FREE BOOKS

Author's List




PREV.   NEXT  
|<   86   87   88   89   90   91   92   93   94   95   96   97   98   99   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   >>   >|  
us." But he was surprised to hear the woman by his side say insistently, "Charles, if only to please me, vow that you will keep most secret this dreadful dream. I fear that if it should come to your Aunt Felwake's ears----" "That I swear it shall not," said Charles sullenly. And he kept his word. THE WOMAN FROM PURGATORY "... not dead, this friend--not dead, But, in the path we mortals tread, Got some few, little steps ahead And nearer to the end, So that you, too, once past the bend, Shall meet again, as face to face, this friend You fancy dead." I Mrs. Barlow, the prettiest and the happiest and the best dressed of the young wives of Summerfield, was walking toward the Catholic Church. She was going to consult the old priest as to her duty to an unsatisfactory servant; for Agnes Barlow was a conscientious as well as a pretty and a happy woman. Foolish people are fond of quoting a foolish gibe: "Be good, and you may be happy; but you will not have a good time." The wise, however, soon become aware that if, in the course of life's journey, you achieve goodness and happiness, you will almost certainly have a good time too. So, at least, Agnes Barlow had found in her own short life. Her excellent parents had built one of the first new houses in what had then been the pretty, old-fashioned village of Summerfield, some fifteen miles from London. There she had been born; there she had spent delightful years at the big convent school over the hill; there she had grown up into a singularly pretty girl; and there, finally--it had seemed quite final to Agnes--she had met the clever, fascinating young lawyer, Frank Barlow. Frank had soon become the lover all her girl friends had envied her, and then the husband who was still--so he was fond of saying and of proving in a dozen dear little daily ways--as much in love with her as on the day they were married. They lived in a charming house called The Haven, and they were the proud parents of a fine little boy, named Francis after his father, who never had any of the tiresome ailments which afflict other people's children. But strange, dreadful things do happen--not often, of course, but just now and again--even in this delightful world! So thought Agnes Barlow on this pleasant May afternoon; for, as she walked to church, this pretty, happy, good woman found her thoughts dwelling uncomfortably on another woman, her s
PREV.   NEXT  
|<   86   87   88   89   90   91   92   93   94   95   96   97   98   99   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   >>   >|  



Top keywords:

Barlow

 

pretty

 

Summerfield

 

delightful

 

parents

 
people
 

Charles

 

dreadful

 

friend

 
friends

lawyer

 
clever
 

fascinating

 

envied

 

proving

 

husband

 

insistently

 

London

 

convent

 

school


singularly

 

finally

 

happen

 

things

 

afflict

 

children

 

strange

 

thoughts

 

dwelling

 

uncomfortably


church

 
walked
 

thought

 

pleasant

 

afternoon

 
ailments
 

charming

 

called

 

married

 

fifteen


surprised

 

father

 

tiresome

 

Francis

 

Church

 

consult

 
Catholic
 

walking

 

priest

 

conscientious