Product Synopsis

Purchase of this book includes free trial access to www.million-books.com where you can read more than a million books for free. This is an OCR edition with typos. Excerpt from book: THE SYCAMORE DIVAN CHAPTER III The Sycamore Divan A VIRGIN love in the heart of a young girl is like an effervescent chemical: it may withstand a great shock, but a single drop of an apparently harmless liquid may cause it to evaporate. This risk Die took when he went that evening to see Tom; and the fact that Rita had written her letter, of which she had such grave misgivings, together with the words of Sukey Yates, made his risk doubly great. Poor Die needed a thorough knowledge of chemistry. He did not know that he possessed it, but he was a pure-minded, manly man, and the knowledge was innate with him. " Good evening, Rita," said Die, when, after many efforts, she came out upon the porch where he was sitting with her father, her mother, and Tom. "Good morning," answered Rita, confusedly, and her mistake as to the time of day added to her confusion. " Good morning ! " cried Tom. " It's evening. My ! but she's confused because you're here, Die." Tom was possessed of a simian acuteness that had led him to discover poor Rita's secret before she herself was fully aware of its existence. She, however, was rapidly making the interesting discovery, and feared that between the ribbon, the letter, and Tom's amiable jokes, Die would discover it and presume upon the fact. From the mingling of these doubts and fears grew a feeling of resentment against Die — a conviction before the fact. Shewished him to know her regard for him, but she did not want him to learn it from any act of hers. She desired him to wrest it from her by main force, and as little awkwardness as a man may use. Had Die by the smallest word or act shown a disposition to profit by what Rita feared had been excessive frankness in her letter, or had he, in any degree, assumed the attitude of a confident l...