Page:Margaret Sherwood--A Puritan in Bohemia.djvu/119

A Puritan Bohemia "Please speak slowly so that I can take all this in," said Anne.

"Look at that old sailor," the young man continued relentlessly. "He is intense, pathetic. There's no recognition in that face of his—love for tobacco, for instance. It is all a little bit hysterical, and feminine."

"It isn't feminine," said Anne angrily. "Say anything but that."

She went to work in silence.

"Mr. Stanton, you are getting thin," remarked Mrs. Kent abruptly. "That domestic experiment will ruin your health. Aren't you tired of it?"

"It palls, at times," he confessed.

"And isn't your night school wearing on you?"

"It takes some strength from my work, but I expected that."

"How beautifully our various efforts neutralize each other," said Anne pensively. "That lecturing keeps you from painting more symbolic pictures."

"Thank you," said Howard. "No, Mrs.