FREE BOOKS

Author's List




PREV.   NEXT  
|<   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   136   137   138   139   140   141   142   143   144   145   146   147   148   149   150   151   152   153   154   155   156   157   >>   >|  
de Champlain." "You see something makes the difference." Her brow knit in perplexity. "If it is a thing you want, it would be very easy to reach out your hand and take it----" "But I want it!" He reached out his hand and caught hers. "I love you, strange, bewitching as you are in your innocence. And I would teach you what love was. No young girl loves much before marriage. But when she is with her husband day by day and his devotion is laid at her feet, she cannot help understanding what a delight it is, and she learns to give of her sweetest and best, as you will, my adorable child." The heat of his hand and the pulse throbbing in every finger roused a deeper feeling of resistance. She tried to withdraw it, but the pressure only tightened. "Will you release my hand?" she said, with a new-born dignity. "It is mine, not yours!" "But I wish it for mine. Oh, Rose, you sweet, delightful creature, you _must_ learn to love me. I cannot give you up. And the Destourniers are quite willing. I have asked for you." "No one can give me away. I belong only to myself." She drew her hand away in an unguarded moment. She sprang up straight and lithe, her head poised superbly. Every pulse within him was mysteriously stirred, and his breath came in gasps. Yes, he must set her in his life. It would be bleak and barren without. To kiss the rosy lips when he listed, to pillow the fair head on his shoulder, to encircle the supple figure, so full of vitality, in his arms--yes, that would be the highest delight. "I will wait," he said, in a beseeching voice. "You are but a child. Pity has not sprung up in your heart yet. I will wait and watch for the first sign." "Go!" She made a dismissing gesture with her hand. "Do not attempt to follow me." He stood still, looking after her. His whole soul was aflame, his voice could have cried to the heavens above that she might be enkindled with the sacred flame that leaped and flashed within him. Rose picked her way deftly, daintily over the rocky way. She did not stop at the house, but went on to the beach. A fish-hawk was chasing a robin, that suddenly veered round as if asking her protection, and picking up a sharp stone, she took aim at the hawk and stunned him for an instant, so that he lost his balance. "Bravo, little Rose," said a hearty voice, and the canoe turned in the bend. "If your stone had been larger it might have done more execution." "But I saved the bird."
PREV.   NEXT  
|<   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   136   137   138   139   140   141   142   143   144   145   146   147   148   149   150   151   152   153   154   155   156   157   >>   >|  



Top keywords:
delight
 

follow

 

attempt

 

dismissing

 

gesture

 
enkindled
 
sacred
 

heavens

 
aflame
 

difference


highest

 

vitality

 
encircle
 

supple

 
figure
 

beseeching

 
sprung
 
stunned
 

instant

 

protection


picking

 

turned

 

hearty

 

larger

 

balance

 

daintily

 

deftly

 

execution

 

leaped

 

flashed


picked

 
shoulder
 

chasing

 

suddenly

 

veered

 
Champlain
 

pressure

 
bewitching
 

tightened

 
innocence

withdraw
 

deeper

 
feeling
 
resistance
 

release

 

strange

 
reached
 

caught

 
dignity
 

roused