Edwarda sat with her face turned away and let me talk as much as I
pleased. She listened to what the others said, putting in a word herself
now and again. The Doctor told the young ladies' fortunes by their
hands, and talked a lot; he himself had small, delicate hands, with a
ring on one finger. I felt myself unwanted, and sat down by myself
awhile on a stone. It was getting late in the afternoon. Here I am, I
said to myself, sitting all alone on a stone, and the only creature that
could make me move, she lets me sit. Well, then, I care no more than
she.
A great feeling of forsakenness came over me. I could hear them talking
behind me, and I heard how Edwarda laughed; and at that I got up
suddenly and went over to the party. My excitement ran away with me.
“Just a moment,” I said. “It occurred to me while I was sitting there
that perhaps you might like to see my fly-book.” And I took it out. “I
am sorry I did not think of it before. Just look through it, if you
please; I should be only too delighted. You must all see it; there are
both red and yellow flies in it.” And I held my cap in my hand as I
spoke. I was myself aware that I had taken off my cap, and I knew that
this was wrong, so I put it on again at once.
There was deep silence for a moment, and no one offered to take the
book. At last the Doctor reached out his hand for it and said politely:
“Thanks very much; let us look at the things. It's always been a marvel
to me how those flies were put together.”
“I make them myself,” I said, full of gratitude. And I went on at once
to explain how it was done. It was simple enough: I bought the feathers
and the hooks. They were not well made, but they were only for my own
use. One could get ready-made flies in the shops, and they were
beautiful things.
Edwarda cast one careless glance at me and my book, and went on talking
with her girl friends.
“Ah, here are some of the feathers,” said the Doctor. “Look, these are
really fine.”
Edwarda looked up.
“The green ones are pretty,” she said; “let me look, Doctor.”
“Keep them,” I cried. “Yes, do, I beg you, now. Two green feathers. Do,
as a kindness, let them be a keepsake.”
She looked at them and said:
“They are green and gold, as you turn them in the sun. Thank you, if you
will give me them.”
“I should be glad to,” I said.
And she took the feathers.
A little later the Doctor handed me the book and thanked me. Then he got
up and asked if it were not nearly time to be getting back.
I said: “Yes, for Heaven's sake. I have a dog tied up at home; look you,
I have a dog, and he is my friend; he lies there thinking of me, and
when I come home he stands with his forepaws at the window to greet me.
It has been a lovely day, and now it is nearly over; let us go back. I
am grateful to you all.”
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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