The Friend of Women and Other Stories

Free The Friend of Women and Other Stories by Louis Auchincloss Page B

Book: The Friend of Women and Other Stories by Louis Auchincloss Read Free Book Online
Authors: Louis Auchincloss
Tags: Fiction, Short Stories (Single Author)
he wanted to abuse poor Letty to me.
    I was wrong. Sallow and yellow-looking, he seemed in the throes of a mood of neurotic self-reproach.
    â€œYou think I’m a cad, Hazelton, don’t you? Of course you do. That’s what you’re thinking, isn’t it? That I’m a stinking cad. And that I’ve always been one.”
    â€œI don’t know about always,” I responded dryly. “But you’re certainly one now.”
    â€œAnd you despise me.”
    â€œI surely don’t like you. You’ve been showered with every blessing a man could ask for. A loving wife, fine children, wealth, and even a bit of fame. And how have you thanked the gods who have so favored you? By spitting on their altars.”
    â€œUnlike you, is that right? Don’t you call yourself
l’ami des femmes
?”
    â€œBetter than being their enemy.”
    â€œIs that what you’re implying I am?”
    â€œHow else should I put it? Haven’t you employed every resource of a twisted mind to ease their journey through life by removing every one of their cherished illusions?”
    â€œTwisted mind?” His voice was suddenly grating. “Say what you will about my character, man, but leave my mind out of it.”
    â€œI believe my term is exact.”
    â€œSomebody’s twisted, but is it me?” he sneered. “You call yourself women’s friend, but why? Because you’re incapable of being anything else. You haven’t even the will to be the fag nature cut you out for. You’re a friend of women because you’re an old woman yourself.”
    â€œI’m glad you got that off your chest. I’ve always known it was there. We old bachelors have to live with that kind of aspersion. But now that you’ve cleared the air, would you like to hear what
your
relationship with women has been?”
    â€œVery much. I’d like to hear it very much.”
    â€œLet us go back then to your premarital days. I well recall what a cheerful young apollo you were. Oh, so bright and shining! But there was something just a bit off—a wee bit off. You smiled too much. The late Mr. Bernard himself once pointed that out. You wanted the whole world, but you were not convinced that you had all the means and talent needed to get it. You had a lot, to be sure, but the world was a big thing. So your smile would be your excuse if you failed. So long as you smiled people wouldn’t think you took yourself too seriously. And if you didn’t take yourself too seriously, could it be said that you had really failed? Could it even be said that you had really tried? Your face would have been saved, and a very handsome face it was.”
    I paused, but he simply said, “Go on.”
    â€œAt last, you looked about to see who could supply you with what you lacked. Who was more obvious than Mr. Bernard? He had everything you wanted, everything you needed, plus a rather plain daughter to whom he would leave it all and whom Apollo could easily captivate. It was ABC, the old American story, and it worked like the proverbial charm. Everything fell plumb into your lap. But there was a catch. Letty not only had the material things with which you had not been endowed; she had all the brains and the guts that you lacked. Where you were all show and glitter, she was the solid rock beneath. It was she who was the real voice on the magazine, the ranch, and the foundation. You thought you had acquired her. She had acquired you! You were the tinsel she had needed for her Yuletide tree!”
    Amory gave vent to a snotty laugh. “Now I see why fags make such good novelists! Proust and James. You should have written fiction, Hazelton. You’ve wasted your silly life.”
    But I could read the real anger in his narrowed eyes. I had struck home.
    â€œYour story wouldn’t make a novel, Amory,” I retorted. “No one would believe it. It’s interesting only because it’s

Similar Books

The Cat Who Had 60 Whiskers

Lilian Jackson Braun

Winter Moon

Dean Koontz

Elusive Mrs. Pollifax

Dorothy Gilman

Memories of Midnight

Sidney Sheldon

Loving Hart

Ella Fox

Whatever Lola Wants

George Szanto

Love or Money?

Carrie Stone