Book-bot.com - read famous books online for free

The Lure of the North by Harold Bindloss
page 89 of 313 (28%)
resolution wavered, he would not let her shirk. She did not think him
clever, but he would somehow carry out what he undertook. It was curious
that after a fortnight of his society she knew him so well; but she did
know he was trustworthy and there was nothing more to be said.

Since a letter might not reach him for some time, she had better write
at once, and she got some paper and began. It was easy to write to
Thirlwell, and she told him about the lame man who had broken into the
house, before she came to Stormont's offer. Indeed, when she stopped she
was surprised to see how much she had said. After fastening the envelope
she got up and went to the window, where she drew the thick curtain
behind her and looked out.

The moon was higher up the sky and the roofs glittered in the silver
light. Half the street lay in shadow, a belt of grayish blue, but the
rest sparkled where the sleigh-shoes had run. A sleigh came up with a
load of girls and young men in blanket-coats and furs. They seemed to be
talking and laughing, but Agatha no longer envied them; the depression
she had felt had gone. Then as the sleigh went past with a chime of
bells she tried to follow her letter on its journey to the North.

After it left the railroad it would lie in a pack on a half-breed's
shoulders, or perhaps in a skin bag on a hand-sledge, in front of which
men with snowshoes marched. It would travel up winding rivers between
dark walls of ragged pines, across frozen lakes, and among the rocks on
high divides. Then the tired men would stop at a cluster of shacks
beside a shaft and an ore-dump in the wilds, and she wondered what
Thirlwell would think when he opened the envelope; whether he would be
pleased or not.

DigitalOcean Referral Badge