Читать книгу The Peacock Feather. A Romance онлайн
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Peter took it. “Common politeness,” he said, “should make me echo that sentiment. Truth obliges me to hesitate. Yet frankly I like you. Perhaps you have sufficient acumen to guess at the reason for my hesitation. Well, good-bye.”
Peter vaulted over a stile that led into the high-road. He turned and waved his hat in the direction of the man looking after him, then started off at a swinging pace. Ten minutes took him into the valley, then he began to ascend. Part way up the hill he turned and looked at the now distant field.
“Oh, damn!” he said half ruefully. “Why the devil did I meet him!”
CHAPTER II
THE FIRST-BORN
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It was about five o’clock in the afternoon that Peter entered a small market-town.
There were a good many people in the streets, for it was market-day, and there was an air of leisurely business about the place; completed business chiefly, for already stalls were being dismantled, and unsold butter, eggs, and chickens were being repacked in big baskets. Small groups of men stood about together discussing the weather and the prospect of the various crops. Carts drove slowly down the steep High Street, returning to outlying farms.