FREE BOOKS

Author's List




PREV.   NEXT  
|<   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   102   103   104   105   106   107   108   109   110   111   112   113   114   115   >>   >|  
ropped her work and asked, "Is that a footstep on the porch?" "Footsteps! No--why, who did you think was coming?" I said. "Mr. Weston promised to drop in on his way home from hunting--but I guess he'll disappoint me. I hoped it was he." She fell to her task again, only now she began to hum softly, thus shutting me off entirely. For a very long while I endured it, but the time came when action of some kind was called for. We were not married, that I could sit forever smoking while she hummed. Even in Black Log, etiquette requires that a man talk to a woman when in her company; and when the woman ceases to listen, the wise man departs. That was just what I did not want to do, and only one alternative was left me. I got out the letter and held it under the light. "You were asking about Tim's friends, Mary," said I. "Was I?" she returned. "I had forgotten. What did I say?" "You asked if he had made any friends," I replied, as calmly as I could. "I was going to read you what he said." "Oh!" she cried. And at last she dropped her knitting, and resting her elbows on her knees, clasping her chin in her hands, she looked up at me from her low chair. "I thought it was forbidden," she said. "Tim didn't say anything about not reading it," I answered. "At first, though, it seemed best not to; but you'll understand, Mary. Of course, we mustn't take him too seriously, but it does sound foolish. Poor Tim!" "Poor Tim!" repeated the girl. "He must be in love." "He is," said I. "Then don't read it!" she cried. "Surely he never intended you to read it to me." "Of course he did," I laughed, for at last I had aroused her, and now her infernal knitting was forgotten; she no longer strained her ears for Weston's footfalls. Her eyes were fixed on me. "Poor old Tim! Well, let's wish him luck, Mary. Now listen." So I read her the forbidden pages. "'You should see Edith Parker, Mark. She is so different from the girls of Black Log. Her father is head book-keeper in the store, and he has been very good to me. Last week he took me home to dinner with him. He has a nice house in Brooklyn. His wife is dead, and he has just his daughter. We have no women in Black Log that compare to her. She is tall and slender and has fair hair and blue eyes.'" "I hate fair-haired women," broke in Mary with some asperity. "They are so vain." "I agree with you," said I. "That is invariably the case, and da
PREV.   NEXT  
|<   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   102   103   104   105   106   107   108   109   110   111   112   113   114   115   >>   >|  



Top keywords:

listen

 
friends
 

forgotten

 

knitting

 

Weston

 

forbidden

 
longer
 
footfalls
 

strained

 
understand

foolish

 

Surely

 

aroused

 

repeated

 

intended

 

infernal

 

laughed

 

father

 
daughter
 

compare


slender

 

Brooklyn

 

invariably

 

haired

 
asperity
 

dinner

 
Parker
 

keeper

 

replied

 
endured

softly

 

shutting

 

action

 

hummed

 

etiquette

 

requires

 
smoking
 

forever

 

called

 

married


Footsteps

 

ropped

 

footstep

 

coming

 
disappoint
 
hunting
 

promised

 

company

 
clasping
 

elbows