FREE BOOKS

Author's List




PREV.   NEXT  
|<   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   99   >>   >|  
and no one had had a wink of sleep--in spite of all this, Tish remained firm in her conviction that 7 A. M. on Registration Day, when the precincts opened, would find him too old to register. On the surface the days that followed passed uneventfully. Tish sewed and knitted, and once each day stood Aggie and myself on the outskirts of her garden and pointed out things which she said would be green corn, and tomatoes and peppers and so on. But there was a set look about her face, to those of us who knew and loved her. She had moments of abstraction, too, and during one of them weeded out an entire row of spring onions, according to Hannah. On the third of June I went into the jeweller's to have my watch regulated, and found Tish at the counter. She muttered something about a main spring and went out, leaving me staring after her. I am no idiot, however, although not Tish's mental equal by any means, and I saw that she had been looking at gentlemen's gold watches. I had a terrible thought that she intended trying to purchase Charlie Sands by a gift. But I might have known her high integrity. She would not stoop to a bribe. And, as a matter of fact, happening to stop at the Ostermaiers' that evening to show Mrs. Ostermaier how to purl, I found that dear Tish, remembering the anniversary of his first sermon to us, had presented Mr. Ostermaier with a handsome watch. It was on the fourth of June that I had another visit from Charlie Sands. He is usually a most amiable young man, but on that occasion he came in glowering savagely, and on sitting down on Aggie's knitting, which was on steel needles, he flung it across the room, and had to spend quite a little time apologizing. "The truth is," he said, "I'm so blooming upset that I'm not myself. Let me put these needles back, won't you? Or do they belong in some particular place?" "They do," Aggie retorted grimly. "And for a young man who will be thirty-two tomorrow morning----" "Evening," he corrected her, with a sort of groan. "I see she's got you too. Look here," he went on, "I'm in trouble, and I'm blessed if I see my way out. I want to register tomorrow. I may not be drawn, because I'm an unlucky devil and always was. But--I want to do my bit." "Well," I observed, tartly. "I guess no one can prevent you. Go and do it, and say nothing." "Not at all," he replied, getting up and striding up and down the room. "Not a bit of it. I grant you it looks simple. W
PREV.   NEXT  
|<   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   99   >>   >|  



Top keywords:

tomorrow

 

Charlie

 
needles
 

spring

 

register

 
Ostermaier
 

blooming

 

sermon

 

simple

 
apologizing

presented

 
fourth
 

glowering

 

amiable

 

occasion

 
savagely
 

knitting

 

sitting

 

handsome

 

striding


prevent
 

trouble

 
corrected
 

blessed

 

observed

 

unlucky

 

Evening

 
morning
 

tartly

 

replied


belong
 
thirty
 

grimly

 
retorted
 

tomatoes

 

peppers

 

things

 

pointed

 
outskirts
 
garden

weeded

 

entire

 

abstraction

 

moments

 
knitted
 

conviction

 

Registration

 

remained

 
passed
 

uneventfully