United States or Pitcairn Islands ? Vote for the TOP Country of the Week !
Cripps, standing by the gate, fell back upon her last line of intrenchments, the line of piety. "And to think," she declared, with upturned eyes, "that this is the 'oly Sabbath! Never mind, Solomon. The Lord will punish 'em. I shall pray to Him not to curse them too hard." Hephzy's retort was to the point. "I wouldn't," she said.
Then I changed the subject. "Has she said anything to you about coming back to Mayberry?" I asked. "Have you told her how we feel toward her?" Hephzy's manner changed. "Yes," she said, reluctantly, "I've told her. I've told her everything." "Not everything? Hephzy, you haven't told her " "No, no. Of course I didn't tell her THAT. You know I wouldn't, Hosy.
"She is out, on a shopping expedition," I explained. "She will be back soon. I have been out too. We have been driving together. What do you think of that!" She seemed pleased at the news but when I urged her to sit and wait for Hephzy's return she hesitated. Her hesitation, however, was only momentary.
About the third session and I'm back on the Concord Place. THERE I am all right. No, I don't propose to stay lost long. My father and grandfather and all my men folks spent their lives cruisin' through crooked passages and crowded shoals and I guess I've inherited some of the knack." At last I was strong enough to take a short outing in Hephzy's company.
"He was born twenty years ago or so at least we heard that he was; and we haven't heard anything of him since, except by the dream route, which is not entirely convincing. He is Hephzy's pet obsession. Kindly forget him, to oblige me." He looked puzzled, but he did not mention "Little Frank" again, for which I was thankful.
I have telegraphed the Heptons that we will join them in Paris on the evening of the twenty-first. After that Well, we'll see." Hephzy's delight was as great as her surprise. She said I was a dear, unselfish boy. Considering what I intended doing I felt decidedly mean; but I did not tell her what that intention was.
As I neared the corner of the house I heard voices, loud voices. One of them, though it was not as loud as the others, was Hephzy's. "I knew it," she was saying, as I turned the corner. "I knew it. I knew there was some reason, some mean selfish reason why you were willin' to take that girl under your wing. I knew it wasn't kind-heartedness and relationship. I knew it."
Jim's answer to my telegram arrived the very next day. "Have engaged two staterooms for ship sailing Wednesday the tenth," it read. "Hearty congratulations on your good sense. Who is your companion? Write particulars." The telegram quashed the last of Hephzy's objections. The fares had been paid and she was certain they must be "dreadful expensive."
Judson was introduced and, the "between-maid" having brought another chair, he joined our party. He accepted the first of the three cups and observed. "I hope I haven't interrupted an important conversation. You appeared to be talking very earnestly." I should have answered, but Hephzy's look of horrified expostulation warned me to be silent.
No one had shared its interests and ambitions with me, no one had spurred me on to higher endeavor, had loved with me and suffered with me, helping me through the shadows and laughing with me in the sunshine. No one, since Mother's death, except Hephzy and Hephzy's love and care and sacrifice, fine as they were, were different.
Word Of The Day