Patricia Wentworth

Name: Two Christmas Eves
Author: Patricia Wentworth

Two Christmas Eves (1910)

Summary

“Two Christmas Eves”, published in 1910, is a work by Patricia Wentworth. It explores elements such as John Alden, Lucy and philanthropic.

Quotes from Two Christmas Eves (Patricia Wentworth)

Patricia Wentworth, Two Christmas Eves (1910)

“ IT WAS on the Christmas Eve a year after Mrs. Ames first became his secretary that John Alden, M. P., asked her to be his wife. For the first six months he had thought her a very good secretary. For the last six months he had been gradually ceasing to think of her as a secretary at all. She was Lucy to him—Lucy, the woman whose hand was on the pulses of his heart; and every day those pulses throbbed more strongly. He wondered how long her husband had been dead, and if she had loved him, and if he had loved her. He wished he knew more about her. ”

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Source: Wikisource

Patricia Wentworth, Two Christmas Eves (1910)

“ And she began to tremble and to catch her breath and laugh.
“Now, Mrs. Ames!” said the doctor sternly. And the white-faced man let go of his companion's arm and put out his hand.
“Lucy!” he said, in a queer, weak voice. “Lucy—my wife——”
But Lucy was clinging to John Alden and fighting for breath and words.
“Oh, I'm not—he's not—” she gasped. And John Alden's hand closed on her wrist like a vice.
“Be quiet!” he said roughly. “Lucy, stop—stop, I say! Pull yourself together! No! you can if you try—no—stop at once—at once!” ”

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Source: Wikisource

Patricia Wentworth, Two Christmas Eves (1910)

“ Lucy was left alone. She sat down on a chair and tried to think, but felt too dazed. Suddenly she began to cry, and was somehow glad that she could cry for her husband, who had been dead for nearly two years, and dead to her for five.
When she had cried her fill she looked up, and there was the Christmas motto on the wall before her—“Peace and Good-will.” Peace for the dead, and good-will—yes, good-will to every one. It seemed to mean something to her now.
She looked at the words with swimming eyes, and then John Alden came in and took her in his arms. They did not speak—they did not kiss. ”

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Source: Wikisource

Patricia Wentworth, Two Christmas Eves (1910)

“ She had thought him a god, and he was only a man, after all. Reality seemed incredibly ugly, inconceivably cruel. She was very forlorn and alone, and she was only three-and-twenty. John Alden never knew how he let her go, but she went, and he found her work with a philanthropic lady and got a man secretary for himself.
He went to see Lucy once a month, and every time he found her a little whiter, a little lonelier, a little dearer. She didn't like the philanthropic lady, who was much too philanthropic to consider a secretary as anything but a machine. ”

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Source: Wikisource

Patricia Wentworth, Two Christmas Eves (1910)

“ Her pulses beat time to them. She thought they would never stop treading, treading on her heart. Then the handle of the door turned, and she put her hand quickly to her lips, with a little gasp—a breath of sheer panic terror. The door opened so slowly that she thought it would never stop, and two men came in and stopped just inside the door. One was the gray-haired doctor of the asylum, and the other, who hung limping on his arm—the other, white-faced, furtive-eyed——
“Oh!” said Lucy Ames, on a long, shaking breath. “Oh!” ”

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Source: Wikisource

Patricia Wentworth, Two Christmas Eves (1910)

“ He said he didn't want me any more—his brother could have me, or any one—I was to go away. And Gerald said, 'No; come here to me, Lucy.' I saw that they were mad, a I ran right out of the house; and there was a policeman there, and I told him, and he fetched a doctor and they took them away. Every one was very kind. Lady Calcott came to see. She had known my mother and she had me taught typing and shorthand, so that I could earn my living. You see, there was very little money. They are still the asylum—at least, Mr. Ames is. His brother died last year.”
John Alden half turned his head. ”

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Source: Wikisource

Patricia Wentworth, Two Christmas Eves (1910)

“ The longest-living author of this work died in 1961, so this work is in the public domain in countries and areas where the copyright term is the author's life plus 62 years or less. This work may be in the public domain in countries and areas with longer native copyright terms that apply the rule of the shorter term to foreign works. ”

Patricia Wentworth

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