This Side of Paradise F. Scott Fitzgerald (mini ebook reader .txt) đ
- Author: F. Scott Fitzgerald
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âDo what I say, Alecâ âdo what I say. Do you understand?â
Alec looked at him dumblyâ âhis face a tableau of anguish.
âYou have a family,â continued Amory slowly. âYou have a family and itâs important that you should get out of this. Do you hear me?â He repeated clearly what he had said. âDo you hear me?â
âI hear you.â The voice was curiously strained, the eyes never for a second left Amoryâs.
âAlec, youâre going to lie down here. If anyone comes in you act drunk. You do what I sayâ âif you donât Iâll probably kill you.â
There was another moment while they stared at each other. Then Amory went briskly to the bureau and, taking his pocketbook, beckoned peremptorily to the girl. He heard one word from Alec that sounded like âpenitentiary,â then he and Jill were in the bathroom with the door bolted behind them.
âYouâre here with me,â he said sternly. âYouâve been with me all evening.â
She nodded, gave a little half cry.
In a second he had the door of the other room open and three men entered. There was an immediate flood of electric light and he stood there blinking.
âYouâve been playing a little too dangerous a game, young man!â
Amory laughed.
âWell?â
The leader of the trio nodded authoritatively at a burly man in a check suit.
âAll right, Olson.â
âI got you, Mr. OâMay,â said Olson, nodding. The other two took a curious glance at their quarry and then withdrew, closing the door angrily behind them.
The burly man regarded Amory contemptuously.
âDidnât you ever hear of the Mann Act? Coming down here with her,â he indicated the girl with his thumb, âwith a New York license on your carâ âto a hotel like this.â He shook his head implying that he had struggled over Amory but now gave him up.
âWell,â said Amory rather impatiently, âwhat do you want us to do?â
âGet dressed, quickâ âand tell your friend not to make such a racket.â Jill was sobbing noisily on the bed, but at these words she subsided sulkily and, gathering up her clothes, retired to the bathroom. As Amory slipped into Alecâs B.V.D.s he found that his attitude toward the situation was agreeably humorous. The aggrieved virtue of the burly man made him want to laugh.
âAnybody else here?â demanded Olson, trying to look keen and ferret-like.
âFellow who had the rooms,â said Amory carelessly. âHeâs drunk as an owl, though. Been in there asleep since six oâclock.â
âIâll take a look at him presently.â
âHow did you find out?â asked Amory curiously.
âNight clerk saw you go upstairs with this woman.â
Amory nodded; Jill reappeared from the bathroom, completely if rather untidily arrayed.
âNow then,â began Olson, producing a notebook, âI want your real namesâ âno damn John Smith or Mary Brown.â
âWait a minute,â said Amory quietly. âJust drop that big-bully stuff. We merely got caught, thatâs all.â
Olson glared at him.
âName?â he snapped.
Amory gave his name and New York address.
âAnd the lady?â
âMiss Jillâ ââ
âSay,â cried Olson indignantly, âjust ease up on the nursery rhymes. Whatâs your name? Sarah Murphy? Minnie Jackson?â
âOh, my God!â cried the girl cupping her tear-stained face in her hands. âI donât want my mother to know. I donât want my mother to know.â
âCome on now!â
âShut up!â cried Amory at Olson.
An instantâs pause.
âStella Robbins,â she faltered finally. âGeneral Delivery, Rugway, New Hampshire.â
Olson snapped his notebook shut and looked at them very ponderously.
âBy rights the hotel could turn the evidence over to the police and youâd go to penitentiary, you would, for bringinâ a girl from one State to ânother fâr immoral purpâsesâ ââ He paused to let the majesty of his words sink in. âButâ âthe hotel is going to let you off.â
âIt doesnât want to get in the papers,â cried Jill fiercely. âLet us off! Huh!â
A great lightness surrounded Amory. He realized that he was safe and only then did he appreciate the full enormity of what he might have incurred.
âHowever,â continued Olson, âthereâs a protective association among the hotels. Thereâs been too much of this stuff, and we got a ârangement with the newspapers so that you get a little free publicity. Not the name of the hotel, but just a line sayinâ that you had a little trouble in âlantic City. See?â
âI see.â
âYouâre gettinâ off lightâ âdamn lightâ âbutâ ââ
âCome on,â said Amory briskly. âLetâs get out of here. We donât need a valedictory.â
Olson walked through the bathroom and took a cursory glance at Alecâs still form. Then he extinguished the lights and motioned them to follow him. As they walked into the elevator Amory considered a piece of bravadoâ âyielded finally. He reached out and tapped Olson on the arm.
âWould you mind taking off your hat? Thereâs a lady in the elevator.â
Olsonâs hat came off slowly. There was a rather embarrassing two minutes under the lights of the lobby while the night clerk and a few belated guests stared at them curiously; the loudly dressed girl with bent head, the handsome young man with his chin several points aloft; the inference was quite obvious. Then the chill outdoorsâ âwhere the salt air was fresher and keener still with the first hints of morning.
âYou can get one of those taxis and beat it,â said Olson, pointing to the blurred outline of two machines whose drivers were presumably asleep inside.
âGoodbye,â said Olson. He reached in his pocket suggestively, but Amory snorted, and, taking the girlâs arm, turned away.
âWhere did you tell the driver to go?â she asked as they whirled along the dim street.
âThe station.â
âIf that guy writes my motherâ ââ
âHe wonât. Nobodyâll ever know about thisâ âexcept our friends and enemies.â
Dawn was breaking over the sea.
âItâs getting blue,â she said.
âIt does very well,â agreed Amory critically, and then as an afterthought: âItâs almost breakfast-timeâ âdo you want something to eat?â
âFoodâ ââ she said with a cheerful laugh. âFood is what queered the party. We ordered a big supper to be sent up to the room about two oâclock. Alec didnât give the waiter a tip, so I guess the little bastard snitched.â
Jillâs low spirits seemed to have gone faster than the scattering night. âLet me tell you,â she said emphatically, âwhen
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