Vietnam or Thailand ? Vote for the TOP Country of the Week !
Updated: May 8, 2025
There remained but one thing solid in Jon's past his mother; but one thing solid in Fleur's her father; and of these figures, as though seen in the distance with disapproving faces, they spoke little.
Surely surely Jon's mother! The conviction came as a shock. And she stood still in a flurry of thought. Why, of course! Jon's father had married the woman her father had wanted to marry, had cheated him out of her, perhaps. Then, afraid of showing by her manner that she had lighted on his secret, she refused to think further, and, shaking out the silk handkerchief, entered the dining-room.
"What! Not Euripides?" "Euripides? Oh! no, I can't bear Greek plays; they're so long. I think beauty's always swift. I like to look at ONE picture, for instance, and then run off. I can't bear a lot of things together. Look!" She held up her blossom in the moonlight. "That's better than all the orchard, I think." And, suddenly, with her other hand she caught Jon's.
Fleur let "The Lady's Mirror" fall and leaned forward. "Well?" she said. "It's seemed about fifteen days." She nodded, and Jon's face lighted up at once. "Look natural," murmured Fleur, and went off into a bubble of laughter. It hurt him. How could he look natural with Italy hanging over him? He had meant to break it to her gently, but now he blurted it out.
They had been out five weeks when they turned toward home. Jon's head was restored to its pristine clarity, but he was confined to a hat lined by his mother with many layers of orange and green silk and he still walked from choice in the shade.
Think of all the fun you might have. You haven't begun, even; it's a shame, really. And there's me. I wonder!" Confusion came on Jon's spirit. How could she say such things just as they were going to part? "If you feel like that," he said, "I can't go. I shall tell Mother that I ought to try and work. There's always the condition of the world!" "The condition of the world!"
She felt a sudden hunger for Jon's face, for his hands, and the feel of his lips again on hers. And pressing her arms tight across her breast she forced out a little light laugh. "O la! la! What a small fuss! as Profond would say. Father, I don't like that man." She saw him stop, and take something out of his breast pocket. "You don't?" he said. "Why?" "Nothing," murmured Fleur; "just caprice!"
What was she going to say to him, who had in his heart such things to say to her? "I know Fleur came to-day. I'm not surprised." It was as though she had added: "She is her father's daughter!" And Jon's heart hardened. Irene went on quietly: "I have Father's letter. I picked it up that night and kept it. Would you like it back, dear?" Jon shook his head.
"I had read it, of course, before he gave it to you. It didn't quite do justice to my criminality." "Mother!" burst from Jon's lips. "He put it very sweetly, but I know that in marrying Fleur's father without love I did a dreadful thing. An unhappy marriage, Jon, can play such havoc with other lives besides one's own. You are fearfully young, my darling, and fearfully loving.
When, at some jolt, the young man's arm touched hers as if by accident, she only thought: 'If that were Jon's arm! When his cheerful voice, tempered by her proximity, murmured above the sound of the car's progress, she smiled and answered, thinking: 'If that were Jon's voice! and when once he said, "Fleur, you look a perfect angel in that dress!" she answered, "Oh, do you like it?" thinking, 'If only Jon could see it!
Word Of The Day
Others Looking