" There was
something
very like an oath
from Bessie's lips.
from Bessie's lips.
Kipling - Poems
Say you will!
"
Dick hardly recognised Torpenhow's voice in reply--"But look here. It's
no use. I'm liable to be ordered off anywhere at a minute's notice if a
war breaks out. At a minute's notice--dear. "
"What does that matter? Until you go, then. Until you go. 'Tisn't much
I'm asking, and--you don't know how good I can cook. " She had put an arm
round his neck and was drawing his head down.
"Until--I--go, then. "
"Torp," said Dick, across the landing. He could hardly steady his voice.
"Come here a minute, old man. I'm in trouble"--
"Heaven send he'll listen to me!
" There was something very like an oath
from Bessie's lips. She was afraid of Dick, and disappeared down the
staircase in panic, but it seemed an age before Torpenhow entered the
studio. He went to the mantelpiece, buried his head on his arms, and
groaned like a wounded bull.
"What the devil right have you to interfere? " he said, at last.
"Who's interfering with which? Your own sense told you long ago you
couldn't be such a fool. It was a tough rack, St. Anthony, but you're
all right now. "
"I oughtn't to have seen her moving about these rooms as if they
belonged to her. That's what upset me. It gives a lonely man a sort of
hankering, doesn't it? " said Torpenhow, piteously.
"Now you talk sense. It does. But, since you aren't in a condition
to discuss the disadvantages of double housekeeping, do you know what
you're going to do?
Dick hardly recognised Torpenhow's voice in reply--"But look here. It's
no use. I'm liable to be ordered off anywhere at a minute's notice if a
war breaks out. At a minute's notice--dear. "
"What does that matter? Until you go, then. Until you go. 'Tisn't much
I'm asking, and--you don't know how good I can cook. " She had put an arm
round his neck and was drawing his head down.
"Until--I--go, then. "
"Torp," said Dick, across the landing. He could hardly steady his voice.
"Come here a minute, old man. I'm in trouble"--
"Heaven send he'll listen to me!
" There was something very like an oath
from Bessie's lips. She was afraid of Dick, and disappeared down the
staircase in panic, but it seemed an age before Torpenhow entered the
studio. He went to the mantelpiece, buried his head on his arms, and
groaned like a wounded bull.
"What the devil right have you to interfere? " he said, at last.
"Who's interfering with which? Your own sense told you long ago you
couldn't be such a fool. It was a tough rack, St. Anthony, but you're
all right now. "
"I oughtn't to have seen her moving about these rooms as if they
belonged to her. That's what upset me. It gives a lonely man a sort of
hankering, doesn't it? " said Torpenhow, piteously.
"Now you talk sense. It does. But, since you aren't in a condition
to discuss the disadvantages of double housekeeping, do you know what
you're going to do?