Elder Conklin by Frank Harris (rom com books to read TXT) đ
- Author: Frank Harris
- Performer: -
Book online «Elder Conklin by Frank Harris (rom com books to read TXT) đ». Author Frank Harris
âI only called you out to give you a chance of kissinâ Loo Conklin.â
He thought it wiser not to reply to this, and contented himself with thanking her as they entered the room. He paused before Miss Conklin, and gave her âbumpkin,â adding, by way of explanation, âa rude country fellow.â She spelt it cheerfully, without the âp.â When the mistake was made plain to her, which took some little time, she accepted his arm, and went with him into the passage. He kissed her more than once, murmuring, âAt last, Miss Loo!â She replied seriously:
âSee here! Youâre goinâ to get into a fuss with Seth Stevens if you call me out often. And heâs the strongest of them all. You ainât afraid? O.K. then. I guess weâll pay him out for lyinâ.â
On returning to the room, Bancroft became conscious of a thinly veiled antagonism on the part of the young men. But he had hardly time to notice it, when Miss Loo came in and said to him demurely, âLoo.â He spelt âYou.â Much laughter from the girls greeted the simple pleasantry.
So the game, punctuated by kisses, went on, until Miss Loo came in for the fourth time, and stopped again before Bancroft, whereupon Seth Stevens pushed through the crowd of young men, and said:
âMiss Loo Conklin! You know the rule is to change after three times.â
At once she moved in front of the stout youth, Richards, who had come forward to support his friend, and said âliar!â flashing at the same time an angry glance at Stevens. âLire,â spelt Richards painfully, and the pair withdrew.
Bancroft went over to the menâs corner; the critical moment had come; he measured his rival with a glance. Stevens was tall, fully six feet in height, and though rather lank, had the bow legs and round shoulders which often go with strength.
As he took up his new position, Stevens remarked to a companion, in a contemptuous drawl:
âSchoolmasters kin talk anâ teach, but kin they fight?â
Bancroft took it upon himself to answer, âSometimes.â
âKin you?â asked Stevens sharply, turning to him.
âWell enough.â
âWe kin try that tomorrow. Iâll be in the lot behind Richardsâ mill at four oâclock.â
âIâll be there,â replied the schoolmaster, making his way again towards the group of girls.
Nothing further happened until the old folk came in, and the party broke up. Driving homewards with Miss Conklin, Bancroft began:
âHow can I thank you enough for being so kind to me? You called me out often, almost as often as I called you.â
âI did that to rile Seth Stevens.â
âAnd not at all to please me?â
âPerhaps a little,â she said, and silence fell upon them.
His caution led him to restrain himself. He was disturbed by vague doubts, and felt the importance of a decisive word. Presently Miss Conklin spoke, in a lower voice than usual, but with an accent of coquettish triumph in the question:
âSo you like me after all? Like me really?â
âDo you doubt it?â His accent was reproachful. âBut why do you say âafter allâ?â
âYou never kissed me cominâ back from church last Sunday, and I showed you the school and everythinâ!â
âMight I have kissed you then? I was afraid of offending you.â
âOffendinâ me? Well, I guess not! Every girl expects to be kissed when she goes out with a man.â
âLetâs make up for it now, Loo. May I call you Loo?â While speaking he slipped his arm round her waist, and kissed her again and again.
âThatâs my name. But there! I guess youâve made up enough already.â And Miss Conklin disengaged herself. On reaching the house, however, she offered her lips before getting out of the buggy.
When alone in his bedroom, Bancroft sat and thought. The events of the evening had been annoying. Miss Looâs conduct had displeased him; he did not like familiarity. He would not acknowledge to himself that he was jealous. The persistent way Stevens had tried to puzzle her had disgusted himâthat was all. It was sufficiently plain that in the past she had encouraged Stevens. Her freedom and boldness grated upon his nerves. He condemned her with a sense of outraged delicacy. Girls ought not to make advances; she had no business to ask him whether he liked her; she should have waited for him to speak plainly. He only required what was right. Yet the consciousness that she loved him flattered his vanity and made him more tolerant; he resolved to follow her lead or to improve upon it. Why shouldnât he? She had said âevery girl expects to be kissed.â And if she wanted to be kissed, it was the least he could do to humour her.
All the while, at the bottom of his heart there was bitterness. He would have given much to believe that an exquisite soul animated that lovely face. Perhaps she was better than she seemed. He tried to smother his distrust of her, till it was rendered more acute by another reflectionâ she had got him into the quarrel with Seth Stevens. He did not trouble much about it. He was confident enough of his strength and the advantages of his boyish training in the gymnasium to regard the trial with equanimity. Still, the girls he had known in the East would never have set two men to fight, neverâit was not womanly. Good girls were by nature peacemakers. There must be something in Loo, he argued, almostâ vulgar, and he shrank from the word. To lessen the sting of his disappointment, he pictured her to himself and strove to forget her faults.
On the following morning he went to his school very early. The girls were not as obtrusive as they had been. Miss Jessie Stevens did not bother him by coming up every five minutes to see what he thought of her dictation, as she had been wont to do. He was rather glad of this; it saved him importunate glances and words, and the propinquity of girlish forms, which had been more trying still. But what was the cause of the change? It was evident that the girls regarded him as belonging to Miss Conklin. He disliked the assumption; his caution took alarm; he would be more careful in future. The forenoon melted into afternoon quietly, though there were traces on Jake Conklinâs bench of unusual agitation and excitement. To these signs the schoolmaster paid small heed at the moment. He was absorbed in thinking of the evening before, and in trying to appraise each of Looâs words and looks. At last the time came for breaking up. When he went outside to get into the buggyâhe had brought Jack with himâhe noticed, without paying much attention to it, that Jake Conklin was not there to unhitch the strap and in various other ways to give proof of a desire to ride with him. He set off for Richardsâ mill, whither, needless to say, Jake and half-a-dozen other urchins had preceded him as fast as their legs could carry them.
As soon as he was by himself the schoolmaster recognized that the affair was known to his scholars, and the knowledge nettled him. His anger fastened upon Loo. It was all her fault; her determination to âpay Stevens outâ had occasioned the quarrel. Well, he would fight and win, and then have done with the girl whose lips had doubtless been given to Stevens as often and as readily as to himself. The thought put him in a rage, while the idea of meeting Stevens on an equality humiliated himâ strife with such a boor was in itself a degradation. And Loo had brought it about. He could never forgive her. The whole affair was disgraceful, and her words, âEvery girl expects to be kissed when she goes out with a man,â were vulgar and coarse! With which conclusion in his mind he turned to the right round the section-line, and saw the mill before him.
*
After the return from the house-warming, and the understanding, as she considered it, with Bancroft, Miss Loo gave herself up to her new-born happiness. As she lay in bed her first thought was of her lover: he was âsplendid,â whereby she meant pleasant and attractive. She wondered remorsefully how she had taken him to be quite âhomely-lookingâ when she first saw him. Why, he was altogether above any one she knewânot perhaps jest in looks, but in knowledge and in mannersâhe didnât stand in the corner of the room like the rest and stare till all the girls became uncomfortable. What did looks matter after all? Besides, he wasnât homely, he was handsome; so he was. His eyes were lovelyâshe had always liked dark eyes bestâand his moustache was dark, too, and she liked that. To be sure it wasnât very long yet, or thick, but it would grow; and here she sighed with content. Most girls in her place would be sorry he wasnât taller, but she didnât care for very tall men; they sorter looked down on you. Anyway, he was strongâa pang of fear shot suddenly through herâhe might be hurt by that brute Seth Stevens on the morrow. Oh, no. That was impossible. He was brave, she felt sure, very brave. Still she wished they werenât going to fight; it made her uneasy to think that she had provoked the conflict. But it couldnât be helped now; she couldnât interfere. Besides, men were always fightinâ about somethinâ or other.
Mr. Crew, the Minister, had said right off that heâd make his mark in the world; all the girls thought so too, and that was real good. Sheâd have hated a stupid, ordinary man. Fancy being married to Seth Stevens, and she shuddered; yet he was a sight better than any of the others; he had even seemed handsome to her once. Ugh! Then Bancroftâs face came before her again, and remembering his kisses she flushed and grew hot from head to foot. They would be married soonâright off. As George hadnât the money, her father must give what he could and theyâd go East. Her father wouldnât refuse, though heâd feel bad pârâaps; he never refused her anythinâ. If fifteen hundred dollars would be enough for George alone, three thousand would do for both of them. Once admitted as a lawyer, he would get a large practice: he was so clever and hard-working. She was real glad that sheâd be the means of giving him the opportunity he wanted to win riches and position. But he must begin in New York. She would help him on, and sheâd see New York and all the shops and elegant folk, and have silk dresses. Theyâd live in a hotel and get richer and richer, and sheâd drive about withâhere she grew hot again. The vision, however, was too entrancing to be shut out; she saw herself distinctly driving in an open carriage, with a negro nurse holding the baby all in laces in front, âjest too cute for anythinâ,â and George beside her, and every one in Fifth Avenue starinâ.
Sleep soon brought confusion into her picture of a happy future; but when she awoke, the glad confidence of the previous night had given place to self-reproach and fear. During the breakfast she scarcely spoke or lifted her eyes. Her silent preoccupation was misunderstood by Bancroft; he took it to mean that she didnât care what happened to him; she was
Comments (0)