United States or Palau ? Vote for the TOP Country of the Week !
And if it happened that the gentleman was not to be found there, how very natural that the young man should wait half an hour for him, and that Miss Harston should take the opportunity of a chat with an old friend? Precious, precious interviews those, the more so for their rarity. They brightened the dull routine of Kate's weary life and sent Tom back to the office full of spirit and hope.
Kate Harston fled as quickly as she could through the wood, stumbling over the brambles and crashing through the briars, regardless of pain or scratches or anything else which could stand between her and the possibility of safety. She soon gained the shed and managed to mount on to the top of it by the aid of the barrel.
Then John Girdlestone plodded heavily down the stair, and these friends of forty years' standing had said their last adieu. The African merchant kept his appointment in the City, but long before he reached it John Harston had gone also to keep that last terrible appointment of which the messenger is death.
I'll marry Kate Harston, wash my hands of the firm, leave you to settle matters with the creditors, and retire with the forty thousand pounds;" with which threat the junior partner took up his hat and swaggered out of the office. After his departure, John Girdlestone spent an hour in anxious thought, arranging the details of the scheme which he had just submitted to his son.
"And I to see you, my dear boy. Your mother and Kate come up by the night train. I have private rooms at the hotel." "Kate Harston! I can only remember her as a little quiet girl with long brown hair. That was six years ago. She promised to be pretty." "Then she has fulfilled her promise. But you shall judge that for yourself.
A strong, vigorous brain collects around it in time many others, whose mental processes are a feeble imitation of its own. Thus it came to pass that, as the years rolled on, Harston learned to lean more and more upon his old school-fellow, grafting many of his stern peculiarities upon his own simple vacuous nature, until he became a strange parody of the original.
"Now, sir," he said, as he closed the door behind him "I think that I have a right to inquire what the meaning may be of the scene of which I was an involuntary witness this morning?" "It means," Tom answered firmly but gently, "that I am engaged to Miss Harston, and have been for some time." "Oh, indeed," Girdlestone answered coldly, sitting down at his desk and turning over the pile of letters.
"You are very old friends?" Ezra remarked, looking thoughtfully at his father. "I have known him since we were boys together," the other replied, with a slight dry cough, which was the highest note of his limited emotional gamut. "Your mother, Ezra, died upon the very day that Harston's wife gave birth to this daughter of his, seventeen years ago. Mrs. Harston only survived a few days.
Tobias Clutterbuck may be ould, Miss Harston, but his heart will niver grow so hardened but that it will milt at the thought of beauty in distriss." With this beautiful sentiment the major placed his fat hand over his heart, and bowed again, even more gracefully than before.
His hands were clasped behind his back, his head bent forward, and he surveyed her with a most malignant expression upon his face. "Well done!" he said, with a bitter smile. "Well done! This is a good morning's work, Miss Harston. You have repaid your father's friend for the care he has bestowed upon you."
Word Of The Day