|
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 61
"Oh," she said in a low voice, and looked at me earnestly, "Ah Tsong
nursed me when I was a little baby so high." She held her hand about
four feet from the floor and laughed gleefully. "Can you imagine what a
funny little thing I was?"
"You must have been a wonder-child, Mrs. Camber," I replied with
sincerity; "and Ah Tsong has remained with you ever since?"
"Ever since," she echoed, shaking her head in a vaguely pathetic way.
"He will never leave me, do you think, Colin?"
"Never," replied her husband; "you are all he loves in the world. A
case, Mr. Knox," he turned to me, "of deathless fidelity rarely met
with nowadays and only possible, perhaps, in its true form in an
Oriental."
Mrs. Camber having seated herself upon one of the few chairs which was
not piled with books, her husband had resumed his place by the writing
desk, and I sought in vain to interpret the glances which passed
between them.
The fact that these two were lovers none could have mistaken. But here
again, as at Cray's Folly, I detected a shadow. I felt that something
had struck at the very root of their happiness, in fact, I wondered if
they had been parted, and were but newly reunited for there was a sort
of constraint between them, the more marked on the woman's side than on
the man's. I wondered how long they had been married, but felt that it
would have been indiscreet to ask.
Even as the idea occurred to me, however, an opportunity arose of
learning what I wished to know. I heard a bell ring, and:
"There is someone at the door, Colin," said Mrs. Camber.
"I will go," he replied. "Ah Tsong has enough to do."
Without another word he stood up and walked out of the room.
"You see," said Mrs. Camber, smiling in her naive way, "we only have
one servant, except Ah Tsong, her name is Mrs. Powis. She is visiting
her daughter who is married. We made the poor old lady take a holiday."
"It is difficult to imagine you burdened with household
responsibilities, Mrs. Camber," I replied. "Please forgive me but I
cannot help wondering how long you have been married?"
"For nearly four years."
"Really?" I exclaimed. "You must have been married very young?"
"I was twenty. Do I look so young?"
I gazed at her in amazement.
"You astonish me," I declared, which was quite true and no mere
compliment. "I had guessed your age to be eighteen."
"Oh," she laughed, and resting her hands upon the settee leaned forward
with sparkling eyes, "how funny. Sometimes I wish I looked older. It is
dreadful in this place, although we have been so happy here. At all the
shops they look at me so funny, so I always send Mrs. Powis now."
"You are really quite wonderful," I said. "You are Spanish, are you
not, Mrs. Camber?"
She slightly shook her head, and I saw the pupils begin to dilate.
"Not really Spanish," she replied, haltingly. "I was born in Cuba."
"In Cuba?"
She nodded.
"Then it was in Cuba that you met Mr. Camber?"
She nodded again, watching me intently.
"It is strange that a Virginian should settle in Surrey."
"Yes?" she murmured, "you think so? But really it is not strange at
all. Colin's people are so proud, so proud. Do you know what they are
like, those Virginians? Oh! I hate them."
Previous Page
| Next Page
|
|