FREE BOOKS

Author's List




PREV.   NEXT  
|<   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   161   162   163   164   165   166   167   168   169   170   171   172   173   >>   >|  
red, shepherding a young man whose face was hidden by the sweater which he was pulling over his head. He was a sturdily built young man. The sweater, moving from his body, revealed a good pair of shoulders. A last tug, and the sweater was off. Red hair flashed into view, tousled and disordered: and, as she saw it, Sally uttered an involuntary gasp of astonishment which caused many eyes to turn towards her. And the red-headed young man, who had been stooping to pick up his gloves, straightened himself with a jerk and stood staring at her blankly and incredulously, his face slowly crimsoning. 3 It was the energetic Mr. Burrowes who broke the spell. "Come on, come on," he said impatiently. "Li'l speed there, Reddy." Ginger Kemp started like a sleep-walker awakened; then recovering himself, slowly began to pull on the gloves. Embarrassment was stamped on his agreeable features. His face matched his hair. Sally plucked at the little manager's elbow. He turned irritably, but beamed in a distrait sort of manner when he perceived the source of the interruption. "Who--him?" he said in answer to Sally's whispered question. "He's just one of Bugs' sparring-partners." "But..." Mr. Burrowes, fussy now that the time had come for action, interrupted her. "You'll excuse me, miss, but I have to hold the watch. We mustn't waste any time." Sally drew back. She felt like an infidel who intrudes upon the celebration of strange rites. This was Man's hour, and women must keep in the background. She had the sensation of being very small and yet very much in the way, like a puppy who has wandered into a church. The novelty and solemnity of the scene awed her. She looked at Ginger, who with averted gaze was fiddling with his clothes in the opposite corner of the ring. He was as removed from communication as if he had been in another world. She continued to stare, wide-eyed, and Ginger, shuffling his feet self-consciously, plucked at his gloves. Mr. Butler, meanwhile, having doffed his bath-robe, stretched himself, and with leisurely nonchalance put on a second pair of gloves, was filling in the time with a little shadow boxing. He moved rhythmically to and fro, now ducking his head, now striking out with his muffled hands, and a sickening realization of the man's animal power swept over Sally and turned her cold. Swathed in his bath-robe, Bugs Butler had conveyed an atmosphere of dangerousness: in the boxin
PREV.   NEXT  
|<   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   161   162   163   164   165   166   167   168   169   170   171   172   173   >>   >|  



Top keywords:
gloves
 

Ginger

 

sweater

 

Butler

 

slowly

 
plucked
 
turned
 

Burrowes

 
novelty
 

church


wandered

 

sensation

 
background
 

excuse

 
solemnity
 

strange

 
celebration
 
infidel
 

intrudes

 

rhythmically


ducking

 

striking

 

boxing

 

nonchalance

 

filling

 

shadow

 

muffled

 

conveyed

 

Swathed

 

atmosphere


dangerousness

 
sickening
 

realization

 

animal

 

leisurely

 
stretched
 

corner

 
removed
 

communication

 
opposite

clothes
 

looked

 
averted
 
fiddling
 

consciously

 

doffed

 
shuffling
 

continued

 
headed
 

stooping