The Memento
The window of Miss
D'Armande's room looked out on to Broadway and its theatres. But Lynette
D'Armande turned her chair round and sat with her back to Broadway. She was an
actress, and needed the Broadway theatres, but Broadway did not need her. She
was staying in the Hotel Thalia. Actors go there to rest for the summer and
then try to get work for the autumn when the little theatres open again. Miss
D'Armande's room in this hotel was a small one, but in it there were many
mementoes of her days in the theatre, and there were also pictures of some of
her best friends. She looked at one of these pictures now, and smiled at it.
'I'd like to know where Lee is now,' she said to herself.
She was looking at a
picture of Miss Rosalie Ray, a very beautiful young woman. In the picture, Miss
Ray was wearing a very short skirt and she was sitting on a swing. Every night
in the theatre she went high in the air on her swing, over the heads of all the
people. When she did this, all the men in the theatre got very excited and
stood up. This was because, when her long beautiful legs were high in the air,
her yellow garter flew off and fell down to the men below. She did this every
evening, and every evening a hundred hands went up to catch the garter. She did
other things. She sang, she danced, but when she got onto her swing, all the
men stood up. Miss Ray did not have to try very hard to find work in the theatre.
After two years of
this, Miss D'Armande remembered, Miss Ray suddenly left the theatre and went to
live in the country.
And seventeen minutes
after Miss D'Armande said, ' I'd like to know where Lee is now', somebody
knocked on the door.
It was, of course,
Rosalie Ray.
'Come in,' Miss
D'Armande called, and Miss Ray came in. Yes, it was Rosalie. She took off her
hat, and Miss D'Armande could see that she looked very tired and unhappy.
'I've got the room
above you,' Rosalie said. 'They told me at the desk downstairs that you were
here.'
'I've been here since
the end of April,' Lynnette replied. 'I begin work again next week, out in a
small town. But you left the theatre three months ago, Lee. Why are you here?'
'I'll tell you, Lynn,
but give me a drink first.' Miss D'Armande passed a bottle to her friend.
'Ah, that's good!'
said Rosalie. 'My first drink for three months. Yes, Lynn, I left the theatre
because I was tired of the life, and because I was tired of men - well, the men
who come to the theatre. You know we have to fight them off all the time.
They're animals! They ask you to go out with them, they buy you a drink or two
- and then they think that they can do what they want! It's terrible! And we
work hard, we get very little money for it, we wanted to get to the top - and
it never happens. But most of all, I left because of the men.
'Well, I saved two
hundred dollars and when summer came, I left the theatre and went to a little
village by the sea on Long Island. I planned to stay there for the summer, and
then learn how to be a better actress.
'But there was
another person who was staying in the same house - the Reverend Arthur Lyle.
Yes, Lynn, a man of the church! When I saw him for the first time, I fell in
love with him at once. He was a fine man and he had a wonderful voice!
'Well, it's only a
short story, Lynn. A month later we decided to marry. We planned to live in a
little house near the church, with lots of flowers and animals. 'No, I didn't
tell him that I was an actress. I wanted to forget it and to put that life
behind me.
'Oh, I was happy! I
went to church, I helped the women in the village. Arthur and I went for long
walks - and that little village was the best place in the world. I wanted to
live there for ever...
'But one morning, the
old woman who worked in the house began to talk about Arthur. She thought that
he was wonderful, too. But then she told me that Arthur was in love once
before, and that it ended unhappily. She said that, in his desk, he kept a
memento - something which belonged to the girl. Sometimes he took it out and
looked at it. But she didn't know what it was - and his desk was locked.
‘That afternoon I
asked him about it.
' "Ida," he
said, (of course, I used my real name there) "it was before I knew you,
and I never met her. It was different from my love for you."
' "Was she
beautiful?" I asked.
' "She was very
beautiful," replied Arthur.
' "Did you see
her often?"
' "About ten
times," he said.
' "And this
memento - did she send it to you?"
' "It came to me
from her," he said.
' "Why did you
never meet her?" I asked.
' "She was far
above me," he answered. "But, Ida, it's finished. You're not angry,
are you?"
‘ "Why, no. I
love you ten times more than before."
And I did, Lynn. Can
you understand that? What a beautiful love that was! He never met her, never
spoke to her, but he loved her, and wanted nothing from her. He was different
from other men, I thought - a really good man!
'About four o'clock
that afternoon, Arthur had to go out. The door of his room was open, his desk
was unlocked, and I decided to look at this memento. I opened the desk and
slowly I took out the box and opened it.
'I took one look at
that memento, and then I went to my room and packed my suitcase. My wonderful
Arthur, this really good man, was no different from all the other men!'
'But, Lee, what was
in the box?' Miss D'Armande asked.
'It was one of my
yellow garters!' cried Miss Ray.
