"I asked you," Lilian Rosenberg said, as Kelson resumed his seat, "if
the dream was a warning?"
"No," Kelson said, "I shouldn't take it as such. Despite the rather
peculiar form it took, I am inclined to think it isn't a dream with
any real significance--but merely a chance dream--a dream compounded
of sayings and actions of the past that have come back to you all
higgledy-piggledy, as they so often do in dreams. You learned a lot of
poetry I suppose when you were at school?"
"Yes, but none like this."
"No, I didn't suppose so, but the mere fact that your mind was at one
time used to verses--acquainted with metre and rhythm, would account
for the form adopted by your dream. I assure you it was purely
chance--and that there is no significance in it! You are on the look
out for work, is it not so?"
"I am," Lilian Rosenberg said. "Can you tell me where to go to get
it?"
"I am just thinking," Kelson replied, "I believe my partner, Mr.
Hamar, wants a secretary. I can't, of course, say whether you would
suit him. Do you type?"
"I can type and do shorthand," Lilian Rosenberg replied eagerly, "and
I can correspond in German and French."
"And the salary? Would two hundred a year do?"
"Yes," after a slight pause, "I could make it do. I should want one
half-day holiday--from one o'clock--every week; and Sundays--and three
weeks' holiday in the summer, and one at Christmas, and of course, the
usual Bank Holidays."
"I see!" Kelson said thoughtfully; "you want plenty of time for
amusement. Well! I will speak about it to Mr. Hamar, and if you leave
me your address I will give it him. How nicely you keep your hands."
"I manicure them every day," Lilian Rosenberg said; then looking up at
him from under the long lashes which swept her cheeks, she added, "You
won't forget to tell Mr. Hamar about me, will you? I am very anxious
to get a post. You don't know what it is to be hard up, do you?"
The earnest, pleading expression in her long, dark eyes appealed to
Kelson as nothing else had ever appealed to him. Since his arrival in
London, he had seen many pretty faces, many beautiful eyes, but
assuredly none so lovely as these. And what features! what teeth! what
lips! what a chin! what a figure! It seemed to him that she was not
like an ordinary girl, that she was not of the same composition as any
of the girls he had ever met; that she was something hardly
human--something elfish, something generated by the beautiful English
woods and glades, filled with the soft glamour of the moon and stars.
And all the while he was thinking thus, his heart rising in rebellion
against the words of Hamar, the girl continued gazing up at him, and
toying with the rings on her slender, milk-white fingers.
At last he dare look at her no longer, but stammering out his promise
to do all he could to get her the vacant post, he pressed her hand
gently, and bade her good 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