"I had a few words with Miss French before you came in. The packet
arrived by the evening post, and seeing that it was books--for you--I
opened it. After about an hour"--he turned and walked away again--"I saw
my bearings. Then I called Miss French, told her I should have to go
to-morrow, and asked her how long she could stay with you."
"William!" cried Kitty again, leaning heavily on the table beside
her--"don't go!--don't leave me!"
His face darkened.
"So you would prevent me from taking the only honorable, the only decent
way out of this thing that remains to me?"
She made no immediate reply. She stood--wrapped apparently in painful
abstraction--a creature lovely and distraught. The masses of her fair
hair loosened by the breeze on the canal had fallen about her cheeks and
shoulders; her black hat framed the white brow and large, feverish eyes;
and the sable cape she had worn in the gondola had slipped down over the
thin, sloping shoulders, revealing the young figure and the slender
waist. She might have been a child of seventeen, grieving over the death
of her goldfinch.
Ashe gathered together his official letters and papers, found his
check-book, and began to write.
Pages:
549
550
551
552
553
554
555
556
557
558
559
560
561
562
563
564
565
566
567
568
569
570
571
572
573