FREE BOOKS

Author's List




PREV.   NEXT  
|<   9   10   11   12   13   14   15   16   17   18   19   20   21   22   23   24   25   26   27   28   29   30   31   32   33  
34   35   36   37   38   39   40   41   42   43   44   45   46   47   48   49   50   51   52   53   54   55   56   57   58   >>   >|  
t her maid had some unpacking to do, she had some things to superintend, and, when this was done, she intended to spend a time on deck. Then, with a peculiar smile, she passed out. [Note by Dr. Marmion appended to his MSS.:--"Many of the conversations and monologues in this history, not heard by myself when they occurred, were told to me afterwards, or got from the diaries and notes of the persons concerned. Only a few are purely imaginary."] CHAPTER II. "MOTLEY IS YOUR ONLY WEAR" I went to my cabin, took a book, sat down, and began to smoke. My thoughts drifted from the book, and then occurred a strange, incongruous thing. It was a remembered incident. It came like a vision as I was lighting a fresh cigar: A boy and a girl in a village chemist's shop; he with a boy's love for her, she responding in terms, but not in fact. He passed near her carrying a measure of sulphuric acid. She put out her hand suddenly and playfully, as though to bar his way. His foot slipped on the oily floor, and the acid spilled on his hands and the skirt of her dress. He turned instantly and plunged his hands into a measure of alcohol standing near before the acid had more than slightly scalded them. She glanced at his startled face; hers was without emotion. She looked down, and said petulantly: "You have spoiled my dress; I cannot go into the street." The boy's clothes were burnt also. He was poor, and to replace them must be a trial to him; her father owned the shop, and was well-to-do. Still, he grieved most that she should be annoyed, though he saw her injustice. But she turned away and left him. Another scene then crossed the disc of smoke: The boy and girl, now man and woman, standing alone in the chemist's shop. He had come out of the big working world, after travel in many countries. His fame had come with him. She was to be married the next day to a seller of purple and fine linen. He was smiling a good-bye, and there was nothing of the old past in the smile. The flame now was in her eyes, and she put out both her hands to stop him as he turned to go; but his face was passionless. "You have spoiled my heart," she said; "I cannot go into the world so." "It is too late; the measures are empty," he replied. "I love you to-day, I will loathe you to-morrow," was the answer. But he turned and left her, and she blindly stretched out her hands and followed him into the darkness, weeping. Was it t
PREV.   NEXT  
|<   9   10   11   12   13   14   15   16   17   18   19   20   21   22   23   24   25   26   27   28   29   30   31   32   33  
34   35   36   37   38   39   40   41   42   43   44   45   46   47   48   49   50   51   52   53   54   55   56   57   58   >>   >|  



Top keywords:
turned
 

standing

 

measure

 

chemist

 

spoiled

 

passed

 
occurred
 

loathe

 

father

 
measures

replied

 

replace

 

petulantly

 

weeping

 
looked
 

emotion

 

darkness

 
grieved
 

clothes

 

answer


stretched

 

street

 
blindly
 

morrow

 

working

 

smiling

 
seller
 

purple

 
married
 
travel

countries

 

passionless

 

annoyed

 

injustice

 

crossed

 

Another

 

persons

 

concerned

 

diaries

 
purely

imaginary
 

CHAPTER

 

MOTLEY

 

intended

 
unpacking
 

things

 

superintend

 
peculiar
 

conversations

 

monologues