O. Henry

                 Sisters of the Golden Circle

   THE RUBBERNECK AUTO was about ready to start. The merry topriders 
had been assigned to their seats by the gentlemanly conductor. The 
sidewalk was blockaded with sightseers who had gathered to stare at 
sightseers, justifying the natural law that every creature on earth is 
preyed upon by some other creature.
The megaphone man raised his instrument of torture; the inside of the 
great automobile began to thump and throb like the heart of a coffee 
drinker. The top-riders nervously clung to the seats; the old lady 
from Valparaiso, Indiana, shrieked to be put ashore. But, before a 
wheel turns, listen to a brief preamble through the cardiaphone, which 
shall point out to you an object of interest on life s sight-seeing 
tour.
   Swift and comprehensive is the recognition of white man for white 
man in African wilds; instant and sure is the spiritual greeting 
between mother and babe; unhesitatingly do master and dog commune 
across the slight gulf between animal and man; immeasurably quick and 
sapient are the brief messages between one and one's beloved. But all 
these instances set forth only slow and groping interchange of 
sympathy and thought beside one other instance which the Rubberneck 
coach shall disclose. You shall learn (if you have not learned 
already) what two beings of all earth's living inhabitants most 
quickly look into each other's hearts and souls when they meet face to 
face.
   The gong whirred, and the Glaring-at-Gotham car moved majestically 
upon its instructive tour.
   On the highest, rear seat was James Williams, of Cloverdale, 
Missouri, and his Bride.
   Capitalize it, friend typo - that last word - word of words in the 
epiphany of life and love. The scent of the flowers, the booty of the 
bee, the primal dip of spring waters, the overture of the lark, - the 
twist of lemon peel on the cocktail of creation - such is the bride. 
Holy is the wife; revered the mother; galliptious is the summer girl - 
but the bride is the certified cheque among the wedding presents that 
the gods send in when man is married to mortality.
   The car glided up the Golden Way. On the bridge of the great 
cruiser the captain stood, trumpeting the sights of the big city to 
his passengers. Wide-mouthed and open-eared, they heard the sights of 
the metropolis thundered forth to their eyes. Confused, delirious with 
excitement and provincial longings, they tried to make ocular 
responses to the megaphonic ritual. In the solemn spires of spreading 
cathedrals they saw the home of the Vanderbilts; in the busy bulk of 
the Grand Central depot they viewed, wonderingly, the frugal cot of 
Russell Sage. Bidden to observe the highlands of the Hudson, they 
gaped, unsuspecting, at the upturned mountains of a new-laid sewer. To 
many the elevated railroad was the Rialto, on the stations of which 
uniformed men sat and made chop suey of your tickets. And to this day 
in the outlying districts many have it that Chuck Connors, with his 
hand on his heart, leads reform; and that but for the noble municipal 
efforts of one Parkhurst, a district attorney, the notorious `Bishop' 
Potter gang would have destroyed law and order from the Bowery to the 
Harlem River.
   But I beg you to observe Mrs. James Williams - Hattie Chalmers that 
was - once the belle of Cloverdale. Pale-blue is the bride's, if she 
will; and this colour she had honoured. Willingly had the moss rosebud 
loaned to her cheeks of its pink - and as for the violet! - her eyes 
will do very well as they are, thank you. A useless strip of white 
chaf - oh, no, he was guiding the auto-car of white chiffon - or 
perhaps it was grenadine or tulle - was tied beneath her chin, 
pretending to hold her bonnet in place. But you know as well as I do 
that the hatpins did the work.
   And on Mrs. James Williams's face was recorded a little library of 
the world's best thoughts in three volumes. Volume No. I contained the 
belief that James Williams was about the right sort of thing. Volume 
No. 2 was an essay on the world, declaring it to be a very excellent 
place. Volume No. 3 disclosed the belief that in occupying the highest 
seat in a Rubberneck auto they were travelling the pace that passes 
all understanding.
   James Williams, you would have guessed, was about twentyfour. It 
will gratify you to know that your estimate was so accurate. He was 
exactly twenty-three years, eleven months and twenty-nine days old. He 
was well-built, active, strong-jawed, good-natured and rising. He was 
on his wedding-trip.
   Dear kind fairy, please cut out those orders for money and 40 h.p. 
touring cars and fame and a new growth of hair and the presidency of 
the boat club. Instead of any of them turn backward - oh, turn 
backward and give just a teeny-weeny bit of our wedding-trip over 
again. Just an hour, dear fairy, so we can remember how the grass and 
poplar trees looked, and the bow of those bonnet strings tied beneath 
her chin - even if it was the hatpins that did the work. Can't do it? 
Very well; hurry up with that touring car and the oil stock, then.
   Just in front of Mrs. James Williams sat a girl in a loose tan 
jacket and a straw hat adorned with grapes and roses. Only in dreams 
and milliners' shops do we, alas! gather grapes and roses at one 
swipe. This girl gazed with large blue eyes, credulous, when the 
megaphone man roared his doctrine that millionaires were things about 
which we should be concerned. Between blasts she resorted to 
Epictetian philosophy in the form of pepsin chewing gum.
   At this girl's right hand sat a young man about twenty-four. He was 
well-built, active, strong-jawed and good-natured. But if his 
description seems to follow that of James Williams, divest it of 
anything Cloverdalian. This man belonged to hard streets and sharp 
corners. He looked keenly about him, seeming to begrudge the asphalt 
under the feet of those upon whom he looked down from his perch.
   While the megaphone barks at a famous hostelry, let me whisper you 
through the low-tuned cardiaphone to sit tight; for now things are 
about to happen, and the great city will close over them again as over 
a scrap of ticker tape floating down from the den of a Broad Street 
bear.
   The girl in the tan jacket twisted around to view the pilgrims on 
the last seat. The other passengers she had absorbed; the seat behind 
her was her Bluebeard's chambers.
   Her eyes met those of Mrs. James Williams. Between two ticks of a 
watch they exchanged their life's-experiences; histories, hopes and 
fancies. And all, mind you, with the eye, before two men could have 
decided whether to draw steel or borrow a match.
   The bride leaned forward low. She and the girl spoke rapidly 
together, their tongues moving quickly like those of two serpents - a 
comparison that is not meant to go further. Two smiles and a dozen 
nods closed the conference.
   And now in the broad, quiet avenue in front of the Rubberneck car a 
man in dark clothes stood with uplifted hand. From the sidewalk 
another hurried to join him.
   The girl in the fruitful hat quickly seized her companion by the 
arm and whispered in his ear. That young man exhibited proof of 
ability to act promptly. Crouching low, he slid over the edge of the 
car, hung lightly for an instant, and then disappeared. Half a dozen 
of the top-riders observed his feat, wonderingly, but made no comment, 
deeming it prudent not to express surprise at what might be the 
conventional manner of alighting in this bewildering city. The truant 
passenger dodged a hansom and then floated past, like a leaf on a 
stream between a furniture van and a florist's delivery wagon.
   The girl in the tan jacket turned again, and looked in the eyes of 
Mrs. James Williams. Then she faced about and sat still while the 
Rubberneck auto stopped at the flash of the badger under the coat of 
the plain-clothes man.
   `What's eatin' you?' demanded the megaphonist, abandoning his 
professional discourse for pure English.
   'Keep her at anchor for a minute,' ordered the officer. `There's a 
man on board we want - a Philadelphia burglar called "Pinky" McGuire. 
There he is on the back seat. Look out for the side, Donovan.'
   Donovan went to the hind wheel and looked up at James Williams.
   `Come down, old sport,' he said pleasantly. `We've got you. Back to 
Sleepytown for yours. It ain't a bad idea, hidin' on a Rubberneck, 
though. I'll remember that.'
   Softly through the megaphone came the advice of the conductor: 
`Better step off, sir, and explain. The car must proceed on its tour.'
   James Williams belonged among the level heads. With necessary 
slowness he picked his way through the passengers down to the steps at 
the front of the car. His wife followed, but she first turned her eyes 
and saw the escaped tourist glide from behind the furniture van and 
slip behind a tree on the edge of the little park, not fifty feet 
away.
   Descended to the ground, James Williams faced his captors with a 
smile. He was thinking what a good story he would have to tell in 
Cloverdale about having been mistaken for a burglar. The Rubberneck 
coach lingered, out of respect for its patrons What could be a more 
interesting sight than this?
   `My name is James Williams, of Cloverdale, Missouri,' he said 
kindly, so that they would not be too greatly mortified. `I have 
letters here that will show -'
   `You'll come with us, please,' announced the plain-clothes man. ` 
"Pinky" McGuire's description fits you like a flannel washed in hot 
suds. A detective saw you on the Rubberneck up at Central Park and 
'phoned down to take you in. Do your explaining at the station-house.'
   James Williams's wife - his bride of two weeks - looked him in the 
face with a strange, soft radiance in her eyes and a flush on her 
cheeks, looked him in the face and said:
   `Go with 'em quietly, "Pinky," and maybe it'll be in your favour. 
And then as the Glaring-at-Gotham car rolled away she turned and threw 
a kiss - his wife threw a kiss - at someone high up on the seats of 
the Rubberneck.
   `Your girl gives you good advice, McGuire,' said Donovan. `Come on, 
now.'
   And then madness descended upon and occupied James Williams. He 
pushed his hat far upon the back of his head.
   `My wife seems to think I am a burglar,' he said recklessly. `I 
never heard of her being crazy, therefore I must be. And if I'm crazy, 
they can't do anything to me for killing you two fools in my madness.'
Whereupon he resisted arrest so cheerfally and industriously that cops 
had to be whistled for, and afterwards the reserves, to disperse a few 
thousand delighted spectators.
   At the station-house the desk sergeant asked for his name. 
   `McDoodle, the Pink, or Pinky the Brute, I forget which,' was James 
Williams's answer. `But you can bet I'm a burglar; don't leave that 
out. And you might add that it took five of 'em to pluck the Pink. I'd 
especially like to have that in the records.'
   In an hour came Mrs. James Williams, with Uncle Thomas, of Madison 
Avenue, in a respect-compelling motor-car and proofs of the hero's 
innocence - for all the world like the third act of a drama backed by 
an automobile mfg. co.
   After the police had sternly reprimanded James Williams for 
imitating a copyrighted burglar and given him as honourable a 
discharge as the department was capable of, Mrs. Williams rearrested 
him and swept him into an angle of the stationhouse. James Williams 
regarded her with one eye. He always said that Donovan closed the 
other while somebody was holding his good right hand. Never before had 
he given her a word of reproach or of reproof.
   `If you can explain,' he began rather stiffly, `why you -'
   `Dear,' she interrupted, `listen. It was an hour's pain and trial 
to you. I did it for her - I mean the girl who spoke to me on the 
coach. I was so happy, Jim - so happy with you that I didn't dare to 
refuse that happiness to another. Jim, they were married only this 
morning - those two; and I wanted him to get away. While they were 
struggling with you I saw him slip from behind his tree and hurry 
across the park. That's all of it, dear - I had to do it.'
   Thus does one sister of the plain gold band know another who stands 
in the enchanted light that shines but once and briefly for each one. 
By rice and satin bows does mere man become aware of weddings. But 
bride knoweth bride at the glance of an eye. And between them swiftly 
passes comfort and meaning in a language that man and widows wot not 
of.