Part 42 (1/2)
”Just the sahed, ”I have explored all the beauties of Golden Crescent; I have fished--and caught nothing I have hunted,--and shot nothing I have read,--and learned nothing, or next to it, until I have nothing left to read So now,--I have come over to you I want to be friends”
”Are we not friends already?” I asked, sitting on the side ofpicture she presented
She sighed and raised her eyebrows
”Oh!--I don't know You never let iven ive, Miss Grant”
”No! How kind of you to say so! And you are not angry withat the change which had co lady
”Well, Mr Bre very often I ca in the book line to wile away an hour or so”
”With pleasure,” I answered
”Mr Horsfal, my employer, has a well-stocked little library here and you are very welco in it you may fancy Will you coot theup ”I shall be delighted”
I led the way into the front rooht to suffuse the darkness in there I went over and threw aside the curtains that hid the book-shelves
”You have a lovely place here,” she exclai round in admiration ”I had no ideano idea----”
”--That a bachelor could make himself so comfortable,” I put in
”Exactly! Do you
”Not a bit!”
She ”peeked around” and satisfied her curiosity to the full
”I am convinced,” she said at last, ”that in all this domestic artistry there is the touch of a feminine hand Who was, or who is,--the lady?”
”I understand Mrs Horsfal furnished and arranged this home She lived here every summer before she died That made it very easy forin its place as she had left it”
Miss Grant was enraptured with the library I thought she would never finish scanning the titles and the authors
”This is a positive book-wormery,” she exclaimed
She chose a volume which revealed her very h, after all, it did not astonish reatly but merely confirmed what I already had known to be so;--that, while boys and irls and women seem to prefer the books that are written more especially for boys and men and the more those books revel and riot in sword play, iue, the ood as to return my visit?” said my visitor at last ”You saved ht to take a small friendly interest in me
”If you could spare the time, I should be pleased to have you over for tea to- and to spend a sociable hour with us afterwards;--that is, if you care for tea, sociability and--ht, so ladylike, so beautiful; al mischief and virile charm
”I am a veritable drunkard with tea, and as foron the cliffs in the darkness, if I like ht after night, waiting for you to begin,--if Jake likes music, and the ansill satisfy you just how much both of us appreciate it
”But, I am very sorry I shall be unable to avail ”