl}- ! Where is 
 it — what — which — " He rushes back 
 to her, and seizing the receipt, feels 
 bhndly about for the pen and ink. 
 "Where shall I sign?" 
 
 She: " Read it first." 
 
 He: " Oh , it 's all — all right — " 
 
 She: " I insist npon your reading it. 
 It 's a business transaction. Read it 
 aloud." 
 
 He, desperately: "Well, well!" He 
 reads. " ' Received from Miss Ethel Reed
 
 80 THE REGISTER. 
 
 in full, for twenty-five lessons in oil-painting^ 
 one hundred and twenty five dollars, and her 
 hand, heart, and dearest love forever.'' " He 
 looks up at her. "Ethel!" 
 
 She, smiling : ' ' Sign it, sign it ! " 
 
 He, catching her in his arms and kiss- 
 ing her : "Oh yes — here I " 
 
 She, pulling a little awa}^ from him, 
 and laughing: "Oh, oh! I only wanted 
 one signature ! Twenty autographs are 
 too many, unless you '11 let me trade them 
 off, as the collectors do." 
 
 He: " No ; keep them all ! I could n't 
 think of letting any one else have them. 
 One more ! " 
 
 She: " No ; it's quite enough ! " She 
 frees herself, and retires beyond the table. 
 " This unexpected affection — " 
 
 He: " 75 it unexpected — seriously V "
 
 THE REGISTER. 81 
 
 She: " What do you mean?" 
 
 He: "Oh, nothing!" 
 
 She: "Yes, tell me ! " 
 
 He: "I hoped — I thought — perhaps 
 
 — that 3'ou might have been prepared for 
 some such demonstration on my part." 
 
 She : ' ' And why did you think — hope 
 
 — perhaps — that, Mr. Ransom, may I 
 ask?" 
 
 He: " If I hadn't, how should I have 
 dared to speak ? " 
 
 She: "Dared? You were obliged to 
 speak ! Well, since it 's all over, I don't 
 mind saying that I did have some slight 
 ai^prehensions that something in the way 
 of a declaration might be extorted from 
 you." 
 
 He: "Extorted? Oh!" He makes 
 an impassioned rush toward her. 
 6
 
 82 THE REGISTER. 
 
 She^ keeping the table between them : 
 "No, no." 
 
 He : " Oh, I merely wished to ask why 
 yon chose to make me suffer so, after I 
 had come to the point." 
 
 She: " Ask it across the table, then." 
 After a moment of reflection. " I made 
 3'ou suffer — I made 3 on suffer — so that 
 you might have a reahzing sense of what 
 3'ou had made me suffer." 
 
 He, enraptured b\^ this confession : 
 "Oh, you angel!" 
 
 She, with tender magnanimity : " No ; 
 only a woman — a poor, trusting, foolish 
 woman ! " She permits him to surround 
 the table, with imaginable results. Then, 
 with lier head on his shoulder. " You'll 
 rzerer let me regret it, will you, drilling? 
 You '11 never oblige me to punisli 30U
 
 THE REGISTER. 83 
 
 again, dearest, will 3011 ? Oh, it hurt me 
 far worse to see \o\xv pain than it did 3'ou 
 to — to — feel it ! " On the other side of 
 the partition, Mr. Grinnidge's pipe falls 
 from his lips, parted in slumber, and 
 shivers to atoms on the register. " Oh ! " 
 She flies at the register with a shriek of 
 dismay, and is about to close it. "That 
 wretch has been listening, and has heard 
 ever}" word ! " 
 
 j&e, preventing her : "What wretch? 
 Where?" 
 
 ^he: " Don't 3'ou hear him, mumbling 
 and grumbling there ? " 
 
 Grinnidge : "Well, I swear! Cash 
 value of twent3'-five dollars, and untold 
 toil in coloring it ! " 
 
 Ransom, listening with an air of m3'sti- 
 fication: "Who's that?"
 
 84 THE REGISTER. 
 
 She: "Gummidge, Grimmidge — what- 
 ever you called him. Oh ! " She arrests 
 herself in consternation. " Now I have 
 done it ! " 
 
 He: "Done what?" 
 
 She: "Oh — nothing!" 
 
 He: "I don't understand. Do 3'ou 
 mean to say that my friend Grinnidge's 
 room is on the other side of the wall, and 
 that you can hear him talk through the 
 register?" She preserves the silence of 
 abject terror. He stoops over the regis- 
 ter, and calls down it. "Grinnidge! 
 Hallo ! " 
 
 Grinnidge : " Hallo, yourself! " 
 
 Ransom, to Miss Reed: " Sounds like 
 the ghostly squeak of the phonograph." 
 To Grinnidge : " What 's the trouble? " 
 
 Grinnidge : " Smashed my pipe. Dozed
 
 THE REGISTER. 85 
 
 off and let it drop on this infernal reg- 
 ister." 
 
 Ransom.) turning from the register with 
 impressive deliberation: "Miss Reed, 
 may I ask how yon came to know that 
 his name was Gummidge, or Grimmidge, 
 or whatever I called him ? " 
 
 She: "Oh, dearest, I cari't tell you! 
 Or — yes, I had better." Impulsivelj' : 
 "I will judge 3'ou by myself, /could 
 forgive you anj'thing ! " 
 
 He, doubtfully : " Oh, could you? " 
 
 She: "Everything! I had — I had 
 better make a clean breast of it. Yes, 
 I had. Though I don't like to. I — I 
 listened ! " 
 
 He: "Listened?" 
 
 She: "Through the register to — to 
 
 — what — you — were saying before you . 
 
 — came in here." Her head droops.
 
 86 THE REGISTER. 
 
 He: " Then 3^011 heard everything ? " 
 
 She: "Kill me, but don't look so at 
 me ! It was accidental at first — indeed 
 it was ; and then I recognized 3'our 
 voice ; and then I knew j-ou were talking 
 about me ; and I had so much at stake ; 
 and I did love 3'ou so dearly ! You will 
 forgive me, darling? It wasn't as if I 
 were listening with an}^ bad motive." 
 
 He., taking her in his arms : ' ' Forgive 
 you? Of course I do. But you must 
 change this room at once, Ethel ; 3'ou 
 see, you hear everything on the other 
 side, too." 
 
 She: " Oh, not if 3'ou whisper on this. 
 You couldn't hear ms?" At a dubious 
 expression of his : " You didn't hear us? 
 If you did, I can never forgive you ! " 
 
 He: "It was accidental at first —
 
 THE REGISTER, 87 
 
 indeed it was ; and then I recognized 
 your voice ; and then I knew 3'oa were 
 talking about me ; and I had so much at 
 stake ; and I did love you so dearly ! " 
 
 She : " All that has nothing whatever to 
 do with it. How much did j'ou hear?" 
 
 He^ with exemplary meekness : " Only 
 what you were saying before Grinnidge 
 came in. You did n't whisper then. .1 
 had to wait there for him while — " 
 
 She: "While you were giving your 
 good resolutions a rest ? " 
 
 He: "While I was giving m}' good 
 resolutions a rest." 
 
 She : ' ' And that accounts for j'our de- 
 termination to humble yourself so ? " 
 
 He: " It seemed perfecth' providential 
 that I should have known just what con- 
 ditions 3'ou were going to exact of me."
 
 88 THE REGISTER. 
 
 She: " Oh, don't make light of it ! I 
 can tell you it 's a very serious matter." 
 
 He : ''It was very serious for me when 
 3'ou did n't meet m}' self-abasement as you 
 had led me to expect you would." 
 
 She: "Don't make fun! I 'm trying 
 to think whether I can forgive you." 
 
 He, with insinuation : " Don't j'ou be- 
 lieve you could think better if you put 
 your head on my shoulder ? " 
 
 She .• " Nonsense ! Then I should for- 
 give you without thinking." After a sea- 
 son of reflection : ' ' No, I can't forgive 
 3'ou. I never could forgive eavesdrop- 
 ping. It 's too low." 
 
 He^ in astonishment: "Why, 3^ou did 
 it yourself ! " 
 
 She : " But 3'ou began it. Besides, 
 it 's very different for a man. Women
 
 THE REGISTER. 89 
 
 are weak, poor, helpless creatures. They 
 have to use finesse. But a man should 
 be above it." 
 
 He: " You said you could forgive me 
 an3^thing." 
 
 She: "Ah, but I didn't know what 
 }'0u 'd been doing ! " 
 
 He^ with pensive resignation, and a 
 feint of going : " Then I suppose it's all 
 over between us." 
 
 She^ relenting : " If j'ou could think of 
 any reason why I should forgive you — " 
 
 He: "I can't." 
 
 She^ after consideration : ' ' Do you 
 suppose Mr. Grumage, or Grimidge, 
 heard too ? " 
 
 He : " No ; Grinnidge is a very high- 
 principled fellow, and would n't listen ; 
 besides, he was n't there, vou know."
 
 90 THE REGISTER. 
 
 She: " Well, then, I will forgive j'ou 
 on these grounds." He instantl}^ catches 
 her to his heart. "But these alone, re- 
 member." 
 
 He., rapturoush' : ^' Oh, on an}' ! " 
 
 She., tenderl}' : "And 3'ou '11 alwa3's 
 be devoted? And nice? And not try 
 to provoke me? Or neglect me? Or 
 an^'thing ? " 
 
 He: "Always! Never! " 
 
 She: "Oh, 3'ou dear, sweet, simple 
 old thing — how I do love 3'OU ! " 
 
 Grinnidge., who has been hstening at- 
 tentively to ever3' word at the register at 
 his side: "Ransom, if you don't want 
 me to go stark mad, shut the register 1 " 
 
 Ransom^ about to comply : "Oh, poor 
 old man ! I forgot it was open ! " 
 
 M'ss 7?eec?, preventing him: "No! If
 
 THE REGISTER. 91 
 
 he has been vile enough to listen at a 
 register, let him suffer. Come, sit down 
 here, and I '11 tell you just when I began 
 to care for 3'ou. It was long before the 
 cow. Do you remember that first morn- 
 ing after you arrived — " She drags 
 him close to the register, so that ever}' 
 word ma}' tell upon the envious Grin nidge, 
 on whose manifestations of acute despair, 
 a rapid curtain descends.
 
 Mr Howells's mother, whose maiden name 
 was Dean, was of mixed Irish and German 
 parentage, writes Professor H. B. Boyesen in a 
 dp.li^htful skotcb, with portraits, under the 
 title of "Mr.Howells at Close Range,' m the 
 November Ladies' Home Jonrnal. Her father 
 was of Irish and Catholic extraction, but her 
 mother was a Pennsylvania German and a 
 Protestant. One of the authors early associa- 
 tions with his grandmother was the Luther s 
 Bible, which was so often in her hands. She 
 read only German, and a Pe^-ceP^^ble foreiu^ 
 accent lingered lifelougr in her speech. Her 
 daughter attended a hi^h school or female ■ 
 seminary, jnd had a fairly good education as it 
 wS in those days. But what was more, she 
 was a woman of a rich, warm Celtic tempera- 
 men who cheerfully carried the burden of her 
 ^rge household, and was full of kindness and 
 affection. She had a fine feelins lor language 
 fwhich is something quite dilTerent from facil- 
 Uyin acauiring strange tongues), and her fo. 
 mous sou believes that it is from her he has 
 nherit^d his sense of the color a«d individaal- 
 i^y of words and his perception of linguistic 
 values. . _
 
 T. J. WHIDDEN. 37 Upton street. 
 
 [r]tc 8£__ 
 
 TO LET---BROOKLIPiE. 
 
 Furnished House and Stable. 
 
 Eight bedrooms, all conveniences. Lease for the 
 winter or longer to family without small children. 
 
 GEO. B. ELLIOT, 8 Congress street. 
 [r32t 21 
 
 NEWTONVILLE. 
 
 FOR Sx\LE OR TO LET, 
 
 Honse of 11 rooms; all modern Improvements and 
 conveniences ; 3 or 4 minutes to depot, stores, cliurches; 
 1 minute to electric cars. Apply to 
 
 A. L. GORDON & CO.. 
 22 and 24 Temple place, Boston. 
 [r:4t o 19 
 
 TO LET, 
 
 Houses No6. 338 and 330 West Chester Park, 
 near Boylston street, in perfect condition. 
 Possession given at once. 
 
 PJfiTEK DAIL.Y, 809 WasMngton street. 
 
 [r]tc 8 30 
 
 TO BE LET AT AUBURNOALE.
 
 ^t. J$o\i}t\i!^'^ I^otjcl^. 
 
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