East Indian Americans -- Fiction; Psychics -- Fiction
But accustomed as Browser was to cloying repetitions, there were
times when his endurance was sorely tried. On one occasion the bride
alighted from the buggy, and going a little ahead, gathered wild
flowers by the roadside; and as she returned, Amos, who was giving
Browser a handful of grass, raised his hat in a ceremonious manner and
advanced toward her with extended hand, exclaiming:
“Why, Miss Cabot! How do you do? I had no idea you were here. My name
is Judd.”
“I beg your pardon,” she replied, drawing stiffly back, “your name is
not Judd, and you don’t know what it is. I can never marry a man who--”
“Wait till you are asked,” he interrupted, then threw both arms about
her, and so they stood for a moment, she making no effort to escape.
Browser blushed and turned away.
In secluded corners of the vast and ramifying hotel piazza they spent
long evenings and watched the moon, the other people, and the distant
ocean, and talked, and talked, and talked. Of this talk no serious pen
could write. The very ink would laugh or turn to sugar and run away in
shame. And when these conversations were finished, two well-dressed and
seemingly intelligent people would arise, and with brazen faces enter
the grand rotunda of the hotel, where other guests would see them enter
the elevator, float heavenward and disappear from human eyes. But the
vexatious color still came and went in Molly’s face, and seemed ever
ready to give the lie to the gentle dignity and composure which rarely
deserted her. Strolling through the gardens of the hotel one afternoon,
they met a stately matron with her two daughters, whom Molly knew, and
as they separated after the usual conversation, Amos jeered at the
bride, saying: “Really, old Girl, it is mortifying the way you blush
upon this trip. I don’t blame the blushes for selecting such a face,
but you only give yourself away. It is merely another manner of saying
‘I know I am guilty, and just see how ashamed I am!’”
“Oh, don’t talk about it! It’s hideous, but I can’t help it. Are all
brides such fools?”
“I don’t know, I never travelled with one before, but I shall leave
you behind if you keep it up. Try and think you have been married for
twenty years. Do you suppose the daisies giggle and the sun winks
at the other planets every time we look out the window? Or that it
is because Molly and Amos are spliced that the carnations blush and
the violets hide their faces? But I will say this for you, Spirit
of Old-fashioned Roses, that all this blushing and unblushing is
tremendously becoming.”
“Thank you; but I must paint or wear a veil, or only come out at night.
There is no other way.”
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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