Part 34 (1/2)
It ht's capacity for emotion, but it certainly speaks well for his a had so far enlisted him that he was alroom hio along, in disguise, as a sort of valet and priuide him For it see upon the success or failure of Craig in practising the precepts that for Grant and his kind take precedence of thehour in neatly and carefully writing out the instructions, as Craig had requested He perforravity that would hter and wonder that is excited by the hu--the wild man, the arch foe of effeteness, the apostle of the simple life of yarn sock and tallowed boot and ho accepted the service with heartfelt thanks in his shaking voice andof the honeyaret to bother her, and busy about matters that concerned himself alone, was a aret, apparently cal his discreet conduct as a haatches a sheltered hen; she began to indulge in pleasant hopes that Joshua's wild days had come to an abrupt end Why, he was even restrained in conversation; he did not interrupt her often, instantly apologized and forebore when he did; he poured out none of his wonted sophomoric diatribes, soreat man in his hour of relaxation is apt to be She had to do --and youunder an appearance of lightness many valuable lessons in the true wisdom of life as it is revealed only to the fashi+onable idle She was careful not to overdo, not to provoke, above all not to put him at his ease
Her fiction of ill health, of threatened nervous prostration, also served to free her fro and difficult days in that eventless solitude He was all for arduous trah the woods, for excursions in canoe under the fierce sun She insisted on his enjoying himself--”but I don't feel equal to any such exertion I simply must rest and take care of myself” She was so her health was anything but robust, when her appearance gave the lie direct to her hints and regrets While he was off with one of the guides she stayed at ca at herself with the aid of Selina, revolving andher plans
When she saw him she saw hi She was a notable figure herself in bathing suit, and could swim in a nice, ladylike way; but he was a water creature--indeed, seemed more at ho, strong, narrow body cut the surface of the transparent lake with no loss of energy in splashi+ng or display--as easy and swift as a fish
She began to fear she hada place for her school for a husband, ”He's in his eleht she, ”notstill to be done”
And, worst of all, she found herself losing her sense of proportion, her respect for her fashi+onable idols Those vast woods, that infinite su her a new and far from practical point of view--especially upon the petty trickeries and posturings of the ludicrously self-important huin to act queer and absurd as soon as they coht of each other She found herself rapidly developing that latent ”sentirandainst--which Lucia had insisted was her real self Her ie of convention in which she had ie, natural ele, that put lance and the intense joy of life in the heart And she began to revolve him before eyes that searched hopefully for possibilities of his giving her precisely what her nerves craved
”It would be queer, wouldn't it,” shehim swim--”if it should turn out that I had come up here to learn, instead of to teach?”
And he--In large presences he was always at his best--in the large situations of affairs, in these large, tranquillizing horizons of nature He, too, began to forget that she was a refined, delicate, sensitive lady, with nerves that writhed under breaks in rammar, unless, of course, it was one of those indorsed by fashi+onable usage His health ca back in its fullness; and day by day the difficulty of restraining hi, plebeian action beca to hiot safely out of sight; and, when he was sure of seclusion in distance, he would ”cut loose”--yell and laugh and caper like a true madman; tear off his superfluous clothes, splash and thresh in some lonely lake like a baby whale that has not yet had the primary lessons in how to behave When he returned to camp, subdued in manner, like a bad boy after recess, he was, in fact, not one bit subdued beneath the surface, but the more fractious for his outburst Each day his aniher; each day her sway of awe and respect grewsilence, his really ridiculous for and red-cheeked dread of intrusion ulf that rolled between them She recalled their conversation about his relatives ”Poor fellow!” thought she ”I suppose it's quite impossible for people ofup feels in circumstances like these” Little did she dream, in her exaltation of self-complacence and superiority, that the ”poor fellow's”
clumsy formalities were the thin cover for a teot on” his nerves before he on hers It was through her habit of rising late and taking hours to dress Part of his code of conduct--an interpolation of his own into the Arkwright ht to wait until she was ready to breakfast, before breakfasting his she heard teed froh all was quiet as soon as she appeared; and she very soon thought out the reason for his uproar Next, his anger could not subdue itself beyond surliness on her appearing, and the surliness lasted through the first part of breakfast
Finally, oneher when she was about half-way through her leisurely toilette: ”Margaret! MARGARET!”
”Yes--what is it?”
”Do co the best part of the day”
”All right--in aof her exertions; she appeared about an hour after she had said ”in a lance at her, at the exquisite toilette--of the woods, yet of the civilization that dwells in palaces and reposes languidly upon the exertions of hty--and he shut his lips together and subsided
The next --or had it waked her? ”Yes--what is it?”
”Do co, not at all coressive, dictatorial voice of the Josh Craig of less than a ; it was plainly the first faint aret retorted with an icily polite, ”Please don't wait for me”
”Yes, I'll wait But be as quick as you can”
Margaret neither hastened nor dallied She came forth at the end of an hour and a half Josh, to her surprise, greeted her as if she had not kept hilance of sullenness, no suppressed irritation in his voice Next aret!” ca nearly two hours”
”For what?” inquired she frigidly from the other side of the door
”For breakfast”
”Oh! Go ahead with it I'm not even up yet”
”You've been shut in there ten hours”
”What of it?” retorted she sharply ”Go away, and don't bother me”
He had put her into such an ill humor that when she ca hazel eyes showed she was ”looking for trouble” He was still breakfastless--he well kne to manipulate his weaknesses so that his purposes could cow thelance with a flash of his blue-green eyes like lightning from the dark head of a thunder-cloud ”Do you know it is nine o'clock?” deet up late so that the days won't seeht him permanently beaten