When she would lay her hand on his arm, a thrill of pleasure
went through him. And yet he would willingly have seen any decent man take
her and marry her, making a bargain that he should never see her again.
Young or old, men are apt to become Merlins when they encounter Viviens.
On this occasion he left her, disgusted indeed, but not having told her
that he was disgusted. "Come again, Frank, to-morrow, won't you?" she
said. He made her no promise as he went, nor had she expected it. He had
left her quite abruptly the other day, and he now went away almost in the
same fashion. But she was not surprised. She understood that the task she
had in hand was one very difficult to be accomplished--and she did
perceive in some dark way that, good as her acting was, it was not quite
good enough. Lucy held her ground because she was real. You may knock
about a diamond and not even scratch it, whereas paste in rough usage
betrays itself. Lizzie, with all her self-assuring protestations, knew
that she was paste, and knew that Lucy was real stone. Why could she not
force herself to act a little better, so that the paste might be as good
as the stone--might at least seem to be as good? "If he despises me now,
what will he say when he finds it all out?" she asked herself.
Pages:
964
965
966
967
968
969
970
971
972
973
974
975
976
977
978
979
980
981
982
983
984
985
986
987
988