FREE BOOKS

Author's List




PREV.   NEXT  
|<   22   23   24   25   26   27   28   29   30   31   32   33   34   35   36   37   38   39   40   41   42   43   44   45   46  
47   48   49   50   51   52   53   54   55   56   57   58   59   60   61   62   63   64   65   66   67   68   69   70   71   >>   >|  
rearranging, and embellishing; and Condy was astonished and delighted to note that she "caught on" to the idea as quickly as he, and knew the telling points and what details to leave out. "And I'll make a bang-up article out of the whaleback herself," declared Condy. The "idea" of the article had returned to him, and all his enthusiasm with it. "And look here," he said, showing her the letter from the Centennial Company. "They turned down my book, but see what they say. "Quite an unusual order of merit!" cried Travis. "Why, that's fine! Why didn't you show this to me before?--and asking you like this to write them a novel of adventure! What MORE can you want? Oh!" she exclaimed impatiently, "that's so like you; you would tell everybody about your reverses, and carry on about them yourself, but never say a word when you get a little boom. Have you an idea for a thirty-thousand-word novel? Wouldn't that diver's story do?" "No, there's not enough in that for thirty thousand words. I haven't any idea at all--never wrote a story of adventure--never wrote anything longer than six thousand words. But I'll keep my eye open for something that will do. By the way--by Jove! Travis, where are we?" They looked briskly around them, and the bustling, breezy waterfront faded from their recollections. They were in a world of narrow streets, of galleries and overhanging balconies. Craziest structures, riddled and honeycombed with stairways and passages, shut out the sky, though here and there rose a building of extraordinary richness and most elaborate ornamentation. Color was everywhere. A thousand little notes of green and yellow, of vermilion and sky blue, assaulted the eye. Here it was a doorway, here a vivid glint of cloth or hanging, here a huge scarlet sign lettered with gold, and here a kaleidoscopic effect in the garments of a passer-by. Directly opposite, and two stories above their heads, a sort of huge "loggia," one blaze of gilding and crude vermilions, opened in the gray cement of a crumbling facade, like a sudden burst of flame. Gigantic pot-bellied lanterns of red and gold swung from its ceiling, while along its railing stood a row of pots--brass, ruddy bronze, and blue porcelain--from which were growing red saffron, purple, pink, and golden tulips without number. The air was vibrant with unfamiliar noises. From one of the balconies near at hand, though unseen, a gong, a pipe, and some kind of s
PREV.   NEXT  
|<   22   23   24   25   26   27   28   29   30   31   32   33   34   35   36   37   38   39   40   41   42   43   44   45   46  
47   48   49   50   51   52   53   54   55   56   57   58   59   60   61   62   63   64   65   66   67   68   69   70   71   >>   >|  



Top keywords:

thousand

 

adventure

 

Travis

 
balconies
 

thirty

 

article

 

doorway

 

assaulted

 

unfamiliar

 

scarlet


vibrant
 

noises

 

vermilion

 
hanging
 

yellow

 

passages

 
stairways
 

Craziest

 

structures

 

riddled


honeycombed

 
building
 
extraordinary
 
richness
 
elaborate
 

ornamentation

 

unseen

 

kaleidoscopic

 
porcelain
 

bronze


Gigantic

 
sudden
 

crumbling

 

saffron

 

facade

 

growing

 
bellied
 

ceiling

 

railing

 

lanterns


cement
 

opposite

 

Directly

 

tulips

 
stories
 
passer
 

garments

 
effect
 
number
 

golden