United States or Italy ? Vote for the TOP Country of the Week !
"The centre of putrescence!" ejaculated Durkin. The younger man began to laugh, with conciliatory good-nature, as he glanced appreciatively back at the sweetmeat stateliness of the Casino front. But into the older man's mind crept the impression that they were merely passing, in going from crowded theatre to open garden and street, from one playhouse to another.
It was then that Durkin sprang forward. Pobloff saw him advance. He had only time to reverse his hold on the little gun-metal revolver and fire two shots. The first shot went wide, tearing deep into the plastered wall. The second cut through the flap of his assailant's coat-pocket, just over the left hip, scattering little flecks of woollen cloth about. But there was no time for a third shot.
For out of the quiet and shadowy south side of the street, where it had been silently patrolling under lowered speed, swerved and darted a wine-colored, surrey-built touring car with a cape top. Durkin recognized it at a glance; it was Penfield's huge machine. Its movement, as it swung in toward the startled woman, seemed like the swoop of a hawk.
As Durkin edged craftily round, with his back to the side wall, so that his eye commanded the silent trio before him, Frank made a movement to draw away from Keenan, who stood grotesquely petrified, his lean jaw fallen, the melancholy Celtic face touched more with wonder than with fear. "Don't move!" commanded her husband, as he saw the motion. "Stay where you are!"
And in that impressionable moment his heart had gone out to her, in a burst of pity that seemed deeper and stronger than love itself. Durkin waited until, muffled and far away, the throb and drone of an orchestra floated up to him. This was followed, scatteringly, by the bells of the different tables d'hôte.
I'd like to" Penny's voice trembled "to half kill him, but I won't!" "Then tell faculty, Durkin. Have him fired out of school. Do do something!" "No use telling faculty; I can't prove it on him. Besides, I don't like the idea of playing baby. And, anyway, nothing I could do to Dreer would give me my violin back the way it was. It it had a grand tone, Thayer! You've heard it!" "Yes."
"I mean we're holdin' open house tonight," mocked MacNutt, "and that Durkin will maybe drop in!" "And then what will it be?" "Come this way, my beauty, and I'll show you. First thing, though, just notice this fact. We're not goin' to make it too hard and discouragin' for Durkin. This trap-door will be left unlocked.
"Durkin! That's enough of that!" Mr. Daley and Mr. Conklin stepped onto the scene. The instructor and the physical director had approached without a sound of warning, and Penny, Clint and Dreer, the latter exhibiting an evident desire to efface himself, stared in surprise for a moment.
A group of gay and laughing women, with their aphrodisiac rustle of silk and flutter of lace, floated carelessly past. "Who are they?" asked the youth. Durkin half-envied him his illusions and his ingenuousness of outlook; he was treading a veritable amphitheatre of orderly disordered passions with the gentle objective stare of a child looking for bright-colored flowers on a battleground.
Then Steve paid three dollars to Durkin and the transaction was completed. "Thank you," said Durkin. "And, say, if you want anything else, you come and see me. I've got a lot of good stuff down there. And if you want to sell anything any time I'm your man. I'll pay you good prices, fellows. So long."
Word Of The Day