Indiana -- Fiction; Orphans -- Fiction; People with disabilities -- Fiction; Swamps -- Fiction
The Angel gently soothed him back.
“Why, because nobody else would ever sit and do it the way it is done.
That's how I know,” she said emphatically. “Now you listen while I tell
you about this lost boy and his people, who have hunted for months and
can't find him.”
Freckles lay quietly under her touch, but he did not hear a word that
she was saying until his roving eyes rested on her face; he immediately
noticed a remarkable thing. For the first time she was talking to him
and avoiding his eyes. That was not like the Angel at all. It was the
delight of hearing her speak that she looked one squarely in the face
and with perfect frankness. There were no side glances and down-drooping
eyes when the Angel talked; she was business straight through. Instantly
Freckles' wandering thoughts fastened on her words.
“--and he was a sour, grumpy, old man,” she was saying. “He always had
been spoiled, because he was an only son, so he had a title, and a big
estate. He would have just his way, no matter about his sweet little
wife, or his boys, or anyone. So when his elder son fell in love with a
beautiful girl having a title, the very girl of all the world his
father wanted him to, and added a big adjoining estate to his, why, that
pleased him mightily.
“Then he went and ordered his younger son to marry a poky kind of a
girl, that no one liked, to add another big estate on the other side,
and that was different. That was all the world different, because the
elder son had been in love all his life with the girl he married, and,
oh, Freckles, it's no wonder, for I saw her! She's a beauty and she has
the sweetest way.
“But that poor younger son, he had been in love with the village
vicar's daughter all his life. That's no wonder either, for she was more
beautiful yet. She could sing as the angels, but she hadn't a cent. She
loved him to death, too, if he was bony and freckled and red-haired--I
don't mean that! They didn't say what color his hair was, but his
father's must have been the reddest ever, for when he found out about
them, and it wasn't anything so terrible, HE JUST CAVED!
“The old man went to see the girl--the pretty one with no money, of
course--and he hurt her feelings until she ran away. She went to London
and began studying music. Soon she grew to be a fine singer, so she
joined a company and came to this country.
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