THE MAN IN THE BROOKS SHIRT
281
to happen; but it was not really romantic to be the-girl-who-sits-in–
the-club-car-and-picks-up-men. She closed her eyes with a slight
shudder: some predatory view of herself had been disclosed-for an
instant. She heard her aunt's voice saying, "I don't know why you
make yourself so cheap," and "It doesn't pay to let men think
you're easy." Then she was able to open her eyes again, and smile
a little, patronizingly, for of course it hadn't worked out that way.
The object of her trip was, precisely, to tell her aunt in Portland
that she was going to be married again.
She settled down in her seat to wait and began to read an
advance copy of a new novel. When the man would ask her what–
that-book-is-you're-so-interested-in (she had heard the question
before), she would be able to reply in a tone so simple and friendly
that it could not give offense, "Why, you probably haven't heard
of it. It's not out yet." (Yet, she thought, she had not brought the
book along for purposes of ostentation: it had been given her by
a publisher's assistant who saw her off at the train, and now she
had nothing else to read. So, really, she could not be accused of
insincerity. Unless it could be that her whole way of life had been
assumed for purposes of ostentation, and the book, which looked
accidental, was actually part of that larger and truly deliberate
scheme.
If
it had not been this book, it would have been something
else, which would have served equally well to impress a pink
middle-aged stranger.)
The approach, when it came, was more unorthodox than she
had expected. The man got up from his seat and said, "Can I talk
to you?" Her retort, "What have you got to say?" rang off-key
in her own ears. It was as if Broadway had answered Indiana.
For a moment the man appeared to be taken aback, but then he
laughed. "Why, I don't know; nothing special. We can talk about
that book, I guess."
She liked him, and with her right hand made a gesture that
meant, "All right, go on." The man examined the cover. "I haven't
heard about this. It must be new."
"Yes." Her reply had more simplicity in it than she would
have thought she could achieve. "It isn't out yet. This is an
advance copy."
"I've read something else by this fellow. He's good."
"You have?" cried the girl in a sharp, suspicious voice. It
