The Best Early Stories of F. Scott Fitzgerald by F. Scott Fitzgerald Read Free Book Online Page A

again touched her gingerly with the towel.
    “I’m all right,” she repeated.
    But though a warm peace was filling her mind and heart she felt oddly broken and chastened, as if some one had held her stripped soul up and laughed.
    VI
    Half an hour later she walked leaning on Kieth’s arm down the long central path toward the gate.
    “It’s been such a short afternoon,” he sighed, “and I’m so sorry you were sick, Lois.”
    “Kieth, I’m feeling fine now, really; I wish you wouldn’t worry.”
    “Poor old child. I didn’t realize that Benediction’d be a long service for you after your hot trip out here and all.”
    She laughed cheerfully.
    “I guess the truth is I’m not much used to Benediction. Mass is the limit of my religious exertions.”
    She paused and then continued quickly:
    “I don’t want to shock you, Kieth, but I can’t tell you how—how
inconvenient
being a Catholic is. It really doesn’t seem to apply any more. As far as morals go, some of the wildest boys I know are Catholics. And the brightest boys—I mean the ones who think and read a lot, don’t seem to believe in much of anything any more.”
    “Tell me about it. The bus won’t be here for another half-hour.”
    They sat down on a bench by the path.
    “For instance, Gerald Carter, he’s published a novel. He absolutely roars when people mention immortality. And then Howa—well, another man I’ve known well, lately, who was Phi Beta Kappa at Harvard, says that no intelligent person can believe in Supernatural Christianity. He says Christ was a great socialist, though. Am I shocking you?”
    She broke off suddenly.
    Kieth smiled.
    “You can’t shock a monk. He’s a professional shock-absorber.”
    “Well,” she continued, “that’s about all. It seems so—so
narrow.
Church schools, for instance. There’s more freedom about things that Catholic people can’t see—like birth control.”
    Kieth winced, almost imperceptibly, but Lois saw it.
    “Oh,” she said quickly, “everybody talks about everything now.”
    “It’s probably better that way.”
    “Oh, yes, much better. Well, that’s all, Kieth. I just wanted to tell you why I’m a little—lukewarm, at present.”
    “I’m not shocked, Lois. I understand better than you think. We all go through those times. But I know it’ll come out all right, child. There’s that gift of faith that we have, you and I, that’ll carry us past the bad spots.”
    He rose as he spoke and they started again down the path.
    “I want you to pray for me sometimes, Lois. I think your prayers would be about what I need. Because we’ve come very close in these few hours, I think.”
    Her eyes were suddenly shining.
    “Oh, we have, we have!” she cried. “I feel closer to you now than to any one in the world.”
    He stopped suddenly and indicated the side of the path.
    “We might—just a minute——”
    It was a pietà, a life-size statue of the Blessed Virgin set within a semicircle of rocks. 8
    Feeling a little self-conscious she dropped on her knees beside him and made an unsuccessful attempt at prayer.
    She was only half through when he rose. He took her arm again.
    “I wanted to thank Her for letting us have this day together,” he said simply.
    Lois felt a sudden lump in her throat and she wanted to say something that would tell him how much it had meant to her, too. But she found no words.
    “I’ll always remember this,” he continued, his voice trembling a little—“this summer day with you. It’s been just what I expected. You’re just what I expected, Lois.”
    “I’m awfully glad, Kieth.”
    “You see, when you were little they kept sending me snap-shots of you, first as a baby and then as a child in socks playing on the beach with a pail and shovel, and then suddenly as a wistful little girl with wondering, pure eyes—and I used to build dreams about you. A man has to have something living to cling to. I think, Lois, it was your little white soul I