as breathing heavily, and sometimes gaping like a
carp out of water.
I could not detach my eyes from his face, which, without eyes to relieve
it, seemed to be almost repulsive now. It would be difficult to describe
my sensations. I felt dreadfully humiliated. Even my personal pride was
wounded. I remembered what Father Dan had said about husband and wife
being one flesh, and told myself that _this_ was what I belonged to,
what belonged to me--_this!_ Then I tried to reproach and reprove
myself, but in order to do so I had to turn my eyes away.
Our road to Blackwater lay over the ridge of a hill much exposed to the
wind from the south-west. When we reached this point the clouds seemed
to roll up from the sea like tempestuous battalions. Torrential rain
fell on the car and came dripping in from the juncture of the
landaulette roof. Some of it fell on the sleeper and he awoke with a
start.
"Damn--"
He stopped, as if, caught in guilt, and began to apologise again.
"Was I asleep? I really think I must have been. Stupid, isn't it? Excuse
me."
He blinked his eyes as if to empty them of sleep, looked me over for a
moment or two in silence, and then said with a smile which made me
shudder:
"So you and I are man and wife, my dear!"
I made no answer, and, still looking fixedly at me, he said:
"Well, worse things might have happened after all--what do _you_ think?"
Still I did not answer him, feeling a certain shame, not to say disgust.
Then he began to pay me some compliments on my appearance.
"Do you know you're charming, my dear, really charming!"
That stung me, and made me shudder, I don't know why, unless it was
because the words gave me the sense of having been used before to other
women. I turned my eyes away again.
"Don't turn away, dear. Let me see those big black eyes of yours. I
adore black eyes. They always pierce me like a gimlet."
He reached forward as he spoke and drew me to him. I felt frightened and
pushed him off.
"What's this?" he said, as if
Notka biograficzna
Sir Thomas Henry Hall Caine CH, KBE (May 14, 1853August 31, 1931), usually known as Hall Caine, was a British author. He is best known as a novelist and playwright of the late Victorian and the Edwardian eras. In his time he was exceedingly popular and at the peak of his success his novels outsold those of his contemporaries. Many of his novels were also made into films. His novels were primarily romantic in nature, involving the love triangle, but they did also address some of the more serious political and social issues of the day.
Harold MacGrath (September 4, 1871 - October 30, 1932) was a bestselling American novelist, short story writer, and screenwriter. Also known occasionally as Harold McGrath, he was born in Syracuse, New York. As a young man, he worked as a reporter and columnist on the Syracuse Herald newspaper until the late 1890s when he published his first novel, a romance titled Arms and the Woman. According to the New York Times, his next book, The Puppet Crown, was the No.7 bestselling book in the United States for all of 1901. From that point on, MacGrath never looked back, writing novels for the mass market about love, adventure, mystery, spies, and the like at an average rate of more than one a year. He would have three more of his books that were among the top ten bestselling books of the year. At the same time, he penned a number of short stories for major American magazines such as The Saturday Evening Post, Ladies Home Journal, and Red Book magazine. Several of MacGraths novels were seriali
Mabel Collins (9 September 1851 - 31 March 1927) was a theosophist and author of over 46 books. She was born in St Peter Port, Guernsey.