English essays -- 20th century; English fiction -- 20th century; Short stories, English
Her cheek, in fact, was firm, and round, and fresh, and its strong
cheekbone mounted almost to the little dark niche of her grey eye. Her
hair, which had a sheen as though the sun were always falling on it,
seemed to caress the top curve of her clean pink ear. There was just the
suspicion of a chin beneath her rounded jaw. His cheek was not so strong
and moulded; it was flat, and coloured reddish brown, with a small patch
of special shaving just below the side growth of his hair, clipped close
in to the top lobe of the ear. The bristly wing of his moustache showed
sandy-brown above the corner of his lips, whose fullness was compressed.
About that sideview of his face there was the faint suggestion that his
appetites might some day get the better of his comfort.
Having finished breakfast they would separate; he to his vocation, she
to her shopping and her calls. Their pursuit of these was marked by a
direct and grave simplicity, a sort of genius for deciding what they
should avoid, a real knowledge of what they wanted, and a certain power
of getting it. They met again at dinner, and would recount all they had
done throughout that busy day: What risks he had taken at Lloyd’s, where
he was an underwriter; how she had ordered a skirt, been to a
picture-gallery, and seen a royal personage; how he had looked in at
Tattersall’s about the boy’s pony for the holidays; how she had
interviewed three cooks without result. It was a pleasant thing to hear
that talk, with its comfortable, home-like flavour, and its reliance on
a real sympathy and understanding of each other.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account