John Storm felt humiliated and ashamed. The hairdressers' assistants
were grinning at him. He went out, feeling that Glory was farther than
ever from him now, and if he met her they might not speak. But he could
not drag himself away. In the darkness under a lamp at the other side of
the street he stood and waited. Shoddy broughams drove up, with drivers
in shabby livery, bringing “turns” in wonderful hats and overcoats, over
impossible wigs, whiskers, and noses--niggers, acrobats, clowns, and
comic singers, who stepped out, shook the straw of their carriage
carpets off their legs, and passed in at the stage entrance.
At length the commissionaire appeared at the door and whistled, and a
hansom cab rattled up to the end of the court. Then a lady muffled in
a cape, with the hood drawn over her head, and carrying a bouquet of
roses, came out leaning on the arm of a gentleman. She stood a moment by
his side and spoke to him and laughed. John heard her laughter. At the
next moment she had stepped into the hansom, the door had fallen to,
the driver had turned, the gentleman had raised his hat, the light had
fallen on the lady's face, and she was leaning forward and smiling. John
saw her smiles.
At the next moment the hansom had passed into the illuminated
thoroughfares and the group of people had dispersed. John Storm was
alone under the lamp in the little dark street, and somewhere in
the dark alleys behind him the organ man was still grinding out
“Ta-ra-ra-boom-de-ay.”
“Weel, what luck on your first night out?” said Mrs. Callender at
breakfast in the morning. “Found any of the poor lost things yet?”
“One,” said John, with a rueful face. “Lost enough, though she doesn't
know it yet, God help her!”
“They never do at first, laddie. Write to her friends, if she has any.”
“Her friends?”
“Nothing like home influences, ye ken.”
“I will--I must! It's all I can do now.”
III.
“The Priory, Friday Morning.
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