FREE BOOKS

Author's List




PREV.   NEXT  
|<   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   89   >>   >|  
look at the young workman who now followed Bubbles into the studio. And so did Barbara, the moment she saw him. To her critical eye he was quite the best-looking young man she had ever seen "in the world or out of it." He was tall, broad, round-necked, narrow in the hips, and of a fine brown coloring. He carried with easy grace a strong, well-massed head, to which the close adherence of the ears, and the shortness of the dark-brown shiny hair, gave an effect of high civilization and finish. Brown, level eyes, neither hard nor soft, but of a twinkling habit, a nose straight, thick, finely chiselled, an emphatic chin, and a large mouth of extraordinary sweetness, were not lost upon Barbara, but that which served most to arrest her attention was that resemblance which she at once perceived to exist between the young workman and the legless beggar. Yet between Bubbles, who also resembled Blizzard in her eyes or in her imagination, and the youth from the hardware store, she was unable, swiftly comparing them, to find anything in common. To the one nature had denied even full growth and development; upon the other she had lavished muscle, blood, and bone. The small boy had a ragged, peaked, pathetic face, hair that sprouted every which way, the eyes of an invalid, ears of unequal size and different shapes, that stuck straight out from his head--all the stampings, in short, of street-birth and gutter-raising. The workman had an efficient, commanding look, the easy, strong motions of an athlete trained and proved. Neither in the least resembled the other, yet both resembled the legless beggar, who in turn resembled Satan after the fall--and Barbara was inclined to laugh. "I am so obsessed with one man's face," she thought, "that I see something of it in all other faces." "Good-morning, Harry." It was the beggar's voice, cool, and perhaps a little insolent. "Good-morning, Blizzard." The young man nodded curtly and turned to Barbara. "Do you wish all the knobs changed?" "Please." Without another word, the young man knelt at the door by which he had entered and began with the aid of a long screw-driver to remove its ancient lock of japanned iron and coarse white china. "What's the best news with you, Harry?" The young man did not look up from his work. "That the water'll soon be warm enough for swimming," he said. To Barbara that answer seemed pleasantly indicative of a healthy nature and a healthy mind. "It
PREV.   NEXT  
|<   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   89   >>   >|  



Top keywords:
Barbara
 
resembled
 
workman
 

beggar

 

strong

 
morning
 
legless
 

Blizzard

 

straight

 

nature


healthy

 
Bubbles
 

obsessed

 

stampings

 
shapes
 

street

 

thought

 

raising

 

motions

 

commanding


athlete

 

proved

 

trained

 

Neither

 

efficient

 
gutter
 
inclined
 

japanned

 
coarse
 

answer


pleasantly

 

indicative

 

swimming

 

ancient

 

changed

 
Please
 

turned

 

curtly

 

insolent

 

nodded


Without

 

driver

 
remove
 

entered

 

unequal

 
comparing
 
effect
 

shortness

 

adherence

 
massed