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Lay Anthony, The (The Collected Works of Joseph Hergesheimer - 28 Volumes)
Lay Anthony The - The Collected Works of Joseph Hergesheimer - 28 Volumes 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: Ill BAY STREET was thronged; the shops displayed broad, lighted windows filled with their various merchandise; in front of a produce store a row of chickens h... more »ung bare, bright blue and yellow, head down; from within came the grinding of a coffee machine, the acrid voices of women bargaining. The glass doors to the fire- engine house stood open, the machines glimmering behind a wide demilune of chairs holding a motley assemblage of men. Farther along, from above, came the shuffle of dancing feet, the thin, wiry wail of violins. At the corners groups of youths congregated, obstructing the passerby, smirking and indulging in sudden, stridulous bursts of laughter. The sky was infinitely remote, intensely, tenderly blue, the stars white as milk; from the countryside immediately surrounding came the scented breaths of early summer— the trailing sweetness of locust blooms, of hiddenhedges of honeysuckle, of June roses, and all the pungent aroma of growing grasses, leaves, of fragile and momentary flowers. Anthony made his way brusquely through the throng, nodding shortly to the countless salutations that marked his progress. The youths all knew him, and the majority of the men; women stopped in their sharp haggling to smile at him; garlands of girls gay in muslins "Mistered" him with pretty propriety, or followed him more boldly over their shoulders with inviting eyes. He impatiently disregarded his facile popularity; the tumult within him settled into a dull, unreasoning anger against the universe at large. He still owed Doctor Allhop four dollars and seventy cents; he had told the Doctor that he would pay to-morrow, and he would be compelled to go to his father. The latter was a rigorously just man, Anthony gladly recognized; the money would be instantly forthcoming, but he was...« less