Читать книгу Jewel sowers. A novel онлайн

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Rosalie sprang back.

“Look at that hideous thing!” she cried in horror, pointing to it. Then recollecting herself, she said, with an effort at more self-control and appreciation: “Are—are they extinct now?”

“I don’t know, I’m sure. What would you say?”

“I sincerely hope so, I’m sure. Put it away. There is something uncanny about that book. That creature startled me.”

“It’s an acquired taste. Here we come to another.”

He had turned onward to a third picture, in which was shown a woman sitting on the roots of a tree, the expression of her face long and uncompromising, full of discontent. She wore no clothing, but her long and silky hair was sufficient covering. She was of no particular beauty, and her expression of discontent, mingled with curiosity, subtly introduced, and having little intelligence to enlighten it, gave the girl a feeling of repugnance. In one hand she held a fruit of brilliant scarlet; a mouthful was being eaten, and its taste did not seem altogether to her liking.

“What do you think of this?”