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The excessively thin man glanced up from the puddle of lime that he was stirring and regarded the excessively fat man with a smile of meek interrogation.
Nother bucket o' mortar, Mr. Ooze."
The excessively thin man glanced up from the puddle of lime that he was stirring and regarded the excessively fat man with a smile of meek interrogation.
"'Nother bucket o' mortar, Willie Ooze, and don't you put your 'ead on one side at me like a bloomin' cockatoo."
Mr. William Hughes stuttered an apology. "I was thin-thinking."
"Thin-thinking!" The fat man laughed good-naturedly. Turning his back on his helper, he gave the brick which he had just laid an extra tap to emphasize his incredulity. "'Tisn't like you."
The thin man's feelings were wounded. To the little boy who looked on this was evident from the way he swallowed. His Adam's-apple took a run up his throat and, at the last moment, thought better of it. "But I was thinking," he persisted; "thinking that I'd learnt something from stirring up this gray muck. If ever I was to kill somebody-you, for instance, or that boy-I'd know better than to bury you in slaked lime."
"Uml Urn!" The fat man gulped with surprise. He puckered his vast chin against his collar so that his voice came deep and strangled. "It's scraps o' knowledge like that as saves men from the gallers. If 'alf the murderers that is 'anged 'ad come to me first, they wouldn't be 'anging. But-but--" He seemed at last to realize the unkind implication of Mr. Hughes's naive confession. "But I'd make four o' you, Willyum! You couldn't kill me, however you tried."
In the face of contradiction Mr. Hughes forgot his nervousness. "I could." he pleaded earnestly. "I've often thought about it. I'd put off till you was stooping, and then jump. What with you being so short of breath and me being so long in the arms and legs, why--! I've planned it out many times, you and me being such good friends and so much alone together."
The face of the fat man grew serious with disapproval. "You? 'ave, 'ave you! You've got as far as that! You're a nice domestic pet, I must say, to keep unchained to play with the children." He attempted to go on with his bricklaying, but the memory of Mr. Hughes's long arms and legs so immediately behind him was disturbing. He swung round holding his trowel like a weapon. "Don't like your way of talking; don't like it. O' course you've 'ad your troubles; for them I make allowances. But I don't like it, and I don't mind telling you. Um! Um!"
The thin man was crestfallen; he had hoped to give pleasure. "But I thought you liked murders."
"Like 'em! I enjoy them-so I do." The fat man spoke tartly. "But when you make me the corpse of your conversations, you presoom, Mr. Ooze, and I don't mind telling you-you really do. Let that boy be the corpse next time; leave me out of it-- 'Nother bucket o' mortar."
That boy, who was sole witness to this quarrel, was very small-far smaller than his age. In the big walled garden of Orchid Lodge he felt smaller than usual. Everything was strange; even the whispered sigh of dead leaves was different as they swam up and swirled in eddies. In his own garden, only six walls distant, their sigh was gentle as Dearie's footstep-but something had happened to Dearie; Jimmie Boy had told him so that morning. "Teddy, little man, it's happened again"-the information had left Teddy none the wiser. All he knew was that Jane had told the milkman that something was expected, and that the milkman had told the cook at Orchid Lodge. The result had been the intrusion at breakfast of the remarkable Mrs. Sheerug.
For a long while Mrs. Sheerug had been a staple topic of conversation between Dearie and Jimmie Boy. They had wondered who she was. They had made up the most preposterous tales about her and had told them to Teddy. They would watch for her to come out of her house six doors away, so that as she passed their window in Eden Row Jimmie Boy might make rapid sketches of her trotting balloon-like figure. He had used her more than once already in books which he had been commissioned to illustrate. She was the faery-godmother in his Cinderella and Other Ancient Tales: With!6 Plates in color by James Gurney. She was Mother Santa Claus in his Christmas Up to Date. They had rather wanted to get to know her, this child-man and woman who seemed no older than their little son and at times, even to their little son, not half as sensible. They had wanted to get to know her because she was always smiling, and because she was always upholstered in such hideously clashing colors, and because she was always setting out burdened on errands from which she returned empty-handed. The attraction of Mrs. Sheerug was heightened by Jane's, the maid-of-all-work's, discoveries: Orchid Lodge was heavily in debt to the local tradesmen and yet (it was Dearie who said "And yet." with a sigh of envy), and yet its mistress was always smiling.
When Mrs. Sheerug had invaded Teddy's father that morning, she had come arrayed for conquest. She had worn a green plush mantle, a blue bonnet and, waving defiance from the blue bonnet, a yellow feather.
"I'm a total stranger," she had said. "Go on with your breakfast, Mr. Gurney, I've had mine. I'll watch you. Well, I've heard, and so I've dropped in to see what I can do. You mustn't mind me; trying to be a mother to everyone's my foible. Now, first of all, you can't have that boy in the house-boys are nice, but a nuisance. They're noisy."
"But Teddy, I mean Theo, isn't."
It was just like Jimmie Boy to call him Theo before a stranger and to assume the r
Out To Win: The Story of America in France by Coningsby Dawson
You may feel inclined to dispute the assertion. You may even consider yourself insulted by the suggestion that it might have happened to you. "It could never have happened to me," you may argue. But it could.
It happened about six in the morning, in a large red room. A bar of sunlight streamed in at the window, in which dust-motes were dancing by the thousand. A man and woman were lying in bed; I was standing up in my cot, plucking at the woman with my podgy fingers. She stirred, turned, rubbed her eyes, smiled, stretched out her arms, and drew me under the bed-clothes beside her. The man slept on.
On the day of their wedding anniversary, Joshua's mistress drugged Alicia, and she ended up in a stranger's bed. In one night, Alicia lost her innocence, while Joshua's mistress carried his child in her womb. Heartbroken and humiliated, Alicia demanded a divorce, but Joshua saw it as yet another tantrum. When they finally parted ways, she went on to become a renowned artist, sought out and admired by everyone. Consumed by regret, Joshua darkened her doorstep in hopes of reconciliation, only to find her in the arms of a powerful tycoon. "Say hello to your sister-in-law."
Joanna was sabotaged by her sister and ended up in a stranger’s bed. Despised by her boyfriend and pressured by her family, she was forced to marry a wealthy scoundrel, Rhys. Rhys’ young adoptive father was the richest man in town, but was also said to be violent. Everyone thought Joanna was doomed, but Owen favored her and condemned her bullies. Joanna secretly loved Owen, but after a night of passion, he began to withdraw from her. Heartbroken, she entertained other men. She was on a date when Owen suddenly barged in. "You said you loved me!" Joanna smirked. "Too late. You’ll have to get in line."
She was a world-renowned divine doctor, the CEO of a publicly traded company, the most formidable female mercenary, and a top-tier tech genius. Marissa, a titan with a plethora of secret identities, had hidden her true stature to marry a seemingly impoverished young man. However, on the eve of their wedding, her fiance, who was actually the lost heir to a wealthy dynasty, called off the engagement and subjected her to degradation and mockery. Upon the revelation of her concealed identities, her ex-fiance was left stunned and desperately pleaded for her forgiveness. Standing protectively before Marissa, an incredibly influential and fearsome magnate declared, "This is my wife. Who would dare try to claim her?"
"Miss Brown, I am the butler here at your service," the butler replied. "My master wants to buy the baby in your belly." "What?!" Does that mean the abortion didn't take place? Did they kidnap her from the operating table just to buy the baby? But why her? "You..." Alice was about to ask a question, but the man in front of her calmly continued, as if he had expected her question, "You're pregnant with his child, and he needs a child. That's all I can tell you." Alice was forced to sign a surrogacy contract and eight months later gave birth to two healthy babies. Fortunately, the man was unaware of her daughter's existence. It wasn't until five years later that fate brought them together again...
While Sienna reached the pinnacle of her success, Julian remained the forgotten son of his family, the one who had secretly stolen her first kiss in the shadows of the night. As Sienna hit her darkest moment, Julian returned home, leaving his life behind, only to witness her tears glistening in the moonlight as she reluctantly accepted another man's proposal. When Sienna needed Julian more than ever, he had risen to a position of power and had become her most steadfast pillar of support. "Please marry me." There was no one else in the world who could love Sienna as deeply as Julian did.
"Who is she?" I asked, feeling tears well up in my eyes. "He met her at the Alpha training camp," he said. "She is a perfect suitor for him. It snowed last night, indicating that his wolf is happy with his choice." My heart sank, and tears made their way down my cheeks. Alexander took my innocence last night, and now he is taking that thing in his office as his Luna. **** Emily never shifted on her 18th birthday and became the laughingstock of the pack. When her old crush, Alexander Black, returns from Alpha Training, she never expected him to be her mate. After a night of passionate love, Emily finds out that young Alpha Alexander has taken a chosen mate. Heartbroken and humiliated, Emily runs off and disappears from the pack. Now, five years later, Emily is a high-ranking warrior in King Alpha's army, specializing in sensitive matters. When her best friend invites her to a night of music and laughter, she never expects to run into her mate, Alexander. Will Alexander figure out it is Emily? Will he chase after her, and most of all, will Emily be able to keep her secrets safe?