United States or Samoa ? Vote for the TOP Country of the Week !
Sylvia, the cunning huntress, having pretended to relent, van Tuiver had gone South to his wooing again, while Claire had stayed at home and read a book about the poisoners of the Italian renaissance.
Armistead in her life, and she would not now give her the satisfaction of driving off to tell the town that Sylvia van Tuiver had seen Frank Shirley, and had been overcome by it, and had taken refuge behind the skirts of her little sisters! "You can see I have my carriage full of pupils" she said, smilingly. "How happy it must make you, Sylvia coming home and meeting all your old friends!
I have put them together here because they make a little picture of her honeymoon, and also because they show how, without meaning it, she was giving me an account of her husband. There had been even fewer adventures in the life of young Douglas van Tuiver than in the life of the Honourable Reginald Annersley.
The bell of Old Trinity was tolling the hour of noon, and the meeting was about to begin, when suddenly I heard an exclamation from Sylvia, and turning, saw a well-dressed man pushing his way from the office of Morgan and Company towards us. Sylvia clutched my hand where it lay on the seat of the car, and half gasped: "My husband!" Of course I had been anxious to see Douglas van Tuiver.
It was a difficult hour, in more ways than one, that of my first talk with Mrs. Douglas van Tuiver! I soon made the discovery that, childish as her ignorance was, there was no prejudice in it. If you brought her a fact, she did not say that it was too terrible to be true, or that the Bible said otherwise, or that it was indecent to know about it.
Obviously the thing for me to do was to see this surgeon. "Well, madame?" he said, when I was seated in his inner office. He was a tall, elderly man, immaculately groomed, and formal and precise in his manner. "Dr. Overton," I began, "my friend, Mrs. Douglas van Tuiver writes me that you are going to Florida shortly." "That is correct," he said. "I have come to see you about a delicate matter.
Why is she Mrs. van Tuiver, and I nobody? Because her father was rich, because she had power and position, while I had to scratch for myself in the world. Is that true, or isn't it?" I could not deny that it might be part of the truth. "But they're married now," I said, "and he loves her." "He loves me, too. And I love him still, in spite of the way he's treated me.
Van Tuiver said not a word, but I noted a strained look upon his face, and I thought the others seemed agitated also. As soon as the other vessel was out of hearing, Dr. Perrin turned to me and said: "Mrs. Abbott, we came out to see Mr. van Tuiver, to warn him of a distressing accident which has just happened.
"We don't think that she knows, but she has a suspicion and is trying to find out. She asked to see you." "Ah, yes!" I said. "She declared that she wished to see you as soon as you returned that she would not see anyone else, not even Mr. van Tuiver. You will understand that this portends trouble for all of us. We judged it necessary to have a consultation about the matter." I bowed in assent.
We slowed up, and the other boat did the same, and they lay within a few feet of each other. Dr. Perrin greeted van Tuiver, and after introducing the other man, he said: "We came out to have a talk with you. Would you be so good as to step into this boat?" "Certainly," was the reply.
Word Of The Day