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   >>   >|  
me? Would it have been sane to refuse?" "No; I don't think it would. I should certainly have said yes, too. That's the sort of thing that would have been called chivalry in olden times. It's chivalry _now_. He was quite right to offer. It would have been horrible if he had passed by and left you to be drenched." Cecil brightened with relief. "That's what _I_ thought! So I said `Yes'; and, of course, while we walked we talked, and the wind blew my hair into loose ends, and the damp made them curl, and the excitement gave me a colour; and it was so nice to talk to a man again, Claire, after everlasting women! I _did_ look pretty when I saw myself in the glass when I came in, almost as I used to look years before. And he looked handsome, too, big and strong, and so delightfully like a man, and unlike a member of staff! We liked each other very much, and when we got to this door--" Silence. Mary Rhodes waited wistfully for a helping word. Claire stared into the fire, her brows knitted in suspense. "Well, naturally, we were sorry to part! He asked if I usually went to Saint C--- for the evening service. I didn't, but I said `Yes.' I knew he meant to meet me again, and I _wanted_ to be met." Claire sent her thoughts back and recalled a certain Sunday evening when she had offered to accompany Cecil to church, and had been bluntly informed that her company was not desired. She had taken the hint, and had not offered it again. She was silent, waiting for the revelations which were still to come. "So after that it became a regular thing. He met me outside the church door, and saw me home. He often asked me to go out with him during the week, but I always refused, until suddenly this term I was so tired, so hungry for a change that I gave in, and promised that I would. I suppose that shocks you into fits!" "It does rather. You see," explained Claire laboriously, "I've been brought up on the Continent, where such a thing would be impossible. It would be an insult to suggest it. Even here in England it doesn't seem right. Do you think a really nice man who was attracted by a girl wouldn't find some other way--get an introduction _somehow_?" "How? It's easy to talk, but _how_ is he to do it? We live in different worlds. I am a High School teacher, living in rooms in London, without a relation or a house open to me where I am intimate enough to take a friend. He is an officer in a crack r
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:
Claire
 

offered

 

evening

 

church

 

chivalry

 
refused
 
intimate
 

suddenly

 
promised
 

change


suppose

 

living

 
shocks
 

hungry

 
silent
 

relation

 
desired
 
accompany
 

bluntly

 

informed


company

 

waiting

 

revelations

 

regular

 

London

 

attracted

 

wouldn

 

officer

 

worlds

 

friend


introduction

 
brought
 

laboriously

 

explained

 

Continent

 
School
 

England

 
impossible
 

insult

 
suggest

teacher
 

walked

 
talked
 
excitement
 

pretty

 

colour

 
everlasting
 

called

 
refuse
 

brightened