The Briary Bush A Novel
THE
BRIARY-BUSH
CONTENTS
BOOK ONE: COMMUNITY HOUSE
| CHAPTER | |
| I | Felix Decides to Change His Character 3 |
| II | “Bon Voyage!” 9 |
| III | Plans 22 |
| IV | Surprises 28 |
| V | The Struggle for Existence 37 |
| VI | A Guide to Chicago 47 |
| VII | Work and Play 52 |
| VIII | Rose-Ann Goes Away 62 |
BOOK TWO: CANAL STREET
| IX | How to Spend One’s Evenings 69 |
| X | The Detached Attitude 75 |
| XI | An Adventure in Philosophy 83 |
| XII | Bachelor’s Hall 89 |
| XIII | In Hospital 99 |
BOOK THREE: WOODS POINT
| XIV | Heart and Hand 105 |
| XV | Pre-Nuptial 108 |
| XVI | Clive’s Assistance 114 |
| XVII | Charivari 121 |
| XVIII | The Authority of the State of Illinois 131 |
| XIX | Together 134 |
| XX | “The Nest-Building Instinct” 143 |
BOOK FOUR: FIFTY-SEVENTH STREET
| XXI | Advancement 155 |
| XXII | Mainly About Clothes 162 |
| XXIII | A Bargain in Utopias 170 |
| XXIV | Studio 176 |
| XXV | St. George of the Minute 180 |
| XXVI | What Rose-Ann Wanted 187 |
| XXVII | Parties 197 |
| XXVIII | A Father-in-Law 201 |
| XXIX | Interlude at Midnight 207 |
| XXX | Fathers and Daughters 210 |
| VIXXXI | More or Less Theatrical 215 |
| XXXII | Duty 224 |
| XXXIII | A Parable 231 |
| XXXIV | Journeys 235 |
| XXXV | Civilization 244 |
| XXXVI | “We needs must know that in the days to come” 247 |
| XXXVII | Symbols 249 |
| XXXVIII | The Portrait of Felix Fay 254 |
| XXXIX | A Date on the Calendar 259 |
| XL | Celebration 264 |
BOOK FIVE: GARFIELD BOULEVARD
| XLI | Changes 271 |
| XLII | An Apparition 275 |
| XLIII | Nocturne 280 |
| XLIV | Aubade 292 |
| XLV | Foursome 297 |
| XLVI | The Rehearsal 307 |
| XLVII | Gyge’s Ring 312 |
| XLVIII | Dream-Tryst 317 |
| XLIX | A Matter of Convention 322 |
| L | Babes in the Wood 330 |
| LI | “Bienfaits de la Lune” 334 |
| LII | Sleepless Nights 341 |
| LIII | Two Letters 348 |
| LIV | The God and the Pedestal 353 |
BOOK SIX: WILSON AVENUE
| LV | The Consolations of Philosophy 363 |
| LVI | Eulenspiegel 371 |
| LVII | Three Days 380 |
| LVIII | Rendezvous 385 |
| LIX | Unanswered Questions 394 |
| LX | A Leave-taking 397 |
| LXI | Two Men Discuss a Girl 401 |
| LXII | Theory and Practice 408 |
| LXIII | In Play 416 |
| LXIV | In Earnest 422 |
I. Felix Decides to Change His Character
1
CHICAGO!
Felix Fay saw with his mind’s eye the map on thewall of the railway station—the map with a pictureof iron roads from all over the middle west centering in adark blotch in the corner.
He was sitting at a desk in the office of the Port RoyalDaily Record, writing headings on sheaves of items sentin by country correspondents.
John Hoffman has finished his new barn.
Born to Mr. and Mrs. Elbert Hayes last Wednesdaya fine ten pound boy.
Miss Edythe Brush has returned to the State Normalfor the fall term.
And so on.
Felix wrote at the top of the page, Wheaton Whittlings.A rotten heading—but it would have to do. He yawned,and then stared unseeingly at the next page.
He was not thinking about those news-items. He wasthinking about Chicago....
A year ago, he had determined to leave Port Royal forever—andgo to Chicago.
But here he was, still!
2
He had hoped, a year ago, to find, in the excitement of anew life in Chicago, healing for the desperate hurts of love.If only he had gone then!...
But he hadn’t had the money to buy a railway ticket.
He had taken this job on the Record, and settled down tolife in Port Royal again as a reporter.
His twenty-first year had gone by.
The hurts of love, so intolerably hard to bear, had healed.
After all, Joyce Tennant had loved him; nothing could4ever take away his memories of those starlit evenings onthe river, and in the little cabin on their lonely island. Shehad loved him, she had been his. There was comfort inthat thought.... The hurts of love had healed.
But the hurts of pride remained. Loving him, she hadchosen to marry another. That wound still ached....
She had seen him all along for what he was—a moonstruckdreamer! She had thought him the fit companionof a reckless love-adventure—that was all.
Her scorn, or what seemed to him her scorn, mirroredand magnified by the secret consciousness of his own weakness,came to assume in his mind the proportions of afinal and universal judgment.
A dreamer? And a dreamer only? His egotism couldnot endure the thought.
The shadow-world of ideas, of theories, of poetic fancies,amidst which he had moved all
