FREE BOOKS

Author's List




PREV.   NEXT  
|<   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   156   157   158   159   160   >>   >|  
il yourself!" said he. * * * * * But the making of love to the old woman in the kitchen led to possibilities of which Mo Shendish never dreamed. They never dawned on Doggie until he found himself at it that evening. It was dusk. The men were lounging and smoking about the courtyard. Doggie, who had long since exchanged poor Taffy Jones's imperfect penny whistle for a scientific musical instrument ordered from Bond Street, was playing, with his sensitive skill, the airs they loved. He had just finished "Annie Laurie"--"Man," Phineas used to declare, "when Doggie Trevor plays 'Annie Laurie,' he has the power to take your heart by the strings and drag it out through your eyes"--he had just come to the end of this popular and gizzard-piercing tune and received his meed of applause, when Toinette came out of the kitchen, two great zinc crocks in her hands, and crossed to the pump in the corner of the yard. Three or four would-be pumpers, among them Doggie, went to her aid. "All right, mother, we'll see to it," said one of them. So they pumped and filled the crocks, and one man got hold of one and Doggie got hold of another, and they carried them to the kitchen steps. "_Merci, monsieur_," said Toinette to the first; and he went away with a friendly nod. But to Doggie she said, "_Entrez, monsieur_." And monsieur carried the two crocks over the threshold and Toinette shut the door behind him. And there, sitting over some needlework in a corner of the kitchen by a lamp, sat Jeanne. She looked up rather startled, frowned for the brief part of a second, and regarded him inquiringly. "I brought in monsieur to show him the photograph of _mon petiot_, the comrade who sent me the snuff," explained Toinette, rummaging in a cupboard. "May I stay and look at it?" asked Doggie, buttoning up his tunic. "_Mais parfaitement, monsieur_," said Jeanne. "It is Toinette's kitchen." "_Bien sur_," said the old woman, turning with the photograph, that of a solid young infantryman. Doggie made polite remarks. Toinette put on a pair of silver-rimmed spectacles and scanned the picture. Then she handed it to Jeanne. "Don't you think there is a great deal of resemblance?" Jeanne directed a comparing glance at Doggie and smiled. "Like two little soldiers in a pod," she said. Toinette talked of her _petiot_ who was at St. Mihiel. It was far away, very far. She sighed as though he were fighti
PREV.   NEXT  
|<   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   156   157   158   159   160   >>   >|  



Top keywords:
Doggie
 

Toinette

 

kitchen

 

monsieur

 

Jeanne

 
crocks
 
corner
 

Laurie

 
carried
 

petiot


photograph

 

comrade

 
brought
 

inquiringly

 
regarded
 

sitting

 
threshold
 
Entrez
 

friendly

 

startled


frowned

 

looked

 

needlework

 

parfaitement

 

resemblance

 

directed

 

comparing

 

glance

 

picture

 

handed


smiled

 
sighed
 

fighti

 

Mihiel

 

soldiers

 
talked
 

scanned

 
spectacles
 

buttoning

 
explained

rummaging
 

cupboard

 
remarks
 
silver
 

rimmed

 

polite

 
turning
 

infantryman

 
whistle
 

scientific