FREE BOOKS

Author's List




PREV.   NEXT  
|<   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   >>  
was to afford Miss Liston every chance of appraising his character and plumbing the depths of his soul. I may say at once that I did not regret this course of action; for the effect of it was to allow me a chance of talking to Pamela Myles, and Pamela was exactly the sort of a girl to beguile the long pleasant morning hours of a holiday in the country. No one had told Pamela that she was going to be put in a book, and I don't think it would have made any difference had she been told. Pamela's attitude towards books was one of healthy scorn, confidently based on admitted ignorance. So we never spoke of them, and my cousin Dora condoled with me more than once on the way in which Miss Liston, false to the implied terms of her invitation, deserted me in favor of Sir Gilbert, and left me to the mercies of a frivolous girl. Pamela appeared to be as little aggrieved as I was. I imagined that she supposed that Chillington would ask her to marry him some day before very long, and I was sure she would accept him; but it was quite plain that, if Miss Liston persisted in making Pamela her heroine, she would have to supply from her own resources a large supplement of passion. Pamela was far too deficient in the commodity to be made anything of, without such reinforcement, even by an art more adept at making much out of nothing than Miss Liston's straightforward method could claim to be. A week passed, and then, one Friday morning, a new light burst on me. Miss Liston came into the garden at eleven o'clock and sat down by me on the lawn. Chillington and Pamela had gone riding with the squire, Dora was visiting the poor. We were alone. The appearance of Miss Liston at this hour (usually sacred to the use of the pen), no less than her puzzled look, told me that an obstruction had occurred in the novel. Presently she let me know what it was. "I'm thinking of altering the scheme of my story, Mr. Wynne," said she. "Have you ever noticed how sometimes a man thinks he's in love when he isn't really?" "Such a case sometimes occurs," I acknowledged. "Yes, and he doesn't find out his mistake----" "Till they're married?" "Sometimes, yes," she said, rather as though she were making an unwilling admission. "But sometimes he sees it before--when he meets somebody else." "Very true," said I, with a grave nod. "The false can't stand against the real." pursued Miss Liston; and then she fell into meditative silence. I stole a glanc
PREV.   NEXT  
|<   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   >>  



Top keywords:
Pamela
 

Liston

 

making

 

Chillington

 

morning

 
chance
 
appearance
 

occurred

 
sacred
 

obstruction


puzzled

 

visiting

 
pursued
 

Friday

 
passed
 

riding

 
garden
 
eleven
 

squire

 

occurs


thinks

 

unwilling

 

acknowledged

 

Sometimes

 

married

 

mistake

 

admission

 

scheme

 

altering

 

thinking


noticed

 
meditative
 

silence

 

Presently

 

heroine

 
difference
 

attitude

 
healthy
 

cousin

 
ignorance

confidently
 

admitted

 
country
 
holiday
 

depths

 

plumbing

 
afford
 

appraising

 
character
 

regret