The Fashionable Adventures of Joshua Craig; a Novel by David Graham Phillips
page 296 of 308 (96%)
page 296 of 308 (96%)
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he burst out, "with my silly notions." He drew a paper from his
pocket and handed it to her. "And this infernal thing of Grant's has been encouraging me in idiocy." She read the Arkwright gentleman's gazette and complete guide to dress and conduct in the society of a refined gentlewoman. Her impulse was to laugh, an impulse hard indeed to restrain when she came to the last line of the document and read in Grant's neat, careful-man's handwriting with heavy underscorings: "Above all, never forget that you are a mighty stiff dose for anybody, and could easily become an overdose for a refined, sensitive lady." But prudent foresight made her keep her countenance. "This is all very sensible," said she. "Sensible enough," assented he. "I've learned a lot from it....Did you read that last sentence?" She turned her face away. "Yes," she said. "That, taken with everything else, all but got me down," said he somberly. "God, what I've been through! It came near preventing us from discovering that you're not a grand lady but a human being." His mood veered, and it was he that was gay and she glum; for he suddenly seized her and subjected her to one of those tumultuous ordeals so disastrous to toilette and to dignity and to her sense of personal rights. Not that she altogether disliked; she never had altogether disliked, had found a certain thrill in his rude riotousness. Still, she preferred the other Joshua Craig, HER Joshua, who wished to receive as well as to give. And she wished that Joshua, her Joshua, would return. She herself had thought |
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