Margaret Ogilvy by J. M. (James Matthew) Barrie
Author:J. M. (James Matthew) Barrie [Barrie, J. M.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Fiction, Classics
ISBN: 9783849672799
Google: 8x9QDwAAQBAJ
Publisher: Jazzybee Verlag
Published: 1930-01-15T02:54:23+00:00
CHAPTER VIâHER MAID OF ALL WORK
And sometimes I was her maid of all work.
It is early morn, and my mother has come noiselessly into my room. I know it is she, though my eyes are shut, and I am only half awake. Perhaps I was dreaming of her, for I accept her presence without surprise, as if in the awakening I had but seen her go out at one door to come in at another. But she is speaking to herself.
âIâm sweer to waken himâI doubt he was working lateâoh, that weary writingâno, I maunna waken him.â
I start up. She is wringing her hands. âWhat is wrong?â I cry, but I know before she answers. My sister is down with one of the headaches against which even she cannot fight, and my mother, who bears physical pain as if it were a comrade, is most woebegone when her daughter is the sufferer. âAnd she winna let me go down the stair to make a cup of tea for her,â she groans.
âI will soon make the tea, mother.â
âWill you?â she says eagerly. It is what she has come to me for, but âIt is a pity to rouse you,â she says.
âAnd I will take charge of the house to-day, and light the fires and wash the dishesââ
âNa, oh no; no, I couldna ask that of you, and you an author.â
âIt wonât be the first time, mother, since I was an author.â
âMore like the fiftieth!â she says almost gleefully, so I have begun well, for to keep up her spirits is the great thing to-day.
Knock at the door. It is the baker. I take in the bread, looking so sternly at him that he dare not smile.
Knock at the door. It is the postman. (I hope he did not see that I had the lid of the kettle in my other hand.)
Furious knocking in a remote part. This means that the author is in the coal cellar.
Anon I carry two breakfasts upstairs in triumph. I enter the bedroom like no mere humdrum son, but after the manner of the Glasgow waiter. I must say more about him. He had been my motherâs one waiter, the only manservant she ever came in contact with, and they had met in a Glasgow hotel which she was eager to see, having heard of the monstrous things, and conceived them to resemble country inns with another twelve bedrooms. I remember how she beamedâyet tried to look as if it was quite an ordinary experienceâwhen we alighted at the hotel door, but though she said nothing I soon read disappointment in her face. She knew how I was exulting in having her there, so would not say a word to damp me, but I craftily drew it out of her. No, she was very comfortable, and the house was grand beyond speech, butâbutâwhere was he? he had not been very hearty. âHeâ was the landlord; she had expected him to receive us at the door and ask
Download
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.
Harry Potter and the Goblet Of Fire by J.K. Rowling(3603)
Machine Learning at Scale with H2O by Gregory Keys | David Whiting(3599)
Never by Ken Follett(3515)
Unfinished: A Memoir by Priyanka Chopra Jonas(3201)
Fairy Tale by Stephen King(2935)
The Man Who Died Twice by Richard Osman(2801)
Will by Will Smith(2572)
Rationality by Steven Pinker(2146)
The Dark Hours by Michael Connelly(2068)
The Storyteller by Dave Grohl(2059)
It Starts With Us (It Ends with Us #2) by Colleen Hoover(2024)
The Dawn of Everything: A New History of Humanity by David Graeber & David Wengrow(2012)
Can't Hurt Me: Master Your Mind and Defy the Odds - Clean Edition by David Goggins(2001)
Friends, Lovers, and the Big Terrible Thing by Matthew Perry(1988)
The Stranger in the Lifeboat by Mitch Albom(1934)
The Becoming by Nora Roberts(1911)
Cloud Cuckoo Land by Anthony Doerr(1906)
New Morning Mercies: A Daily Gospel Devotional by Paul David Tripp(1810)
Love on the Brain by Ali Hazelwood(1803)
