FREE BOOKS

Author's List




PREV.   NEXT  
|<   91   92   93   94   95   96   97   98   99   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   >>   >|  
ked her in the car--he had arrived at the dignity of owning one now--and watched her sweet silhouette disappear, he, too, had his moment of clairvoyance. He felt that he was letting something very precious slip out of sight, as if some radiant and delicate gift had been laid lightly within his grasp and as lightly withdrawn again. As if when the door closed on his friend Margaret some stranger, more silent creature who was dear to him had gone with her. As soon as he was dressed for dinner he called Margaret on the telephone to know if she had arrived home safely, and was informed not only that she had, but that she was very wroth at him for getting her down three flights of stairs in the midst of her own dinner toilet. "I had a kind of hunch, too," he told her, "and I felt as if I wanted to hear your voice speaking." But she only scoffed at him. "If that's the way you feel about your chauffeur," she said, "you ought to discharge him, but he brought me home beautifully." The difference between a man's moments of prescience and a woman's, is that the man puts them out of his consciousness as quickly as he can, while a woman clings to them fearfully and goes her way a little more carefully for the momentary flash of foresight. David tried to see Margaret once or twice during that week but failed to find her in when he called or telephoned, and the special impulse to seek her alone again died naturally. One Saturday a few weeks later Eleanor telegraphed him that she wished to come to New York for the week-end to do some shopping. He went to the train to meet her, and when the slender chic figure in the most correct of tailor made suits appeared at the gateway, with an obsequious porter bearing her smart bag and ulster, he gave a sudden gasp of surprise at the picture. He had been aware for some time of the increase in her inches and the charm of the pure cameo-cut profile, but he regarded her still as a child histrionically assuming the airs and graces of womanhood, as small girl children masquerade in the trailing skirts of their elders. He was accustomed to the idea that she was growing up rapidly, but the fact that she was already grown had never actually dawned on him until this moment. "You look as if you were surprised to see me, Uncle David,--are you?" she said, slipping a slim hand, warm through its immaculate glove, into his. "You knew I was coming, and you came to meet me, and yet you looked as sur
PREV.   NEXT  
|<   91   92   93   94   95   96   97   98   99   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   >>   >|  



Top keywords:

Margaret

 

lightly

 

dinner

 

called

 

moment

 

arrived

 
wished
 

ulster

 

Saturday

 

increase


telegraphed
 

surprise

 

picture

 

Eleanor

 

sudden

 

obsequious

 

correct

 

tailor

 
figure
 

slender


inches

 
shopping
 

porter

 

gateway

 

appeared

 
bearing
 

trailing

 
surprised
 

slipping

 

dawned


coming

 

looked

 

immaculate

 

assuming

 

histrionically

 

graces

 

womanhood

 
profile
 

regarded

 

accustomed


growing
 
rapidly
 

elders

 
children
 
masquerade
 
skirts
 

quickly

 

dressed

 

telephone

 

creature