Chapter I: Front Matter

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V.V.'S EYES

by

HENRY SYDNOR HARRISON

Author of _Queed_

With Illustrations

1913

To my first, second, and third reader

NORVELL

Who raises books by hand

CONTENTS

I

Two Houses, with a great Gulf between; of V. Vivian, M.D., and what he thought of John the Baptist . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1

II

Two Persons of More Importance, and why they went to the Beach in October; Miss Carlisle Heth, and how she met an Unwelcome Swain at Sea; how this Swain could swim enough for one. . . . . . 12

III

How Carlisle screamed when the Boat upset, or else didn't, as the Case might be; also of Mrs. Heth, who went down Six Floors to nail Falsehoods, etc. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26

IV

Mr. Hugo Canning, of the well-known Pursuing-Sex; how the Great Young Man pursued Miss Heth to a Summer-House, and what stopped his Thundering Feet . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36

V

Dialogue between V. Vivian, of the Slums, and Mr. Heth's Daughter (or his Niece); and what the lovely Hun saw in the Mr. Vivian's eyes, just before he asked God to pity her. . . . . . . . . . . . 48

VI

Of Carlisle's Bewilderment over all the Horrid Talk; of how it wasn't her Fault that Gossip was so Unreliable; of the Greatest Game in the World; also, of Mr. Heth, who didn't look like a Shameless Homicide. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 61

VII

How the Great Parti, pursued or pursuing to Cousin Willie Kerr's Apartment, begins thundering again. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 73

VIII

Supper with the Cooneys: Poor Relations, but you must be Nice to them; of Hen Cooney's friend V.V., as she irritatingly calls him; also relating how Cally is asked for her Forgiveness, and can't seem to think what to say . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 87

IX

Concerning an Abandoned Hotel, and who lived there; also of an Abandoned Youth, who lived somewhere else, Far Away; how a Slum Doctor dressed for a Function, such as involved Studs; and how Kern Garland wishted she was a Lady . . . . . . . . . . . . . 105

X

A Beautiful New Year's Party, and who spoiled it, and how; how Something is done, after all, for she tells the Man plainly that he mustn't speak to her any more . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 120

XI

In which Mr. Canning must go South for his Health, and Cally lies awake to think. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 134

XII

How V. Vivian still felt the Same about the Huns, No Matter what Sam Thought; also how Kern Garland lost Something at the Works, and what made Mr. V.V. look at her That Way. . . . . . . . 146

XIII

How Life was Gray and Everything was Horrid; how Carlisle went to Little Africa with Hen; how the Man spoke to her again, just the same, and what happened then; further, reporting a Confidential Talk with a Best Girl-Friend. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 159

XIV

In which Cally tells a Certain Person that she isn't Happy--Very 180

XV

In which she goes to New York and is very Happy indeed . . . . . 190

XVI

Of Happiness continuing, and what all the World loves; revealing, however, that not Every Girl can do what the French People once did 201

XVII

Cally crosses the Great Gulf; and it isn't quite Clear how she will ever cross back again. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 216

XVIII

Night-Thoughts on the Hardness of Religious Fellows, compelling you to be Hard, too; Happier Things again, such as Hugo, Europe, Trousseaux, etc.; concluding with a Letter from Texas and a Little Vulgarian in a Red Hat . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 235

XIX

How it is One Thing to run away from yourself, and another to escape; how Cally orders the Best Cocktails, and gazes at her Mother asleep; also of Jefferson 4127, and why Mamma left the Table in a hurry at the Café des Ambassadeurs . . . . . . . . . . 249

XX

In which Jack Dalhousie wears a New Dignity, and the Lame Stranger comes to the House of Heth . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 266

XXI

That Day at the Beach, as we sit and look back at it; how Hugo journeys to shield his Love from Harm, and Small Beginnings can end with Uproars and a Proverb. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 278

XXII

One Summer in the Old Hotel; of the World's wagging on, Kern Garland, and Prince Serge Suits; of how Kern leaves the Works for Good and has a Dream about Mr. V.V.'s Beautiful Lady; of how Mr. V.V. came to sit in the Still Watches and think again of John the Baptist. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 296

XXIII

One Summer in Europe, which she never speaks of now; Home again, with what a Difference; Novel Questionings, as to what is a Friend, etc . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 320

XXIV

How the Best People came to the Old Hotel again; how Cally is Ornamental, maybe, but hardly a Useful Person; how she encounters Three Surprises from Three Various Men, all disagreeable but the Last. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 334

XXV

In which the Name of Heth is lifted beyond the Reach of Hateful Malice, and Mamma wishes that she had the Ten Thousand back again . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 351

XXVI

Concerning Women who won't remember their Place, and a Speech to Two Hundred of them, by Mr. V.V., no less; also revealing why Hen Cooney never found V.V. in the Crowd around the Platform . . 363

XXVII

Of one of the Triumphs of Cally's Life, and the Tête-à-tête following, which vaguely depresses her; of the Little Work-Girl who brought the Note that Sunday, oddly remet at Gentlemen's Furnishings . . 378

XXVIII

A Little Visit to the Birthplace of the Family; how Cally thinks Socialism and almost faints, and Hugo's Afternoon of Romance ends Short in the Middle. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 394

XXIX

One Hour, in which she apologizes twice for her Self, her Life and Works; and once she is beautifully forgiven, and once she never will be, this Side of the Last Trump. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 410

XXX

How it sounded like an Epitaph, but still she would not cry; how she thinks of the Beach again, and hugs a Hateful Word to her Bosom; how Hugo starts suddenly on a sort of Wedding-Trip . . . . 427

XXXI

Second Cataclysm in the House; of the Dark Cloud obscuring the New Day, and the Violets that had faded behind a Curtain, etc.; but chiefly of a Little Talk with Mamma, which produced Moral Results, after all. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 443

XXXII

Time's Jests, and now the Perfect Apology, to stand a Lifetime in Brick and Stone; concluding with a Little Scene, which she will remember while she lives . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 459

XXXIII

Her Last Day, in this History; how she wakes with a Wonder in her Heart, has her Banquet laid at the Board of the Cooneys, dreams back over the Long Strange Year; finally how she learns Something that not Everybody Knows: what it is like at the End of the World 476

XXXIV

In which to love much is to be much loved, and Kern's Dearest Dream (but one) comes True. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 495

ILLUSTRATIONS

"_IS_ THIS MISS HETH?" (Frontispiece)

"THERE'S _SOMETHING_ WRONG, SIR, MR. V.V." . . . . . . . . . . . . 118

"_PLEASE_ DON'T TROUBLE, HUGO" . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 260

"PAPA--I WANT TO INTRODUCE A GOOD FRIEND OF MINE--DR. VIVIAN". . . 474

From drawings by Raymond M. Crosby

V.V.'s Eyes