FREE BOOKS

Author's List




PREV.   NEXT  
|<   39   40   41   42   43   44   45   46   47   48   49   50   51   52   53   54   55   56   57   58   59   60   61   62   63  
64   65   66   67   68   69   70   71   72   73   74   75   76   77   78   79   80   81   82   83   84   85   86   87   88   >>   >|  
se and the remarkable face that fronted it. The features were bold, the skin was clear and healthy and rather fair. His eyes--gray or green blue and set neither prominently nor retreatedly--seemed to be seeing and understanding all that was going on about him. He had a strong, rather relentless mouth--the mouth of men who make and compel sacrifices for their ambitions. "Victor," cried Selma as soon as he was within easy range of her voice, "please lend Miss Hastings a quarter." And she immediately sat down and went to work again, with the incident dismissed from mind. The young man--for he was plainly not far beyond thirty--halted and regarded the young woman on the horse. "I wish to give this young gentleman here a quarter," said Jane. "He was very good about holding my horse." The words were not spoken before the young gentleman darted across the narrow street and into a yard hidden by masses of clematis, morning glory and sweet peas. And Jane realized that she had wholly mistaken the meaning of that hypnotic stare. Victor laughed--the small figure, the vast clothes, the bare feet with voluminous trousers about them made a ludicrous sight. "He doesn't want it," said Victor. "Thank you just the same." "But I want him to have it," said Jane. With a significant unconscious glance at her costume Dorn said: "Those costumes haven't reached our town yet." "He did some work for me. I owe it to him." "He's my sister's little boy," said Dorn, with his amiable, friendly smile. "We mustn't start him in the bad way of expecting pay for politeness." Jane colored as if she had been rebuked, when in fact his tone forbade the suggestion of rebuke. There was an unpleasant sparkle in her eyes as she regarded the young man in the baggy suit, with the basket on his arm. "I beg your pardon," said she coldly. "I naturally didn't know your peculiar point of view." "That's all right," said Dorn carelessly. "Thank you, and good day." And with a polite raising of the hat and a manner of good humored friendliness that showed how utterly unconscious he was of her being offended at him, he hastened across the street and went in at the gate where the boy had vanished. And Jane had the sense that he had forgotten her. She glanced nervously up at the window to see whether Selma Gordon was witnessing her humiliation--for so she regarded it. But Selma was evidently lost in a world of her own. "She doesn't love hi
PREV.   NEXT  
|<   39   40   41   42   43   44   45   46   47   48   49   50   51   52   53   54   55   56   57   58   59   60   61   62   63  
64   65   66   67   68   69   70   71   72   73   74   75   76   77   78   79   80   81   82   83   84   85   86   87   88   >>   >|  



Top keywords:

regarded

 

Victor

 

quarter

 

gentleman

 

unconscious

 

street

 

rebuked

 

sister

 
reached
 

forbade


significant

 

costume

 

costumes

 
politeness
 

colored

 
glance
 
amiable
 
friendly
 

expecting

 
pardon

vanished

 

forgotten

 

nervously

 

glanced

 

hastened

 

showed

 

utterly

 

offended

 

window

 
evidently

Gordon
 
witnessing
 
humiliation
 

friendliness

 

humored

 

basket

 
coldly
 
rebuke
 
unpleasant
 

sparkle


naturally
 

polite

 

raising

 

manner

 

carelessly

 

peculiar

 

suggestion

 

wholly

 

sacrifices

 

ambitions