FREE BOOKS

Author's List




PREV.   NEXT  
|<   108   109   110   111   112   113   114   115   116   117   118   119   120   121   122   123   124   125   126   127   128   129   130   131   132  
133   134   135   136   137   138   139   140   141   >>  
ading to the house. "You listening?" She nodded jerkily. "It seemed all right then. And it seemed all right after that. Stuyvesant was agreeable enough, and so I came on to New York. Then followed Dad's death. Dad was a queer sort, but he was square as a die. I'm sorry he went before he had a chance to meet you. I didn't realize what good pals we were until afterward. But, anyway, he died, and he tied the property all up as I've told you. Maybe he thought if he didn't I'd blow it in, because I see now I'd been getting rid of a good many dollars. I went to Frances and told her all about it, and offered to cancel the engagement. But she was a good sport and said she'd wait until I earned ten thousand a year. You listening?" She nodded. "Because it's right here you come in. I was going to get it inside a year, and you know just about how much chance I stood. But it looked easy to her, because her father was pulling down about that much a month, and not killing himself either. I didn't know any more about it than she did; but the difference between us was that as soon as I was on the inside I learned a lot she didn't learn. I learned how hard it is to get ten thousand a year; more than that, I learned how unnecessary it is to get it. That's what you taught me." "I--I didn't mean to," she interrupted. "You're talking," he reminded her. She closed her lips firmly together. "Whether you meant to or not isn't the point. You did teach me that and a lot of other things. I didn't know it at the time, and went plugging ahead, thinking everything was just the same when it wasn't at all. Frances was headed one way and I was headed another. Then she went abroad, and after that I learned faster than ever. I learned what a home can be made to mean, and work can be made to mean, and life can be made to mean. All those things you were teaching me. I didn't know it, and you didn't know it, and Frances didn't know it. That ten thousand grew less and less important to me, and all the while I thought it must be growing less and less important to her. I thought that way after the walks in the park and the walks in the country and that night at Coney." She shuddered. "I thought it even after she came back--even after my talk with Stuyvesant. He told me I was a fool and that Frances wouldn't listen to me. I didn't believe him and put it up to her. And then--for the first time--I saw that what I had been learning she had
PREV.   NEXT  
|<   108   109   110   111   112   113   114   115   116   117   118   119   120   121   122   123   124   125   126   127   128   129   130   131   132  
133   134   135   136   137   138   139   140   141   >>  



Top keywords:
learned
 

thought

 

Frances

 

thousand

 

things

 
headed
 
important
 

Stuyvesant

 
inside

listening

 

nodded

 

chance

 
firmly
 

reminded

 
closed
 

jerkily

 
thinking
 
plugging

Whether

 

shuddered

 

wouldn

 

listen

 

learning

 

country

 

talking

 

abroad

 

faster


growing

 

teaching

 

cancel

 

engagement

 
offered
 

dollars

 

property

 

square

 
realize

afterward

 
difference
 

killing

 
interrupted
 
taught
 

unnecessary

 
pulling
 
agreeable
 

Because


earned

 
father
 

looked