FREE BOOKS

Author's List




PREV.   NEXT  
|<   39   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   >>   >|  
is ugly and strong, the other graceful but unable to stand alone?" asked Warwick, rising, with a gesture that sent the silvery shreds flying away on the wind. "One holds as much as the other, however; and I fancy the woman would fill hers soonest if she had the wherewithal to do it. Do you know there are berries on that hillside opposite?" "I see vines, but consider fruit doubtful, for boys and birds are thicker than blackberries." "I've a firm conviction that they have left some for us; and as Mark says you like frankness, I think I shall venture to ask you to row me over and help me fill the baskets on the other side." Sylvia looked up at him with a merry mixture of doubt and daring in her face, and offered him his hat. "Very good, I will," said Warwick, leading the way to the boat with an alacrity which proved how much pleasanter to him was action than repose. There was no dry landing-place just opposite, and as he rowed higher, Adam fixed his eyes on Sylvia with a look peculiar to himself, a gaze more keen than soft, which seemed to search one through and through with its rapid discernment. He saw a face full of contradictions,--youthful, maidenly, and intelligent, yet touched with the unconscious melancholy which is born of disappointment and desire. The mouth was sweet and tender as a woman's should be, the brow spirited and thoughtful; but the eyes were by turns eager, absent, or sad, and there was much pride in the carriage of the small head with its hair of wavy gold gathered into a green snood, whence little tendrils kept breaking loose to dance upon her forehead, or hang about her neck. A most significant but not a beautiful face, because of its want of harmony. The dark eyes, among their fair surroundings, disturbed the sight as a discord in music jars upon the ear; even when the lips smiled the sombre shadow of black lashes seemed to fill them with a gloom that was never wholly lost. The voice, too, which should have been a girlish treble, was full and low as a matured woman's, with now and then a silvery ring to it, as if another and a blither creature spoke. Sylvia could not be offended by the grave penetration of this glance, though an uncomfortable consciousness that she was being analyzed and tested made her meet it with a look intended to be dignified, but which was also somewhat defiant, and more than one smile passed over Warwick's countenance as he watched her. The moment the boat gl
PREV.   NEXT  
|<   39   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   >>   >|  



Top keywords:
Sylvia
 

Warwick

 

opposite

 

silvery

 
absent
 
tender
 

carriage

 
harmony
 

beautiful

 

significant


gathered

 

thoughtful

 
forehead
 

breaking

 
spirited
 
tendrils
 

penetration

 

glance

 
consciousness
 

uncomfortable


offended

 

blither

 

creature

 
analyzed
 

passed

 
countenance
 

watched

 

moment

 

defiant

 

tested


intended

 

dignified

 
smiled
 

discord

 

surroundings

 

disturbed

 
sombre
 
shadow
 

girlish

 

treble


matured

 

lashes

 

wholly

 

thicker

 
blackberries
 

doubtful

 
hillside
 

conviction

 
venture
 

frankness