FREE BOOKS

Author's List




PREV.   NEXT  
|<   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   136   137   138   139   140   >>   >|  
me till Rocket closes down. Come on." And the two passed out into the night. CHAPTER XIV THE BREAKING POINT Eve and Will were at supper. The girl's brown eyes had lost their old gentle smile. Their soft depths no longer contained that well of girlish hope, that trusting joy of life. It seemed as if the curtain of romance had been torn aside, and the mouldering skeleton of life had been laid bare to her. There was trouble and pain in her look, there was fear, too; nor was it quite plain the nature of her fear. It may have been that fear of the future which comes to natures where love is the mainspring of responsibility. It may have been the fear of the weaker vessel, where harshness and brutality are threatened. It may have been a fear inspired by health already undermined by anxiety and worry. The old happy light was utterly gone from her eyes as she silently partook of the frugal supper her own hands had prepared. Will Henderson moodily devoured his food at the opposite end of the table. The third of their household was not there. Elia rarely took his meals with them. He preferred them by himself, for he hated and dreaded Will's tongue, which, though held in some check when he was sober, never failed to sting the boy when Silas Rocket's whiskey had done its work. The meal was nearly finished, and husband and wife had exchanged not a single word. Eve wished to talk; there was so much she wanted to say to him. The flame of her love still burned in her gentle bosom, but it was a flame sorely blown about by the storm winds of their brief married life. But somehow she could not utter the words she wanted to. There was no encouragement. There was a definite but intangible bar to their expression. The brutal silence of the man chilled her, and frightened her. Finally it was he who spoke, and he made some sort of effort to hide the determination lying behind his words. "How much money have you got, Eve?" he demanded, pushing his plate away with a movement which belied his tone. It was a question which had a familiar ring to the ears of the troubled girl. "Thirty dollars," she said patiently. Then she sighed. The man promptly threw aside all further mask. "For God's sake don't sigh like that! You'll be sniveling directly. One would think I was doin' you an injury asking you a simple question." "It's not that, Will. I'm thinking of what's going to happen when that's gone. It's got to last us
PREV.   NEXT  
|<   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   136   137   138   139   140   >>   >|  



Top keywords:
Rocket
 

wanted

 

question

 
gentle
 

supper

 

husband

 

finished

 

definite

 

intangible

 

encouragement


brutal

 
chilled
 

frightened

 
Finally
 
silence
 

expression

 

married

 

burned

 

wished

 

sorely


exchanged

 

single

 

happen

 

patiently

 

sighed

 
promptly
 

dollars

 

directly

 

troubled

 

Thirty


sniveling

 

demanded

 
pushing
 

determination

 

thinking

 

effort

 

simple

 

familiar

 

belied

 

injury


movement
 
romance
 

mouldering

 

skeleton

 

curtain

 
girlish
 

trusting

 
trouble
 
future
 

natures