Families -- Fiction; Girls -- Conduct of life -- Fiction; Young women -- Conduct of life -- Fiction
Dick was the type of the nice English boy. Sally had never seen an
English boy or an English man in her whole life; but that did not
prevent her from forming an ideal of the type, to which Dick measured
up in every particular. He had light hair and that curious brunette
coloring that sometimes goes with it; he was invariably pleasant and
polite and deliberate in his speech; and he was generally well
dressed. Sally was particular about that, almost finicky. If Dick had
shown a tendency to overdressing--but he didn't. He had an air of
distinction. He also had a sister, Emily, who was in the second class
at school. Sally thought that Emily Torrington was the most beautiful
girl she had ever seen. She could not imagine any girl more beautiful.
Everett was a great contrast to Dick in every respect. He had no
sister. Everett was an only child and his family was very rich, so
that he was in great danger of being spoiled. Not that it made any
difference to Sally whether he was rich or not. And Everett was
handsome, in quite a different way from Dick, and brilliant and
dashing. In short, he was fascinating. Many others than Sally had
found him so. It was quite likely that a woman would be more
permanently happy and contented with Dick than with Everett. I do not
mean to imply that Sally had ever indulged in any such reflection. She
may have and she may not have; but he fascinated her, as he had
fascinated those others of whom I spoke. He didn't know it. Everett
Morton had never spoken to Sally. He had never even noticed her. Dick
had in his good-natured, pleasant way, but Dick was always polite.
Everett was not--always.
So Sally's heart was beating a little rapidly when she pushed through
the break in the fence. But she had been running, you remember, for a
square and a half.
The big kite was up on end, with one of the smaller boys holding it.
It was a huge kite, nearly twice the height of the boy that held it
and the top of it was a good foot above Everett's head as he stood in
front of it; so big that they had a rope to fly it with, and the end
of the rope was tied around Everett's waist. The smaller boys, of
course, were clustered about the kite, the Carlings among them. Then
Dick and Everett took the rope in their hands, called to the boy to
let go, and began to run; and the kite rose, evenly at first, then
twitching viciously from side to side. Then it hesitated for an
instant, as the tail, dragging on the ground, caught around the legs
of one of the Carlings. Sally had not yet become able to tell them
apart, at any distance. She saw him struggle, go down with his feet in
the air and with the tail of the kite still wrapped around them. She
saw the other twin precipitate himself upon the fallen one, try vainly
to undo the tail, then busy himself with one of his brother's shoes.
The kite suddenly soared, bearing aloft, tied firmly into its tail, a
shoe.
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