Shandon Bells (Volume 1); A Novel (Paperback)

Purchase of this book includes free trial access to www.million-books.com where you can read more than a million books for free. This is an OCR edition with typos. Excerpt from book: CHAPTER III. A FIRST CAST. Fitzgerald did not get to sleep soon that night. As he walked rapidly away down the Fulham Road it seemed to him as if five-and-thirty different ways of beginning this fateful review were pressing in on his mind, and that he had lost all power to decide which was preferable. If he could have seen but the first page of the novel, it might have given him some clue, perhaps. But here he was eagerly and anxiously sketching out plans for reviewing a book of the contents of which he was wholly ignorant; and it appeared to him as if his brain had got the better of him altogether and was running ahead in this aimless, distracted, and fruitless fashion quite independently of his control. At length he reached a dimly-lit little courtyard in the Fulham Road, on one side of which stood a plain two-storied building. The ground-floor consisted of a large studio; the upper floor served as a bedroom, and that Fitzgerald had secured as his lodging. He went carefully up the outside stair; unlocked the door; lit a match and then a lamp; and here he was in the middle of a fairly large low-roofed apartment, somewhat scantily furnished, but quite sufficiently so for all his wants. The floor was for the most part bare: and here and there was a bit of faded Turkey carpet or a witheredold rug which had most likely been flung out from the studio below as being even too worn and decayed for painting purposes. It was a fine place to think in, for there were few temptations in the way of luxury about; and he had plenty to think of. The projected magazine; Kitty's surprise on hearing the good news; the wonderful evening he had just spent, and the strange contrast between the two great men; nay, precise conversation of which he could remember every word?all these things were...