The Girl in His House. Harold MacGrath

Чтение книги онлайн.

СКАЧАТЬ to come back again. How much does rumor say I got for it?" He dared not look at them.

      "Eighty thousand."

      "That's a tidy sum. I say, what sort of people are they?"

      "We've met only the daughter," said Betty, "And, Jimmie Armitage, she's the loveliest creature I ever saw. Odd, unusual; in all my life I've never met any ​woman quite like her. She has the queerest ideas. The whole world is nothing except a fairy-story to her. I loved her the moment I saw her. Have you ever run across or heard of Hubert Athelstone, explorer and archeologist?"

      "Athelstone? No. But that doesn't signify anything. Those chaps are a queer breed. They are known only among themselves. I've run into a few of them. They eat hieroglyphics, walk in a maze of them, sleep on them, and die under them. Almost always they are unattached, homeless beggars, or, if they have families, they forget all about them. No; I don't recollect the name. Odd one, though."

      "We haven't met him yet. I believe he's somewhere in Yucatan. She hasn't seen him in ages. I never heard of a daughter worshiping a father the way this girl does. It makes me feel little and small when she begins to talk about him. My general impression regarding archeologists hasn't been complimentary. I've always pictured them as withered, dried-up things with huge glasses. But Mr. Athelstone is one of the handsomest men I've ever seen. She has ​shown me his photograph. It must have been taken before she was born, when he was somewhere in the late twenties. Anyhow, no novelist ever conjured a hero to match up with her father, from her point of view."

      "Betty and I are crazy over her," said Burlingham.

      "Indeed we are. About twice a year she hears from her father, and the letters are beautiful. The man must be a poet. We are eager to meet him. She was educated in a convent out of Florence in Italy, and she is more Italian in temperament than English. At eighteen she was ordered by her father to leave. An accomplished woman companion was given her, and together they spent about four years wandering over the ends of the earth. She came back to America in April, after her father had made the purchase of your house. Think of it! She's seen the Himalayas from Darjeeling! Motherless from childhood. Isn't it romantic? We see each other nearly every day. I can't keep away from her. Suppose I have her over to tea to-morrow? She's been asking lots of questions about you."

      ​"I'll be delighted to see her."

      "And remember what I said about googoo eyes." Burlingham laughed.

      Armitage got up. He knew enough for his present needs; the picture puzzle was fairly complete, and such blocks as were missing were easily to be supplied by imagination. He leaned against the mantel and idly kicked an andiron—a Florentine wine-muller. "Yucatan. And nobody knows when he'll be back?"

      "She hints of the possibility of his return during the holidays."

      Have they changed the interior any?"

      Only enough to show that a woman instead of a bachelor lives there now. She's very much in love with everything. She had very little to bring into it. Do you know, Jim, you've changed?" concluded Betty, appraisingly.

      "Older?" quizzically.

      "No. There are lines in your face I never saw before. You are positively handsome."

      "Piffle! Fat's been burnt out, that's all."

      "No, that isn't it. You look—well, I can't just explain it."

      ​"I can," said her husband, owlishly. "Jim's been living on hard ground instead of sofa pillows. And now, old scout, suppose we take up the original subject, Durston's grille."

      "First, I'm going to bind you two to absolute secrecy. I'm not joking, folks; something mighty serious has happened to me, and I'm in dead earnest. Promise?"

      "We promise," said Burlingham, mystified.

      "The pipes of Fortune!" Armitage rumpled his hair. "Did you ever hear them? When she blows, we dance. And goodness knows, I've just begun the queerest dance a man ever shook a leg to. I've been actually dumped into the middle of one of those Arabian Nights things. I did not sell the old home, furnished or unfurnished, to anybody in this world!"

      Конец ознакомительного фрагмента.

      Текст предоставлен ООО «ЛитРес».

      Прочитайте эту книгу целиком, купив полную легальную версию на ЛитРес.

      Безопасно оплатить книгу можно банковской картой Visa, MasterCard, Maestro, со счета мобильного телефона, с платежного терминала, в салоне МТС или Связной, через PayPal, WebMoney, Яндекс.Деньги, QIWI Кошелек, бонусными картами или другим удобным Вам способом.

/9j/4AAQSkZJRgABAgAAAQABAAD/2wBDAAgGBgcGBQgHBwcJCQgKDBQNDAsLDBkSEw8UHRofHh0a HBwgJC4nICIsIxwcKDcpLDAxNDQ0Hyc5PTgyPC4zNDL/2wBDAQkJCQwLDBgNDRgyIRwhMjIyMjIy MjIyMjIyMjIyMjIyMjIyMjIyMjIyMjIyMjIyMjIyMjIyMjIyMjIyMjIyMjL/wAARCBLAC7gDASIA AhEBAxEB/8QAHwAAAQUBAQEBAQEAAAAAAAAAAAECAwQFBgcICQoL/8QAtRAAAgEDAwIEAwUFBAQA AAF9AQIDAAQRBRIhMUEGE1FhByJxFDKBkaEII0KxwRVS0fAkM2JyggkKFhcYGRolJicoKSo0NTY3

СКАЧАТЬ