FREE BOOKS

Author's List




PREV.   NEXT  
|<   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  
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   >>   >|  
Jane, Sandwich Jane, O-liver, white liver, Jane, Jane, Jane. O-liver was restless, his hands clenched at his sides. Atwood and Henry were restless. Tommy was restless. They couldn't let such insults go unnoticed. Somebody had to fight for Jane! Tillotson's supporters kept the thing stirring. If the meeting could end in a brawl the odds would be in favor of Tillotson. The effect of O-liver's uplift would be lost. Even his friends couldn't sway a fighting crowd back to him. But they had forgotten to reckon with Jane! She had seen in a sudden crystal flash the thing which might happen. A fight would end it all for O-liver. She had seen his efforts at self-control. She knew his agony of soul. She knew that at any moment he might knock somebody down--Tillotson or Tillotson's sponsor. And it would all be in the morning papers. There would be innuendo--the hint of scandalous things. And O-liver's reputation would pay the price. It was characteristic that she did not at the moment think of her own reputation. It was O-liver who must be saved! And so when Tillotson's backer sat down Jane stood up. "Please, listen!" she said; and the crowd turned toward her. "Please, listen, and stop singing that silly song. I never heard anything so silly as that song in my life!" Before her scorn the chant died away in a gasp! "The thing you've got to think about," she went on, "isn't Tillotson or O-liver Lee. It's Tinkersfield. You want an honest man. And O-liver Lee's honest. He doesn't want your money. He's got enough of his own. His father's the richest man in his part of the state and his wife's a movie actress and makes as much as the President. It sounds like a fairy tale, but it isn't. If O-liver Lee wanted to live on his father or his wife he could hold out his hand and let things drop into it. But he'd rather earn fifteen dollars a week and own his soul. And he isn't a hypocrite. His friends knew about his marriage. Tommy Drew knew, and I knew. And there wasn't any particular reason why he should tell the rest of you, was there? There wasn't any particular reason why he should tell Tillotson?" A murmur of laughter followed her questions. There was a feeling in the crowd that the joke was on Tillotson. "I wonder how many of you have told your pasts to Tinkersfield! How many of you have made Tillotson your father confessor? "As for me"--her head was high--"I sell sandwiches. I am very busy. I hardly
PREV.   NEXT  
|<   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  
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   >>   >|  



Top keywords:

Tillotson

 

father

 

restless

 

Please

 

things

 

reputation

 

reason

 

moment

 

honest

 

couldn


listen

 

Tinkersfield

 

friends

 
President
 

sounds

 

actress

 
richest
 
questions
 

feeling

 

confessor


sandwiches

 

laughter

 
wanted
 

murmur

 

marriage

 

hypocrite

 

fifteen

 

dollars

 

fighting

 

effect


uplift

 

forgotten

 

happen

 

efforts

 

crystal

 

reckon

 

sudden

 

Atwood

 

clenched

 

Sandwich


stirring

 

meeting

 

supporters

 
Somebody
 

insults

 

unnoticed

 

control

 

singing

 
turned
 
Before