FREE BOOKS

Author's List




PREV.   NEXT  
|<   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   151   152   153   154   155   156   157   158   159   160   161   162   163   164   165   166   167   168   169   170   171   172   173   >>   >|  
te different." "I am glad you like him!" "Why?" "I don't know. I am glad, that's all!" At that moment Von Barwig was supremely happy. Neither of them spoke for a few moments. "Shall we not begin?" he said, breaking the silence. Helene walked slowly to the piano and sat down. At that moment Joles entered the room with a message for Miss Stanton. "Put it down, Joles," she said, striking a note here and there on the piano. "It's a telegram, miss." "Oh! bring it to me, then." He obeyed. She opened it and read: "Left Paris this morning en route to New York. FATHER." A feeling of dread crept over her; the smile on her face gave way to a hardness of expression. Gone was the joy, the happiness, in the girl's face, and in its place was doubt, apprehension, anxiety. Von Barwig looked at her; the keen eye of love quickly detected the presence of fear. He did not speak, but his look demanded an answer to its question. "My father is coming home," she said, forcing herself to smile. "Ah? So? I shall be glad to meet him," said Von Barwig. Chapter Nineteen Henry Stanton's return to New York was not marked by any special outburst of joy on the part of the large retinue of dependents that constituted the machinery of his household. He was feared rather than loved by his servants, and this feeling, as has been indicated, was shared by his daughter in common with others. It was not that he did not want to be loved, or that he was indifferent to the feelings and opinion of others concerning him. On the contrary, he, of all men, was most anxious that others should think well of him. But his manner was stern, harsh and repellent, and he did not seem to have the capacity to gain the confidence or sympathy of those around him. Although generous even to extravagance where it gratified his vanity, of broad-minded charity in its higher and nobler sense the man knew nothing. He gave not because he loved, but because his charities reflected lustre on his name; and here was the man's most vulnerable point, his sensitiveness as to name, fame, honour, reputation dignity, public opinion. "What will the world think?" stood out in blazing letters on a glittering signpost pointing to the motive of all he did. And so when Mr. Stanton told his daughter, the day after his arrival, that he approved of her engagement to Beverly Cruger and that it gave him great happiness, the utter absence of g
PREV.   NEXT  
|<   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   151   152   153   154   155   156   157   158   159   160   161   162   163   164   165   166   167   168   169   170   171   172   173   >>   >|  



Top keywords:
Stanton
 

Barwig

 

daughter

 
moment
 

happiness

 

feeling

 

opinion

 

repellent

 

sympathy

 

confidence


capacity

 
shared
 

common

 
servants
 
machinery
 

household

 

feared

 

indifferent

 

manner

 

anxious


feelings

 

Although

 

contrary

 

motive

 

pointing

 
signpost
 

glittering

 

blazing

 

letters

 

Cruger


absence

 

Beverly

 
engagement
 

arrival

 

approved

 

charity

 

minded

 

higher

 

nobler

 

vanity


extravagance
 
gratified
 

constituted

 

honour

 

reputation

 
dignity
 

public

 
sensitiveness
 
charities
 

reflected