Husband and wife -- Fiction; Man-woman relationships -- Fiction
"I put ’em out to give Lydia a home feeling as soon as she arrived.
That’s her father, Byron Blair," she continued, handing me the picture
of an extremely good-looking, weak-faced man of the Dundreary type, "and
that’s her mother, Tillie Lightwood, as she was when she and I starred
in ’The Wages of Sin.’" I examined the charming head, with profile
overweighted by a chignon, while Miss Flowerdew continued her
reminiscences. "I played Lady Somberly to Tillie’s Lottie Gwynne for
nearly three years on end, first here, on Broadway, and then on the
road. Don’t do you any good, playing the same part so long. Easy work
and money, but you get the mannerisms fixed on you. I was a good
utility woman up to that time; but when I came back to Broadway I was
Lady Somberly. I never could get rid of her, and so ... I’ll show you
some of my notices and photographs—no, not to-day; but when you come
round to see your friend—that is"—she looked inquiringly—"that is, if
you don’t mean to use the other bed."
This being the hint I needed, I took it. With the briefest of farewells
I was out on the pavement with my bags in my hands, walking eastward
without a goal.
Once more I had to stifle my concern as to Drinkwater. I saw him, when
Miss Flowerdew would have gone down-stairs, sitting alone in his
darkness, with nothing to do. His trunk, the unpacking of which would
give him some occupation, would not arrive until evening; and in the
mean time he would have no one but himself for company. He couldn’t go
out; it would be all he could do to feel his way to the bathroom and
back, though even that small excursion would be a break in his
monotony....
But I took these thoughts and choked them. It was preposterous that I
should hold myself responsible for the comfort of a boy met by chance on
a steamer. Had I taken him in charge from affection or philanthropy it
would have been all very well; but I had no philanthropic promptings,
and, while I liked him, I was far from taking this wavering sympathy as
affection. I was sorry for him, of course; but others must take care of
him. I should have all I could do in taking care of myself.
So I wandered on, hardly noticing at first the way I took, and then
consciously looking for a hotel. As to that, I had definitely made up
my mind not to go to any of those better known, though the names of
several remained in my memory, till I had properly clothed myself.
Though in a measure I had grown used to my appearance, I caught the
occasional turning of a head to look at me, and once the eyebrows of a
passer-by went up in amused surprise.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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