Читать книгу The Carcellini Emerald, With Other Tales онлайн

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“They sent me to ask you the correct date of the Bachelor’s Ball, and any items about the affair you may wish to publish,” she answered, fixing upon his evasive eyes a pair of clear, bright orbs.

“That is easily done,” he replied, with an air of relief. “Or stop; leave me your address, and I will send you the full data to-morrow after the committee meets.”

“Send it to me at the office, please. But now that our business is so satisfactorily disposed of there is another little matter about which I should like to speak to you in a more private place.”

“But I am pressed for time, I tell you!” he exclaimed, uneasily.

“It is something in the nature of a warning,” she said, with a mocking intonation. “But just as you choose, of course.”

“Come to my sitting-room on the floor above, then,” he responded, ungraciously, leading the way up the stairs.

The room into which he ushered her was a curious combination of elemental homeliness and the little belongings of advanced luxury, which littered it from wall to wall. Alice Carmichael’s quick eye did not fail to discern this discrepancy, which she set down at once to her brother’s habitual unwillingness to enjoy anything that was not a gift from some one who could afford to pay the piper. But despite her calm bearing, her heart was torn at sight of him. A thousand recollections, tender and poignant, arose to overwhelm her. To Ashton’s infinite relief, however, she continued to sit as unbending as marble upon the edge of the cane-bottomed chair he had offered her. He knew well enough that after the first drop into sentiment she would soon be herself again.