FREE BOOKS

Author's List




PREV.   NEXT  
|<   52   53   54   55   56   57   58   59   60   61   62   63   64   65   66   67   68   69   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   >>   >|  
the lines prettily, and put away her rustic accent, all but the music: '"Down in the West dwells my lady Clare: Blow, O balmy wind, from the West! Bathe me in odours of her hair, Bring me her thoughts ere she fell to rest! '"Beam, O moon, through her casement bars; Bathe in thy glory her glorious hair: Keep guard over her, sentinel stars; Watch her and keep her, all things fair!"' 'You didn't make that up out of your own head, did ee, Paul? 'Yes,' said Paul. Here was his divinity reciting the lines with which she herself had inspired him. 'Now, couldn't ee make a piece of poetry about me?' she asked. Paul's heart gave one great thump at his breast and stopped. 'That was about you,' he said. 'Why, you silly boy,' she said, 'you've got the name wrong. But oh, Paul, ain't ee beginning very young? Askin' for maids' thoughts afore they go to sleep! Mine, too! You'll be a regular gallows young reprobate afore you're much older. That I'm sure of.' There was a trembling wish deep down in his heart that she had left this unsaid, but how could he be so disloyal as to let it float to the surface? He drowned it deep, but it was there. She had misunderstood. She read him coarsely, not as the May of his dreams had read him. 'Now, you write something about me, will ee, Paul?--something in my own name. Will ee?' Paul made no answer for the moment, for the request fairly carried him off his balance. 'Will ee, now?' she asked, bringing her face in front of his. 'Yes, yes, yes,' he half sighed, half panted. 'Here's a stile,' she said, springing forward with a happy gurgle of a laugh. The laugh to Paul's ear was as musical as the sad chuckle of the nightingale, and as far from sorrow as its one rival is from mirth. There was _camaraderie_ in it, sympathy, a touch even of something confidential. 'Now, well sit down here together, and you shall make it up.' She perched on the stile as light as a perching bird, and drew her lithe figure on one side to make room for Paul. The stile was narrow, and there was barely room for two. Paul hesitated shyly, but she patted the seat in a pretty assumption of impatience, and he obeyed. 'Paul,' she said, sliding an arm behind him, and taking hold of the side-post. 'What was it ee wanted to tell this morning?' 'This morning?' said Paul stupidly. It is one thing to resolve to be courageous in battle. It may be another thing when
PREV.   NEXT  
|<   52   53   54   55   56   57   58   59   60   61   62   63   64   65   66   67   68   69   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   >>   >|  



Top keywords:

morning

 
thoughts
 
gurgle
 

musical

 
chuckle
 
answer
 
moment
 

coarsely

 

dreams

 

request


fairly
 

nightingale

 

sighed

 

panted

 
springing
 
bringing
 

carried

 

balance

 

forward

 
sliding

taking
 

obeyed

 

impatience

 

patted

 
pretty
 

assumption

 

battle

 
courageous
 

resolve

 
stupidly

wanted
 

hesitated

 

confidential

 

sympathy

 

camaraderie

 
sorrow
 

figure

 

narrow

 

barely

 
perched

perching

 

gallows

 

things

 

sentinel

 
glorious
 

inspired

 

couldn

 
reciting
 

divinity

 

dwells