"Red" loved the odors from this fragrant kitchen. The stove always
gleamed, and when Mrs. Quinn was in good humor she was like a great light
moving here and there, dispensing warmth also. She was a monstrous woman;
but like many large people, she got about easily and swiftly. Her capable
hands were forever fluttering in the flour-barrel or over the dough-board,
and her ruddy cheeks and honest gray eyes spoke of health and good nature.
She adored Angela; and she really liked "Red" tremendously, and hoped in
the end he would win the difficult and fickle girl. But, like Angela, she
had moment when she could have shaken him. For "Red" didn't fight hard
enough for what he wanted. He was naive to the point of stupidity at times;
and women like aggressive men--even men who are capable of flogging them
into submission, deny it as they will. "Red" was gentle and mild, though
thoroughly manly. Both Angela and Mrs. Quinn would have liked to see him
live up to his fiery hair.
He beamed now at the genial cook's greeting, and took out his harmonica,
running over the full scale as a suitable answer.
"Here, sit ye down, 'Red,'" Mrs. Quinn ordered. "But first see that yer
feet is wiped off. I don't want to see no dirt along me clean floor."
She was busy with a place for him near the window, happy, as most women
are, to serve a handsome young chap, and secretly wishing in her heart that
she had him for a son.
The coffee was miraculously brought, and soon the griddle-cakes, gloriously
brown, and deftly turned by Mrs. Quinn, were in front of him.
"Gee! you make a feller happy, Mrs. Quinn!" said the appreciative "Red,"
sitting down, and getting busy, "Won't you come to Bisbee with Angela an'
me the next time we go to the movies?"
She gave him a half-scornful look. "An' what would yez want with an old
woman like meself taggin' along with yez now?" Mrs. Quinn exclaimed, her
arms akimbo. "Ain't ye happy enough with yer Angela, an' no fat funeral
like me occupyin' too much room in the Ford? Go along, me lad, an' have a
good time with yer colleen! She'd like it better alone with ye, too--be
sure o' that!"
"Of course I would!"
They hadn't seen Angela come in. She stood in the doorway like a vision--a
morning-glory from which the freshness of the early hours never seemed to
depart.
"Oh!" poor "Red" gasped, and leaped to his feet. "Would you, Angela?" He
looked at her, drank her beauty in, as though she were the only creature on
this earth.
"Certainly!" said Angela, coming over to him. "You're a boob, 'Red,' and if
you don't look out, there's a fellow over at Bisbee who--"
"Oh!" the anguished "Red" managed to get out. "_Is_ there, Angy?"
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