The Hearth and Eagle by Anya Seton

Author:Anya Seton [Seton, Anya]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
Published: 2012-04-26T06:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER 10

AMOS SPENT a troubled night tossing on his knobby bed at the Marblehead Hotel. At six o’clock he leaned out of the window and watched the swelling procession of shoe workers turn off onto School Street, bound for his factory in back of the hotel. This sight gave him none of the pleasure it usually did.

Nor did the hitherto interesting appointments he had scheduled for the day. Final negotiations with the Boston firm of engineers for the conversion to steam. Introduction of compo work in a corner of the Making room; an experiment, but they were doing well with it in Lynn. Dinner at the Hotel with Macullar’s buyer, talk him into doubling his order. Ticklish interview with Josh Harris, find out if possible exactly what volume Harris & Sons were actually doing.

Amos went through his day, fighting a black depression that ruined his appetite and even spoiled the taste of cigars. By four o’clock he decided to pay the Hearth and Eagle a call and found several reasons for doing so. It was only natural that he should take a friendly interest in the Inn and commend Mrs. Honeywood for the promptness with which she was paying back his loan. And then it was only friendly to warn her that there might be talk about Hesper and that long-legged painter. Girl had no business to be traipsing off alone to the Neck with a fellow like that. It shocked him to find that sensible Mrs. Honeywood permitted it. Very likely she’ll thank me for pointing it out.

Amos left the factory and strolled down Pleasant Street, and his depression lifted. Action was always the answer to discomfort. He hastened his steps, and found himself caught by the charm of his adopted town, seeing it with an indulgent eye.

The spell of fair June weather still held. As he walked beneath the maples and the wine-glass elms, the sun flickered from a vibrant blue sky, and he sniffed the scent of ocean salt and flowers. There were rosesand petunias in the rocky back yards, geraniums and heliotrope in the window boxes. He approved fresh coats of dazzling yellow paint on scattered houses in Franklin Street. He approved too the majestic horse chestnut which shadowed the Hearth and Eagle yard, its white blossoms shining proud as candles amongst the glossy green leaves.

But there as he viewed the old house itself his approval ceased. He shook his head, staring at it with a pitying exasperation.

The silver-gray clapboards were as innocent of paint as on the day they were cut. The steep ridgepole on the original ell, and the gambrel roof on Moses Honeywood’s larger addition, showed a rakish irregularity of line that offended him. And why in time couldn’t they have placed the windows fair and square to begin with? Must have had level and plumbline even in those days. He stood for a moment, his hands on the crumbling picket gate, and modernized the house. Raise the roof on the oldest part,

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
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.