Vietnam or Thailand ? Vote for the TOP Country of the Week !
He groped his way with infinite care to the door, on the wall adjoining which, he presumed, the electric-light switch would be. It was nearly ten years since he had last been inside Windles, and it never occurred to him that in this progressive age even a woman like his aunt Adeline, of whom he could believe almost anything, would still be using candles and oil-lamps as a means of illumination.
Unfortunately, as a matter of cold, legal accuracy, it did not. She did but hold it in trust for her son, Eustace, until such time as he should marry and take possession of it himself. There were times when the thought of Eustace marrying and bringing a strange woman to Windles chilled Mrs. Hignett to her very marrow.
He meant to change the conversation if he had to do it with a crowbar. "I hear you have taken a house in the country, Mr. Mortimer," he said. "Yes," said Mr. Mortimer. He turned to Sir Mallaby. "We have at last succeeded in persuading your sister, Mrs. Hignett, to let us rent her house for the summer." Sir Mallaby gasped. "Windles!
Windles was hers in perpetuity. The relief was too great. She sat in her chair and gulped: and Eustace, greatly encouraged, emerged slowly from the bedclothes like a worm after a thunderstorm. How long this poignant scene would have lasted, one cannot say. It is a pity that it was cut short, for I should have liked to dwell upon it.
Smith welcomed them all impartially. Somebody lit a lamp, and Mrs. Hignett stared speechlessly at the mob. "Mr. Bennett! Mr. Mortimer!" "Mrs. Hignett! What are you doing here?" Mrs. Hignett drew herself up stiffly. "What an odd question, Mr. Mortimer! I am in my own house!" "But you rented it to me for the summer. At least, your son did." "Eustace let you Windles for the summer!" said Mrs.
At this point many, indeed most, women would have gone to bed; but the familiar Hampshire air and the knowledge that half an hour's walking would take her to her beloved home acted on Mrs. Hignett like a restorative. One glimpse of Windles she felt that she must have before she retired for the night, if only to assure herself that it was still there.
They looked to him to pin burglars by the leg and hold on till the police arrived. Smith simply could not grasp such an attitude of mind. He regarded Windles not as a private house but as a social club, and was utterly unable to see any difference between the human beings he knew and the strangers who dropped in for a late chat after the place was locked up. He had no intention of biting Sam.
I happened to know, you see, that Bennett and Mortimer were both frightfully keen on getting Windles for the summer, but my mother wouldn't hear of it and gave them both the miss-in-baulk.
Mortimer!" "Mrs. Hignett! What are you doing here?" Mrs. Hignett drew herself up stiffly. "What an odd question, Mr. Mortimer! I am in my own house!" "But you rented it to me for the summer. At least, your son did." "Eustace let you Windles for the summer!" said Mrs. Hignett, incredulously. Jane Hubbard returned from the drawing-room, where she had been switching off the orchestrion.
This visit could only have to do with the subject of Windles, and she went into the dining-room in a state of cold fury, determined to squash the Mortimer family once and for all. Bream Mortimer was tall and thin. He had small, bright eyes and a sharply curving nose. He looked much more like a parrot than most parrots do.