FREE BOOKS

Author's List




PREV.   NEXT  
|<   49   50   51   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   >>   >|  
straight looking, while those of the man in the middle of the room were cloudy and furtive. He could not face the other's gaze, and continually and vainly struggled with himself to do so. The high cheek bones with the hollows beneath were the same, yet the texture of the hollows seemed different. The thin-lipped mouths were from the same mould, but George's lips were firm and muscular, while Al's were soft and loose--the lips of an ascetic turned voluptuary. There was also a sag at the corners. His flesh hinted of grossness, especially so in the eagle-like aquiline nose that must once have been like the other's, but that had lost the austerity the other's still retained. Al fought for steadiness in the middle of the floor. The silence bothered him. He had a feeling that he was about to begin swaying back and forth. He moistened his lips with his tongue. "I'm going to stay," he said desperately. He dropped his eyes and plucked again at his sleeve. "And you are only twenty-six years old," George said at last. "You poor, feeble old man." "Don't be so sure of that," Al retorted, with a flash of belligerence. "Do you remember when we swam that mile and a half across the channel?" "Well, and what of it?" A sullen expression was creeping across Al's face. "And do you remember when we boxed in the barn after school?" "I could take all you gave me." "All I gave you!" George's voice rose momentarily to a higher pitch. "You licked me four afternoons out of five. You were twice as strong as I--three times as strong. And now I'd be afraid to land on you with a sofa cushion; you'd crumple up like a last year's leaf. You'd die, you poor, miserable old man." "You needn't abuse me just because I've changed my mind," the other protested, the hint of a whine in his voice. His wife entered, and he looked appealingly to her; but the man at the window strode suddenly up to him and burst out-- "You don't know your own mind for two successive minutes! You haven't any mind, you spineless, crawling worm!" "You can't make me angry." Al smiled with cunning, and glanced triumphantly at his wife. "You can't make me angry," he repeated, as though the idea were thoroughly gratifying to him. "I know your game. It's my stomach, I tell you. I can't help it. Before God, I can't! Isn't it my stomach, Mary?" She glanced at George and spoke composedly, though she hid a trembling hand in a fold of her skirt. "Isn't it time?
PREV.   NEXT  
|<   49   50   51   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   >>   >|  



Top keywords:

George

 

glanced

 

stomach

 

remember

 

strong

 

middle

 

hollows

 

changed

 

miserable

 

continually


entered

 

looked

 
appealingly
 

momentarily

 

higher

 
protested
 

licked

 

afternoons

 

struggled

 
afraid

crumple

 

vainly

 

cushion

 

suddenly

 
Before
 

straight

 

gratifying

 
trembling
 

composedly

 

repeated


successive

 

minutes

 
furtive
 

strode

 

smiled

 

cunning

 

triumphantly

 
cloudy
 
spineless
 

crawling


window

 

swaying

 

silence

 

bothered

 

ascetic

 

feeling

 

moistened

 
muscular
 

desperately

 

dropped