FREE BOOKS

Author's List




PREV.   NEXT  
|<   128   129   130   131   132   133   134   135   136   137   138   139   140   141   142   143   144   >>  
Goldie received word that her mother lay at the point of death. Then at last she tore herself away from the pier. She went home on foot, this being the best way to get to the Ashdales--taking the old familiar road across Loby, then on through the big forest and over Snipa Ridge. When going past the old Hindrickson homestead she saw a big, broad-shouldered man, with a strong, grave-looking visage, standing at the roadside mending a picket fence. The man gave her a stiff nod as she went by. He stood still for a moment, looking after her, then hastened to overtake her. "This must be Glory Goldie of Ruffluck," he said as he came up with her. "I'd like to have a word with you. I'm Linnart, son of Bjoern Hindrickson," he added, seeing that she did not know who he was. "I'm terribly pressed for time now," Glory Goldie told him. "So perhaps you'd better wait till another day. I've just learned that my mother is dying." Linnart Hindrickson then asked if he might walk with her part of the way. He said that he had thought of going down to the pier to see her and now he did not want to miss this good opportunity of speaking with her, as it was very necessary that she should hear what he had to say. Glory Goldie made no further objections. She perceived, however, that the man had some difficulty in stating his business and concluded it was something of an unpleasant nature. He hemmed and hawed a while, as if trying to find the right words; presently he said, with apparent effort: "I don't believe you know, Glory Goldie, that I was the last person who talked with your father--the Emperor, as we used to call him." "No, I did not know of this," answered the girl, at the same time quickening her steps. She was thinking to herself that this conversation was something she would rather have escaped. "One day last autumn," Linnart continued, "while I was out in the yard hitching up a horse to drive over to the village shop, I saw the Emperor come running down the road; he seemed in a great hurry, but when he espied me he stopped and asked if I had seen the Empress drive by. I couldn't deny that I had. Then he burst out crying. He had been on his way to Broby, he said, but such a strange feeling of uneasiness had suddenly come over him that he had to turn back, and when he reached home he found the hut deserted. Katrina was also gone. He felt certain his wife and daughter were leaving by the boat and he didn't know how h
PREV.   NEXT  
|<   128   129   130   131   132   133   134   135   136   137   138   139   140   141   142   143   144   >>  



Top keywords:
Goldie
 

Linnart

 

Hindrickson

 

Emperor

 

mother

 
leaving
 
father
 

quickening

 
thinking
 

answered


talked

 

daughter

 
unpleasant
 

nature

 
hemmed
 

concluded

 
stating
 
business
 

effort

 

apparent


presently

 

person

 

feeling

 

strange

 

running

 

uneasiness

 

village

 

Empress

 

couldn

 

stopped


espied

 
suddenly
 

escaped

 

crying

 

autumn

 
continued
 

hitching

 
reached
 

Katrina

 
deserted

conversation
 

roadside

 
mending
 
picket
 

standing

 

visage

 
shouldered
 

strong

 
hastened
 

overtake