Canada, Western -- Fiction; Farm life -- Canada -- Fiction; Married people -- Fiction
"Who is the very pretty girl who has just come into the tennis ground?"
he asked.
"My sister," said Denham. "I had almost forgotten you had not met
Carrie. She is rather pretty, though. While the governor and I are
Denhams, she takes after the other side of the family in more ways than
one. She has only just come from Town, you know."
Leland did not know. He had merely heard that there was a Carrie Denham;
but as he looked down across the moat he was conscious of a sudden
interest in the girl. She stood with one hand on the back of a
basket-chair, her long white dress flowing in easy lines about her tall
and shapely figure. So far as he could see it, her face beneath the big
white hat was attractive, too; but it was her pose that vaguely
impressed him. There was a suggestion of strength and pride in it that
was by no means noticeable in the case of either her father or Jimmy
Denham. The appearance of the man with whom she talked was, however,
much less pleasing. He was inclined to be portly, his face was coarsely
fleshy, with the distinctive stamp of the city on him. He looked out of
place in that quaint old pleasance on the desolate border side. He
reminded Leland forcibly of the caricatures he had seen of Hebrew
usurers.
"And the gentleman?" he asked.
Denham laughed. "You would expect his name to be Moses, or Levy, but, as
a matter of fact, it isn't. Anyway, he calls himself Aylmer. A friend of
the governor's, and the usual something in the city. Comes down for a
week or two at the partridges, ostensibly, at least, though it's quite
possible there will be a dog or two, and, perhaps, a keeper, disabled
before he goes away. If you care to come down, I'll present you to
Carrie. She knows you are here, and is no doubt a trifle curious about
you."
If she was, Miss Denham concealed the fact very well, and Leland, who
was not readily embarrassed, felt a quite unusual diffidence as she held
out a little white hand. He noticed, however, that she looked at him
frankly, and that she had a beautiful hand, like the rest of the
Denhams. Her face was cold and somewhat colourless, with dusky hair low
on the broad forehead, unusually straight brows, and dark eyes; a
beautiful face it seemed to him, but one that had a vague suggestion of
weariness in it just then. Carrie Denham, he thought, in no way
resembled her easy-going brother Jimmy. There was, as he expressed it to
himself, more grit in her; and yet he was, without exactly knowing why,
rather sorry for her. She was evidently not more than three or
four-and-twenty, and he felt there must be a reason for her quietness
and reserve, which appeared a trifle unnatural.
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