U.S.A_ - John Dos Passos [326]
There was an American officer on the train, Captain Savage, so good looking and such a funny talker, on his
-404-way to Rome with important despatches. From the minute she met Dick, Europe was wonderful. He talked French and Italian, and said how beautiful the old tumbledown towns were and screwed up his mouth so funnily when he told stories about comical things that happened in the war. He was a little like Webb only so much nicer and more selfreliant and betterlooking. From the minute she saw him she forgot al about Joe and selfreliant and betterlooking. From the minute she saw him she forgot al about Joe and as for G. H. Barrow, she couldn't stand the thought of him. When Captain Savage looked at her it made her al melt up inside; by the time they'd gotten to Rome she'd admitted to herself she was crazy about him. When they went out walking together the day they al made an excursion to the ruins of the Emperor Hadrian's vil a, and the little town where the waterfal was, she was glad that he'd been drinking. She wanted al the time to throw herself in his arms; there was something about the rainy landscape and the dark lasciviouseyed people and the old names of the towns and the garlic and oil in the food and the smiling voices and the smel of the tiny magenta wildflowers he said were cal ed cyclamens that made her not care about anything anymore. She almost fainted when he started to make love to her. Oh, she wished he would, but No, No, she couldn't just then, but the next day she'd drink in spite of the pledge she'd signed with the N.E.R. and shoot the moon. It wasn't so sordid as she'd expected but it wasn't so wonder-ful either; she was terribly scared and cold and sick, like when she'd told him she hadn't ever before. But the next day he was so gentle and strong, and she suddenly felt very happy. When he had to go back to Paris and there was nothing but office work and a lot of dreary old maids to talk to, it was too miserable.
When she found she was going to have a baby she was scared, but she didn't real y care so much; of course he'd marry her. Dad and Buster would be sore at first but they'd be sure to like him. He wrote poetry and was going
-405-to be a writer when he got out of the army; she was sure he was going to be famous. He didn't write letters very often and when she made him come back to Rome he
wasn't nearly as nice about it as she expected; but of course it must have been a shock to him. They decided that perhaps it would be better not to have the baby just then or get married til he got out of the service, though there didn't seem to be any doubt in his mind about get-ting married then. She tried several things and went rid-ing a great deal with Lieutenant Grassi, who had been ed-ucated at Eton and spoke perfect English and was so charming to her and said she was the best woman rider he'd ever known. It was on account of her going out riding so much with Lieutenant Grassi and getting in so late that the old cats at the N.E.R. got sore and sent her home to America.
Going to Paris on the train, Daughter real y was scared. The horseback riding hadn't done any good, and she was sore al over from a fal she'd had when one of Lieutenant Grassi's cavalry horses fel with her and broke his leg when she took him over a stone wal . The horse had to be shot and the Lieutenant had been horrid about it; these foreigners always showed a mean streak in the end. She was worried about people's noticing how she looked be-cause it was nearly three months now. She and Dick would have to get married right away, that's al there was to it. Perhaps it would even be better to tel people they'd been married in Rome by a fat little old priest. The minute she saw Dick's face when she was running down the corridor towards him in his hotel, she knew it was al over; he didn't love her the least bit. She walked home to her hotel hardly able to see where she was going through the slimywet Paris streets. She was surprised when she got there because she expected she'd lose her way. She almost hoped she'd lose her way. She went up to her room and sat down in a chair without taking off her