The Heart Line: A Drama of San FranciscoBurgess, Gelett
General
The Heart Line: A Drama of San Francisco
Burgess, Gelett
Bohemianism -- Fiction; Fortune-tellers -- Fiction; San Francisco (Calif.) -- Fiction
Fancy grew listless and abstracted. After a while she went to the
closet, examined herself in the glass on the door, adjusted the back of
her belt, fluffed her hair over her ears and reseated herself. Then she
took her book languidly and began to read.
There came a knock on the door.
"Come in," Fancy called out, arousing herself again. The new-comer was
one who, though at least twenty-seven, was still graciously modeled with
the lines of youth. Her head was poised with spirit on her neck, but,
like a flower on its stem, ready to move with her varying moods, from
languor to vivacity. Her hair was a light, tawny grayish-brown, almost
yellow, undulant and fine as gossamer. In the pure oval of her face,
under level, golden brows, her eyes were now questioning, now
peremptory, but usually smoldering with dreams, hiding their color.
Their customary quiescence, however, was contradicted by the
responsiveness of her perfectly drawn mouth—a springing bow, like those
of Du Maurier’s most beautiful women. The upper lip, narrow, scarlet, so
short that it seldom touched the lower, showed, beneath its lively
curve, a row of well-cut teeth. With such charm and delicacy of person
her small, flat ears and her proud, sensitive nostrils fell into lovely
accord. She wore a veil, and was dressed in a concord of cool grays,
modishly accented with black. Her movements were slow and graceful, as
if she had never to hurry.
"I believe I have an appointment with Mr. Granthope for half-past
eleven," she said in a smooth, low, rather monotonous voice.
"Miss Smith?" Fancy asked briskly, but with a more respectful manner
than she had shown Mrs. Page.
The lady blushed an unnecessary pink, and blushed again to find herself
blushing. She admitted the pseudonym with a nod.
"Take a seat, please," Fancy said. "Mr. Granthope will be ready for you
in a few minutes." Then her eyes fluttered over the visitor’s costume,
rested for a second upon her long black gloves, darted to her little,
patent-leather shoes, mounted to her black, picturesque hat, and sought
here and there, but without success, for jewelry.
The lady took a seat in silence. She repaired the mischief the wind had
done to her hair, raising her hand abstractedly, as she looked about the
room. The Chinese masks did not entertain her long, but the head of
Hypnos she appeared to recognize with interest. From that to Fancy, and
from Fancy to the row of casts, her glance went, slowly, deliberately.
Then she took a large bunch of violets from her corsage, and smelled
them thoughtfully.
Fancy began to play with one of her bracelets, clasping and unclasping
it. The lock caught in a bangle-chain, and, frowning, she bent to
unfasten it. In an instant the lady noticed her dilemma, smiled frankly,
and walked over to the desk, drawing off her long glove as she did so.
"Let me do it for you!" she said, and, taking Fancy’s hand, she busied
herself with the clasp.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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