American library books ยป Humor ยป The Adventures of Sally by P. G. Wodehouse (good books for 7th graders .TXT) ๐Ÿ“•

Read book online ยซThe Adventures of Sally by P. G. Wodehouse (good books for 7th graders .TXT) ๐Ÿ“•ยป.   Author   -   P. G. Wodehouse



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too, and it seemed to him that the time had come to assert it. But he also had a most excruciating headache, and when he drew himself up haughtily to ask Mr. Carmyle what the devil he meant by it, a severe access of pain sent him huddling back immediately to a safer attitude. He clasped his forehead and groaned.

โ€œGet out!โ€

For a moment Gerald hesitated. Then another sudden shooting spasm convinced him that no profit or pleasure was to be derived from a continuance of the argument, and he began to shamble slowly across to the door. Bruce Carmyle watched him go with twitching hands. There was a moment when the human man in him, somewhat atrophied from long disuse, stirred him almost to the point of assault; then dignity whispered more prudent counsel in his ear, and Gerald was past the danger-zone and out in the passage. Mr. Carmyle turned to face Sally, as King Arthur on a similar but less impressive occasion must have turned to deal with Guinevere.

โ€œSo...โ€ he said again.

Sally was eyeing him steadilyโ€”considering the circumstances, Mr. Carmyle thought with not a little indignation, much too steadily.

โ€œThis,โ€ he said ponderously, โ€œis very amusing.โ€

He waited for her to speak, but she said nothing.

โ€œI might have expected it,โ€ said Mr. Carmyle with a bitter laugh.

Sally forced herself from the lethargy which was gripping her.

โ€œWould you like me to explain?โ€ she said.

โ€œThere can be no explanation,โ€ said Mr. Carmyle coldly.

โ€œVery well,โ€ said Sally.

There was a pause.

โ€œGood-bye,โ€ said Bruce Carmyle.

โ€œGood-bye,โ€ said Sally.

Mr. Carmyle walked to the door. There he stopped for an instant and glanced back at her. Sally had walked to the window and was looking out. For one swift instant something about her trim little figure and the gleam of her hair where the sunlight shone on it seemed to catch at Bruce Carmyle's heart, and he wavered. But the next moment he was strong again, and the door had closed behind him with a resolute bang.

Out in the street, climbing into his car, he looked up involuntarily to see if she was still there, but she had gone. As the car, gathering speed, hummed down the street. Sally was at the telephone listening to the sleepy voice of Ginger Kemp, which, as he became aware who it was that had woken him from his rest and what she had to say to him, magically lost its sleepiness and took on a note of riotous ecstasy.

Five minutes later, Ginger was splashing in his bath, singing discordantly.





CHAPTER XVIII. JOURNEY'S END

Darkness was beginning to gather slowly and with almost an apologetic air, as if it regretted the painful duty of putting an end to the perfect summer day. Over to the west beyond the trees there still lingered a faint afterglow, and a new moon shone like a silver sickle above the big barn. Sally came out of the house and bowed gravely three times for luck. She stood on the gravel, outside the porch, drinking in the sweet evening scents, and found life good.

The darkness, having shown a certain reluctance at the start, was now buckling down to make a quick and thorough job of it. The sky turned to a uniform dark blue, picked out with quiet stars. The cement of the state road which led to Patchogue, Babylon, and other important centres ceased to be a pale blur and became invisible. Lights appeared in the windows of the houses across the meadows. From the direction of the kennels there came a single sleepy bark, and the small white woolly dog which had scampered out at Sally's heels stopped short and uttered a challenging squeak.

The evening was so still that Ginger's footsteps, as he pounded along the road on his way back from the village, whither he had gone to buy provisions, evening papers, and wool for the sweater which Sally was knitting, were audible long before he turned in at the gate. Sally could not see him, but she looked in the direction of the sound and once again felt that pleasant, cosy thrill of happiness which had come to her every evening for the last year.

โ€œGinger,โ€ she called.

โ€œWhat ho!โ€

The woolly dog, with another important squeak, scuttled down the drive to look into the matter, and was coldly greeted. Ginger, for all his love of dogs, had never been able to bring himself to regard Toto with affection. He had protested when Sally, a month before, finding Mrs. Meecher distraught on account of a dreadful lethargy which had seized her pet, had begged him to offer hospitality and country air to the invalid.

โ€œIt's wonderful what you've done for Toto, angel,โ€ said Sally, as he came up frigidly eluding that curious animal's leaps of welcome. โ€œHe's a different dog.โ€

โ€œBit of luck for him,โ€ said Ginger.

โ€œIn all the years I was at Mrs. Meecher's I never knew him move at anything more rapid than a stately walk. Now he runs about all the time.โ€

โ€œThe blighter had been overeating from birth,โ€ said Ginger. โ€œThat was all that was wrong with him. A little judicious dieting put him right. We'll be able,โ€ said Ginger brightening, โ€œto ship him back next week.โ€

โ€œI shall quite miss him.โ€

โ€œI nearly missed himโ€”this morningโ€”with a shoe,โ€ said Ginger. โ€œHe was up on the kitchen table wolfing the bacon, and I took steps.โ€

โ€œMy cave-man!โ€ murmured Sally. โ€œI always said you had a frightfully brutal streak in you. Ginger, what an evening!โ€

โ€œGood Lord!โ€ said Ginger suddenly, as they walked into the light of the open kitchen door.

โ€œNow what?โ€

He stopped and eyed her intently.

โ€œDo you know you're looking prettier than you were when I started down to the village!โ€

Sally gave his arm a little hug.

โ€œBeloved!โ€ she said. โ€œDid you get the chops?โ€

Ginger froze in his tracks, horrified.

โ€œOh, my aunt! I clean forgot them!โ€

โ€œOh, Ginger, you are an old chump. Well, you'll have to go in for a little judicious dieting, like Toto.โ€

โ€œI say, I'm most awfully sorry. I got the wool.โ€

โ€œIf you think I'm going to eat wool...โ€

โ€œIsn't there anything in the house?โ€

โ€œVegetables and fruit.โ€

โ€œFine! But, of course, if

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