The Brimming Cup

HARCOURT, BRACE AND COMPANY - NEW YORK 1919 By the same author THE SQUIRREL-CAGE A MONTESSORI MOTHER MOTHERS AND CHILDREN HILLSBORO PEOPLE THE BENT TWIG THE REAL MOTIVE FELLOW CAPTAINS ( With Sarah N. Cleghorn ) UNDERSTOOD BETSY HOME FIRES IN FRANCE THE DAY OF GLORY THE BRIMMING CUP ROUGH-HEWN RAW MATERIAL THE HOME-MAKER MADE-TO-ORDER STORIES HER SON'S WIFE WHY STOP LEARNING? THE DEEPENING STREAM BASQUE PEOPLE FABLES FOR PARENTS SEASONED TIMBER
An Hour in the Life of Two Modern Young People April, 1909.
Lounging idly in the deserted little waiting-room was the usual shabby, bored, lonely ticket-seller, prodigiously indifferent to the grave beauty of the scene before him and to the throng of ancient memories jostling him where he stood. Without troubling to look at his watch, he informed the two young foreigners that they had a long hour to wait before the cable-railway would send a car down to the Campagna. His lazy nonchalance was faintly colored with the satisfaction, common to his profession, in the discomfiture of travelers.
Their look upon him was of amazed gratitude. Evidently they did not understand Italian, he thought, and repeated his information more slowly, with an unrecognizable word or two of badly pronounced English thrown in. He felt slightly vexed that he could not make them feel the proper annoyance, and added, It may even be so late that the signori would miss the connection for the last tramway car back to Rome. It is a long walk back to the city across the Campagna.
They continued to gaze at him with delight. I've got to tip him for that! said the young man, reaching vigorously into a pocket.
The girl's answering laugh, like the inward look of her eyes, showed only a preoccupied attention. She had the concentrated absent aspect of a person who has just heard vital tidings and can attend to nothing else. She said, Oh, Neale, how ridiculous of you. He couldn't possibly have the least idea what he's done to deserve getting paid for.