United States or Germany ? Vote for the TOP Country of the Week !
"I am quite unscrupulous," said Cheveril lightly. "Moreover, there is no harm to any one in the transaction. Your life is your own. No one else has the right to order it for you. It seems to me that in this matter you need to consider yourself alone." "And you," she said, in a troubled tone. He surprised her an instant later by thrusting a friendly hand through her arm.
Evelyn suggested at last. He peered downwards. "I think we might," he said. "No doubt your people will be very anxious about you." They climbed down with difficulty, till they finally stood together on the wet stones. And there Cheveril reached out a hand and detained the girl beside him. "That other fellow?" he said, in his quiet, half-humorous voice. "You didn't tell me his name."
I have just had a berth in India offered to me; but I can't possibly hope to support a wife for two years at least. And meanwhile meanwhile " It stopped there; and a long wave broke with a roar, and rushed up in gleaming foam almost to their feet. The younger man stepped back; but Cheveril remained motionless, his face to the swirling water.
But Cheveril gave no sign of having observed her distress. He maintained his silence for some seconds longer. Then, somewhat abruptly, he broke it. "I didn't follow you in order to be amused, Miss Harford," he said. "The fact is, I have a confession to make to you, and a favour to ask. And I want you to be good enough to hear me out before you try to answer. May I count on this?"
"I don't see how you can tell," she ventured to remark, beginning to look around her with greater composure notwithstanding. "Providence doesn't play practical jokes of that sort," said Cheveril quietly. "Do you know I have come from the other end of the earth to see you?" She felt the burning colour rush up to her temples, yet she made a determined effort to look him in the face.
"I am so thankful to hear you say that," she said, drawing a deep breath. "Shall I go on?" said Cheveril. She hesitated; and very quietly he held out his hand to her. "In the capacity of a friend," he said gravely. And Evelyn Harford put her hand into his with the confidence of a child. It was strange to feel her prejudice against this man evaporate at a touch. It made her oddly unsure of herself.
"But, anyhow, they can't make her marry against her will." "Can't they?" returned the other fiercely. "I don't know what you call it, then. They can make her life so positively unbearable that she will have to give in, if it is only to get away from them. It's perfectly fiendish; but they will do it. I know they will do it. She hasn't a single friend to stand by her." "Except you," said Cheveril.
He watched her fingers nervously playing with a bracelet on her wrist. "Exactly," he said. Her eyes met his resolutely. "Mr. You have been shown all the cards; but there must there shall be fair play, in spite of it." Her voice rang a little. The bracelet suddenly slipped from her hand and fell to the floor. Cheveril stooped and picked it up. He held it as he made reply.
"Been here long?" he asked him, as they plunged through the shingle towards the sand. "I've lived here nearly all my life," was the reply. And, after a moment, as if the confidence would not be repressed: "I'm leaving now for good." "Ah!" said Cheveril sympathetically. "It's pretty beastly when you come to turn out. I've done it, and I know."
The other muttered an acknowledgment, and stood prepared to depart. Cheveril, however, paused in a conversational attitude. He had not risked his property for nothing. "A pretty little place, this," he said. "I suppose you are a visitor here like myself?" "I'm leaving to-morrow," was the somewhat grudging rejoinder. "I only came this afternoon," said Cheveril. "Is there anything to see here?"
Word Of The Day