FREE BOOKS

Author's List




PREV.   NEXT  
|<   133   134   135   136   137   138   139   140   141   142   143   144   145   146   147   148   149   150   151   152   153   154   155   156   157  
158   159   160   161   162   163   164   165   166   167   168   169   170   171   172   173   174   175   176   177   178   179   180   181   182   >>   >|  
d, in a lower tone, though still in the unflinching manner of one who had set herself to say a thing, and would say it--'He is not to be definitely engaged to me any longer. We are not thinking of marrying, you know, Picotee. It is best that we should not.' 'Perhaps it is,' said Christopher hurriedly, taking up his hat. 'Let me now wish you good-bye; and, of course, you will always know where I am, and how to find me.' It was a tender time. He inclined forward that Ethelberta might give him her hand, which she did; whereupon their eyes met. Mastered by an impelling instinct she had not reckoned with, Ethelberta presented her cheek. Christopher kissed it faintly. Tears were in Ethelberta's eyes now, and she was heartfull of many emotions. Placing her arm round Picotee's waist, who had never lifted her eyes from the carpet, she drew the slight girl forward, and whispered quickly to him--'Kiss her, too. She is my sister, and I am yours.' It seemed all right and natural to their respective moods and the tone of the moment that free old Wessex manners should prevail, and Christopher stooped and dropped upon Picotee's cheek likewise such a farewell kiss as he had imprinted upon Ethelberta's. 'Care for us both equally!' said Ethelberta. 'I will,' said Christopher, scarcely knowing what he said. When he had reached the door of the room, he looked back and saw the two sisters standing as he had left them, and equally tearful. Ethelberta at once said, in a last futile struggle against letting him go altogether, and with thoughts of her sister's heart: 'I think that Picotee might correspond with Faith; don't you, Mr. Julian?' 'My sister would much like to do so,' said he. 'And you would like it too, would you not, Picotee?' 'O yes,' she replied. 'And I can tell them all about you.' 'Then it shall be so, if Miss Julian will.' She spoke in a settled way, as if something intended had been set in train; and Christopher having promised for his sister, he went out of the house with a parting smile of misgiving. He could scarcely believe as he walked along that those late words, yet hanging in his ears, had really been spoken, that still visible scene enacted. He could not even recollect for a minute or two how the final result had been produced. Did he himself first enter upon the long-looming theme, or did she? Christopher had been so nervously alive to the urgency of setting before the hard-str
PREV.   NEXT  
|<   133   134   135   136   137   138   139   140   141   142   143   144   145   146   147   148   149   150   151   152   153   154   155   156   157  
158   159   160   161   162   163   164   165   166   167   168   169   170   171   172   173   174   175   176   177   178   179   180   181   182   >>   >|  



Top keywords:
Christopher
 

Ethelberta

 

Picotee

 

sister

 

Julian

 
forward
 
equally
 

scarcely

 
looked
 

replied


futile

 

struggle

 
standing
 

sisters

 
tearful
 

letting

 
correspond
 
altogether
 

thoughts

 

recollect


minute

 

setting

 

enacted

 

spoken

 

visible

 

urgency

 

looming

 

result

 

produced

 

hanging


promised

 
intended
 

settled

 

nervously

 

parting

 
walked
 

misgiving

 
natural
 

tender

 
inclined

impelling
 

instinct

 
reckoned
 
presented
 

Mastered

 

engaged

 
manner
 

unflinching

 
longer
 

Perhaps