"
"Three quid a week from me, and the delights of my society.
"Three quid a week from me, and the delights of my society.
Kipling - Poems
Dick made two or three studies
of her head in monochrome, but the actual notion of the Melancolia would
not arrive.
"What a mess you keep your things in! " said Bessie, some days later,
when she felt herself thoroughly at home. "I s'pose your clothes are
just as bad. Gentlemen never think what buttons and tape are made for. "
"I buy things to wear, and wear 'em till they go to pieces. I don't know
what Torpenhow does. "
Bessie made diligent inquiry in the latter's room, and unearthed a bale
of disreputable socks. "Some of these I'll mend now," she said, "and
some I'll take home. D'you know, I sit all day long at home doing
nothing, just like a lady, and no more noticing them other girls in
the house than if they was so many flies. I don't have any unnecessary
words, but I put 'em down quick, I can tell you, when they talk to me.
No; it's quite nice these days. I lock my door, and they can only
call me names through the keyhole, and I sit inside, just like a lady,
mending socks. Mr. Torpenhow wears his socks out both ends at once.
"
"Three quid a week from me, and the delights of my society. No socks
mended. Nothing from Torp except a nod on the landing now and again, and
all his socks mended. Bessie is very much a woman," thought Dick; and he
looked at her between half-shut eyes. Food and rest had transformed the
girl, as Dick knew they would.
"What are you looking at me like that for? " she said quickly. "Don't.
You look reg'lar bad when you look that way. You don't think much o' me,
do you? "
"That depends on how you behave. "
Bessie behaved beautifully. Only it was difficult at the end of a
sitting to bid her go out into the gray streets. She very much preferred
the studio and a big chair by the stove, with some socks in her lap as
an excuse for delay. Then Torpenhow would come in, and Bessie would
be moved to tell strange and wonderful stories of her past, and still
stranger ones of her present improved circumstances. She would make them
tea as though she had a right to make it; and once or twice on these
occasions Dick caught Torpenhow's eyes fixed on the trim little figure,
and because Bessie's flittings about the room made Dick ardently long
for Maisie, he realised whither Torpenhow's thoughts were tending.
of her head in monochrome, but the actual notion of the Melancolia would
not arrive.
"What a mess you keep your things in! " said Bessie, some days later,
when she felt herself thoroughly at home. "I s'pose your clothes are
just as bad. Gentlemen never think what buttons and tape are made for. "
"I buy things to wear, and wear 'em till they go to pieces. I don't know
what Torpenhow does. "
Bessie made diligent inquiry in the latter's room, and unearthed a bale
of disreputable socks. "Some of these I'll mend now," she said, "and
some I'll take home. D'you know, I sit all day long at home doing
nothing, just like a lady, and no more noticing them other girls in
the house than if they was so many flies. I don't have any unnecessary
words, but I put 'em down quick, I can tell you, when they talk to me.
No; it's quite nice these days. I lock my door, and they can only
call me names through the keyhole, and I sit inside, just like a lady,
mending socks. Mr. Torpenhow wears his socks out both ends at once.
"
"Three quid a week from me, and the delights of my society. No socks
mended. Nothing from Torp except a nod on the landing now and again, and
all his socks mended. Bessie is very much a woman," thought Dick; and he
looked at her between half-shut eyes. Food and rest had transformed the
girl, as Dick knew they would.
"What are you looking at me like that for? " she said quickly. "Don't.
You look reg'lar bad when you look that way. You don't think much o' me,
do you? "
"That depends on how you behave. "
Bessie behaved beautifully. Only it was difficult at the end of a
sitting to bid her go out into the gray streets. She very much preferred
the studio and a big chair by the stove, with some socks in her lap as
an excuse for delay. Then Torpenhow would come in, and Bessie would
be moved to tell strange and wonderful stories of her past, and still
stranger ones of her present improved circumstances. She would make them
tea as though she had a right to make it; and once or twice on these
occasions Dick caught Torpenhow's eyes fixed on the trim little figure,
and because Bessie's flittings about the room made Dick ardently long
for Maisie, he realised whither Torpenhow's thoughts were tending.
