wiki formatting help

remembered, she seemed to have the same faculty for critical observation, for although he knew that she used to bestow favours on other boys, she had refused to be anything more than nicely polite to him, and once suggested the reason by referring to another girl whom he . . . . But that was another story . . . . She had greatly improved since then, but . . . it certainly was rather irritating to feel continually her confidence in herself, so far as he was concerned. Not that it was obtrusive, or intentionally displayed -- he did not think it was a subtle challenge -- but it actually was there, and lent a peculiar coolness and aloofness to her most ordinary as to her more intimate remarks. Such self-assurance almost invites attack -- it is almost bound to rub people the wrong way -- o might almost be a challenge. Still a bargain was a bargain and besides . . . . He decided he would try not to notice this self-possession in future.

The next night as he was taking her to the theatre, he was alternately watching the crowd passing along the street and the fleeting expressions on her face, when she suddenly leant slightly forward and said carelessly:

"Oh! Guess whom I met today. Esther Waters! I was at the Foster's. I remember . . . ." She stopped with a discreet smile.

Allison was startled by the tone and the smile. It awoke immediately that slight irritation, deepened by the fact that he knew Esther Waters and liked her. He answered calmly however:

"Oh! How is she? It's a long time since I saw or heard of her."

"As charming as ever," was the reply. "I mentioned that you were in town and she said that you would have to call on them."

"I suppose I ought to have called," Allison remarked vaguely, after a slight pause, and the next moment the car drew up at the the theatre entrance.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . .

A fortnight later they were floating down the river, which flowed past the town. The sun was dipping slowly and all the world seemed to breathe a peaceful sigh of content at the close of another glorious day. Agnes Heatherley was steering, but she also appeared to be influenced by the calm of the approaching evening. She was leaning back idly and had been silent for quite a long time. An unusual shade of thoughtfulness lay over her face. For a moment that expression of self-confidence, which had so irritated Allison, had vanished. The latter smiled inwardly as he noticed it and, after watching it unobserved for a few minutes, said suddenly in a perfectly even tone, but keeping his eyes lowered and without ceasing the slow and steady swing of the oars:

"I say, Agnes, I must tell you. I can't go on any longer."

Agnes Heatherley sat up with a start and asked quickly:

"What do you mean?"

"You know perfectly well what I mean," replied Allison, raising his eyes almost reproachfully. "There is a limit to human en-

BC Archives, MS-2570 Box 1 File 6 / MIST, Henry Masterman, Ruhleben magazine, Prisoners' Pie, 1916

wiki formatting help