FREE BOOKS

Author's List




PREV.   NEXT  
|<   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   141   142   143   144   145   146   147   148   149   150   151   >>   >|  
usion. The figure of this girl in cream merely resembled hers, that was all. I tried to convince myself of it, and yet I was unable to do so. Why, I cannot tell, but I had been seized with a keen desire to see her face. I half rose, but sat back again, ridiculing my own thoughts. And so five minutes passed, until, unable to resist longer, I rose, went forth into the gardens, and wandered among the palms in search of her. At last I found her standing by a low wall, her face turned towards the sea. Alone, she had paused in her walk, and with her eyes turned across the bay she was in a deep reverie. Then, as she heard my footstep, she turned and faced me. "Vivi!" I cried, rushing toward her. "You!--George!" she gasped, starting back in sudden amazement. "Yes," I said madly. "At last, after all this long time, I have found you!" She held her breath. Her beautiful countenance changed, her sweet mouth hardened; I fancied I saw tears welling in her great blue eyes that were so fathomless. "I--I did not dream that you were here, or I would never have come," she faltered. "Never!" "Because you still wish to avoid me--eh? Your memory still remains to me--but, alas! only a memory," I said sadly, taking her hand again and holding it firmly within my own. "I am only a chauffeur." Our eyes met. She looked at me long and steadily. Her chest rose and fell, and she turned her gaze from me, away to the purple mountains across the bay. "Let me still remain only a memory," she answered in a low, strained voice. "It is as painful to me to meet you--as to you." "But why? Tell me why?" I demanded, raising her soft hand again to my lips. "Do you remember that day on the Ripley road--the day when we parted?" She nodded, and her chest rose and fell again, stirred by her own deep emotions. "You would give me no reason for your sudden decision." "And I still can give you none." "But why?" She was silent, standing there with the brilliant Southern afterglow falling full upon her beautiful face. Behind her was a background of feathery palms, and we were alone. I still held her hand, though she endeavoured to withdraw it. "Ah!" I cried, "you always withhold your reason from me. I am not rich like other men who admire and flatter you, yet I tell you--ah yes, I swear to you--that only you do I love. Ever since you came fresh from your school in Germany I admired you. Do you remember how many times you sat at my
PREV.   NEXT  
|<   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   141   142   143   144   145   146   147   148   149   150   151   >>   >|  



Top keywords:

turned

 

memory

 

sudden

 

standing

 
remember
 
beautiful
 

unable

 

reason

 

Ripley

 

strained


purple
 

mountains

 
steadily
 
chauffeur
 

looked

 
remain
 

answered

 

demanded

 
raising
 
painful

brilliant

 

admire

 
flatter
 

withhold

 
admired
 
Germany
 

school

 
withdraw
 
decision
 

silent


parted
 
nodded
 

stirred

 

emotions

 

Southern

 

feathery

 

endeavoured

 

background

 

Behind

 

afterglow


falling
 

gardens

 

wandered

 
longer
 
minutes
 

passed

 

resist

 

search

 

reverie

 
paused