U.S.A_ - John Dos Passos [314]
. . . Do you know what we are, Anne Elizabeth? we're the Romans of the Twentieth Century"; he burst out laughing, "and I always wanted to be a Greek." Anne Elizabeth who was a great admirer of Wilson was annoyed at first by what he was saying. He was nervous and excited and went on talking and talking. For this once she broke her pledge and drank some hot rum with him, as the room was terribly chil y. In the light of the street lamps on the little corner of the Spanish Stairs they could see from Ed's window, they could see the jumbled dark-ness of crowds continual y passing and repassing. "By God, Anne Elizabeth, it's terrible to think about it. . . . You don't know the way people feel, people praying for him in peasants' huts . . . oh, we don't know anything and we're grinding them al underfoot. . . . It's the sack of Corinth . . . they think he's going to give them peace, give them back the cosy beforethewar world. It makes you sick to hear al the speeches. . . . Oh, Christ, let's stay human as long as we can . . . not get reptile's eyes and stone faces and ink in our veins instead of blood. . . . I'm damned if I'l be a Roman."
"I know what you mean," said Anne Elizabeth, ruffling up his hair. "You're an artist, Dick, and I love you very much . . . you're my poet, Dick."
"To hel with them al ," said Dick, throwing his arms around her. In spite of the hot rum, Dick was very nervous when he took his clothes off. She was trembling when he came to her on the bed. It was al right, but she bled a good deal and they didn't have a very good time. At supper after--375-wards they couldn't seem to find anything to say to each other. She went home early and Dick wandered deso-lately around the streets among the excited crowds and the flags and the il uminations and the uniforms. The Corso was packed; Dick went into a café and was greeted by a group of Italian officers who insisted on setting him up to drinks. One young fel ow with an olive skin and very long black eyelashes, whose name was Carlo Hugobuoni, became his special friend and entertainer and took him around to al the tables introducing him as Il capitan Salvaggio Ricardo. It was al asti spumante and Evviva gli ameri-cani and Italia irridenta and Meester Veelson who had saved civiltá and evviva la pace, and they ended by taking Dick to see the bel e ragazze. To his great relief al the girls were busy at the house where they took him and Dick was able to slip away and go back to the hotel to bed. The next morning when he came down to drink his
coffee there was Carlo waiting for him in the hotel lobby. Carlo was very sleepy; he hadn't been able to find a raggaza until five in the morning but now he was at the orders of his caro amico to show him round the town. Al day Dick had him with him, in spite of his efforts to get rid of him without hurting his feelings. He waited while Dick went to get his orders from the military mission, had lunch with him and Ed Schuyler; it was al Ed could do to get him away so that Dick could go to Ed's apartment to meet Anne Elizabeth. Ed was very funny about it, said that, as he'd lost Magda, he wouldn't be able to do anything worth-while there himself and was glad to have Dick using the room for venereal purposes. Then he linked his arm firmly in Carlo's and carried him off to a café. Dick and Anne Elizabeth were very tender and quiet. It was their last afternoon together. Dick was leaving for Paris that night, and Anne Elizabeth expected to be sent to Constantinople any day. Dick promised he'd get himself out to see her there. That night Anne Elizabeth went with
-376-him to the station. There they found Carlo⊥ waiting with a huge salami wrapped in silver paper and a bottle of chianti. The fel ow that was going with him had brought the despatch cases, so there was nothing for Dick to do but get on the train. He couldn't seem to think of anything to say and it was a relief when the train pul ed out. As soon as he reported to Colonel Edgecombe he was
sent off again to Warsaw. Through Germany al the trains were late and people looked deathly pale and everybody talked of a bolshevik uprising. Dick was walking up and down the snowy platform, stamping to keep his feet warm, during an endless wait at a station in East Prussia, when he ran into Fred Summers. Fred was a guard on a Red Cross supply car and invited Dick to ride with him a couple of stations. Dick fetched his despatches and went along. Fred had the caboose fitted with an oilstove and a cot and a great store of wine, cognac and Baker's chocolate. They rode al day together talking as the train joggled slowly across an endless grey frozen plain. "It's not a peace," said Fred Summers, "it's a cockeyed massacre! Christ, you ought to see the pogroms." Dick laughed and laughed.