Mary Roberts Rinehart

Name: The Window at the White Cat — III. Ninety-Eight Pearls
Author: Mary Roberts Rinehart

The Window at the White Cat — III. Ninety-Eight Pearls (1910)

Summary

“The Window at the White Cat — III. Ninety-Eight Pearls”, published in 1910, is a work by Mary Roberts Rinehart. It explores elements such as Letitia, Jane and Margery Fleming.

Quotes from The Window at the White Cat — III. Ninety-Eight Pearls (Mary Roberts Rinehart)

Mary Roberts Rinehart, The Window at the White Cat — III. Ninety-Eight Pearls (1910)

“ For the lamps had been lighted, and with every movement of the girl across, I could see the gleaming of a diamond on her engagement finger.
"If I didn't watch her, Jane would ruin them," said Miss Letitia. "She gives 'em apples when they keep their faces clean, and the bills for soap have gone up double. Soap once a day's enough for a colored child. Do you smell anything burning, Knox?"
I sniffed and lied, whereupon Miss Letitia swept her black silk, her colored orphans and her majestic presence out of the room. As the door closed, Miss Fleming put down her sewing and rose. ”

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Source: Wikisource

Mary Roberts Rinehart, The Window at the White Cat — III. Ninety-Eight Pearls (1910)

“ The two old ladies picked at their food, and Miss Jane had a spot of pink in each withered cheek. Margery Fleming made a brave pretense, but left her plate almost untouched. As for me, I ate a substantial masculine meal and half apologized for my appetite, but Letitia did not hear. She tore the board of managers to shreds with the roast, and denounced them with the salad. But Jane was all anxious hospitality.
"Please do eat your dinner," she whispered. "I made the salad myself. And I know what it takes to keep a big man going. Harry eats more than Letitia and I together. ”

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Source: Wikisource

Mary Roberts Rinehart, The Window at the White Cat — III. Ninety-Eight Pearls (1910)

“ Miss Letitia was seldom refused. I telephoned to Fred that I would not be home, listened for voices and decided Margery Fleming had gone to bed. Miss Jane lighted me to the door of the guest room, and saw that everything was comfortable. Her thin gray curls bobbed as she examined the water pitcher, saw to the towels, and felt the bed linen for dampness. At the door she stopped and turned around timidly.
"Has—has anything happened to disturb my sister?" she asked. "She—has been almost irritable all day."
Almost!
"She is worried about her colored orphans," I evaded. ”

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Source: Wikisource

Mary Roberts Rinehart, The Window at the White Cat — III. Ninety-Eight Pearls (1910)

“ The meal was over finally, but if I had hoped for another word alone with Margery Fleming that evening, I was foredoomed to disappointment. Letitia sent the girl, not ungently, to bed, and ordered Jane out of the room with a single curt gesture toward the door.
"You'd better wash those cups yourself, Jane," she said. "I don't see any sense anyhow in getting out the best china unless there's real company. Besides, I'm going to talk business." ”

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Source: Wikisource

Mary Roberts Rinehart, The Window at the White Cat — III. Ninety-Eight Pearls (1910)

“ Miss Letitia ignored this, but before she went on she repeated again her cat-like pouncing at the door, only to find the hall empty as before. This time when she sat down it was knee to knee with me.
"Yesterday morning," she said gravely, "I got down the box; they have always been kept in the small safe in the top of my closet. When Jane found a picture of my niece, Margery Fleming, in Harry's room, I thought it likely there was some truth in the gossip Jane heard about the two, and—if there was going to be a wedding—why, the pearls were to go to Margery anyhow. ”

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Source: Wikisource

Mary Roberts Rinehart, The Window at the White Cat — III. Ninety-Eight Pearls (1910)

“ Nor was Miss Letitia's dominance wholly conversational. Her sister Jane was her creature, alternately snubbed and bullied. To Miss Letitia, Jane, in spite of her sixty-five years, was still a child, and sometimes a bad one. Indeed, many a child of ten is more sophisticated. Miss Letitia gave her expurgated books to read, and forbade her to read divorce court proceedings in the newspapers. Once, a recreant housemaid presenting the establishment with a healthy male infant, Jane was sent to the country for a month, and was only brought back when the house had been fumigated throughout. ”

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Source: Wikisource

Mary Roberts Rinehart, The Window at the White Cat — III. Ninety-Eight Pearls (1910)

“ Miss Letitia received me as usual, in the back parlor. Miss Fleming was there also, sewing by a window, and in her straight white dress with her hair drawn back and braided around her head, she looked even younger than before. There was no time for conversation. Miss Letitia launched at once into the extravagance of both molasses and butter on the colored orphans' bread and after a glance at me, and a quick comprehension from my face that I had no news for her, the girl at the window bent over her sewing again.
"Molasses breeds worms," Miss Letitia said decisively. "So does pork. ”

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Source: Wikisource

Mary Roberts Rinehart, The Window at the White Cat — III. Ninety-Eight Pearls (1910)

“ I cried. "If you can find the thief I will be glad to send him where he ought to be, but I couldn't find him."
"I will not have the police," she persisted inflexibly. "They will come around asking impertinent questions, and telling the newspapers that a foolish old woman had got what she deserved." ”

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Source: Wikisource

Mary Roberts Rinehart, The Window at the White Cat — III. Ninety-Eight Pearls (1910)

“ Be that as it may, Katie is a smiling and personable young woman, and I am convinced that had she picked up the alligator on the back-stairs and lost part of the end of her thumb, she would have told Edith that she cut it off with the bread knife, and thus have saved to us Bessie the Beloved and her fascinating trick of taking the end of her tail in her mouth and spinning. ”

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Source: Wikisource

Mary Roberts Rinehart, The Window at the White Cat — III. Ninety-Eight Pearls (1910)

“ On that particular morning, Katie also brought me a letter, and I recognized the cramped and rather uncertain writing of Miss Jane Maitland.
"Dear Mr. Knox: "Sister Letitia wishes me to ask you if you can dine with us to-night, informally. She has changed her mind in regard to the Colored Orphans' Home, and would like to consult you about it. ”

Mary Roberts Rinehart

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Quotes from The Window at the White Cat — III. Ninety-Eight Pearls (Mary Roberts Rinehart)

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