FREE BOOKS

Author's List




PREV.   NEXT  
|<   106   107   108   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   139   140   141   142   143   144   145   146   147   148   149   150   151   152   153   154   155   >>   >|  
his is Lizzy: this is the little girl Daniel loves." Every day I'd kneel down by that dead lady's chair, and pray to God to make me fit to be her son's wife. But he's dead now,' drawing suddenly back, 'and I am going to be--an opera-singer.' "'Not unless by your own free will,' I said. "She did not hear me, I think, pulling at the fastening about her throat. "'Daniel would say it was the Devil's calling. Daniel was all I had. But he don't know. I know. God means it. I might have lived on here, keeping myself true to his notions of right: then, when I went yonder, he would have been kind to me, he would have loved me,'--looking out through the rain, in a dazed way. "'The truth is, Lizzy,' I said, 'you have a power within you, and you want to give it vent; it's like a hungry devil tearing you. So you give up your love-dream, and are going to be an opera-singer. That's the common-sense of the matter.' "I sealed the letter, and gave it to her. "'You think that?' "That was all she answered. But I'm sorry I said it; I don't know whether it was true or not. There,--that is the whole story. I never told it to Grey before. You can judge for yourselves." "My dear," said Mrs. Sheppard, "let me go with you to see your sister in New York. Some more coffee, please. My cup is cold." * * * * * A clear, healthy April night: one of those bright, mountain-winded nights of early spring, when the air is full of electric vigor,--starlight, when the whole earth seems wakening slowly and grandly into a new life. Grey, going with her husband and Mrs. Sheppard down Broadway, from their hotel, had a fancy that the world was so cheerfully, heartily at work, that the night was no longer needed. Overhead, the wind from the yet frozen hills swept in such strong currents, the great city throbbed with such infinite kinds of motion, and down in the harbor yonder the rush of couriers came and went incessantly from the busy world without. Grey was a country-girl: in this throbbing centre of human life she felt suddenly lost, atom-like,--drew her breath quickly, as she clung to Paul's arm. The world was so vast, was hurrying on so fast. She must get to work in earnest: why, one must justify her right to live, here. Mrs. Sheppard, as she plodded solidly along, took in the whole blue air and outgoing ocean, and the city, with its white palaces and gleaming lights. "People look happy here," she said.
PREV.   NEXT  
|<   106   107   108   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   139   140   141   142   143   144   145   146   147   148   149   150   151   152   153   154   155   >>   >|  



Top keywords:
Sheppard
 

Daniel

 

yonder

 

suddenly

 

singer

 
longer
 
needed
 

frozen

 
cheerfully
 

Overhead


heartily

 

grandly

 
spring
 

electric

 
nights
 

bright

 
mountain
 
winded
 

starlight

 

husband


Broadway

 

wakening

 

slowly

 

centre

 

justify

 

plodded

 

solidly

 

earnest

 

hurrying

 

lights


gleaming

 
People
 

palaces

 

outgoing

 

harbor

 
couriers
 

incessantly

 
motion
 

currents

 
throbbed

infinite
 

breath

 
quickly
 
country
 

throbbing

 

strong

 
calling
 

keeping

 
pulling
 

fastening