Основы интерпретации художественного текста (на материале английского языка). Учебно-методическое пособие

a statement and its actual sense. The actual sense is the true one that an intelligent reader is expected to deduce.

Irony may be extended over a whole story and may be created exisra-linguistically by the contrast between what the character seeks and what he obtains. This is called "irony of life".

The author may also create irony by letting the reader know something a character does not know, or amazing both the reader and the character by quite an unexpected result or consequence of an action, which turns out to be quite opposite to what the character hoped and expected. This is called "dramatic irony". O'Henry's story The Cop and the Anthem affords an excellent illustration of dramatic irony. The series of unexpected turns of events and the surprise ending in the story are deeply ironical. The story affords examples of irony that is developed both extralinguistically and linguistically. For example, the reader senses the writer's ironic attitude and tone in the following: "When wild geese honk high of nights, and when women without sealskin coats grow kind to their husbands, and when Soapy moves uneasily on his bench in the park, you may know that winter is near at hand." The generic present tense in this statement makes it sound as a generally acknowledged truth. But nobody can accept it as a universal truth and that also contributes to the ironical effect it produces.

Irony may be achieved by simulated adoption of another's point of view for the purpose of revealing certain weaknesses, or for the purpose of ridicule and sarcasm. The contrast between the adopted view-point and the author's viewpoint results in irony. Such is the case in The lady's Maid by K. Mansfield, where the irony is developed by contrasting the point of view of the naive narrator to that of the author. The irony is clearly felt despite the lively and friendly tone of the maid's narrative.

One should, therefore, distinguish between the authorial tone and the character's tone. Recall the story Arrangement in Black and White. The tone of the main character is lively, vigorous, excited. At the same lime the story is a manifestation of the author's ironic attitude to radically prejudiced Americans. The irony is created by the contrast between the protagonist's simulated friendliness towards Negroes and her actual prejudiced attitude to them. The character's vigorous tone s expressed verbally, whereas the authorial ironic tone is implied.

Therefore, when irony is developed verbally, it affects the tone of the narrative and gives it an ironic ring. But when it is developed by extra-linguistic means, the tone need not be ironical.

M. Khrapchenko noted that one should distinguish between the pre-vailing tone of a literary work and emotional overtones, which may accompany particular scenes in the story. They all form a "tonal system"1 which reflects the changes of the narrator's attitude to his subject matter. The emotional overtones generally form a "tonal unity' which means a consistency of attitude towards the events and characters. This consistency of attitude is reflected in the consistent use of language appropriate to the events and characters. The 'tonal unity' forms the prevailing tone of the story, which plays the dominant role and determines to a great extent the message of the literary work.

In The Cop and the Anthem the emotional overtones vary as the plot unfolds. The tone is involved in the following passage: "If he could reach a table in the restaurant unsuspected success would be his ... The total would not be so high as to call forth any supreme manifestation of revenge from cafe management; and yet the meat would leave him filled and happy for the journey to his winter refuge". The tone is excited in "He would pull himself out of the mire; he would make a man of himself again; he would conquer the evil that had taken possession of him

..." But the prevailing tone of the story is ironic. It is produced by the numerous cases of verbal irony in the narrative and reflects the author's attitude to the problem raised.

As stated above, the tone expresses not only the relationship between the narrator and the subject matter, but also the relationship between the narrator and the reader.

The narrator may establish an intimate, personal, or formal relationship with the reader. Hence he may discourse at ease and assume a familiar tone, or he may retain a relative distance and narrate in an official tone. The indices of this aspect of tone are also linguistic.

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The official tone is set up by words and idioms that have an official ring, e.g. "relevant" (for "important"), "up to the present time" (for "up to now"), "Permit me to inform you" (for "Let me tell you"). It may be set up by carefully organized syntax and carefully expressed ideas admitting no deviations from the standard. In general, the official tone accompanies narratives with a welldefined progression of ideas.

The familiar tone is established by features of the spoken language, the conversational style in particular. To these features belong colloquial words and idioms. Informality of tone may be achieved by the occurrence

of very formal language alongside jargonisms and slang, without its being linguistically inappropriate, since that is a characteristic feature of con-versation1. Delaying devices (e.g. "sort of", "well", "shall I say"), colloquial parenthetic phrases (e.g. "you know what I mean"), disregard of the end focus principle by placing the nucleus not in final position (e.g. "Fine you think it is") — all contribute to the establishment of a personal relationship between the narrator and the reader, at the same time they set up a familiar tone. It ougrit to be added that in fictional speech such devices also function as effective means of characterization, individualization and verisimilitude.

The familiar tone in J. Thurber's amusing story The Night the Bed Fell is maintained by an abundance of devices traditionally used in spoken conversational style. Among them are colloquial idioms fone of those affairs" for "a cot", "a mighty jerk"), colloquial words ("wobbly", "bawl", "yell", "quit"), repetition which is generally avoided in other styles ("exchanged shout for shout", "By this time my mother, still shouting, pursued by Herman, still shouting, was trying to ..."). The narrator is at his ease and sets up a very personal relationship with the reader assuming an informal tone which is in keeping with the domesticity of the subject of his narrative. The tone of the story is familiar, on the one hand, and vigorous, excited and humorous, on the other. Deliberate exaggerations ("with a tremendous banging crash"), un-expected comparisons ("The situation was finally put together like a gigantic jigsaw puzzle"), the prevalence of physical descriptions containing vocabulary which appeals to our hearing ("racket", "noise", "shouts", "uproar", "howl", "wail", "bawl", "scream", "batter", "bang", "crash"', "bark", "creakings", "whistle", "tinkle"), and to our sight ("piled her valuables in a neat stack", "crawled into bed") contribute greatly to the humorous effect the story produces.

Finally, it should be stated that tone, attitude and atmosphere are important elements of any literary work, which affect the reader's emotional response. The analysis of tone, attitude and atmosphere is a move towards the underlying thoughts and ideas contained in the work; it can be seen as a link between the surface contents and all that lies beneath it.

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LECTURE 5. THE MESSAGE OF A LITERARY WORK

THEORETICAL PRELIMINARIES

The plot with its characters, actions and setting forms the so called 'surface contents' of a literary work. The surface contents, which are re-presented in concrete individuals, situations and actions, may entertain and keep the reader curious. Some read only to learn what happens next. But a skilled reader discovers what lies beyond the surface contents. In a literary work he looks for the theme. He understands all the implications encoded in the story. He is sensitive to the author's attitude towards the characters, events and problems in the story. In other words, he looks for and understands what is known as 'the underlying thought contents'1 of the literary work, which convey its message.

The theme of a story is the main area of interest treated in the story. There are stories on the theme of love, or love for one's Mother-land; there are books on the theme of family relations, or on the anti-war theme.

The plots of different stories on one and the same theme may be based on an identical type of conflict, as The Lady's Maid by K. Mansfield and Arrangement in Black and White by D. Parker. The theme of both the stories is human relations in the bourgeois society, both are based on the conflict between man and the established order with its racial hostility, injustice and exploitation. But K. Mansfield and D. Parker have embodied the similar theme and conflict into unique artistic forms, incomparable characters and events, and have managed to do it in a most effective way. The stories reveal different aspects of human relationship in the bourgeois world and arouse different responses on the part of the reader.

The theme performs a unifying function. It is clearly seen in The Oval Portrait by E.A. Poe. The theme of each part of the tale is the power of beauty and art to stir emotions. Despite the differences in the described events and the style, both the parts reveal the storm of emotions which beauty stirs up in man. The two episodes develop the same theme. Hence, they both express it and thus bind the two parts into an organic whole. The effect that the artistic unity produces is brilliant, vivid and enduring.

The theme of the story implies the problem which the writer raises. His view and attitude to this problem is revealed in the way he develops the theme of the story. The most important idea that the author ex-presses in the process of developing the theme is the message of the story. The theme is therefore organically connected with the author's message.

The message is generally expressed implicity, i.e. indirectly, and has a complex analytical character, being created by the interaction of numerous implications which the different elements of the literary work have. It is only by analysis of those implications that one may reveal the message of a literary work.

Implication is the suggestion that is not expressed directly but understood. Implication may be conveyed by different techniques, such as parallelism, contrast, recurrence of events or situations, artistic details, symbols, arrangement of plot structure, etc.

Thus parallelism may be deeply suggestive. For example, in The Roads We Take by O'Henry there is deep implication in the parallel actions of the dream and reality (in the dream Shark Dodson murders his companion "with cold ferocity" to get the booty; in the event that presents reality Dodson, the businessman, ruins his friend "with cold ferocity" again in order to increase his profits). Parallelism here invites the reader to compare these actions. It is suggestive not only of the ugly nature of the protagonist, but also of the immoral means he uses to make money.

Events which begin and end a story sometimes parallel. This circling of the action back to its beginning implies that nothing has changed and this may be the whole point. The story of the firm Twigg and Dersingham in Priestley's Angel Pavement begins with Dersingham's talk with Smeeth about the sad affairs of the firm and the necessity to dismiss one of the clerks. At the end of the novel Dersingham has a similar talk, with Smeeth again, about the bankruptcy of the firm.

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It returns the reader to the opening scene. This circling of actions suggests and emphasizes that nothing has improved, none of the characters have managed to avoid ruin and poverty.

Implication may be conveyed by contrast on different levels: linguistic and extra-linguistic. In the story Arrangement in Black and White, which is an attack on racial prejudices and hypocrisy among the middle classes in the USA, the implication is mainly conveyed by the contrast between the impression that the protagonist tries to produce and the impression she actually produces. The contrast is reinforced by the antithetical thematic planes of the vocabulary: "the colored people", "nigger" versus "the white people"; j'broad-minded" versus "narrow-

minded"; "awfully fond of", "love", "crazy about some of them"

versus "wouldn't sit at the table with one for a million dollars", "keep their place". Moreover, this implication is also suggested by the antithesis in the title Arrangement in Black and White.

Reccurence (or repetition) is another means of conveying implica¬tion. Among the repeated linguistic elements there may be stylistic devices, or emotionally colored words, or even neutral words, but when repeated the latter may acquire special semantic relevance. The semantically relevant word need not be the most frequent one in the story. It is a well-known fact that functional words, such as "a", "the", "to", "be", generally recur most often, but they are not necessarily the most important words in the text. However, once a word or any element of the story is felt to be especially significant for the understanding of the whole, its recurrence acquires relevance in the context of the story. The repeated word (or phrase), even if it is a neutral one, may acquire emotional charge and become a key-word, important for the understanding of the message of the story. There often occurs semantic repetition, when one and the same idea is repeated, though every time it is formulated differently. It should be emphasized that the recurrent elements do not contain in themselves indications of what in particular their implications are. They acquire relevance and suggest implication only in the context of the story in which they occur.

Recurrence may be traced in the plot of any story. Though the events in the plot generally vary among themselves, they have a similarity in function— each of them recalls the reader to the central problem. For instance, no matter how different the events in the story The Lady's Maid may seem to be, each of them returns the reader to the main problem — the inequality between the rich and those who serve them. In this sense writers fullfil contradictory demands: the demand for variation and the demand for reccurrence. If a writer fails to fulfill the former, his story will be monotonous and uninteresting. If he fails to fulfill the latter, it will seem aimless and not directed at any definite message.

i Implication is often suggested by the similar features in the varying scenes, and by the varying features in the similar scenes. The Pawnbroker's Wife affords a good illustration of that. No matter how different the scenes in the story might seem to be, they reveal similar aspects of Mrs. Cloote's character: her immorality, her covetous, deceitful and wicked nature.

Fiction provides many examples of recurrence with implication. Among them one often finds details. For instance, in J. Cheever's story The Pleasures of Solitude the "coldness" of the wind, the rain, the weather, the boys who came "shaking with cold" are artistic details. The neutral word "cold" acquires expressive force in the context of the story and conveys deep implication. It suggests the world that Ellen was afraid of and was eager to isolate and shelter herself from.

When an artistic detail is repeated several times and is associated with a broader concept than the original, it develops into a symbol. A symbol is a word (or an object the word stands for), which represents a concept broader than the literal sense of the word. It is therefore something concrete and material standing for something else that is immaterial and has a more significant sense. A symbol is a metaphoric expression of the concept it stands for. Like the metaphor, it is based on the use of a word in its transferred meaning and suggests some likeness between two different objects or concepts.

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Symbols may be traditional or personal. An example of a traditional symbol is a rose. The rose is a traditional symbol of beauty.

A writer establishes personal symbols by means of repetition and repeated association with a broader concept. For example, in Rain by S. Maugham the rain is a symbol of the primitive powers of nature before which man is powerless and all his efforts are useless and hopeless. The association of rain with this broad concept is established in the following passage: " ... it (rain) was unmerciless and somehow terrible; you felt in it the malignancy of the primitive powers of nature. It did not pour, it flowed. ... it seemed to have a fury of its own. And sometimes you felt that you must scream if it did not stop, and then suddenly you felt powerless, as though your bones had suddenly become soft; and you were miserable and hopeless." Rain, therefore, symbolizes the powers of nature which proved irresistible for Mr. Davidson.

To use a symbol is to represent an idea by suggestion rather than by direct expression. The

implication. For example, it is a characteristic feature of modern fiction to begin a story at a point where certain things are already taken for granted. Thus the story Arrangement in Black and White opens as follows: "The woman with the pink velvet poppies ... traversed the crowded room ... and clutched the lean arm of her host." The definite articles are indications of previous knowledge about the identity of the referents, although the reader can work them out only by reading on. The writer does not introduce the woman and the place she comes to. Each of the definite articles carries a presupposition that the reader already shares the author's knowledge about them. By this device the author sets up the world of the story with its implications of the past right from the start, though the reader has to construct this world himself while reading on. Presupposition creates implication and at the same time arouses the reader's interest.

As stated above, the author's message does not lie on the surface. It is usually expressed implicity and may be suggested by a variety of means — parallelism, contrast, repetition, artistic details, symbols.

The author's message is not always a solution of the problems raised in the story. At times the writer raises urgent and relevant problems, the solution of which it is as yet difficult to foresee. His intention may not be to suggest a certain solution (the problem may hardly admit solution), the writer may intend only to raise the problem and focus the reader's attention on it. In such cases the message of his literary work will not suggest any solution. It will pose the problem and reveal its relevance. Moreover he message depends on the writer's outlook, and the reader may either share the writer's views or not. On account of all that, L.I. Timofeyev distinguishes the following types of messages: (a) messages that suggest definite solutions (b) messages that raise a problem (c) messages in which the solution of the problem is not adequate .

The author's message is closely connected with the author's attitude. A literary work "is not simply a fictitious, record of conduct, but also a study and judgement of conduct..."2.jEven if the writer attempts to conceal his attitude by shifting the responsibility of storytelling on to a character in the story and assumes an impartial or detached tone, he cannot prevent his characters from suggesting a definite attitude in the reader's mind.

The message more often than not acquires definite shape in the process of deep thought about what the writer discovered when observing reality. It reflects his attitude to the discovered aspect of people's nature and relations, his understanding of the influence of social phenomena and conventions upon the individual. A.N. Vasilyeva writes: "Идея художественного произведенияэто квинтэссенция открытой художником в жизни истины, активно утверждаемая им средствами искусства…» Hence the message generally has an evaluative character.

The message of a story is inferred from the synthetic images created by the author and does not exist separately from them. The synthetic images embody the message. The protagonist, in particular, is often considered to be the message itself. Therefore, it is mainly through the characters that the message is revealed j Besides that, the message cannot be revealed without

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taking into account the theme of the story, as well as the author's attitude. When analysing the message contained in the work one must also take into consideration the title of the story.

The title is the first element to catch our eye, but its meaning and function may be determined only retrospectively. The title acquires its precise meaning when related to the whole story. Then it may acquire a totally different meaning, contrary to what its components generally mean. The title of S. Maugham's story Mr. Know-All illustrates that. A "know-all" has a derogatory connotation, but when related to the main character of the story, it acquires a positive meaning, as Mr. Know-All turns out to be not only a knowledgeable man, but also a good psychologist and a real gentleman.

The story may clarify the meaning of one of the components of the title. In Winter in July by D. Lessing "winter" appears to be not a season, but a period of decline. In The Quiet American by G. Greene "quiet" acquires an ironical shade, as the "quiet" Pyle turns out to he vicious and brings a great deal of evil and harm.

The title may acquire a symbolic meaning. Thus the components in the title The Moon and Sixpence by S. Maugham symbolize different sets of values.

The title may have the following functions:

It may serve as a means of conveying the author's message. There are titles which actually formulate the author's messaged (e .g. Say No to Death by D. Cusak, or Live with Lightning by M. Wilson).

It may serve as a means of cohesion — it may unite the components of a story to form a whole. In The Apple Tree by J. Galsworthy, for example, the "apple tree" links all the scenes. When Ashurst first met Megan and she brought him to the village, the apple tree is "in leaf, and all but in flower — its crimson buds just bursting." When the first kissed Megan, "the pink clusters of the apple blossom" and "the unearthly beauty of the apple blossom" form the setting of the scene, The story ends with the words "The Apple tree, the singing and the gold! " The final phrase repeats the epigraph. By framing the story, this phrase unites it into an indivisible whole. The repetition of "the apple tree" and its constant associations attach to it a symbolic meaning — that of love, spring and beauty.

The title may serve as a means of focussing the reader 's attention on the most relevant characters or details (e.g. The Lady s Maid by K. Mansfield, Hamlet by W. Shakespeare).

The title may characterize the protagonist (e.g. The Man of Property by J. Galsworthy).

Any title orients the reader towards the story. It may then serve as a means of foreshadowing (e.g. Mistaken Identity by ML. Twain). It may also disorientate the reader, when it contrasts with the story and acquires an ironic ring (e.g. The Pleasures of Solitude by J. Cheever).

Therefore, the title is another aid for the reader, which he should not neglect when probing into the underlying contents.

On revealing the author's message, the reader generally analyses his own rational and emotional response to the story, draws his own conclusions. These conclusions may not necessarily coincide with the author's message. That is why M.B. Khrapchenko and L.I.Timofeyev dis-tinguish between the so-called objective message and the author's message.

The objective message is the final conclusion that the reader draws from the analysis of his own response to the story and from the author's message, contained in the story. The objective message may be broader than the author's message, because it is based on more profound historical experience. 1 Every new generation judges the literary works created a century or more ago in a new way, as the new generation possesses more information about the outcome of many historical processes than the writers of those works could foresee.

The effectiveness of the writer's presentation of the message depends on how credible and exciting the plot is, how lifelike and convincing the characters are, how expressive the language is, how well the literary techniques are used.

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LECTURE 6.

FINAL INTERPRETATION OF THE ARTISTIC WHOLE

A literary work is an artistic whole which is created by the interaction of all its elements: the characters, setting, plot, plot structure, language, literary techniques, etc. The writer employs all the different linguistic and extra-linguistic elements, carefully plans them to fit one another in order to accomplish his purpose — to convey the message and impress his readers. 1

Among the various prose forms of fiction the short story is characterized by a more tightly knit structure. It generally has a limited number of characters, a restricted time span. It is devoted to a single predominant event and includes only a few actions. Nevertheless it contains deep implication. Therefore, the linguistic and literary elements in the story are expressively more loaded, they carry greater weight of significance, contribute greatly to the message of the story and to the total effect it produces.

It should be stressed again that all the elements which make up a literary work are relevant to its message, and that the message and theme of a literary work unify all its elements into an artistic whole.

When interpreting fiction one must bear in mind that contents and form are inseperable. There may be no form without contents, as there may be no contents without a certain form. A work of art is formed contents. Any change of the form of the literary work results in a change of its contents, and vice versa.

Contents and form in literature are relative notions. What seems to be contents on one level may turn out to be form on a higher level. Thus plot and character are generally referred to as contents. But plot and character are at the same time the form of expressing the message.

One might think that contents are prior to form, as the writer imagines the characters and circumstances before he writes about them. But, as V. Kozhinov indicates, the author's intention is not as yet the contents of his work. It is only when the intention acquires definite material form and structure, does it acquire contents .

All the elements work together to accomplish the author's message. They all serve to evoke a rational and emotional response towards the different aspects of life and human nature that are revealed by the writer.

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СОДЕРЖАНИЕ ПРАКТИЧЕСКИХ ЗАНЯТИЙ

Практическое занятие №1

Practical Analysis

Specimen Story

While reading the following story, note its plot structure.

1.Are the events arranged chronologically? Do they catch and hold the reader‘s interest?

2.What is the role of the exposition?

3.What is the climax of the story?

4.Is there a denouement in the story?

O'Henry

THE COP AND THE ANTHEM

On his bench in Madison Square Soapy moved uneasily. When wild geese honk high of nights, and when women without sealskin coats grow kind to their husbands, and when Soapy moves uneasily on his bench in the park, you may know that winter is near at hand.

A dead leaf fell in Soapy's lap. That was Jack Frost's card. Jack is kind to the regular denizens of Madison Square, and gives fair warning of his annual call. At the corners of four streets he hands his pasteboard to the North Wind, footman of the mansion of All Outdoors, so that the inhabitants thereof may make ready.

Soapy's mind became cognizant of the fact that the time had come for him to resolve himself into a singular Committee of Ways and Means r) to provide against the coming rigor. And therefore he moved uneasily R on his bench.

The hibernatoria ambitions of Soapy were not of the highest. In them were no considerations of Mediterranean cruises, of soporific Southern skies or drifting in the Vesuvian Bay. Three months on the Island was what his soul craved. Three months of assured board and bed and congenial company, safe from Boreas and bluecoats, seemed to Soapy the essence of things desirable.

For years the hospitable Blackwell's had been his winter quarters. Just as his more fortunate fellow New Yorkers had bought their tickets to Palm Beach and the Riviera each winter, so Soapy had made his humble arrangements for his annual hegira to the Island. And now the time was come. On the previous night three Sabbath newspapers, distributed beneath his coat, about his ankles and over his lap, had failed to repulse the cold as he slept on his bench near the spurting fountain in the ancient square. So the Island loomed big and timely in Soapy's mind. He scorned the provisions made in the name of charity for the city's dependents. In Soapy's opinion the Law was more benign than Philanthropy. There was an endless round of institutions, municipal and eleemosynary, on which he might set out and receive lodging and food accordant with the simple life. But to one of Soapy's proud spirit the gifts of charity are encumbered. If not in coin you must pay in humiliation of spirit for every benefit received at the hands of philanthropy. As Caesar had his Brutus, every bed of charity must have its toll of a bath, every loaf of bread its compensation of a private and personal inquisition. Wherefore it is better to be a guest of the law, which, though conducted by rules, does not meddle unduly with a gentleman's private affairs.

Soapy, having decided to go to the Island, at once set about accomplishing his desire. There were many easy ways of doing this. The pleasantest was to dine luxuriously at some expensive restaurant; and then, after declaring insolvency, be handed over quietly and without uproar to a policeman. An accommodating magistrate would do the rest.

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Soapy left his bench and strolled out of the square and across the level sea of asphalt, where Broadway and Fifth Avenue flow together. Up Broadway he turned, and halted at a glittering cafe, where are gathered together nightly the choicest products of the grape, the silkworm, and the protoplasm.

Soapy had confidence in himself from the lowest button of his vest upward. He was shaven, and his coat was decent and his neat black, ready-tied four-in-hand had been presented to him by a lady missionary on Thanksgiving Day. If he could reach a table in the restaurant unsuspected success would be his. The portion of him that would show above the table would raise no doubt in the waiter's mind. A roasted mallard duck, thought Soapy, would be about the thing with a bottle of Chablis, and thenCamembert, a demi-tasse8 and a cigar. One dollar for the cigar would be enough. The total would not be so high as to call forth any supreme manifestation of revenge from cafe management; and yet the meat would leave him filled and happy for the journey to his winter refuge.

But as Soapy set foot inside the restaurant door the head waiter's eye fell upon his frayed trousers and decadent shoes. Strong and ready hands turned him about and conveyed him in silence and haste to the sidewalk and averted the ignoble fate of the menaced mallard.

Soapy turned-off Broadway. It seemed that his route to the coveted Island was not to be an epicurean one. Some oilier way of entering limbo must be thought of.

At a corner of Sixth Avenue electric lights and cunningly displayed wares behind plate-glass made a shop window conspicuous. Soapy took a cobblestone and dashed it through the glass. People came running around the corner, a policeman in the lead. Soapy stood still, with his hands in his pockets, and smiled at the sight of brass buttons.

"Where's the man that done that? " inquired the officer, excitedly.

"Don't you figure out that I might have had something to do with it?" said Soapy, not without sarcasm, but friendly, as one greets good fortune.

The policeman's mind refused to accept Soapy even as a clue. Men who smash windows do not remain to parley with the law's minions. They take to their heels. The policeman saw a man halfway down the block running to catch a car. With drawn club he joined to the pursuit. Soapy, with disgust in his heart, loafed along, twice unsuccessful.

On the opposite side of the street was a restaurant of no great pretensions. It catered to large appetites and modest purses. Its crockery and atmosphere were thick; its soup and napery thin. Into this place Soapy took his accusive shoes and telltale trousers without challenge. At a table he sat and consumed beefsteak, flapjacks, doughnuts and pie. And then to the waiter he betrayed the fact that the minutest coin and himself were strangers.

"Now, get busy and call a cop," said Soapy. "And don't keep a gentleman waiting."

"No cop for youse," said the waiter, with a voice like butter cakes .md an eye like the cherry in a Manhattan cocktail. "Hey, Con!"

Neatly upon his left ear on the callous pavement two waiters pitched Soapy. He arose, joint by joint, as a carpenter's rule opens, and beat the lust from his clothes. Arrest seemed but a rosy dream. The Island seemed very far away. A policeman who stood before a drug store two doors away laughed and walked down the street.

Five blocks Soapy travelled before his courage permitted him to woo capture again. This time the opportunity presented, what, he fatuously termed to himself a "cinch". A young woman of a modest and pleasing guise was standing before a show window gazing with sprightly interest at its display of shaving mugs and inkstands, and two yards from the window a large policeman of severe demeanor leaned against a water plug.

It was Soapy's design to assume the role of the despicable and execrated "masher". The refined and elegant appearance of his victim and the contiguity of the conscientious cop encouraged him to believe that lie would soon feel the pleasant official clutch upon his arm that would insure his winter quarters on the right little, tight little isle.

Soapy straightened the lady missionary's ready-made tie, dragged his shrinking cuffs into the open, set his hat at a killing cant and sidled toward the young woman. He made eyes at her, was

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taken with sudden coughs and "hems", smiled, smirked and went brazenly through the impudent and contemptible litany of the "masher". With half an eye Soapy saw that the policeman was watching him fixedly. The young woman moved away a few steps, and again bestowed her absorbed attention upon the shaving mugs. Soapy followed, boldly stepping to her side, raised his hat and said:

"Ah there, Bedelia! Don't you want to come and play in my yard? "

The policeman was still looking. The persecuted young woman had but to beckon a finger and Soapy would be practically en route for his insular haven. Already he imagined he could feel the cozy warmth of the station-house. The young woman faced him and, stretching out a hand, caught Soapy's coat sleeve.

"Sure. Mike," she said, joyfully, "if you'll blow me to a pail of suds. I'd have spoken to you sooner, but the cop was watching".

With the young woman playing the clinging ivy to his oak Soapy walked past the policeman overcome with gloom. He seemed doomed to liberty.

At the next corner he shook off his companion and ran. He haltecin the district where by night are found the lightest streets, hearts vows and librettos. Women in furs and men in greatcoats moved gaily in the wintry air. A sudden fear seized Soapy that some dreadful en chantment had rendered him immune to arrest.- The thought brought a little of panic upon it, and when he came upon another policeman lounging grandly in front of a transplendent theatre he, caught at the immediate straw of "disorderly conduct."

On the sidewalk Soapy began to yell drunken gibberish at the top of his harsh voice. He danced, howled, raved, and otherwise disturbed the welkin.

The policeman twirled his club, turned his back to Soapy and remarked to a citizen.

"Tis one of them Yale lads celebratin' the goose egg they give to the Hartford College. Noisy;but no harm. We've instructions to have them be."

Disconsolate, Soapy ceased his unavailing racket. Would never a policeman lay hands on him? In his fancy the Island seemed an unattainable Arcadia. He buttoned his thin coat against the chilling wind.

In a cigar store he saw a well-dressed man lighting a cigar at a swinging light. His silk umbrella he had set by the door on entering. Soapy stepped inside, secured the umbrella and sauntered off with it slowly. The man at the cigar light followed hastily.

"My umbrella," he said, sternly.

"Oh, is it?" sneered Soapy, adding insult to petit larceny. "Well, why don't you call a policeman? I took it. Your umbrella! Why don't you call a cop? There stands one on the corner."

The umbrella owner slowed his steps. Soapy did likewise, with a presentiment that luck would again run against him. The policeman looked at the two curiously.

"Of course," said the umbrella man "that is — well you know how; these mistakes occur — I — if it's your umbrella I hope you'll excuse me — I picked it up this morning in a restaurant — If you recognize it as yours, why — I hope you'll — "

"Of course it's mine," said Soapy, viciously.

The ex-umbrella man retreated. The policeman hurried to assist a tall blonde in an opera cloak across the street in front of a street car that was approaching two blocks away.

Soapy walked eastward through a street damaged by improvements. He hurled the umbrella wrathfully into an excavation. He muttered against the men who wear helmets and carry clubs. Because he wanted to fall into their clutches, they seemed to regard him as a king who could do no wrong. At length Soapy reached one of the avenues to the east where the glitter and turrnoil was but faint. He set his face down this toward Madison Square, for the homing instinct survives even when the home is a park bench.

But on an unusually quiet corner Soapy came to a standstill. Here was an old church, quaint and rambling and gabled. Through one violet-stained window a soft light glowed, where, no doubt, the organist loitered over the keys, making sure of his mastery of the coming Sabbath

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