Charles Street ran by it on the west, and so past Saint Mary's Church
directly to the Common. Helen looked first from the west window of her
room on Charles Street and saw bare boughs of maple-trees shining in the
cold moonlight, and across the way a long row of glimmering vestibules
and curtains; then from the south window, and saw a house with a large,
glowing window beyond a vacant space of lawn, over it the apse at the
rear of a church, with two small steeples, and farther on and up the big
steeple and gilded cross glittering in the mist of the moon. A lady
walked past and past the glowing window. The room within looked warm,
mellow, peaceful, but she seemed restless. Once she stopped and even
seemed to gaze up at Helen, but her face was in shadow. Helen thought
she was tall and had thick hair.
Some one was playing the organ in Saint Mary's, a sombre mutter and deep
breathing underneath, wild voices calling and crying above. More voices
gathered; they struggled, strained, shrieked reproach, and wailed for
pity, till one by one they were hushed and only the measured breathing
went on.
In the morning Thaddeus said: "You've done very well. I've heard that
the two things most worth while in Hamilton now are to see Mrs. Mavering
and hear Gard Windham's playing. Personally--" Thaddeus poised his
coffee-cup, "as regards Mrs. Mavering, I believe that to be correct. As
regards the other, it has sometimes seemed to me that it was not
exactly--a--civilized; that, in point of fact, it appeared to be at
times--it might be said to be at times--a kind of description of society
among the fallen angels--an objectionable subject for comment so public,
I should say, distinctly. It appears, I might say, to lack
restraint--a--good taste. I seem to see a person in impossible garments
dancing on the roof of Saint Mary's with great impatience, and stating
his distress in strong language. Personally, therefore, I wish Gard
Windham would keep his spectres out of my back yard, and--my dear Helen!
I beg of you, don't look at me in such a--a--vast manner. Mr. Windham is
considered a remarkable musician."
"I saw him too, Uncle Tad."
"On my word! Where?"
"On the roof. He was acting that way you said."
"Well, bless my soul!"
Thaddeus walked down-town thoughtfully. "She'll run off after one of
Gard Windham's ghosts the next thing. No more than likely. She has an
imagination that's as honest as the bank and the finest pair of eyes,
my word, in Hamilton."
In the afternoon Morgan came with his trotting stallion, Consul, and
drove her by Philip's Road to the fair grounds to show his paces on the
track. The day was cold, dry, blue, and still, but on the track the
speed made a rush of air against her face. The fair grounds were empty,
the track with a patch of snow here and there, the stands staring from
thousands of empty seats.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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