Bother? Why, I have carried one of your
mother's, miss! all these--there, I shall not say how long--and
carry it still. Bother? Great Scott!
[Illustration: The Meeting on the Long Bridge.]
And is this going to be a love story, then? Well, I have turned
it over and over, and looked at it from every angle, but if I am
to tell the truth, as I promised, I don't see how it can be helped.
If I am to do that, I must begin at the Long Bridge. I stepped
on it that day a boy, and came off it with the fixed purpose of a
man. How I stuck to it is part of the story--the best part, to my
thinking; and I ought to know, seeing that our silver wedding comes
this March. Silver wedding, humph! She isn't a week older than the
day I married her--not a week. It was all in the way of her that
I came here; though at the time I am speaking of I rather guessed
than knew it was Elizabeth. She lived over there beyond the bridge.
We had been children together. I suppose I had seen her a thousand
times before without noticing. In school I had heard the boys
trading in her for marbles and brass buttons as a partner at dances
and games--generally trading off the other girls for her.
Pages:
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25