FREE BOOKS

Author's List




PREV.   NEXT  
|<   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   89   90   91   92   93   94   95   96   97   >>   >|  
stairs; and she thrust the morocco case and the wrapping under the pillows behind her. She looked up at him in a dazed way when he came in with the tea and bread. He set the tin tray on her bureau an came over to the bedside. "Eve," he said, "you look very white and ill. Have you been hurt somewhere, and haven't you admitted it?" She seemed unable to speak, and he took both her hands and looked anxiously into her lovely, pallid features. After a moment she turned her head and buried her face in the pillow, trembling now in overwhelming realization of what she had endured for the sake of two cakes of sugar-milk chocolate hidden under a bush in the forest. * * * * * For a long while the girl lay there, the feverish flush of tears on her partly hidden face, her nervous hands tremulous, restless, now seeking his, convulsively, now striving to escape his clasp -- eloquent, uncertain little hands that seemed to tell so much and yet were telling him nothing he could understand. "Eve, dear," he said, "are you in pain? What is it that has happened to you? I thought you were all right. You seemed all right----" "I am," she said in a smothered voice. "You'll stay here with me, won't you?" "Of course I will. It's just the reaction. It's all over. You're relaxing. That's all, dear. You're safe. Nothing can harm you now----" "Please don' leave me." After a moment: "I won't leave you. ... I wish I might never leave you." In the tense silence that followed her trembling ceased. Then his heart, heavy, irregular, began beating so that the startled pulses in her body awoke, wildly responsive. Deep emotions, new, unfamiliar, were stirring, awaking, confusing them both. In a sudden instinct to escape, she turned and partly rose on one elbow, gazing blindly about her out of tear-marred eyes. "I want my room to myself," she murmured in a breathless sort of way, "-- I want you to go out, please----" A boyish flush burnt his face. He got up slowly, took his rifle from the corner, went out, closing the door, and seated himself on the stairs. And there, on guard, sat Trooper Stormont, rigid, unstirring, hour after hour, facing the first great passion of his life, and stunned by the impact of its swift and unexpected blow. * * * * * In her chamber, on the bed's edge, sat Eve Strayer, her deep eyes fixed on space. Vague emotions, exquisitely recurrent, new born, possessed her. The whole w
PREV.   NEXT  
|<   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   89   90   91   92   93   94   95   96   97   >>   >|  



Top keywords:

moment

 

turned

 

emotions

 
trembling
 

partly

 

stairs

 

hidden

 

escape

 

looked

 
silence

instinct

 

ceased

 

marred

 
blindly
 

gazing

 

pulses

 

startled

 

beating

 

responsive

 

wildly


irregular

 

confusing

 
awaking
 

stirring

 

unfamiliar

 

sudden

 

closing

 
unexpected
 

chamber

 
impact

passion
 

stunned

 
possessed
 

recurrent

 
exquisitely
 

Strayer

 

facing

 

boyish

 

slowly

 

murmured


breathless

 

Trooper

 

Stormont

 

unstirring

 

corner

 

seated

 

happened

 

pallid

 
lovely
 

features