Ralph Stock

Name: South of the Line — The Lonely Lady
Author: Ralph Stock

South of the Line — The Lonely Lady (1922)

Summary

“South of the Line — The Lonely Lady”, published in 1922, is a work by Ralph Stock. It explores elements such as Strode, Felisi and Luana.

Quotes from South of the Line — The Lonely Lady (Ralph Stock)

Ralph Stock, South of the Line — The Lonely Lady (1922)

“ Felisi sighed.
And curiously enough Mrs. Strode chanced to sigh at much the same moment as she leant over the yacht's rail watching an outrigger canoe and its diminutive bronze occupant rising and falling on the gentle swell. What it must be to have nothing, and therefore happiness! To live in an earthly paradise and a sulu. To know nothing of the fetish of civilization. To be something more than an automaton to the man you love, even though he be your husband.... ”

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Source: Wikisource

Ralph Stock, South of the Line — The Lonely Lady (1922)

“ The following morning, soon after a blood-red sun had climbed out of the sea, a canoe shot from the Ajax's lee and headed for the barrier reef.
To Mrs. Strode, paddling joyfully in the bows clad in a boy's bathing suit and a kimono, the world was young that morning and full of promise. Why was it ever necessary to do anything else than speed over blue water, with spindrift lashing the face, and the deep-toned roar of surf filling the universe and drowning all care like an opiate? ”

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Source: Wikisource

Ralph Stock, South of the Line — The Lonely Lady (1922)

“ A shadow appeared in the pool, deep down, then shot to the surface like a meteor, resolving itself into a sleek head that turned on Strode its staring, terrified eyes. It was the native girl—alone. The fact smote Strode with the force of a physical blow. For a moment he crouched there, stunned into impotence; then without word or look, plunged into the pool.
As a dive it was a poor performance, Felisi decided, and it soon became evident that Bunny could not swim, either. ”

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Source: Wikisource

Ralph Stock, South of the Line — The Lonely Lady (1922)

“ Strode, with dancing eyes. "What have we to do with time?" She took Felisi's hand in hers. "Perhaps you didn't know you had married a mermaid. Behold, oh, Caliban, we are about to show off!"
The two figures slid beneath the water as silently as seals. The ripples expanded in ever-widening circles, and were still.
At the end of perhaps half a minute, which to Strode seemed more like half an hour, he went to the edge of the pool and looked down. There was nothing—nothing but a pale green abyss fringed with swaying weed. Stella had always been fearless where water was concerned, he remembered. ”

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Source: Wikisource

Ralph Stock, South of the Line — The Lonely Lady (1922)

“ Strode did want was hard to determine, so Parks retired gracefully. For some time she leant over the rail looking down into an upturned elfin face, and noting the perfect teeth, the velvety skin, the brown wistful eyes, and above all the wealth of blue-black hair—assimilating, in short, all those qualities in Felisi of Luana that helped so materially in the sale of imitation pink coral—or mangoes. ”

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Source: Wikisource

Ralph Stock, South of the Line — The Lonely Lady (1922)

“ A minute must have passed, and a minute was a long time, a deuced long time. It could not be good. He must put his foot down... Strode dropped to his knees at the edge of the pool and found himself watching a minute fish, striped like a zebra, that darted out from a coral cranny, and hovered like a marine butterfly in the translucent water. A squid trailed by.... But this was preposterous! A prank? How could that be? Stella was down there somewhere—somehow.... A thought leapt to Strode's mind that caused his unruly heart to stand still. ”

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Source: Wikisource

Ralph Stock, South of the Line — The Lonely Lady (1922)

“ If you had moved in civilized circles for a space; if, that is, you had dispensed imitation pink coral on the wharves of Suva to every passenger with a heart between San Francisco and Sydney, and observed the ways of the white man as had Felisi of Luana, you would know that the display of vulgar curiosity is detrimental to dignity. ”

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Source: Wikisource

Ralph Stock, South of the Line — The Lonely Lady (1922)

“ Aggravating, too, considering that at that particular moment he rather needed her. Someone to talk to about one's work, you know. Necessary sometimes, or one became atrophied. To-day of all days—and for so long—it must be nearly three. ”

Ralph Stock

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Quotes from South of the Line — The Lonely Lady (Ralph Stock)

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