United States or Sri Lanka ? Vote for the TOP Country of the Week !
Saton's tone was almost apologetic. "I did not know," he said, "that I was forbidden to walk upon your lands. I am often here, and this is my favorite hour." Rochester laughed, a little harshly. "You like to come back," he said. "You like to sit here, perhaps, and think. Well, I do not envy you. You sat here and thought, years ago. You built a house of dreams here, unless you lied.
"Very well," he said. "You have come to deliver an ultimatum, and I have received it. I understand perfectly what you will accept as an act of war. There is nothing more to be said, I think?" "Nothing," Rochester answered, turning to follow the servant whom Saton's summons had brought to the door.
If he is bored for a quarter of an hour, he goes home. You never met Lord Guerdon before, I suppose?" he asked, as he threw open the door. They were men of nerve, both of them. Neither flinched. Rochester's question had been asked in an absolutely matter-of-fact tone, and Saton's reply was entirely casual.
He was thinking with a considerable amount of uneasiness of the interview which probably lay before him. The car turned in at the rude gates, and climbed the rough road which led to Saton's temporary abode. A servant met him at the door as he descended, a gray-haired, elderly man, irreproachably attired, whose manner denoted at once the well-trained servant.
"On the face of the earth," she said, "there does not breathe a fool like you." Saton's expression hardened. "You, too!" he exclaimed. "Well, go on." "Can't you understand," the woman exclaimed, her voice shaking, "that we are on the verge of a precipice? Do you read the papers? There were questions asked last night in the House about what they called these fortune-telling establishments.
"You may buy the earth upon which we stand, but you cannot buy the person whose feet shall press it, or the thoughts that rise up from it, or the words that are breathed from it, or the hopes and passions which go trembling from it to the skies. Go away and jog homeward behind your fat pony, but " "Well, sir?" Rochester asked, turning suddenly. Saton's eyes did not meet his.
"Then we may as well go and have some really good bridge," she said, "until you men take it into your heads to come and disturb us." Afternoon tea was being served in the hall at Beauleys on the day after Saton's arrival. Saton himself was sitting with Lois Champneyes in a retired corner. "I was going to ask you," he remarked, as he handed her some cakes, "about Mr. Rochester's marriage.
But there is one thing which I forbid. I have come here so that you shall understand that I forbid it. You can make fools of the whole world, you can have them kneeling at your feet to listen to your infernal nonsense the whole world save one woman. I am ashamed to mention her name in your presence, but you know whom I mean." Saton's lips seemed to move for a moment, but he still remained silent.
Here we have to adapt ourself in some way to the customs of the people with whom we are forced to come into daily contact." Naudheim suddenly abandoned that far-away look of his, his habit of seeing through the person with whom he was talking. He looked into Saton's face steadily, almost fiercely. "Young man," he said, "you talk like a fool. Now listen to me. These are my parting words!
"I will come this afternoon," Lois said quietly. Vandermere, who had frowned heavily at the sound of her Christian name upon Saton's lips, could scarcely conceal his anger at her promise. "I have never had the pleasure," he said, "of meeting the Comtesse. Perhaps I might be permitted to accompany Miss Champneyes?" "You are very kind," Saton answered.
Word Of The Day