FREE BOOKS

Author's List




PREV.   NEXT  
|<   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   158   159   160   161   162   163   164   165   >>   >|  
esk. In a few minutes she had penned a letter, which was held out for her husband's perusal. 'Admirable!' he exclaimed. 'Couldn't be better. _Nihil quod tetigit non ornavit_.' 'And pray what does that mean?' asked Alma, her countenance a trifle perturbed by the emotions which blended with her delight in praise. 'That my wife is the most graceful of women, and imparts to all she touches something of her own charm.' 'All that?' 'Latin, you must know, is the language of compression.' They parted with a laugh. As she left the study, Alma saw her little son just going out; the nurse had placed him in his mail-cart, where he sat smiling and cooing. Mrs. Frothingham, who delighted in the child, had made ready for a walk in the same direction, and from the doorway called to Alma to accompany them. 'I may come after you, perhaps,' was the reply. 'Ta-ta, Hughie!' With a wave of her hand, Alma passed into the sitting-room, where she stood at the window, watching till Mrs. Frothingham's sunshade had disappeared. Then she moved about, like one in search of occupation; taking up a book only to throw it down again, gazing vacantly at a picture, or giving a touch to a bowl of flowers. Here, as in the dining-room, only the absence of conventional superfluities called for remark; each article of furniture was in simple taste; the result, an impression of plain elegance. On a little corner table lay Alma's colour-box, together with a drawing-board, a sketching-block, and the portfolio which contained chosen examples of her work. Not far away, locked in its case, lay her violin, the instrument she had been wont to touch caressingly; today her eyes shunned it. She went out again into the little hall. The front door stood open; sunshine flooded the garden; but Alma was not tempted to go forth. All the walks and drives of the neighbourhood had become drearily familiar; the meanest of London streets shone by contrast as a paradise in her imagination. With a deep sigh of ennui, she turned and slowly ascended the stairs. Above were six rooms; three of them the principal chambers (her own, Harvey's, and the guest-room), then the day-nursery, the night nursery, and the servant's bedroom. On her first coming, she had thought the house needlessly spacious; now it often seemed to her oppressively small, there being but one spare room for visitors. She entered her own room. It could not be called disorderly, yet it lacked that sc
PREV.   NEXT  
|<   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   158   159   160   161   162   163   164   165   >>   >|  



Top keywords:
called
 

Frothingham

 

nursery

 
caressingly
 
instrument
 
locked
 

violin

 

shunned

 

garden

 

flooded


tempted
 
sunshine
 

minutes

 

impression

 

elegance

 

letter

 

corner

 

result

 

article

 

furniture


simple
 

penned

 

contained

 
portfolio
 

chosen

 
examples
 
sketching
 

colour

 

drawing

 

drives


thought

 

needlessly

 
spacious
 
coming
 

servant

 
bedroom
 

oppressively

 

disorderly

 

lacked

 

entered


visitors

 

streets

 
contrast
 

paradise

 
imagination
 
London
 

meanest

 

neighbourhood

 
remark
 

drearily