|
Main
- books.jibble.org
My Books
- IRC Hacks
Misc. Articles
- Meaning of Jibble
- M4 Su Doku
- Computer Scrapbooking
- Setting up Java
- Bootable Java
- Cookies in Java
- Dynamic Graphs
- Social Shakespeare
External Links
- Paul Mutton
- Jibble Photo Gallery
- Jibble Forums
- Google Landmarks
- Jibble Shop
- Free Books
- Intershot Ltd
|
books.jibble.org
Previous Page
| Next Page
Page 43
"Possibly she won't shut herself up," Burns had suggested, though he
himself had been unable to discover the mysterious attraction of the
little old house. The garden promised better, he thought. He could
understand her being caught by the forsaken though powerful charm of
that. Doubtless it would furnish backgrounds for her outdoor photography,
which would put to blush any painted screens such as the village
photographers were accustomed to use.
He returned to give Miss Ruston his sanction of her project, and to
receive her half-mocking, wholly grateful acknowledgment.
"And I hope, Dr. Burns," said she, as he took leave of her, his watch in
his left hand as he shook hands with his right, "that you will let me
make that photograph of you, at the very beginning of my stay here."
"With a clump of hollyhocks behind me, or a 'queer old door'?" he
inquired.
"With nothing behind you except darkness and mystery," said she.
"I thought those were the things one looked toward, not out of?"
"Your patients looking toward 'the black unknown,' and seeing your face,
must find their future lighted with hope!"
He turned and looked at his wife, a sparkle in his eye. "She's from
the big town," said he. "Here in the country we don't know how to give
fine, fascinating blarney like that, eh? Good-bye, Miss Ruston, and good
luck. Bring the little grandmother carefully wrapped in jeweller's
cotton--nothing is too good for her!"
When luncheon was over Mrs. Burns and her guest went off for a long
drive, Miss Ruston being anxious to explore the region of which she had
heard as offering a field for her camera. The drive, taken in the
Macauley car, by Martha's invitation, and in the company of Martha
herself, Winifred Chester, and several children, prevented much
confidential talk between the two friends, and it was not until a few
minutes before train time, at five o'clock, that the two were for a brief
space again alone together.
"I'm so sorry you are not to be here at dinner," Ellen said, as Miss
Ruston repacked her small travelling bag, while the car waited outside to
take her to the station. "I should have liked you to meet our guest, Dr.
Leaver. He is an old friend of my husband's, who has been ill and is here
convalescing. He over-tired himself in taking a walk this morning, and
has been resting in his room all the afternoon."
Charlotte Ruston, adjusting a smart little veil before Ellen's mirror,
her back to her friend, asked, after a moment's pause:
"Dr. Leaver? Not Dr. John Leaver, of Baltimore?"
"Yes, indeed. Do you know him?"
"I have met him. Is he ill? I hadn't heard of that."
"He has worked very hard, and is worn out," explained Ellen, choosing her
terms carefully. Her husband had warned her against allowing any definite
news concerning Leaver to get back to his home city. "He is improving,
and we are keeping him here because it is a place where he can be out of
the world, for a time, and not be called upon to go back before he
should. So please don't mention to your Baltimore friends that he is
here. I am ever so sorry, if you know him, that he wasn't down to-day. It
might have done him good to see the face of an acquaintance."
"It might be too stimulating for him," suggested Miss Ruston. She seemed
difficult to satisfy in the matter of the veil's adjustment. Though she
had had it fastened, she now took it off and began again to arrange it.
"Can't I help you?" Ellen offered, coming close.
"Thank you, I can manage it. I had it too tight. I suppose your guest
will be gone before I come back?"
"I don't know. He needs a long rest, and we shall keep him just as long
as he can be contented. Not that he is contented to be idle, but it is
what he needs. He is going to need diversion, too, and perhaps you can
help supply it, when you come back. Do you know him well enough to know
what an interesting man he is?"
Previous Page
| Next Page
|
|