FREE BOOKS

Author's List




PREV.   NEXT  
|<   38   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   >>   >|  
r there on the hill, and the air full of the perfume of growin' things,--they 'aint got anything like that, in New York." For a time Mrs. Burke relapsed into silence, while Maxwell smoked his briar pipe as he lay on the grass near by. She realized that the parson had cleverly side-tracked her original subject of conversation, and as she glanced down at him she shook her head with droll deprecation of his guile. When she first accused him of the blues, it was true that Maxwell's look had expressed glum depression. Now, he was smiling, and, balked of her prey, Mrs. Burke knitted briskly, contemplating other means drawing him from his covert. Her strategy had been too subtle: she would try a frontal attack. "Ever think of gettin' married, Mr. Maxwell?" she inquired abruptly. For an instant Maxwell colored; but he blew two or three rings of smoke in the air, and then replied carelessly, as he plucked at the grass by his side: "Oh, yes: every fellow of my age has fancied himself in love some time or other, I suppose." "Yes, it's like measles, or whoopin'-cough; every man has to have it sometime; but you haven't answered my question." "Well, suppose I was in love; a man must be pretty conceited to imagine that he could make up to a girl for the sacrifice of bringing her to live in a place like Durford. That sounds horribly rude to Durford, but you won't misunderstand me." "No; I know exactly how you feel; but the average girl is just dyin' to make a great sacrifice for some good-lookin' young fellow, all the same." "Ah yes; the _average_ girl; but----" Maxwell's voice trailed off into silence, while he affected to gaze stonily into the blue deeps of the sky overhead. Hepsey had thought herself a pretty clever fisherman, in her day; evidently, she decided, this particular fish was not going to be easy to land. "Don't you think a clergyman is better off married?" she asked, presently. Donald knocked the ashes out of his pipe and put it in his pocket, clasped his hands across his knees, and smiled thoughtfully for a moment. There was a light in his eyes which was good to see, and a slight trembling of his lips before he ventured to speak. Then he sighed heavily. "Yes, I do, on many accounts. But I think that any parson in a place like this ought to know and face all the difficulties of the situation before he comes to a definite decision and marries. Isn't that your own view? You've had experie
PREV.   NEXT  
|<   38   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   >>   >|  



Top keywords:
Maxwell
 

suppose

 

average

 

married

 

Durford

 
fellow
 
sacrifice
 

pretty

 
silence
 

parson


affected

 

stonily

 
Hepsey
 

fisherman

 
clever
 

thought

 
overhead
 
trailed
 

sounds

 

horribly


lookin

 

misunderstand

 

heavily

 

accounts

 

sighed

 

trembling

 

slight

 

ventured

 

experie

 

marries


situation

 
difficulties
 

definite

 

decision

 

clergyman

 
Donald
 

presently

 
decided
 

knocked

 
thoughtfully

smiled
 

moment

 
pocket
 
clasped
 

evidently

 

accused

 
deprecation
 

expressed

 
briskly
 

contemplating