'
She tapped impatiently with her foot.
She tapped impatiently with her foot.
Yeats
' She kept swaying one of the leaves between her finger
and thumb impatiently. 'What a strange way she does her hair; and what
an ugly dress! '
'You must not talk that way about her--she is my great friend. '
'Friend! friend! ' she burst out. 'He thinks I will believe in
friendship between a man and a woman! '
She got up, and said, turning round with an air of changing the
subject, 'Have you written to your friends about our engagement? You
had not done so when I asked you lately. '
'I have. '
'All? '
'Well, not all. '
'Your great friend, Miss ---- what do you call her? '
'Miss Carton. I have not written to her.
'
She tapped impatiently with her foot.
'They were really old companions--that is all,' said Mrs. Sherman,
wishing to mend matters. 'They were both readers; that brought them
together. I never much fancied her. Yet she was well enough as a
friend, and helped, maybe, with reading, and the gardening, and
his good bringing-up, to keep him from the idle young men of the
neighbourhood. '
'You must make him write and tell her at once--you must, you must! '
almost sobbed out Miss Leland.
'I promise,' he answered.
Immediately returning to herself, she cried, 'If I were in her place
I know what I would like to do when I got the letter. I know who I
would like to kill! '--this with a laugh as she went over and looked at
herself in the mirror on the mantlepiece.
THIRD PART
JOHN SHERMAN REVISITS BALLAH
I
The others had gone, and Sherman was alone in the drawing-room by
himself, looking through the window. Never had London seemed to him so
like a reef whereon he was cast away. In the Square the bushes were
covered with dust; some sparrows were ruffling their feathers on the
side-walk; people passed, continually disturbing them. The sky was full
of smoke.
and thumb impatiently. 'What a strange way she does her hair; and what
an ugly dress! '
'You must not talk that way about her--she is my great friend. '
'Friend! friend! ' she burst out. 'He thinks I will believe in
friendship between a man and a woman! '
She got up, and said, turning round with an air of changing the
subject, 'Have you written to your friends about our engagement? You
had not done so when I asked you lately. '
'I have. '
'All? '
'Well, not all. '
'Your great friend, Miss ---- what do you call her? '
'Miss Carton. I have not written to her.
'
She tapped impatiently with her foot.
'They were really old companions--that is all,' said Mrs. Sherman,
wishing to mend matters. 'They were both readers; that brought them
together. I never much fancied her. Yet she was well enough as a
friend, and helped, maybe, with reading, and the gardening, and
his good bringing-up, to keep him from the idle young men of the
neighbourhood. '
'You must make him write and tell her at once--you must, you must! '
almost sobbed out Miss Leland.
'I promise,' he answered.
Immediately returning to herself, she cried, 'If I were in her place
I know what I would like to do when I got the letter. I know who I
would like to kill! '--this with a laugh as she went over and looked at
herself in the mirror on the mantlepiece.
THIRD PART
JOHN SHERMAN REVISITS BALLAH
I
The others had gone, and Sherman was alone in the drawing-room by
himself, looking through the window. Never had London seemed to him so
like a reef whereon he was cast away. In the Square the bushes were
covered with dust; some sparrows were ruffling their feathers on the
side-walk; people passed, continually disturbing them. The sky was full
of smoke.
