The Lay Anthony - 1919 Author:Joseph Hergesheimer Purchase of this book includes free trial access to www.million-books.com where you can read more than a million books for free. This is an OCR edition with typos. Excerpt from book: THE following morning he reorganized his neckties, left a pair of white flannels to be pressed at the tailor's; then, his shoulders swathed in a crisp, sprigged ... more »muslin, sat circumspectly under the brisk shears of Bert Woods. Bert hovered above him, and commented on yesterday's fiasco. "It comes to the best of 'em," Bert assured him: " 'member how Ollie Stitcher fell down in the world's series at Chicago." He recited, for Anthony's comfort, the names of eminent pitchers who had "fell down" when every necessity demanded that they should have remained splendidly erect. His defeat still rankled in Anthony's mind, but the bitterness had vanished, the hurt salved by that other memory of the impulsive charm of Eliza Dreen. He recalled all that she had said to him; her words, thoughtfully considered, were just those employed by humdrum individuals intheir commonplace discourses; but, spoken by her, they were athrill with a special, a significant importance and beauty. It was inevitable that she should have dreamed things immaculate, rare; things like . . . white flowers. "Shampoo?" Bert inquired absent-mindedly. "And singed, and curled, and sprinkled with violets," Anthony promptly returned. With a flourish, Bert swept aside the muslin folds. Then, in the pursuit of a neglected duty, he crossed the town to a quiet corner, occupied by a small dwelling built of smooth, green stone, crowned with a fantastic and dingy froth of wood. A shallow, untended garden was choked with weeds and bushes, sprawling upward against closely-shuttered windows. He realized with a stir of mild self-reproach that he had not been to see Mrs. Bosbyshell for two weeks. He was aware that his visits to that solitary and eccentric old woman formed her sole contact with a world she regarded with an increasi...« less