lection for the French
War Orphans which netted a dollar and twenty cents, and with this they
bought some brandy in case they caught cold in the night. They finished
the day in a moving-picture show and went into solemn systematic roars
of laughter at an ancient comedy, to the startled annoyance of the rest
of the audience. Their entrance was distinctly strategic, for each man
as he entered pointed reproachfully at the one just behind him. Sloane,
bringing up the rear, disclaimed all knowledge and responsibility as
soon as the others were scattered inside; then as the irate ticket-taker
rushed in he followed nonchalantly.
They reassembled later by the Casino and made arrangements for the
night. Kerry wormed permission from the watchman to sleep on the
platform and, having collected a huge pile of rugs from the booths to
serve as mattresses and blankets, they talked until midnight, and then
fell into a dreamless sleep, though Amory tried hard to stay awake and
watch that marvellous moon settle on the sea.
So they progressed for two happy days, up and down the shore by
street-car or machine, or by shoe-leather on the crowded boardwalk;
sometimes eating with the wealthy, more frequently dining frugally
at the expense of an unsuspecting restaurateur. They had their photos
taken, eight poses, in a quick-development store. Kerry insisted on
grouping them as a "varsity" football team, and then as a tough gang
from the East Side, with their coats inside out, and himself sitting
in the middle on a cardboard moon. The photographer probably has them
yet--at least, they never called for them. The weather was perfect, and
again they slept outside, and again Amory fell unwillingly asleep.
Sunday broke stolid and respectable, and even the sea seemed to mumble
and complain, so they returned to Princeton via the Fords of transient
farmers, and broke up with colds in their heads, but otherwise none the
worse for wandering.
Even more than in the year before, Amory neglected his work, not
deliberately but lazily and through a multitude of other interests.
Co-ordinate geometry and the melancholy hexameters of Corneille and
Racine held forth small allurements, and even psychology, which he had
eagerly awaited, proved to be a dull subject full of muscular reactions
and biological phrases rather than the study of personality and
influence. That was a noon class, and it always sent him dozing.
Having found that "subjective and objective
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