FREE BOOKS

Author's List




PREV.   NEXT  
|<   100   101   102   103   104   105   106   107   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   142   143   144   145   146   147   148   149   >>   >|  
eminently proper. Lee." "Yes." "There's something more. Gretzinger's not only finding amusement in her company, he's in love with her. After the women he's been accustomed to in New York, the rouged and jaded type he naturally would know, her freshness and spirits appeal to him. But you know what sort of man he is--cynical, unscrupulous, without principles." A long time passed before Bryant made a response. He stood knitting his brows, as if preoccupied. Imogene wondered if he had been following her at the last. "I'll speak to him about his principles in connection with Ruth," he said. The utterance was amazingly dispassionate. Then quite unexpectedly he remarked, "I've never yet had to kill a man, never as yet." Imogene shuddered, and she was terrified. It was as if a curtain had been jerked aside disclosing figures grouped for tragedy. "It must never come to that," she breathed. Bryant stirred, then began to look about the room. He grew observant. "This is bad for you, Imogene," he said, presently. "Impossible! Your uncle is right. This wretched cabin doesn't keep out cold or wind; you have to chop wood and carry water, tasks beyond your strength; you're lonely, you're ill at times--" "And Ruth?" "Well?" "You know her situation. Financial, I mean." "I less than any one know it. Extraordinary, too, now that I think of it," he said, reflectively. "What is her situation?" Immediately he added, "Of course, I guess that she has no great means and she has said that she lacks training to earn a livelihood. But her family?" "She lived with an aunt until she came here, Lee." "So she mentioned." "They didn't get on well together after Ruth went to stay with her on her parents' death," Imogene explained. "The woman was narrow-minded and exacting, especially in matters of amusements and religion. You know the type." Bryant nodded. "And Ruth was young, exuberant, and, as I now see, wilful. Their clashes were the cause of her desire to come West. We had been good friends, but not intimates; and I marvel at myself now at having gone so rashly into a thing like this, without inquiring whether our habits, tastes, desires, natures, everything, fitted us for prolonged companionship. Yes, I marvel." She sat motionless, staring at the lamp fixedly. "However, I'm in it now up to my neck. Ruth declares that she will never return to her aunt." "And she can't earn a living." "Nor would if she could, I
PREV.   NEXT  
|<   100   101   102   103   104   105   106   107   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   142   143   144   145   146   147   148   149   >>   >|  



Top keywords:
Imogene
 

Bryant

 

principles

 
marvel
 

situation

 

Immediately

 
exacting
 

minded

 

parents

 
reflectively

narrow

 

explained

 

training

 
livelihood
 
matters
 

family

 

mentioned

 

prolonged

 
companionship
 

staring


motionless

 

fitted

 

habits

 

tastes

 

desires

 

natures

 

fixedly

 

return

 

living

 

declares


However

 

inquiring

 
clashes
 

desire

 

wilful

 
nodded
 

religion

 

exuberant

 

Extraordinary

 

rashly


friends

 

intimates

 
amusements
 

response

 

knitting

 
preoccupied
 

passed

 
wondered
 
dispassionate
 
unexpectedly