Vignettes of Manhattan; Outlines in Local ColorMatthews, Brander
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Vignettes of Manhattan; Outlines in Local Color
Matthews, Brander
Manhattan (New York, N.Y.) -- Fiction; Short stories, American
Then she sank back on the cushions of the carriage, for Mrs.
Winston-Smith was about to leave the store.
Harry Grant had caught sight of the old lady in time. He stepped away
from the carriage, and, passing behind it, crossed to the other side of
the street without giving Winifred's grandmother a chance to recognize
him.
He waited on the opposite corner until Mrs. Winston-Smith took her place
in the coupe beside her granddaughter, and until the carriage was turned
and had started towards Fifth Avenue.
Then he crossed the broad space nearly to the edge of the park and
jumped on the first car that came rushing around the curve. The platform
was crowded, but he took no heed of the men who were pressed against
him.
His thoughts were elsewhere and his heart was full of hope; it was
attuned to the gladness of the spring-time. He did not see the young men
and maidens who flocked thickly up Broadway; he saw Winifred only; he
saw her face, her eyes, her smile of welcome. He was to see her again,
at once almost, and he could tell her then how he loved her, and he
could ask her if she would not try to love him. What if the only chance
he should have was in the street itself? Only the proposal itself was of
importance, the place mattered nothing. Perhaps the unconventionality of
the proceeding even added zest to it. There was unconventionality in the
frankness with which she had made the appointment. It was this frankness
partly which made his heart leap with hope, and partly it was the
welcome he thought he had read in her eyes when their glances met first.
The car sped on its way, stopping at almost every corner to take on and
to let off men and women, who brushed against Harry Grant and whom he
did not see, so absorbed was he in going over every word of his brief
dialogue with the girl he loved. On the sidewalks were thick throngs of
brightly dressed women looking into the windows of the shops, where were
displayed brilliant parasols and trim yachting costumes and summer
stuffs in lightsome colors.
As the car crossed Fifth Avenue he saw the carriage of Mrs.
Winston-Smith only a block away. He recognized the coachman upright on
the box, and then all at once he wondered what the coachman must have
thought of his talk through the open window, and of his abrupt
appearance. He smiled--indeed he laughed gently--for what did he care
what the coachman might think, or anybody else? It was what she thought
which was of importance, and nothing else mattered at all. And again he
was seized with impatience to see her once and to tell her that he loved
her, and to get her answer. The car was going swiftly, but it seemed to
him to crawl. The coachman on the avenue was driving briskly, but Harry
Grant was ready to rebuke the man for his sluggishness.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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