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

Dust by E. (Emanuel) Haldeman-Julius;Marcet Haldeman-Julius
page 49 of 176 (27%)
Rose's little capital, but he had made up his mind to direct the
spending of its income. He would keep her from putting it into
just such foolishnesses as this fireplace. But Rose, listening,
saw the last of her independence going. She felt tricked,
outraged. During the years she had been at the head of her
father's household, she had regulated the family budget and, no
matter how small it had happened to be, she always had contrived
to have a surplus. This notion of Martin's that he, and he alone,
should decide upon expenditures was ridiculous. She told him so
and in spite of himself, he was impressed.

"All right," he said calmly. "You can do all the buying for the
house. Write a check with my name and sign your own initials. Get
what you think we need. But there isn't going to be any
fireplace. You can just set that down."

Voice, eyes, the line of his chin, all told Rose that he would
not yield. Nothing could be gained from a quarrel except deeper
ill feeling. With a supreme effort of will she obeyed the
dictates of common sense and ended the argument abruptly.

But, for months after she was settled in the new little house,
her eye never fell on the space where the fireplace should have
been without a bitter feeling of revolt sweeping over her. She
never carried a heavy bucket in from the pump without thinking
cynically of Martin's promises of running water. As she swept the
dust out of her front and back doors to narrow steps, she
remembered the spacious porches that were to have been; and as
she wiped the floors she had painted herself, and polished her
pine furniture, she was taunted by memories of the smooth boards
DigitalOcean Referral Badge