Wild Youth, Volume 2. by Gilbert Parker
page 29 of 79 (36%)
page 29 of 79 (36%)
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almost filled the doorway.
"You devil's spawn," Mazarine almost shouted," get out of that doorway. I want my wife. You needn't try to hide her. You thief! You lecherous circus rider! Stand aside--leper!" Orlando coolly stretched out his elbows till they touched the sides of the door, and as the crowd pressed, he said to them mockingly: "Get back, boys. Give him air. Can't you see he's gasping for breath." Then he giggled again. The old man looked round at the crowd, but he saw no sympathy--only aversion and ridicule. Suddenly he snatched his little black-bound Bible from his pocket, and held it up. "What does this Book say?" he thundered. "It says that a wife shall cleave unto her husband until death. For the seducer and the betrayer death is the portion." The whistle of the incoming train was heard in the distance. The old man was desperate. It was clear he meant to assault Orlando. "You will only take her away over my dead body," he ground out in his passion. "The Lord gave, and only the Lord shall take away." He gathered himself together for the attack. Orlando waved a hand at him as one would at a troublesome child. At that instant, his mother stepped up behind him in the reception-room. |
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