The Market-Place by Harold Frederic
page 104 of 485 (21%)
page 104 of 485 (21%)
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With inspiration, he drew forth the half-crown which he
had been fingering in his pocket, and gave it to the girl as she turned. "That's the kind of concert I like," he declared, bestowing the patronage of a jovial smile upon her pleased and comely face. "Show me the way to this breakfast that you've been serenading about." Out in the greenhouse, meanwhile, Gafferson continued to regard blankly the shrivelled, fatty leaves of the plant he had taken up. "Thorpe," he said aloud, as if addressing the tabid gloxinia--"Thorpe--yes--I remember his initials--J. S. Thorpe. Now, who's the man that told me about him? and what was it he told me?" CHAPTER VII THE experiences of the breakfast room were very agreeable indeed. Thorpe found himself the only man present, and, after the first few minutes of embarrassment at this discovery, it filled him with surprised delight to note how perfectly he was at his ease. He could never have imagined himself seated with four ladies at a table--three of them, moreover, ladies of title--and doing it all so well. For one thing, the ladies themselves had a morning manner, so to speak, which differed widely from the impressions he had had of their deportment the previous evening. |
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