FREE BOOKS

Author's List




PREV.   NEXT  
|<   3063   3064   3065   3066   3067   3068   3069   3070   3071   3072   3073   3074   3075   3076   3077   3078   3079   3080   3081   3082   3083   3084   3085   3086   3087  
3088   3089   3090   3091   3092   3093   3094   3095   3096   3097   3098   3099   3100   3101   3102   3103   3104   3105   3106   3107   3108   3109   3110   3111   3112   >>   >|  
st winter. She is here. We'll go off on her together, away from the world, for as long as you like. And then," he ended triumphantly, "then we'll go back to Grenoble and begin our life." "And begin our life!" she repeated. But it was not to him that she spoke. "Hugh, I positively have to have some clothes." "Clothes!" His voice expressed his contempt for the mundane thought. "Yes, clothes," she repeated resolutely. He looked at his watch once more. "Very well," he said, "we'll get 'em on the way." "On the way?" she asked. "We'll have to have a marriage license, I'm afraid," he explained apologetically. Honora grew crimson. A marriage license! She yielded, of course. Who could resist him? Nor need the details of that interminable journey down the crowded artery of Broadway to the Centre of Things be entered into. An ignoble errand, Honora thought; and she sat very still, with flushed cheeks, in the corner of the carriage. Chiltern's finer feelings came to her rescue. He, too, resented this senseless demand of civilization as an indignity to their Olympian loves. And he was a man to chafe at all restraints. But at last the odious thing was over, grim and implacable Law satisfied after he had compelled them to stand in line for an interminable period before his grill, and mingle with those whom he chose, in his ignorance, to call their peers. Honora felt degraded as they emerged with the hateful paper, bought at such a price. The City Hall Park, with its moving streams of people, etched itself in her memory. "Leave me, Hugh," she said; "I will take this carriage--you must get another one." For once, he accepted his dismissal with comparative meekness. "When shall I come?" he asked. "She smiled a little, in spite of herself. "You may come for me at six o'clock," she replied. "Six o'clock!" he exclaimed; but accepted with resignation and closed the carriage door. Enigmatical sex! Enigmatical sex indeed! Honora spent a feverish afternoon, rest and reflection being things she feared. An afternoon in familiar places; and (strangest of all facts to be recorded!) memories and regrets troubled her not at all. Her old dressmakers, her old milliners, welcomed her as one risen, radiant, from the grave; risen, in their estimation, to a higher life. Honora knew this, and was indifferent to the wealth of meaning that lay behind their discretion. Milliners and dressmakers read the newspapers and perio
PREV.   NEXT  
|<   3063   3064   3065   3066   3067   3068   3069   3070   3071   3072   3073   3074   3075   3076   3077   3078   3079   3080   3081   3082   3083   3084   3085   3086   3087  
3088   3089   3090   3091   3092   3093   3094   3095   3096   3097   3098   3099   3100   3101   3102   3103   3104   3105   3106   3107   3108   3109   3110   3111   3112   >>   >|  



Top keywords:

Honora

 

carriage

 

license

 

marriage

 

dressmakers

 

thought

 

accepted

 
Enigmatical
 
interminable
 
afternoon

repeated

 

clothes

 

newspapers

 

ignorance

 

mingle

 

meekness

 

comparative

 

dismissal

 
memory
 

degraded


bought

 

emerged

 

hateful

 
people
 

etched

 

streams

 

smiled

 

moving

 
strangest
 

wealth


indifferent

 

places

 

meaning

 

things

 
feared
 
familiar
 

recorded

 

memories

 

estimation

 

radiant


milliners

 

higher

 

regrets

 

troubled

 
reflection
 

replied

 

exclaimed

 

Milliners

 
welcomed
 

resignation