FREE BOOKS

Author's List




PREV.   NEXT  
|<   100   101   102   103   104   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   >>   >|  
elp the invalid indoors. Neither good food nor good company seemed able to mitigate this sudden seizure of despondency. He sat glooming over his plate and glass, the burden of his conversation _yea, yea_ and _nay, nay_; nor was anything of Ember's intermittent banter apparently able to educe the spirited retorts ordinarily to be expected of him. His host diagnosed his complaint from beneath shrewd eyebrows. "Whitaker," he said at length, "a pessimist has been defined as a dog that won't scratch." "Well?" said the other sourly. "Come on. Be a sport. Have a good scratch on me." Whitaker grinned reluctantly and briefly. "Where's my wife?" he demanded abruptly. "How in blazes--!" "There you are!" Whitaker complained. "You make great pretensions, and yet you fall down flat on your foolish face three times in less than as many hours. You don't know who the Fiskes are, you've lost track of your pet myth, Drummond, and you don't know where I can find my wife. And yet I'm expected to stand round with my mouth open, playing Dr. Watson to your Sherlock Holmes. I could go to that telephone and consult 'Information' to better advantage!" "What you need," retorted the other, unmoved, "is a clairvoyant, not a detective. If you can't keep track of your trial marriages yourself...!" He shrugged. "Then you don't know--haven't the least idea where she is?" "My dear man, I myself am beginning to doubt her existence." "I don't see why the dickens she doesn't go ahead with those divorce proceedings!" Whitaker remarked morosely. "I've met few men so eager for full membership in the Alimony Club. What's your hurry?" "Oh, I don't know." Which was largely truth unveneered. "I'd like to get it over and done with." "You might advertise--offer a suitable reward for information concerning the whereabouts of one docile and dormant divorce suit--" "I might, but you'd never earn it." "Doubtless. I've long since learned never to expect any reward commensurate with my merits." Ember pushed back his chair and, rising, strolled to the door. "Moonrise and a fine, clear night," he said, staring through the wire mesh of the screen. "Wish you were well enough to go riding with me. However, you won't be laid up long, I fancy. And I'll be back day after to-morrow. Now I must cut along." And within ten minutes Whitaker heard the motor-car rumble off on the woodland road. He wasn't altogether sorry to be left to h
PREV.   NEXT  
|<   100   101   102   103   104   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   >>   >|  



Top keywords:

Whitaker

 

expected

 

divorce

 
reward
 
scratch
 

suitable

 
information
 

advertise

 

existence

 

largely


proceedings
 

beginning

 

remarked

 

morosely

 

membership

 
Alimony
 

unveneered

 

dickens

 

morrow

 
However

riding

 
altogether
 

woodland

 

minutes

 

rumble

 

learned

 

expect

 
commensurate
 

pushed

 

merits


Doubtless

 

docile

 

dormant

 

rising

 

screen

 

staring

 

strolled

 

Moonrise

 

whereabouts

 

Holmes


length

 

pessimist

 

eyebrows

 

shrewd

 

diagnosed

 

complaint

 
beneath
 

defined

 

briefly

 

reluctantly