The Mission of Poubalov — page 100: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

96 LITIZKI BREAKS HIS APPOINTMENT. coming toward him, and, quite unaware of how she man- aged it, he found that she had taken one of his hands in her own. In his confusion he let his hat fall, picked it up hastily, and at last sat down again, feeling still the warm clasp of Clara’s hand, while with bewildered eyes he saw this self-possessed, queenly young woman place his bat- tered hat upon a table and draw up a chair opposite to him. He had not saida word. If he had come with any set phrases for beginning his story, they were completely driven from his mind. Clara looked at him fora moment, and he averted his eyes. ‘‘Were you acquainted with Mr. Strobel?” she asked presently, speaking in low tones that needed no art to color with the sadness that weighed upon her heart. | ‘‘No’m, I wasn’t,’’ replied Billings, with a quick — at her. ‘‘Tam sorry for that,’’ said Clara, ‘‘and yet it abowel how kind you are to come here and tell me anor his er ter. I suppose you had to come a long way.’ ‘“T live in the North Kind, ” said Billings, uneasily. ‘Bowker told me to come.’ ‘‘The North End is a long way off,’’ she declared, *‘and I thank you just the same. I suppose you may have told. Mr. Bowker so carefully about this that you are tired of the matter, but I should like very much to hear you my- self. Do you mind telling me just what you told him?” “That’s what I come for,’’ and Billings seemed to be considerably relieved. ‘‘I was driving down Park Street,”’ he began, ‘‘when I saw that the coupé just in front of me had got into trouble. I went slow because people got around thick, and, besides, I wanted to see what was the matter. As I was looking, the manin the coupé clumb out and asked me was I engaged. 1 told him no, and he } got in. He seemed to be in a hurry.”’ ‘‘One moment,’’ interposed Clara, gently. The naivatinal struck her as distinctly parrot-like, and if Bi were some- thing that he had learned to recite, she preterrud te preak | _ — -——