Didactic fiction; Political fiction; Social problems -- Fiction
On Friday Mr. Karner appeared, with a man and his wife, whose name Yetta
never troubled herself to remember, and they all went off for a week-end
cruise. Most of the time the older people played bridge. Yetta made
friends with the sea and a gray-haired old sailor from the Azores, who
could speak nothing but Portuguese. Once while at anchor he helped her
catch a fish. She would have enjoyed the cruise more if they had let her
eat in the forecastle with the crew. She liked Mrs. Karner very much
when they were alone together, but it was unpleasant to see her with
these others.
In time the color returned to Yetta's cheeks, and hearing that Mabel had
torn up her resignation, she went back to Washington Square and to work.
Except for such crises, Yetta followed rigorously the course of reading
which Walter had mapped out for her. The afternoons and evenings
belonged to the work of the League, to the very busy life of the real
world. The mornings belonged to Walter. Her first thought was always of
him. While the coffee was heating, she attended to his mail. After
breakfast, with his prospectus spread out before her, she settled
herself in one of his chairs and took up one of his books. Following his
suggestion she made copious notes, and, when a book was finished, she
wrote a thousand words or so on the main ideas she had gained from it.
She carefully saved all these notes. When he returned he would see how
thoroughly she had followed his directions.
On the other side of the world from Yetta, Longman was leading a rough,
exciting tent-life among dangerously fanatic natives. It would have been
hard to imagine two more sharply contrasting environments. He never
dreamed of the loving devotion which was being offered him, so many
thousand miles away. He did not suspect how his occasional letters, in
reply to her weekly ones, fanned this flame. He was wholly occupied in
racing against time and difficulties to complete his work.
The expedition was not having an easy time of it. The ruins about which
they were digging were regarded by the natives with superstitious
veneration. The little group of scientists had only a score of
unreliable soldiers for defence, so the real men--Le Marquis
d'Hauteville, _Chef de l'expédition_, a wiry, gray-haired veteran of the
Algerian Wars; Delanoue, a dandified-looking Parisian, who had carved
his name as an explorer in all sorts of outlandish places; Vibert, the
photographer, and Walter--had their hands full. They were the rampart,
behind which the half-dozen querulous, rather old-maidish specialists
measured skulls, gathered fragments of pottery, took rubbings of
inscriptions, and collected folk-lore.
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.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account