Anita

“ She had wherewith to meet him, and her gaze was honest, without coquetry or evasion.
"Oh, I do like you!" she cried with quick colour. "I do! I do! I always thought somebody like you'd come along some day, just like this, and then—it just seemed foolish to expect it. But look here. I told you a story, right off. My name's not Anita—it's Annie. I took to pretending it's Anita because—it does seem sort of silly, but I got to tell you—because I saw it in the movies, and it seemed sort of cute and different, and Annie's such a plain, common name. ”

“ Lawrence, and as the young are appalled at the thought of life going out, she watched with palpitating fear what seemed a steady journey toward the land where spirits dwell. But always on those visits to the woman who seemed slipping from life into the great ocean of forgetfulness, there was a thrill of joy for Anita; she could see Broussard's picture. Young and imaginative souls live and thrive on very little.
The introspective life that Anita led was strongly expressed in her music. Never had Neroda a pupil who was willing to work so hard as Anita, and the result charmed him. ”

“ Soon Anita appeared—preceded and heralded by a faint rustling from soft and clinging skirts, that swept my nerves like a love-tune. I suppose for all men there is a charm, a spell, beyond expression, in the sight of a delicate beautiful young woman, especially if she be dressed in those fine fabrics that look as if only a fairy loom could have woven them; and when a man loves the woman who bursts upon his vision, that spell must overwhelm him, especially if he be such a man as was I—a product of life's roughest factories, hard and harsh, an elbower and a trampler, a hustler and a bluffer. ”

“ It takes about all a man's time and thoughts; but behind it all was the longing that I had as a ragged, little boy, and the belief in something bright and beautiful that was some day coming to me. And you seemed the embodiment of it, Anita; a little, lovely, nestling girl, with dancing feet and roses in her hair.”
“Oh!” she cried, rising and staring at him, a strange expression in her eyes, “that was what you wanted, too, was it? The eternal romance that our hearts and souls long for, and that we're always trying to find. ”

“ He was lying on his elbow by and by, eagerly listening, when the doorway was blocked by a shadow. The next instant Anita had sprung to and was kneeling beside him.
“Heart of my heart, have I done well? Thou art sound and whole? O, speak to me, speak to me, that I may hear thy voice and gather its forgiveness!”
For what? She was sobbing and fondling him in a very lust of entreaty.
“Thou hast done well,” he said. “So, we were seen indeed, Anita?”
“Yes,” she wept, holding his face to her bosom. “And, O! I agonize for thee to be up and away, Eugenio, for I fear.”
“Hush! I am strong. ”

“ And there one might perhaps be content to let it rest, but for the fact that Anita, the lady of the "Attraction," is worthy of a better fate. The principal man of the book, who, after much wobbling consideration, and in spite of his quite fortuitous marriage with some one else in the meantime, discovers at last that he does love Anita, is the merest peg on which to hang endless philosophisings ”

“ Anita went back to her mother with this information, and from that afternoon they watched each day for the appearance of the two violinists. The young man always strode along with his head in the air. He was broad-shouldered, free of motion, athletic. "Like our boys at home who live out of doors," remarked Mrs. Beltrán. "I'd like to know him."
"I like the uncle's looks, too," returned Anita. "He has such a humorous face, and such kind eyes. I met him one day face to face. He dresses like an Englishman but he looks like an American. I wonder if they could be Americans." ”

“ Gone that puzzling dread which had finally enveloped Ken and which was to be replaced by an almost equally puzzling restlessness until Anita restored his faith in himself. Anita included, of course, the dance. The dance blossomed and grew ripe. He was made for it. It transformed him. Now Anita had poured much of it into the mould of her old vaudeville act. She had taught him the difficult Russian acrobatic steps. With the occasional aid of Peter Delaney, she had taught him her soft-shoe routine. ”

“ Raquel looked at her, and smiled strangely, and rose to her feet.
"Ai! you are right, Anita; it is without doubt [279] more wise to love like that. All the girls in the willows think so." As she saw Ana's face flush, she turned in quick contrition. "Ah, forgive me! You do not love as they do, I am sure—those fat brown animals; but, Anita darling, I am a tired soul, and rest is somewhere far beyond the ranges, and—ah, well,—forgive me!" ”

“ And that though the woman loves him so much that she kisses her own hands where his lips have been, and though he loves her so much that he is half mad at denial, yet he will leave her always there in the little niche of the altar,—just above his head, but in reach of his hands; and the hands will never try to lift her down, Anita. ”

“ Alas! that is too true, my dearest child—let me perish sooner than risk the honour of my children. Felipe Le Brun, Anita, is I believe the only man who can save us. He has influence with the government, all my floating capital is in his hands: I have long known, and placed confidence in him: it is he who has informed us of our present danger, and is prepared to assist us out of it. He has long loved you, Anita, and I believe he is not indifferent to you. ”

“ He was always willing to sing and Anita was always ready to play the violin obligatos for him. Broussard developed wonderful knowledge of song birds and entirely abandoned game chickens, and was astonishingly regular in his attendance at the chapel, which induced Anita to think him a model of Christian piety. If Broussard had been a conceited man he would have seen that Anita's heart was his long before he asked for it; but being a modest fellow and thinking Anita was but a little lower than the angels, Broussard paid her the delicate and tender court which women love so well. ”

“ Anita suddenly swept the strings with her bow and dashed into another Hungarian dance of Brahms, herself taking pretty dancing steps and pirouetting as she played, sinking upon one knee and then rising, the toe of her little slipper pointing skyward. She felt an unaccountable gaiety of heart that day. Why, she knew not, only that some strong current of emotion inspired her arms, her hands, her little, twinkling feet, as she danced the length of the drawing-room and back again. Suddenly the music stopped with a crash. She looked up and saw Broussard standing in the door. ”

“ Now that you know whom you may have to meet, will you ride with me, or back to the road?"
"Back to the plaza?" asked Doña Raquel. "Anita mia, all this has come to me in the inner court of the aliso portal: it does not belong to the outer world; neither do we, I think, to-night. Whatever the shadows of the cañon cover for us, I think, we must ride upward to meet them. Your friend's saint, the Madalena of the niche, will watch over us. When we go back she shall have candles and roses—red ones, Anita!"
Ana was voluble in her delight, and rode up the valley with a great load lifted from her heart. ”

“ Madre, that curate, that Mr. Kirkby, has he ever married?"
"No, he is living in a town, a little village rather, not far from my native home. He has a very good living now, is rector and is greatly beloved by his people."
"How faithful some men are," sighed Anita. "I suppose he has never forgotten you."
"No, he has not forgotten me, but long ago we accepted our relationship upon the basis of a warm friendship. There is no romance there, Anita dear, so don't be building up one." ”

“ Anita tried to steady her voice and wondered if he observed the thrill which she realized she could not control.
"And that first day, when I asked you to play the Chopin étude, do you remember? It was one which she played the oftenest. She played marvellously well. But, dear me, I know I must be boring you. There is nothing so ungallant as to descant upon one woman's charms when you are talking to another." ”

“ And do you call yerself Spanish or American, or is it English ye'll be? My head is all queered with it."
"I would rather call myself American, although I have least claim to that," acknowledged Anita. "I love Spain, and I love England, too, but it is America which seems most my mother country, for it is there that I have been happiest and there I have suffered most."
"Ah, yes, ah, yes," sighed the old lady. "Joy and sorrow, joy and sorrow, the memories of them, and the old laughter and tears; they make a place the heart clings to. I know, I know."
"You have always lived in Sussex?" ”

“ I could not help laughing. "Oh no, Anita," I said; "we do not have shrines in our religion."
Anita's face clouded. "Iddio mio!" she said, "but the Virgin will keep the dearest Signora Maynardi. Biagio and I have vowed to keep a candle always burning for her in Ara Cœli! The dearest, most beautiful of Signoras;" and Anita walked disconsolately on, down the stairs.
I found Dora kneeling before the "gold table," arranging great masses of maiden-hair fern around the wood carving and in the shelf below. ”

“ She pointed him to a great chair and seated herself on the corner of a leather divan nearly as big as a touring-car. In the dark, hard frame she looked richer than ever. He could not help seeing how much more important she was than his Anita.
Anita was pretty and peachy, delicious, kissable, huggable, a pleasant armful, a lapload of girlish mischief. Charity was beautiful, noble, perilous, a woman to live for, fight for, die for. Kedzie was to Charity as Rosalind to Isolde.
It was time for Jim to play Tristan, but he had no more blank verse in him than a polo score-card. ”

“ As I saw the rapt and ecstatic expression of her face, I understood why Anita had believed the gold table to be a shrine.
"They do not suit it like the anemones," said she, sadly; "and I can have no more anemones this year."
"So poor Anita told me just now on the stairs," replied I. "She was almost crying, she was so sorry she could not get them for you. But I am sure, dear, the ferns are beautiful on it. I think the pale green looks even better than the purple with the gold and the pale yellow wood."
"I like the purple best," said Dora ”

“ Anita demanded boldly.
"Yes," he said. "You have on your Erentz suits: are you going to the dome-roof? Then go."
But that was what we did not want to do. Anita's glance seemed to tell me to let her handle this. I turned toward one of the cubby windows; she said sweetly:
"Are you in charge of this room? Show me how that projector is operated; it will be invincible against the Grantline camp."
"Yes."
had my back to them for a moment. Through the breast-high oval I could see down across the deck-space and out through the side dome windows. And my heart suddenly leaped into my throat. ”

“ Sometimes when Anita’s arms were around his neck he would put her from him quickly with a feeling that he was not worthy to touch one so pure and innocent and who trusted him so implicitly. It would kill her if she knew the truth, but she never should know it, he thought, and for her sake and his daughter’s he was deciding to quit his mode of life when her sudden death paralyzed for a time every faculty of his mind and left him without the ballast he needed. ”

“ And, the evening before the great day, I, going for a final look round, could find no flaw serious enough to justify the sinking feeling that came over me every time I thought of what Anita would think when she saw my efforts to realize her dream. I set out for “home” half a dozen times at least, that afternoon, before I pulled myself together, called myself an ass, and, with a pause at Delmonico's for a drink, which I ordered and then rejected, finally pushed myself in at the door. What, a state my nerves were in!
Alva had departed; Anita was waiting for me in her sitting-room. ”

“ Tears are womanly; and I have since seen them shed, under less provocation, by fairer-skinned women than this simple, swarthy daughter of Mexico.
It was but natural that the parents of the girl should feign surprise and reluctance if they did not feel it. The Doña Anita's mother offered several trivial objections. Her daughter had never taken her into her confidence over any suitor. And did Anita really love Enrique Lopez of Las Palomas? Even if she did, could he support her, being but a vaquero? This brought Uncle Lance to the front. He had known Enrique since the day of his birth. ”

“ And Anita proposed that we go to Archimedes, climb in slope and await the coming of the brigand ship. Miko would be off in the Mare Imbrium. Or at least, we hoped so. He would signal his ship. But Anita and I, closer to it, would also signal it—and, posing as brigands, could join it!
"Remember, Gregg, I am Anita Prince, George's sister." Her voice trembled as, she mentioned her dead brother. "They know that George was in Miko's pay, and I am his sister.... It will help convince them." ”

“ For me Señora Sepulvida would be a marvelous mother-in-law, because she's my kind of people and we understand each other. Really, I feel tremendously complimented because, even before the oil strike saved the family from financial ruin, Anita did not lack opportunities for many a more brilliant match."
"She's—dazzling," Kay murmured drearily. "What a brilliant wife she will be for you!"
"Anita is far too fine a woman for such a sacrifice. I've always entertained a very great affection for her and she for me. There's only one small bug in our amber." ”