Vietnam or Thailand ? Vote for the TOP Country of the Week !
"I asked you what it meant to be pure, Bles, and and you told and I told you the truth." "What it meant! what it meant!" he repeated in the low, tense anguish. "But but, Bles " She faltered; there came an awful pleading in her eyes; her hand groped toward him; but he stepped slowly back "But, Bles you said willingly you said if if she knew " He thundered back in livid anger: "Knew! All women know!
Colonel Cresswell had noticed her hesitation, and thought of it as he settled to his cigar again. Bles Alwyn arose next morning and examined the sky critically. He feared rain. The season had been quite wet enough, particularly down on the swamp land, and but yesterday Bles had viewed his dykes with apprehension for the black pool scowled about them.
"I sometimes wish," she began at length, "I had a bright-eyed girl like you to help me find and place things." Zora made no comment. "Sometimes Bles helps me," added Miss Smith, guilefully. Zora looked sharply at her. "Could I help?" she asked, almost timidly. "Why, I don't know," the answer was deliberate. "There are one or two little things perhaps "
Nevertheless, the two were usually seen in public together, and although she often showed her quiet mastery of the situation, seldom had she snubbed him so openly as at the Treble Clef concert. Teerswell was furious and began to plot vengeance; but Miss Wynn was attracted by the personality of Bles Alwyn.
Cresswell lost no time in calling on Senator Smith and pointing out to him that Bles Alwyn was a dangerous Negro: seeking social equality, hating white people, and scheming to make trouble. He was too young and heady. It would be fatal to give such a man office and influence; fatal for the development of the South, and bad for the Cotton Combine. Senator Smith was unconvinced.
And Zora sat above them on a high rich-scented pile of logs. Her senses slept save her sleepless eyes. Amid a silence she saw in the little grove that still stood, the cabin of Elspeth tremble, sigh, and disappear, and with it flew some spirit of evil. Then she looked down to the new edge of the swamp, by the old lagoon, and saw Bles Alwyn standing there.
Miss Smith suggested a drive to town Bles could take her in the top-buggy after school and she could consult some of the merchants and business men. She could then write her letter and mail it there; it would be but a day or so late getting to New York. "Of course," said Miss Smith drily, slowly folding her napkin, "of course, the only people here are the Cresswells."
"Goobers," answered the smaller boy. "Goobers?" uncomprehendingly. "Peanuts," Bles specified. "Oh!" murmured Miss Taylor. "I see there are none on the vines yet. I suppose, though, it's too early for them." Then came the explosion. The smaller boy just snorted with irrepressible laughter and bolted across the fields. And Bles was Miss Taylor deceived? or was he chuckling?
Mary Taylor opened her lips to rebuke this levity when suddenly the coachman called out and the horses swerved, and the carriage's four occupants faced a young man and a young woman embracing heartily. Out through the wood Bles and Zora had come to the broad red road; playfully he celebrated all her beauty unconscious of time and place. "You are tall and bend like grasses on the swamp," he said.
"Bles Alwyn, the Fool and the Man. But by grace of the Negro Problem, I cannot afford to marry a man Hark! Some one is on the steps. I'm sure it's Bles. You'd better go now. Don't attempt to fight with him; he's very strong. Good-night." Alwyn entered. He didn't notice Teerswell as he passed out. He went straight to Miss Wynn holding a crumpled note, and his voice faltered a little.
Word Of The Day