The Brimming Cup

The Brimming Cup, by Dorothy
Canfield Fisher

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Title: The Brimming Cup
Author: Dorothy Canfield Fisher
Release Date: February 7, 2005 [EBook #14957]
Language: English
Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
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THE BRIMMING CUP
Dorothy Canfield

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

CONTENTS
CHAPTER Page
I. PRELUDE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3 II. INTERLUDE . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23
PART ONE
III. OLD MR. WELLES AND YOUNG MR. MARSH. 29 IV. TABLE
TALK. . . . . . . . . . . . . 48 V. A LITTLE GIRL AND HER
MOTHER. . . . 64 VI. THINGS TAKE THEIR COURSE. . . . . . 80 VII.
THE NIGHT-BLOOMING CEREUS . . . . . 91 VIII. WHAT GOES
ON INSIDE . . . . . . . . 115 IX. THE GENT AROUND THE
LADY. . . . . . 130 X. AT THE MILL . . . . . . . . . . . . 151
PART TWO
XI. IN AUNT HETTY'S GARDEN. . . . . . . 179 XII. HEARD FROM
THE STUDY. . . . . . . . 199 XIII. ALONG THE EAGLE ROCK
BROOK. . . . . 215 XIV. BESIDE THE ONION-BED. . . . . . . . 224 XV.
HOME-LIFE . . . . . . . . . . . . . 241 XVI. MASSAGE-CREAM;
THEME AND VARIATIONS 256 XVII. THE SOUL OF NELLY

POWERS. . . . . . 266
PART THREE
XVIII. BEFORE THE DAWN . . . . . . . . . . 279 XIX. MR. WELLES
LIGHTS THE FUSE. . . . . 285 XX. A PRIMAEVAL
HERITAGE. . . . . . . . 294 XXI. THE COUNSEL OF THE
STARS. . . . . . 302 XXII. EUGENIA DOES WHAT SHE CAN . . . . .
309 XXIII. MARISE LOOKS DOWN ON THE STARS. . . 323
PART FOUR
XXIV. NEALE'S RETURN. . . . . . . . . . . 331 XXV. MARISE'S
COMING-OF-AGE. . . . . . . 338 XXVI. MARISE LOOKS AND SEES
WHAT IS THERE 360 XXVII. THE FALL OF THE BIG PINE. . . . . .
367 XXVIII. TWO GOOD-BYES . . . . . . . . . . . 380 XXIX.
VIGNETTES FROM HOME-LIFE. . . . . . 390

THE BRIMMING CUP
CHAPTER I
PRELUDE
SUNSET ON ROCCA DI PAPA
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