An American Tragedy by Theodore Dreiser

encountered Gilbert, Myra and their parents from time to

time, there had never been a word about Clyde. Indeed all

the information she had gathered concerning him was that

originally furnished by Mrs. Griffiths, who had said that he

was a poor nephew whom her husband had brought on

from the west in order to help in some way. Yet now, as she

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viewed Clyde on this occasion, he did not seem so utterly

unimportant or poverty-stricken by any means—quite

interesting and rather smart and very attractive, and

obviously anxious to be taken seriously by a girl like herself,

as she could see. And this coming from Gilbert’s cousin—a

Griffiths—was flattering.

Arriving at the Trumbull’s, a family which centered about

one Douglas Trumbull, a prosperous lawyer and widower

and speculator of this region, who, by reason of his children

as well as his own good manners and legal subtlety, had

managed to ingratiate himself into the best circles of

Lycurgus society, she suddenly confided to Jill Trumbull,

the elder of the lawyer’s two daughters: “You know I had a

funny experience to-day.” And she proceeded to relate all

that had occurred in detail. Afterward at dinner, Jill having

appeared to find it most fascinating, she again repeated it

to Gertrude and Tracy, the younger daughter and only son

of the Trumbull family.

“Oh, yes,” observed Tracy Trumbull, a law student in his

father’s office, “I’ve seen that fellow, I bet, three or four

times on Central Avenue. He looks a lot like Gil, doesn’t

he? Only not so swagger. I’ve nodded to him two or three

times this summer because I thought he was Gil for the

moment.”

“Oh, I’ve seen him, too,” commented Gertrude Trumbull.

“He wears a cap and a belted coat like Gilbert Griffiths,

sometimes, doesn’t he? Arabella Stark pointed him out to

me once and then Jill and I saw him passing Stark’s once

on a Saturday afternoon. He is better looking than Gil, any

day, I think.”

This confirmed Sondra in her own thoughts in regard to

Clyde and now she added: “Bertine Cranston and I met him

one evening last spring at the Griffiths’. We thought he was

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too bashful, then. But I wish you could see him now—he’s

positively handsome, with the softest eyes and the nicest

smile.”

“Oh, now, Sondra,” commented Jill Trumbull, who, apart

from Bertine and Bella, was as close to Sondra as any girl

here, having been one of her classmates at the Snedeker

School, “I know some one who would be jealous if he could

hear you say that.”

“And wouldn’t Gil Griffiths like to hear that his cousin’s

better looking than he is?” chimed in Tracy Trumbull. “Oh,

say—”

“Oh, he,” sniffed Sondra irritably. “He thinks he’s so much.

I’ll bet anything it’s because of him that the Griffiths won’t

have anything to do with their cousin. I’m sure of it, now

that I think of it. Bella would, of course, because I heard her

say last spring that she thought he was good-looking. And

Myra wouldn’t do anything to hurt anybody. What a lark if

some of us were to take him up some time and begin

inviting him here and there—once in a while, you know—

just for fun, to see how be would do. And how the Griffiths

would take it. I know well enough it would be all right with

Mr. Griffiths and Myra and Bella, but Gil I’ll bet would be as

peeved as anything. I couldn’t do it myself very well,

because I’m so close to Bella, but I know who could and

they couldn’t say a thing.” She paused, thinking of Bertine

Cranston and how she disliked Gil and Mrs. Griffiths. “I

wonder if he dances or rides or plays tennis or anything like

that?” She stopped and meditated amusedly, the while the

others studied her. And Jill Trumbull, a restless, eager girl

like herself, without so much of her looks or flair, however,

observed: “It would be a prank, wouldn’t it? Do you

suppose the Griffiths really would dislike it very much?”

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“What’s the difference if they did?” went on Sondra. “They

couldn’t do anything more than ignore him, could they? And

who would care about that, I’d like to know. Not the people

who invited him.”

“Go on, you fellows, stir up a local scrap, will you?” put in

Tracy Trumbull. “I’ll bet anything that’s what comes of it in

the end. Gil Griffiths won’t like it, you can gamble on that. I

wouldn’t if I were in his position. If you want to stir up a lot

of feeling here, go to it, but I’ll lay a bet that’s what it comes

to.”

Now Sondra Finchley’s nature was of just such a turn that a

thought of this kind was most appealing to her. However, as

interesting as the idea was to her at the time, nothing

definite might have come of it, had it not been that

subsequent to this conversation and several others held

with Bertine Cranston, Jill Trumbull, Patricia Anthony, and

Arabella Stark, the news of this adventure, together with

some comments as to himself, finally came to the ears of

Gilbert Griffiths, yet only via Constance Wynant to whom,

as local gossips would have it, he was prospectively

engaged. And Constance, hoping that Gilbert would marry

her eventually, was herself irritated by the report that

Sondra had chosen to interest herself in Clyde, and then,

for no sane reason, as she saw it, proclaim that he was

more attractive than Gilbert. So, as much to relieve herself

as to lay some plan of avenging herself upon Sondra, if

possible, she conveyed the whole matter in turn to Gilbert,

who at once proceeded to make various cutting references

to Clyde and Sondra. And these carried back to Sondra,

along with certain embellishments by Constance, had the

desired effect. It served to awaken in her the keenest desire

for retaliation. For if she chose she certainly could be nice

to Clyde, and have others be nice to him, too. And that

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would mean perhaps that Gilbert would find himself faced

by a social rival of sorts—his own cousin, too, who, even

though he was poor, might come to be liked better. What a

lark! At the very same time there came to her a way by

which she might most easily introduce Clyde, and yet

without seeming so to do, and without any great harm to

herself, if it did not terminate as she wished.

For in Lycurgus among the younger members of those

smarter families whose children had been to the Snedeker

School, existed a rather illusory and casual dinner and

dance club called the “Now and Then.” It had no definite

organization, officers or abode. Any one, who, because of

class and social connections was eligible and chose to

belong, could call a meeting of other members to give a

dinner or dance or tea in their homes.

And how simple, thought Sondra in browsing around for a

suitable vehicle by which to introduce Clyde, if some one

other than herself who belonged could be induced to get up

something and then at her suggestion invite Clyde. How

easy, say, for Jill Trumbull to give a dinner and dance to the

“Now and Thens,” to which Clyde might be invited. And by

this ruse she would thus be able to see him again and find

out just how much he did interest her and what he was like.

Accordingly a small dinner for this club and its friends was

announced for the first Thursday in December, Jill Trumbull

to be the hostess. To it were to be invited Sondra and her

brother, Stuart, Tracy and Gertrude Trumbull, Arabella

Stark, Bertine and her brother, and some others from Utica

and Gloversville as well. And Clyde. But in order to

safeguard Clyde against any chance of failure or even

invidious comment of any kind, not only she but Bertine and

Jill and Gertrude were to be attentive to and considerate of

him. They were to see that his dance program was

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complete and that neither at dinner nor on the dance floor

was he to be left to himself, but was to be passed on most

artfully from one to the other until evening should be over.

For, by reason of that, others might come to be interested

in him, which would not only take the thorn from the thought

that Sondra alone, of all the better people of Lycurgus, had

been friendly to him, but would sharpen the point of this

development for Gilbert, if not for Bella and the other

members of the Griffiths family.

And in accordance with this plan, so it was done.

And so it was that Clyde, returning from the factory one

early December evening about two weeks after his