Conduct of life -- Fiction; Man-woman relationships -- Fiction; Physicians -- Fiction
Whenever she came to the theatre, which was four or five times a week,
they, naturally, returned together, and she enjoyed the stroll in the
fresh air, "after the show," with Tony. Three years' familiarity with
the custom had not destroyed its charm to her. To-night she went out
into the Leicester streets a shade disconsolately. The gas was already
lighted when she reached the house, and a fire--for the month was
March--burnt clearly in the grate. The accommodation was not extensive:
a small ground-floor parlour, and a bedroom at the back. On the parlour
mantelpiece were some faded photographs of people who had stayed there
--Mr. Delancey as the Silver King; Miss Ida Ryan, smoking a cigarette,
as Sam Willoughby. She took off her coat, and, turning her back on the
supper-table, wondered what the conference with Miss Westland was about.
The tedium of the delay began to tell upon her. The landlady had
brought in her book of testimonials during the afternoon, to ask Mr.
and Mrs. Carew for theirs; and fetching it from where it lay, she began
listlessly to turn the leaves. These books were abominated by Carew,
for he never knew what to write; and, perusing the comments in this
one, she mentally agreed with him that it was not easy to find a medium
between curtness and exaggeration. Some she recognised, knowing before
she looked what signatures were appended. The "Stay but a little, I
will come again" quotation she had seen above the same name in a score
of lodgings, and there were two or three "impromptus" in rhyme that she
had met before.
She had been very happy this time at Leicester. They had arrived on
the anniversary of her and Tony's first meeting, and she had felt
additionally tender towards him all the week. The landlady had not
effected the happiness certainly, but her lodger was quite willing to
give her some of the benefit of it. She dipped the pen in the ink,
and wrote in a bold, upright hand, "The week spent in Mrs. Liddy's
apartments will always be a pleasant remembrance to Mr. and Mrs. Seaton
Carew." Then she put the date underneath.
She had just finished when Mrs. Liddy entered with the beer. The
Irishwoman said that she was going to bed, but that Mrs. Carew would
find more glasses in the cupboard when her friends came. She supposed
that that was all?
It was now twelve o'clock, and Mrs. Carew, with an occasional glance
at the cold beef and the corner of rice pudding, began to walk about
the room. Presently she stopped and listened. A whistle had reached her
from outside--the whistle of eight notes that is the actor's call. She
surmised that young Dolliver had forgotten their number, as he did in
every town. She drew aside the blind and let the light shine out. Young
Dolliver it was.
"I've been whistling all up and down the road," he said, aggrieved;
"what were you doing?"
"Well, that isn't bad," she laughed. "Why don't you remember addresses
like anybody else?"
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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