FREE BOOKS

Author's List




PREV.   NEXT  
|<   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   72   73   74   75   76   77   78   79   80   81   82   83   84   85   86   87   88   89   >>   >|  
look at the young workman who now followed Bubbles into the studio. And so did Barbara, the moment she saw him. To her critical eye he was quite the best-looking young man she had ever seen "in the world or out of it." He was tall, broad, round-necked, narrow in the hips, and of a fine brown coloring. He carried with easy grace a strong, well-massed head, to which the close adherence of the ears, and the shortness of the dark-brown shiny hair, gave an effect of high civilization and finish. Brown, level eyes, neither hard nor soft, but of a twinkling habit, a nose straight, thick, finely chiselled, an emphatic chin, and a large mouth of extraordinary sweetness, were not lost upon Barbara, but that which served most to arrest her attention was that resemblance which she at once perceived to exist between the young workman and the legless beggar. Yet between Bubbles, who also resembled Blizzard in her eyes or in her imagination, and the youth from the hardware store, she was unable, swiftly comparing them, to find anything in common. To the one nature had denied even full growth and development; upon the other she had lavished muscle, blood, and bone. The small boy had a ragged, peaked, pathetic face, hair that sprouted every which way, the eyes of an invalid, ears of unequal size and different shapes, that stuck straight out from his head--all the stampings, in short, of street-birth and gutter-raising. The workman had an efficient, commanding look, the easy, strong motions of an athlete trained and proved. Neither in the least resembled the other, yet both resembled the legless beggar, who in turn resembled Satan after the fall--and Barbara was inclined to laugh. "I am so obsessed with one man's face," she thought, "that I see something of it in all other faces." "Good-morning, Harry." It was the beggar's voice, cool, and perhaps a little insolent. "Good-morning, Blizzard." The young man nodded curtly and turned to Barbara. "Do you wish all the knobs changed?" "Please." Without another word, the young man knelt at the door by which he had entered and began with the aid of a long screw-driver to remove its ancient lock of japanned iron and coarse white china. "What's the best news with you, Harry?" The young man did not look up from his work. "That the water'll soon be warm enough for swimming," he said. To Barbara that answer seemed pleasantly indicative of a healthy nature and a healthy mind. "It
PREV.   NEXT  
|<   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   72   73   74   75   76   77   78   79   80   81   82   83   84   85   86   87   88   89   >>   >|  



Top keywords:

Barbara

 

resembled

 

workman

 

beggar

 
strong
 

morning

 

legless

 

Blizzard

 

straight

 

nature


healthy

 

Bubbles

 

obsessed

 
stampings
 
shapes
 
street
 

thought

 

raising

 

motions

 

commanding


athlete

 

proved

 

trained

 
Neither
 

efficient

 

gutter

 
inclined
 
japanned
 

coarse

 
answer

pleasantly
 

indicative

 
swimming
 

ancient

 
changed
 

Please

 

turned

 
curtly
 

insolent

 

nodded


Without

 
driver
 

remove

 

entered

 
unequal
 

comparing

 

effect

 

shortness

 
adherence
 

massed