FREE BOOKS

Author's List




PREV.   NEXT  
|<   105   106   107   108   109   110   111   112   113   114   115   116   117   118   119   120   121   122   123   124   125   126   127   128   129  
130   131   132   133   134   135   136   137   138   139   140   141   142   143   144   145   146   147   148   149   150   >>  
But she'll never settle to that weavin'. Her head got turned a bit. MR MARCH. I'm afraid I'm in the dark, Mr Bly. BLY. [Pausing--dipping his sponge in the pail and then standing with it in his hand] Why! Don't you remember the Bly case? They sentenced 'er to be 'anged by the neck until she was dead, for smotherin' her baby. She was only eighteen at the time of speakin'. MR MARCH. Oh! yes! An inhuman business! BLY. All! The jury recommended 'er to mercy. So they reduced it to Life. MR MARCH. Life! Sweet Heaven! BLY. That's what I said; so they give her two years. I don't hold with the Sunday Mercury, but it put that over. It's a misfortune to a girl to be good-lookin'. MR MARCH. [Rumpling his hair] No, no! Dash it all! Beauty's the only thing left worth living for. BLY. Well, I like to see green grass and a blue sky; but it's a mistake in a 'uman bein'. Look at any young chap that's good-lookin'--'e's doomed to the screen, or hair-dressin'. Same with the girls. My girl went into an 'airdresser's at seventeen and in six months she was in trouble. When I saw 'er with a rope round her neck, as you might say, I said to meself: "Bly," I said, "you're responsible for this. If she 'adn't been good-lookin'--it'd never 'eve 'appened." During this speech MARY has come in with a tray, to clear the breakfast, and stands unnoticed at the dining-table, arrested by the curious words of MR BLY. MR MARCH. Your wife might not have thought that you were wholly the cause, Mr Bly. BLY. Ah! My wife. She's passed on. But Faith--that's my girl's name--she never was like 'er mother; there's no 'eredity in 'er on that side. MR MARCH. What sort of girl is she? BLY. One for colour--likes a bit o' music--likes a dance, and a flower. MARY. [Interrupting softly] Dad, I was going to clear, but I'll come back later. MR MARCH. Come here and listen to this! Here's a story to get your blood up! How old was the baby, Mr Bly? BLY. Two days--'ardly worth mentionin'. They say she 'ad the 'ighstrikes after--an' when she comes to she says: "I've saved my baby's life." An' that's true enough when you come to think what that sort o' baby goes through as a rule; dragged up by somebody else's hand, or took away by the Law. What can a workin' girl do with a baby born under the rose, as they call it? Wonderful the difference money makes when it comes to bein' outside th
PREV.   NEXT  
|<   105   106   107   108   109   110   111   112   113   114   115   116   117   118   119   120   121   122   123   124   125   126   127   128   129  
130   131   132   133   134   135   136   137   138   139   140   141   142   143   144   145   146   147   148   149   150   >>  



Top keywords:
lookin
 

wholly

 

thought

 
passed
 

eredity

 

mother

 

Wonderful

 

breakfast

 

stands

 

speech


curious

 
arrested
 

difference

 
unnoticed
 
dining
 

workin

 

listen

 

mentionin

 

ighstrikes

 

During


flower

 

colour

 

Interrupting

 

dragged

 

softly

 
screen
 

recommended

 

business

 

speakin

 

inhuman


reduced

 

Sunday

 
Mercury
 

Heaven

 

eighteen

 

afraid

 

Pausing

 

dipping

 

sponge

 

turned


settle
 
weavin
 

smotherin

 

sentenced

 

standing

 
remember
 

seventeen

 
airdresser
 
months
 

trouble