He seemed to be listening to
hear if it were real.
Then he turned for his coat.
'Come,' he said, 'we'll go to Isabel.'
Bertie took the lantern and opened the door. The cat disappeared. The two
men went in silence along the causeways. Isabel, as they came, thought
their footsteps sounded strange. She looked up pathetically and anxiously
for their entrance. There seemed a curious elation about Maurice. Bertie
was haggard, with sunken eyes.
'What is it?' she asked.
'We've become friends,' said Maurice, standing with his feet apart, like
a strange colossus.
'Friends!' re-echoed Isabel. And she looked again at Bertie. He met her
eyes with a furtive, haggard look; his eyes were as if glazed with
misery.
'I'm so glad,' she said, in sheer perplexity.
'Yes,' said Maurice.
He was indeed so glad. Isabel took his hand with both hers, and held it
fast.
'You'll be happier now, dear,' she said.
But she was watching Bertie. She knew that he had one desire--to escape
from this intimacy, this friendship, which had been thrust upon him. He
could not bear it that he had been touched by the blind man, his insane
reserve broken in. He was like a mollusk whose shell is broken.
_MONKEY NUTS_
At first Joe thought the job O.K. He was loading hay on the trucks, along
with Albert, the corporal. The two men were pleasantly billeted in a
cottage not far from the station: they were their own masters, for Joe
never thought of Albert as a master.
Pages:
84
85
86
87
88
89
90
91
92
93
94
95
96
97
98
99
100
101
102
103
104
105
106
107
108