FREE BOOKS

Author's List




PREV.   NEXT  
|<   140   141   142   143   144   145   146   147   148   149   150   151   152   153   154   155   156   157   158   159   160   161   162   163   164  
165   166   167   168   169   170   171   172   173   174   175   >>  
charged than to haggle. The trader sighed. "Well, to oblige Mr Swan I'll take it." "That's the goods," said Miss Thompson. "Come right in and have a shot of hooch. I've got some real good rye in that grip if you'll bring it along, Mr Swan. You come along too, doctor." "Oh, I don't think I will, thank you," he answered. "I'm just going down to see that our luggage is all right." He stepped out into the rain. It swept in from the opening of the harbour in sheets and the opposite shore was all blurred. He passed two or three natives clad in nothing but the _lava-lava_, with huge umbrellas over them. They walked finely, with leisurely movements, very upright; and they smiled and greeted him in a strange tongue as they went by. It was nearly dinner-time when he got back, and their meal was laid in the trader's parlour. It was a room designed not to live in but for purposes of prestige, and it had a musty, melancholy air. A suite of stamped plush was arranged neatly round the walls, and from the middle of the ceiling, protected from the flies by yellow tissue paper, hung a gilt chandelier. Davidson did not come. "I know he went to call on the governor," said Mrs Davidson, "and I guess he's kept him to dinner." A little native girl brought them a dish of Hamburger steak, and after a while the trader came up to see that they had everything they wanted. "I see we have a fellow lodger, Mr Horn," said Dr Macphail. "She's taken a room, that's all," answered the trader. "She's getting her own board." He looked at the two ladies with an obsequious air. "I put her downstairs so she shouldn't be in the way. She won't be any trouble to you." "Is it someone who was on the boat?" asked Mrs Macphail. "Yes, ma'am, she was in the second cabin. She was going to Apia. She has a position as cashier waiting for her." "Oh!" When the trader was gone Macphail said: "I shouldn't think she'd find it exactly cheerful having her meals in her room." "If she was in the second cabin I guess she'd rather," answered Mrs Davidson. "I don't exactly know who it can be." "I happened to be there when the quartermaster brought her along. Her name's Thompson." "It's not the woman who was dancing with the quartermaster last night?" asked Mrs Davidson. "That's who it must be," said Mrs Macphail. "I wondered at the time what she was. She looked rather fast to me." "Not good style at all," said Mrs Davidson. They beg
PREV.   NEXT  
|<   140   141   142   143   144   145   146   147   148   149   150   151   152   153   154   155   156   157   158   159   160   161   162   163   164  
165   166   167   168   169   170   171   172   173   174   175   >>  



Top keywords:
trader
 

Davidson

 

Macphail

 
answered
 

shouldn

 

Thompson

 

dinner

 

brought

 

looked

 

quartermaster


fellow

 
wondered
 

lodger

 
sighed
 
oblige
 

wanted

 

native

 

Hamburger

 

charged

 

happened


cheerful

 

waiting

 

position

 

cashier

 

obsequious

 
dancing
 

downstairs

 

trouble

 

haggle

 

ladies


opening

 

harbour

 
sheets
 

opposite

 

umbrellas

 

natives

 

blurred

 

passed

 

stepped

 

doctor


luggage
 
walked
 

arranged

 

neatly

 

middle

 
stamped
 

melancholy

 
ceiling
 
protected
 

chandelier