The Broughton House Author:Bliss Perry General Books publication date: 2009 Original publication date: 1890 Original Publisher: C. Scribner's sons Subjects: Fiction / General Fiction / Literary History / General Notes: This is a black and white OCR reprint of the original. It has no illustrations and there may be typos or missing text. When you buy the General Books editio... more »n of this book you get free trial access to Million-Books.com where you can select from more than a million books for free. Excerpt: III. Two or three days after that Saturday evening, Floyd was pacing up and down in the sitting-room of the cottage. One hand was thrust deep into his trousers pocket; the other held a crumpled letter. In a low rocking-chair by one of the windows sat his wife, leaning back so that her head rested upon the calico cushion, and her throat showed white. From moment to moment she pushed her foot against the iron framework of a dust-covered sewing-machine in front of her, to rock her chair. Her hands were lying in her lap, the fingers clasped, and palms turned from her in a way that brought into relief every line of her slender arms. Her dark eyes were fixed now on the ceiling, and now on the restless form of her husband. Altogether it was a graceful, piquant figure, with manifest nervous power; but just now she was cool, provokingly cool. " Well ? " she said, in her light voice, with the slightest upward inflection. He shrugged his shoulders, making with the hand that held the letter a curiously vague, impotent gesture. "Well, Billy?" she repeated. He took another turn before replying. " What's the use ? " he muttered. " You don't understand me; you don't even try." " Don't be too sure, Billy." " No -- you, nor none of you," he cried, stopping in his walk. " You don't know what an artist is ; you can't appreciate the artistic temperament." " I have had nearly three years of it," was her answer. " I should think I ought to know something about it by this time." She smiled faintly, showing a glimp...« less