"Bram Stoker - Dracula" - читать интересную книгу автора (Stoker Bram)

and there was no one to be shocked, he said such funny things.
I am afraid, my dear, he has to invent it all, for it fits exactly
into whatever else he has to say. But this is a way slang has.
I do not know myself if I shall ever speak slang.
I do not know if Arthur likes it, as I have never heard him
use any as yet.

Well, Mr. Morris sat down beside me and looked as happy and jolly
as he could, but I could see all the same that he was very nervous.
He took my hand in his, and said ever so sweetly. . .

"Miss Lucy, I know I ain't good enough to regulate the fixin's of your
little shoes, but I guess if you wait till you find a man that is you
will go join them seven young women with the lamps when you quit.
Won't you just hitch up alongside of me and let us go down the long
road together, driving in double harness?"

Well, he did look so hood humoured and so jolly that it didn't
seem half so hard to refuse him as it did poor Dr. Seward.
So I said, as lightly as I could, that I did not know anything
of hitching, and that I wasn't broken to harness at all yet.
Then he said that he had spoken in a light manner, and he hoped
that if he had made a mistake in doing so on so grave,
so momentous, and occasion for him, I would forgive him.
He really did look serious when he was saying it, and I couldn't help
feeling a sort of exultation that he was number Two in one day.
And then, my dear, before I could say a word he began pouring
out a perfect torrent of love-making, laying his very heart
and soul at my feet. He looked so earnest over it that I
shall never again think that a man must be playful always,
and never earnest, because he is merry at times.
I suppose he saw something in my face which checked him,
for he suddenly stopped,and said with a sort of manly fervour
that I could have loved him for if I had been free. . .

"Lucy, you are an honest hearted girl, I know. I should not be here
speaking to you as I am now if I did not believe you clean grit,
right through to the very depths of your soul. Tell me, like one
good fellow to another, is there any one else that you care for?
And if there is I'll never trouble you a hair's breadth again,
but will be, if you will let me, a very faithful friend."

My dear Mina, why are men so noble when we women are so little worthy
of them? Here was I almost making fun of this great hearted, true gentleman.
I burst into tears, I am afraid, my dear, you will think this a very sloppy
letter in more ways than one, and I really felt very badly.

Why can't they let a girl marry three men, or as many as want her,
and save all this trouble? But this is heresy, and I must not say it.
I am glad to say that, though I was crying, I was able to look into