Vietnam or Thailand ? Vote for the TOP Country of the Week !
Updated: June 10, 2025
In slow resignation, and with a sigh as if coming to shelter at last, her arms lifted up, her hands swept round his shoulders, and came to rest, clasped behind his head, and held him tightly, as if without capitulation. There was a gasp of astonishment, and the rough pine floor creaked as Bully Presby, dumbfounded, comprehending, conquered, turned toward the door.
He knew before the loyal old man had proceeded half-way what to expect. "It cost me a hundred dollars in entertainment, and a lot of apparent readiness to talk business, to get him confidential with me. Then I got the name of the would-be purchaser, under injunctions of secrecy, because those were the agent's positive instructions. The man who wants to buy is Presby!"
Presby asked, as if the big miner were some man he had not noticed before. "Me? My name's Mathews. I'm superintendent of the Croix d'Or," Bill answered, as calmly as if the form of question had been ignored. "And I suppose the young Mister Townsend relies on you for advice, and that he " "He don't need to rely on any one for advice," interrupted the soft, repressed voice. "I rely on him.
"You want to see me?" the man questioned, and then, as if the thin partition had not muffled the words of the outer office, went on: "You asked for Presby. I'm Presby. What do you want?" For an instant, self-reliant and cool as he was, Dick was confused by the directness of his greeting.
The strong, hard, masterful, and domineering face of Bully Presby arose before him as from the darkening shadows of the room, and it seemed triumphant. He lifted his head suddenly, thinking, in his superacute state of mind, that he had heard a noise. He must have air! The assay office, with its smell of nitric acid, its burned fumes, its clutter of broken cupels and slag, was unbearable.
He unbuttoned the flap of his shirt pocket, and, taking out a bundle of letters, selected the one bearing on the situation. "That should be sufficient," he said, throwing it, opened, before Presby. The latter, without moving his solid body in the least, and as if his arms and hands were entirely independent of it, stolidly picked up the letter and read it.
His desperate desire for success after his self-acknowledgment that he loved Miss Presby, and then the blows that had been rained on him and the mine, the failure of the green lead to hold out when it had at least promised and justified operation all cumulated into a disheartening climax which was testing his fortitude as it had never been tried before.
"They ain't no good except for young fools to gallop around with over a floor." He poured some more olive oil over the bandages, and relented enough to add: "All but The Lily, and she don't dance with none of 'em. She's all right, she is. Mighty peart looker, too. None purtier than Dorothy Presby, though."
How goes it?" They had but little to tell her, yet she seemed to find it interesting, and her eyes had the absent look of one who listens and sees distant scenes under discussion to the exclusion of all immediate surroundings. "Have you met Bully Presby yet?" she asked. They smiled, and told her they had. "He is a wonderful man," she said admiringly.
Fixed to the barricade was a sign, crudely lettered, but insistently distinct: No one allowed on these premises, by order of the owners. For any business to be transacted with the Croix d'Or, apply to Thomas W. Presby. "Curt enough, at least, isn't he?" commented Townsend, half-smiling. "Curt!" growled his companion, frowning, with his recent anger but half-dissipated.
Word Of The Day
Others Looking