Fennel and Rue by William Dean Howells
page 71 of 140 (50%)
page 71 of 140 (50%)
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was as brilliantly illuminated as when the company had separated there
for the night, and he pushed across the foyer hall that separated the billiard-room from the drawing-zoom and library. He entered the drawing-room, and in the depths of the library, relieved against the rows of books in their glass cases, he startled Miss Shirley from a pose which she seemed to be taking there alone. At the instant of their mutual recognition she gave a little muted shriek, and then gasped out, "I beg your pardon," while he was saying, too, "I beg your pardon." After a tacit exchange of forgiveness, he said, "I am afraid I startled you. I was just coming for a book to read myself asleep with. I--" "Not at all," she returned. "I was just--" Then she did not say what, and he asked: "Making some studies?" "Yes," she owned, with reluctant promptness. "I mustn't ask what," he suggested, and he made an effort to smile away what seemed a painful perturbation in her as he went forward to look at the book-shelves, from which, till then, she had not slipped aside. "I'm in your way," she said, and he answered, "Not at all." He added to the other sentence he had spoken, "If it's going to be as good as what you gave us today--" "You are very kind." She hesitated, and then she said, abruptly: "What I |
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