“Oh but you are extravagant!” imitated the Girl. “Please, please, Man,
don't! Can't you see I have so much now I don't know what to do with it?
Sometimes I almost forget the ache, just lying and looking at all the
wonderful riches that have come to me so suddenly. I can't believe they
won't vanish as they came. By the hour in the night I look at my lovely
room, and I just fight my eyes to keep them from closing for fear
they'll open in that stifling garret to the heat of day and work I have
not strength to do. I know yet all this will prove to be a dream and a
wilder one than yours.”
The face of the Harvester was very anxious.
“Please to remember my dream came true,” he said, “and much sooner than
I had the least hope that it would. I'm wide awake or I couldn't be
building bridges; and you are real, if I know flesh and blood when I
touch it.”
“If I were well, strong, and attractive, I could understand,” she said.
“Then I could work in the house, at the drawings, help with the herbs,
and I'd feel as if I had some right to be here.”
“All that is coming,” said the Harvester. “Take a little more time. You
can't expect to sin steadily against the laws of health for years,
and recover in a day. You will be all right much sooner than you think
possible.”
“Oh I hope so!” said the Girl. “But sometimes I doubt it. How I could
come here and put such a burden on a stranger, I can't see. I scarcely
can remember what awful stress drove me. I had no courage. I should have
finished in my garret as my mother did. I must have some of my father's
coward blood in me. She never would have come. I never should!”
“If it didn't make any real difference to you, and meant all the world
to me, I don't see why you shouldn't humour me. I can't begin to tell
you how happy I am to have you here. I could shout and sing all day.”
“It requires very little to make some people happy.”
“You are not much, but you are going to be more soon,” laughed the
Harvester, as he gently picked up the Girl and carried her to the swing,
where he covered her, kissed her hot hand, and whistled for Belshazzar.
He pulled the table close and set a pitcher of iced fruit juice on it.
Then he left her and she could hear the rattle of wheels as he crossed
the bridge and drove away.
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