FREE BOOKS

Author's List




PREV.   NEXT  
|<   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   174   175   176   177   178   179   180   181   182   183   >>   >|  
of the voyage. That means--allowing for their nine days from Naples to London--that we should have to be at Naples in four or five days from now.' 'Well? That's easily managed, isn't it?' 'Not by anyone in your state of health,' replied Harvey gently. 'I am perfectly well! I could travel night and day. Why not? One eats and sleeps as usual. Besides, are you quite sure They may be longer than you think. Telegraph to the London office and ask when the _Lusitania_ will reach Naples.' 'If you like. But, for one thing, it's quite certain you oughtn't to travel in less than a week; and then--what about Hughie?' Alma's face darkened with vexation. 'It doesn't matter,' she said coldly. 'I had counted on it; but, of course, that's nothing. There's the baby to be considered first.' Harvey had never been so near the point of answering his wife in rough, masculine fashion. This illness of hers had unsettled his happy frame of mind, perturbing him with anxious thoughts, and making confusion of the quiet, reasonable prospect that lay before him only a week or two ago. He, too, could much have enjoyed the run to Naples and the voyage back, and disappointment taxed his patience. Irritated against Alma, and ashamed of himself for not being better tempered, he turned and left the room. A few minutes afterwards he walked to the post-office, where he addressed a telegram of inquiry to the Orient Line people in London. It was useless, of course; but he might as well satisfy Alma. The reply telegram was delivered to him as he sauntered about in the garden. It merely confirmed his calculation; there might possibly be a clear five days before the _Lusitania_ touched at Naples--most likely not more than four. He went into the sitting-room, but Alma was not there; he looked into the study, and found it vacant. As Ruth happened to pass, he bade her take the telegram to Mrs. Rolfe upstairs. He had no mind for reading or for any other occupation. He shut his door, and began to smoke. In the whiffs curling from his pipe he imagined the smoke of the great steamer as she drove northward from Indian seas; he heard the throb of the engines, saw the white wake. Naples; the Mediterranean; Gibraltar frowning towards the purple mountains of Morocco; the tumbling Bay; the green shores of Devon;--his pulses throbbed as he went voyaging in memory. And he might start this very hour, but for the child, who could not be left alone to servants.
PREV.   NEXT  
|<   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   174   175   176   177   178   179   180   181   182   183   >>   >|  



Top keywords:

Naples

 
telegram
 

London

 

travel

 

office

 

voyage

 
Lusitania
 
Harvey
 

vacant

 

touched


happened

 

looked

 

sitting

 

useless

 

addressed

 
inquiry
 

Orient

 
walked
 

turned

 

tempered


minutes

 

people

 

garden

 
confirmed
 

calculation

 

possibly

 

sauntered

 

delivered

 
satisfy
 

Morocco


mountains

 

tumbling

 
shores
 

purple

 

Mediterranean

 

Gibraltar

 
frowning
 
pulses
 

servants

 

voyaging


throbbed
 

memory

 

engines

 

occupation

 

reading

 

upstairs

 

Indian

 
northward
 

steamer

 
curling