FREE BOOKS

Author's List




PREV.   NEXT  
|<   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   >>  
e quite a bright red. He began pulling his moustache nervously. "I know," he said. "I know. It's a queer habit, I know. But out there, you know, there's native servants, you know, and--it's a queer thing to talk about--but one has to look at things to see, don't y'know, whether they're quite clean or not. It's got to be a habit." "How odd!" said Jessie. "Isn't it?" mumbled Hoopdriver. "If I were a Sherlock Holmes," said Jessie, "I suppose I could have told you were a colonial from little things like that. But anyhow, I guessed it, didn't I?" "Yes," said Hoopdriver, in a melancholy tone, "you guessed it." Why not seize the opportunity for a neat confession, and add, "unhappily in this case you guessed wrong." Did she suspect? Then, at the psychological moment, the girl bumped the door open with her tray and brought in the coffee and scrambled eggs. "I am rather lucky with my intuitions, sometimes," said Jessie. Remorse that had been accumulating in his mind for two days surged to the top of his mind. What a shabby liar he was! And, besides, he must sooner or later, inevitably, give himself away. XXXV. Mr. Hoopdriver helped the eggs and then, instead of beginning, sat with his cheek on his hand, watching Jessie pour out the coffee. His ears were a bright red, and his eyes bright. He took his coffee cup clumsily, cleared his throat, suddenly leant back in his chair, and thrust his hands deep into his pockets. "I'll do it," he said aloud. "Do what?" said Jessie, looking up in surprise over the coffee pot. She was just beginning her scrambled egg. "Own up." "Own what?" "Miss Milton--I'm a liar." He put his head on one side and regarded her with a frown of tremendous resolution. Then in measured accents, and moving his head slowly from side to side, he announced, "Ay'm a deraper." "You're a draper? I thought--" "You thought wrong. But it's bound to come up. Pins, attitude, habits--It's plain enough. "I'm a draper's assistant let out for a ten-days holiday. Jest a draper's assistant. Not much, is it? A counter-jumper." "A draper's assistant isn't a position to be ashamed of," she said, recovering, and not quite understanding yet what this all meant. "Yes, it is," he said, "for a man, in this country now. To be just another man's hand, as I am. To have to wear what clothes you are told, and go to church to please customers, and work--There's no other kind of men stand such hour
PREV.   NEXT  
|<   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   >>  



Top keywords:

Jessie

 

coffee

 
draper
 

Hoopdriver

 

assistant

 
guessed
 

bright

 
scrambled
 
thought
 

beginning


things
 

thrust

 

resolution

 

tremendous

 

slowly

 

suddenly

 

throat

 

moving

 

accents

 
measured

surprise
 

regarded

 

pockets

 
Milton
 
clothes
 

country

 

church

 
customers
 

understanding

 

habits


attitude
 

deraper

 

holiday

 
position
 

ashamed

 

recovering

 

jumper

 

counter

 

cleared

 
announced

colonial

 
suppose
 

mumbled

 
Sherlock
 
Holmes
 

melancholy

 
unhappily
 

confession

 

opportunity

 
servants