as formidably clad in black robes, sitting up there on the Supreme Court bench, explaining the Constitution to admiring counsel?"
"How did you know?"
"Well, maybe you'll make it, then. I sometimes wonder if daydreaming is not the road to success. Does being preoccupied with hurdles really help?"
"You should know. They seem to interest you."
"And look at me. I'm nowhere!"
Gordon indeed looked at her. It was true, then, he felt with a sudden leap of his heart, that one could love at first sight! And the very first weekend after his return to Cambridge he came back down to New York to call on her at her family's brownstone, only two blocks from his. It soon became a habitual thing.
He was enchanted by her openness and candor. She was devoid of the coy flirtatiousness of so many of the girls of his acquaintance, who were only too well aware that the only game they were allowed to play was the marriage game. Agatha did not hesitate to let him know that she liked him very much indeed and saw no reason that either of them should be bothered or concerned with where their friendship might be heading. Let the future take care of itself. If marriage, why not? Neither family would object. If no marriage, was that such a tragedy?
He took her to the theater; he took her for long walks in Central Park. They were both twenty-two; they were free. Gordon found himself telling her all kinds of things he had never told anyone else, including his old fear that his mother, perhaps not even consciously, blamed him for surviving his twin brother.
"Of course, you don't know that," she warned him. "To be absolutely fair, you have to admit it's only a supposition on your part. But suppose it's true. It may not be a thing your mother can help. She's never said anything about it, has she?"
"Oh, never. Of course not."
"Well, give her credit for that. She's probably tried to be as good a mother as she was capable of being. I'm an only child, as you know. My mother was not allowed to have another baby after my very difficult cesarean birth. I've always been aware how bitterly disappointed my father was that I wasn't a boy. As a little girl I used to resent that terribly. But I got over it. And you can, too, Gordon. It's not easy, but you can."
He found such exchanges exhilarating. It was as if this wonderful girl was hewing him out of a marble rock of family solidarity and turning him into something that was at least the statue of a man. One Sunday night, arriving back in Cambridge at the rooms he shared with David, he decided that the time had come to tell his cousin that he was planning to propose to Agatha and that he had reason to believe that he would be accepted.
David, of course, was aware that Gordon had been seeing Agatha, whom he knew, though not well, but Gordon had not chosen to let his cousin know how far things had gone, being afraid that David might make some snotty remark about there being better social fish to fry than the Houstons, who, however respectable, were not notable in the fashionable world. He suspected that he would not be able to control his wrath if David should do so, and their friendship might be gravely marred.
But he had grossly underestimated David's capacity to deal with any novel situation. His cousin had fully appreciated the depth of his involvement with the girl and clearly recognized that it was something that had to be accepted. And when David made up his mind to accept something, he knew how to do it right.
"And do you know what, Gordie?" he cried, as he jumped up to embrace his cousin. "She's just the girl for you. She'll even be the making of you!"
A N UNEXPECTEDLY LARGE allowance promised the young couple by Agatha's enthusiastic father made possible their marriage right after Gordon and David's graduation from law school, and David was best man at the wedding. But the cousins did not go to work for the same law firm, Brown & Livermore, as they had originally planned and as that firm had offered.
"How did you know?"
"Well, maybe you'll make it, then. I sometimes wonder if daydreaming is not the road to success. Does being preoccupied with hurdles really help?"
"You should know. They seem to interest you."
"And look at me. I'm nowhere!"
Gordon indeed looked at her. It was true, then, he felt with a sudden leap of his heart, that one could love at first sight! And the very first weekend after his return to Cambridge he came back down to New York to call on her at her family's brownstone, only two blocks from his. It soon became a habitual thing.
He was enchanted by her openness and candor. She was devoid of the coy flirtatiousness of so many of the girls of his acquaintance, who were only too well aware that the only game they were allowed to play was the marriage game. Agatha did not hesitate to let him know that she liked him very much indeed and saw no reason that either of them should be bothered or concerned with where their friendship might be heading. Let the future take care of itself. If marriage, why not? Neither family would object. If no marriage, was that such a tragedy?
He took her to the theater; he took her for long walks in Central Park. They were both twenty-two; they were free. Gordon found himself telling her all kinds of things he had never told anyone else, including his old fear that his mother, perhaps not even consciously, blamed him for surviving his twin brother.
"Of course, you don't know that," she warned him. "To be absolutely fair, you have to admit it's only a supposition on your part. But suppose it's true. It may not be a thing your mother can help. She's never said anything about it, has she?"
"Oh, never. Of course not."
"Well, give her credit for that. She's probably tried to be as good a mother as she was capable of being. I'm an only child, as you know. My mother was not allowed to have another baby after my very difficult cesarean birth. I've always been aware how bitterly disappointed my father was that I wasn't a boy. As a little girl I used to resent that terribly. But I got over it. And you can, too, Gordon. It's not easy, but you can."
He found such exchanges exhilarating. It was as if this wonderful girl was hewing him out of a marble rock of family solidarity and turning him into something that was at least the statue of a man. One Sunday night, arriving back in Cambridge at the rooms he shared with David, he decided that the time had come to tell his cousin that he was planning to propose to Agatha and that he had reason to believe that he would be accepted.
David, of course, was aware that Gordon had been seeing Agatha, whom he knew, though not well, but Gordon had not chosen to let his cousin know how far things had gone, being afraid that David might make some snotty remark about there being better social fish to fry than the Houstons, who, however respectable, were not notable in the fashionable world. He suspected that he would not be able to control his wrath if David should do so, and their friendship might be gravely marred.
But he had grossly underestimated David's capacity to deal with any novel situation. His cousin had fully appreciated the depth of his involvement with the girl and clearly recognized that it was something that had to be accepted. And when David made up his mind to accept something, he knew how to do it right.
"And do you know what, Gordie?" he cried, as he jumped up to embrace his cousin. "She's just the girl for you. She'll even be the making of you!"
A N UNEXPECTEDLY LARGE allowance promised the young couple by Agatha's enthusiastic father made possible their marriage right after Gordon and David's graduation from law school, and David was best man at the wedding. But the cousins did not go to work for the same law firm, Brown & Livermore, as they had originally planned and as that firm had offered.
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