Vietnam or Thailand ? Vote for the TOP Country of the Week !
Updated: May 28, 2025
At the soand of the laugh Loder shifted his position for the first time. He could not have told why, but it struck him with a slight sense of confusion. A precipitate wish to rise and pass through the doorway into the wider spaces of the conservatory came to him, though he made no attempt to act upon it.
"You want me to take your place to-night without preparation?" His voice was distinct and firm, but it was free from contempt. "Yes; yes, I do." Chilcote spoke without looking up. "That you may spend the night in morphia this and other nights?" Chilcote lifted a flushed, unsettled face. "You have no right to preach. You accepted the bargain." Loder raised his head quickly.
"No not books," he said. Chilcote leaned back in his chair and passed his hand across his face. The strong wave of satisfaction that the words woke in him was difficult to conceal. "What is your work?" Loder turned aside. "You must not ask that," he said, shortly. "When a man has only one capacity, and the capacity has no outlet, he is apt to run to seed in a wrong direction.
In the flare of the paper his face looked set and anxious, but Loder saw that the lips did not twitch as they had done on the previous occasion that he had given him a light, and a look of comprehension crossed his eyes. "What will you drink? Or, rather, will you have a whiskey? I keep nothing else. Hospitality is one of the debarred luxuries." Chilcote shook his head. "I seldom drink.
"No," he said shortly. "It's business. This was written yesterday; I should have got it last night." Her eyes widened. "But nobody does business at eight in the morning " she began, in astonishment; then she suddenly broke off. Without apology or farewell, Loder had left the fireplace and walked out of the room.
She had half expected that when he knew her real and vital dislike for Miss Loder he would promise to send her away; but he had done nothing of the kind: and Toni felt again, as she had already felt once or twice of late, that Owen had no intention of giving in to his wife's fancies, as some men were always ready to do.
Then by an effort he conquered himself, "It's not a matter of money, Chilcote," he said, quietly; "it's a matter of necessity." He brought the word out with difficulty. Chilcote glanced up. "Necessity?" he repeated. "How? Why?" The reiteration roused Loder.
"That will do, Marie," she said. "I shall want a cup of chocolate when I get back probably at one o clock." She drew her cloak about her shoulders and moved towards the door. Then she paused and looked back. "Shall we start?" she asked, quietly. Loder, still watching her, came forward at once. "Certainly," he said, with unusual gentleness.
He closed the door; softly and retired. Then, in the warm light, amid the gravely dignified surroundings that had marked his first entry into this hazardous second existence, Eve turned to Loder for the verdict upon which the future hung. As she turned, his face was still hidden from her, and his attitude betrayed nothing.
"Don't you think we might shove that aside?" he asked. But Chilcote's gaze had wandered from his face and strayed to the dressing-table; there it moved feverishly from one object to another. "Loder," he exclaimed, "do you see can you see if there's a tube of tabloids on the mantel-shelf or on the dressing-table?"
Word Of The Day
Others Looking