V. V.'s Eyes by Henry Sydnor Harrison
page 54 of 700 (07%)
page 54 of 700 (07%)
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sleep to be fresh for the evening ... _I'll_ nail their slanderous
falsehoods." Her daughter's glance upon her was touched with a flash of admiration, the more striking in that she herself was quite unconscious of it. Exact definition of desire and a simple strength of purpose from which all aims of others bound back stone-dead: what brilliance of genius or quintessence of mother-wit can hope to outdo this immortal combination? Echo, solitary, answers ... Mrs. Heth's return to the upper regions, an hour later, trumpeted complete victory. The right note was struck; all was settled. Carlisle, it appeared, had trusted insufficiently to the virtue of the Heth name. Of horrid gossip there had been, at the worst, no more than a bare hint or two, an attenuated suggestion. Malicious as the world was, few, indeed, had dreamed any justification of Dalhousie's blackguardism. Already, it appeared, the hotel rang with objurgations of it, and him. Still, Mrs. Heth had struck the note, and struck hard. Carlisle was bidden to sleep, after her trying experiences, to regain her poise and color for the evening.... Alone again in the twilight bedroom, the girl snuggled beneath a pretty pale-blue quilt, and absently scrutinized her pink and very shiny little finger nails. After the excitement and strain of the last hour and a half, she felt that she was now at peace. Nothing at all was going to happen. Nobody could say anything the least bit horrid about her, the least bit injurious to her position. She stood exactly where she had |
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