A little fog rose up, and the twilight gathered around. Then they flared abroad their torches in the fair, insulting the night. The girl still sat in the Poultry, and her weary geese unsold on the stones, illuminated by the hissing lamp of a man who sold rabbits and pigeons and such-like assorted livestock.
Ⅱ
In another part of the town, near Sneinton Church, another girl came to the door to look at the night. She was tall and slender, dressed with the severe accuracy which marks the girl of superior culture. Her hair was arranged with simplicity about the long, pale, cleanly cut face. She leaned forward very slightly to glance down the street, listening. She very carefully preserved the appearance of having come quite casually to the door, yet she lingered and lingered and stood very still to listen when she heard a footstep, but when it proved to be only a common man, she drew herself up proudly and looked with a small smile over his head. He hesitated to glance into the open hall, lighted so spaciously with a scarlet-shaded lamp, and at the slim girl in brown silk lifted up before the light. But she, she looked over his head. He passed on.
Presently she started and hung in suspense. Somebody was crossing the road. She ran down the steps in a pretty welcome, not effuse, saying in quick but accurately articulated words: Will! I began to think you d gone to the fair. I came out to listen to it. I felt almost sure you d gone. You re coming in, aren t you?She waited a moment anxiously. We expect you to dinner, you know,she added wistfully.
The man, who had a short face and spoke with his lip curling up on one side, in a drawling speech with ironically exaggerated intonation, replied after a short hesitation:
I m awfully sorry, I am, straight, Lois. It s A shame. I ve got to go round to the biz. Man proposes?athe devil disposes.He turned aside with irony in the darkness.
But surely, Will!remonstrated the girl, keenly disappointed.
Fact Lois!?aI feel wild about it myself. But I ve got to go down to the works. They may be getting a bit warm down there, you know?ahe jerked his head in the direction of the fair. If the Lambs get frisky!?athey re a bit off about the work, and they d just be in their element if they could set a lighted match to something?a
Will, you don t think?a!exclaimed the girl, laying her hand on his arm in the true fashion of romance, and looking up at him earnestly.
Dad s not sure, he replied, looking down at her with gravity. They remained in this attitude for a moment, then he said:
I might stop a bit. It s all right for an hour, I should think.
She looked at him earnestly, then said in tones of deep disappointment and of fortitude: No, Will, you must go. You d better go?a
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