[Little Novels by Wilkie Collins]@TWC D-Link bookLittle Novels CHAPTER XI 27/249
If this confession seems rather a bold one, remember, if you please, that I had never been taught to conceal my feelings at Saint Domingo, and that the events which followed our arrival in England had kept me completely secluded from the society of other young ladies of my age. The next day, while I was drinking my glass of healing water (extremely nasty water, by the way) the doctor joined us. While he was asking me about my health, the two strangers made their appearance again, and took off their hats again.
They both looked expectantly at the doctor, and the doctor (in performance of a promise which he had already made, as I privately suspected) formally introduced them to my aunt and to me.
First (I put the handsomest man first) Captain Arthur Stanwick, of the army, home from India on leave, and staying at Maplesworth to take the waters; secondly, Mr.Lionel Varleigh, of Boston, in America, visiting England, after traveling all over Europe, and stopping at Maplesworth to keep company with his friend the Captain. On their introduction, the two gentlemen, observing, no doubt, that I was a little shy, forbore delicately from pressing their society on us. Captain Stanwick, with a beautiful smile, and with teeth worthy of the smile, stroked his whiskers, and asked me if I had found any benefit from taking the waters.
He afterward spoke in great praise of the charming scenery in the neighborhood of Maplesworth, and then, turning away, addressed his next words to my aunt.
Mr.Varleigh took his place. Speaking with perfect gravity, and with no whiskers to stroke, he said: "I have once tried the waters here out of curiosity.
<<Back Index Next>> D-Link book Top TWC mobile books
|