FREE BOOKS

Author's List




PREV.   NEXT  
|<   70   71   72   73   74   75   76   77   78   79   80   81   82   83   84   85   86   87   88   89   90   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   >>   >|  
likeable--always." Involuntarily the man turned away, until his face was hidden. "You believe this, and still--you don't give advice or--or warning?" "I repeat, I believe in you. Even if it weren't an insult advice would not be necessary." A last second they stood there, so near, so very near together and still so infinitely far apart. Dully, almost ploddingly, the man turned to leave. "Thank you, Elice," he said. "That's probably the last kind word I'll hear for a long time. Perhaps, too, it's justified, perhaps--who knows? Good-night and--good-bye." The girl did not follow him, did not move. "Good-bye, Steve," she echoed. BOOK II CHAPTER I ANTICIPATION "Are you given to remembering dates, Elice?" There had been a pause,--one of the inevitable, normal pauses that occur when two people who are intimate are alone and conversation drifts where it will. Into this particular void, without preamble, entered this question. "Sometimes. Why?" "Not always, then?" "No. I haven't any particular tendency that way that I know of. Possibly I'm not yet old enough for it to develop." "To be more specific, then, to-day is December the sixth." Darley Roberts' eyelids narrowed whimsically. "Does that particular date have any special significance, recall anything out of the ordinary to you?" Elice Gleason glanced up from the four-leafed clover she was bringing to life on the scrap of linen in her lap, and looked at her companion thoughtfully. "From the way you come at me, point blank," she smiled, "I have no doubt it should. Your chance questions, I've discovered, always do have a string attached to them somewhere. But just at this particular moment I admit December the sixth recalls nothing in particular." "Not even when I add, at approximately eight o'clock in the evening? It's that now. I've been consulting the timepiece over there." "No; not even that. I'm more and more convinced it's a distinct lapse on my part; but again I'm compelled to confess incompetency. When did what happen at approximately eight P.M. on December the sixth?" Darley Roberts stroked his great chin with reminiscent deliberation. "On December sixth, at eight o'clock P.M., precisely one year ago," he explained minutely, "a certain man called on a certain young woman of his acquaintance for the first time. It was, I am reliably informed, a momentous occasion for him. Moreover he--Had you really forgotten, E
PREV.   NEXT  
|<   70   71   72   73   74   75   76   77   78   79   80   81   82   83   84   85   86   87   88   89   90   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   >>   >|  



Top keywords:

December

 

Darley

 

approximately

 
Roberts
 
advice
 

turned

 
chance
 

attached

 

string

 

questions


discovered
 

hidden

 

recalls

 

moment

 

bringing

 
clover
 

leafed

 

glanced

 

looked

 
smiled

companion

 
thoughtfully
 

evening

 

likeable

 

minutely

 

called

 

explained

 
deliberation
 

precisely

 

acquaintance


forgotten

 

Moreover

 

occasion

 

reliably

 

informed

 

momentous

 

reminiscent

 

distinct

 

convinced

 

timepiece


Gleason

 

consulting

 

Involuntarily

 

stroked

 

happen

 

compelled

 
confess
 

incompetency

 

recall

 

CHAPTER