“And that’s why … you’ve come tonight?”
“Don’t you see that everything’s conspired to send me here?” Vergie cried. “Everything that’s happened since I left Random a month ago. St. Augustine! Romance! The Youth of Tuck and Nip fighting against the sombre traditions of the past! Truly, I’ve found the Fountain of Youth! You’ve … shown it to me. You will … tonight.”
“Tonight …”
Vergie arose and faced him. Her eyes were glowing embers set in the expressionless mask her face had become.
Bill’s fingers trembled as he touched her arm. Vergie looked into his eyes. She raised her face to his.
“Please believe me,” she pleaded. “I don’t want to entrap you, my dear. I’m not like that. Trust me. And please … kiss me.”
Bill Porter’s hard arm was behind her shoulders, and Vergie swayed back as he crushed her body to him. His face was cruel as he bent closer and closer to her lips. They were parted, and a tremulous smile was upon them.
Then Bill set his teeth, and his left hand gripped her shoulder to force her away. Her knees buckled under her and she dropped back into the chair to stare with terror-stricken eyes as he turned and strode across the room. Her knuckles went up to her mouth to smother a faint cry.
She had lost! Bill refused to believe her. He turned away from her proffered body. There was nothing left for her! Nothing!
Bill halted by the mantel, then swung around. He held a strip of green paper between his fingers, and he was tearing it into tiny shreds which he scattered on the floor.
“So you thought you’d run away?” he taunted. “Had your ticket all bought and everything? There’s your ticket!” He threw the last green bits at her.
“Don’t think I’m going to let you get away with anything like that! You’re going to stay here in St. Augustine, and your daily job is going to be to fetch a pitcher of water from the Fountain of Youth every day.” He stood over her and glared into her eyes.
“Stand up,” he said.
Vergie stood erect and looked at him.
Bill lifted her in his arms, and kicked over the floor lamp as he carried her toward the bedroom. There was a tinkle of glass as the bulb broke into fragments.
“That’s one way of turning out lights,” Bill grunted. “Expensive, but what the hell? One doesn’t fall in love every night.”
He kicked the door and it slammed shut behind them.
All rights reserved, including without limitation the right to reproduce this ebook or any portion thereof in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of the publisher.
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, events, and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, businesses, companies, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.
Copyright © 1935 by William Godwin, Inc.
Copyright © 1951 by Falcon Books, Inc.
Cover design by Andy Ross
ISBN: 978-1-5040-2568-3
This edition published in 2015 by Open Road Integrated Media, Inc.
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New York, NY 10014
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BRETT HALLIDAY
WRITING AS ANTHONY SCOTT
FROM OPEN ROAD MEDIA
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