Manchurian Books

After that I know I sought to see her, felt a distinctive emotion at
her presence, began to imagine things about her. I no longer thought
of generalised womanhood or of this casual person or that. I thought of
her.
An accident brought us together. I found myself one Monday morning in an
omnibus staggering westward from Victoria--I was returning from a Sunday
I'd spent at Wimblehurst in response to a unique freak of hospitality
on the part of Mr. Mantell. She was the sole other inside passenger.
And when the time came to pay her fare, she became an extremely scared,
disconcerted and fumbling young woman; she had left her purse at home.
Luckily I had some money.
She looked at me with startled, troubled brown eyes; she permitted my
proffered payment to the conductor with a certain ungraciousness that
seemed a part of her shyness, and then as she rose to go, she thanked me
with an obvious affectation of ease.
"Thank you so much," she said in a pleasant soft voice; and then less
gracefully, "Awfully kind of you, you know."
I fancy I made polite noises.


Pages:
179 180 181 182 183 184 185 186 187 188 189 190 191 192 193 194 195 196 197 198 199 200 201 202 203