FREE BOOKS

Author's List




PREV.   NEXT  
|<   63   64   65   66   67   68   69   70   71   72   73   74   75   76   77   78   79   80   81   82   83   84   85   86   87  
88   89   90   91   92   93   94   95   96   97   98   99   100   101   102   103   104   105   106   107   108   109   110   111   112   >>   >|  
t, "it wouldn't have mattered very much. The Covent Garden women and men from the country are kind-hearted. I'd have had a corner in a waggon and some hay to lie upon without any bother, and breakfast the next morning into the bargain. But now--in these clothes--what would they take me for?" These reflections, all the same, wouldn't solve the problem which was troubling her and it _had_ to be solved. She must either walk about the streets or brave the tempest of her mother's wrath. This wrath, however, didn't frighten her so much as the prospect of being again made a prisoner. Her mother, she felt sure, had some deep design concerning her, though what it was she could not conceive. Tired of pondering over herself and her embarrassing situation Lavinia turned her mind to something far more agreeable--her promise to Lancelot Vane which of course meant thinking about Vane himself. She couldn't help contrasting Vane with Dorrimore. She hated to remember having listened seriously to the latter's flatteries. By the light of what had happened it seemed now to her perfectly monstrous that she could ever have consented to marry him. It angered her when she thought of it--but her anger was directed more against herself than against Dorrimore. "I suppose I ought to go back to Mr. Vane. He'll be waiting anxiously to know how I've fared, but no--I'll go to Twitenham first." She sat for some time watching the sunset. She wove fanciful dreams in which the pallid face and large gleaming eyes of the young poet were strangely involved. With what courtly grace and reverence he had kissed her hand! Vane was a gentleman by nature; Dorrimore merely called himself one and what was more boasted of it. But what did it matter to her? Vane had done her a service and it was only right she should repay him in some sort. This was how she tried to sum up the position. Whether Mr. Gay befriended him or not, their acquaintance would have to cease. He was penniless and so was she. If she confessed as much as this to him he would be embarrassed and distressed because he could not help her. "I dursn't tell him," she sighed. "I'll have to do something for myself. Oh, if I could only earn some money by singing! I would love it. Not in the streets though. No, I could never do that again. Never!" She clasped her hands tightly and her face became sad. Then her thoughts went back to Vane and she pictured him in his lonely garret perhaps dreamin
PREV.   NEXT  
|<   63   64   65   66   67   68   69   70   71   72   73   74   75   76   77   78   79   80   81   82   83   84   85   86   87  
88   89   90   91   92   93   94   95   96   97   98   99   100   101   102   103   104   105   106   107   108   109   110   111   112   >>   >|  



Top keywords:

Dorrimore

 

mother

 

streets

 
wouldn
 
gleaming
 

tightly

 
fanciful
 

dreams

 

pallid

 

courtly


involved
 

strangely

 

clasped

 

sunset

 

anxiously

 
thoughts
 

waiting

 

pictured

 

garret

 
lonely

watching

 
reverence
 

dreamin

 

Twitenham

 

position

 

sighed

 

distressed

 
embarrassed
 

confessed

 

acquaintance


penniless

 

Whether

 

befriended

 

called

 

singing

 

nature

 

kissed

 

gentleman

 

service

 

boasted


matter

 

reflections

 

bargain

 

clothes

 

problem

 

troubling

 
frighten
 

prospect

 

tempest

 

solved