U.S.A_ - John Dos Passos [472]
"Wel , ma dear young lady," Judge Cassidy's voice purred behind her, "buyin' or sel in'
today?" Margo turned her head. There was the glint of a gold tooth in
-382-the smile on the broad red face under the thatch of silvery hair the same color as the grey linen suit which was crossed by another glint of gold in the watchchain looped double across the ample bulge of the judge's vest. Margo shook her head. "Nothing much doing today," she said. Judge Cassidy jerked his head and started for the door. Margo got up and fol owed, pul ing Agnes after her. When they got out in the breezy sunshine of the short street that ran to the bathingbeach, Margo introduced Agnes as her guardian angel.
"I hope you won't disappoint us today the way you did yesterday, ma dear young lady," began Judge Cassidy.
"Perhaps we can induce Mrs. Mandevil e . . ."
"I'm afraid not," broke in Margo. "You see the poor darling's so tired. . . . She's just gotten in from New York. . . . You see, Agnes dear, we are going to look at some lots. Raymond wil take you home, and lunch is al ordered for you and everything. . . . You just take a nice rest."
"Oh, of course I do need a rest," said Agnes, flushing. Margo helped her into the Buick that Raymond had just brought around from the parkingplace, kissed her and then walked down the block with the judge to where his Pierce Arrow touringcar stood shiny and glittery in the hot noon sunlight.
The judge drove his own car. Margo sat with him in
the front seat. As soon as he'd started the car she said,
"Wel , what about that check?""Why, ma dear young lady, I'm very much afraid that no funds means no
funds. . . . I presume we can recover from the estate."
"Just in time to make a first payment on a cemetery lot."
"Wel , those things do take time . . . the poor boy seems to have left his affairs in considerable confusion."
"Poor guy," said Margo, looking away through the rows of palms at the brown reaches of Biscayne Bay. Here and there on the green islands new stucco construction stuck out
-383-raw, like stagescenery out on the sidewalk in the daytime.
"Honestly I did the best I could to straighten him out."
"Of course. . . . Of course he had very considerable holdings. . . . It was that crazy New York life. Down here we take things easily, we know how to let the fruit ripen on the tree."
"Orangaes," said Margo, "and lemons." She started to laugh but the judge didn't join in. Neither of them said anything for a while. They'd
reached the end of the causeway and turned past yel ow frame wharfbuildings into the dense traffic of the Miami waterfront. Everywhere new tal buildings iced like layer-cake were standing up out of scaffolding and builder's rubbish. Rumbling over the temporary wooden bridge
across the Miami River in a roar of concretemixers and a drive of dust from the construction work, Margo said, turning a roundeyed pokerface at the judge, "Wel , I guess I'l have to hock the old sparklers." The judge laughed. and said, "I can assure you the bank wil afford you every facility. . . . Don't bother your pretty little head about it. You hold some very considerable options right now if I'm not mistaken.""I don't suppose you could lend me a couple of grand to run on on the strength of them, judge." They were running on a broad new concrete road
through dense tropical scrub. "Ma dear young lady," said Judge Cassidy in his genial drawl, "I couldn't do that for your own sake . . . think of the false interpretations . . . the idle gossip. We're a little oldfashioned down here. We're easygoin' but once the breath of scandal . . . Why, even drivin' with such a charmin' passenger through the streets of Miamah is a fol y, a very pleasant fol y. But you must realize, ma dear young lady . . . A man in ma position can't afford . . . Don't misunderstand ma motive, ma dear young lady. I never turned down a friend in ma life. . . . But ma position would unfortunately not be understood that way. Only a husband or a . . ."
-384-"Is this a proposal, judge?" she broke in sharply. Her eyes were stinging. It was hard keeping back the tears.