a respectable Woman by Kate chopan this is a LibriVox recording all LibriVox recordings are in the public domain for more information or to volunteer please visit librivox.org a respectable Woman by Kate chopan Mrs baroo was a little provoked to learn that her husband expected his friend goil up to spend a week or two on the plantation they had mained a good deal during the winter much of the time had also been passed in New Orleans in various forms of mild dissipation she was looking forward to a period of unbroken rest now and undisturbed T AET with her husband when he informed her that goil was coming up to stay a week or two this was a man she had heard much of but never seen he had been her husband's college friend was now a journalist and in no sense a society man or a man about town which were perhaps some of the reasons she had never met him but she had unconsciously formed an image of him in her mind she pictured him tall slim cynical with eyeglasses and his hands in his pockets and she did not like him goau was slim enough but he wasn't very tall nor very cynical neither did he wear eyeglasses nor carry his hands in his pockets and she rather liked him when he first presented himself but why she liked him she could not explain satisfactorily to herself when she partly attempted to do so she could discover in him none of those brilliant and promising traits which Gaston her husband had often assured her that he possessed on the contrary he sat rather mute and receptive before her chatty eagerness to make him feel at home and in face of Gaston's Frank and wordy Hospitality his manner was as courteous toward her as the most exacting woman could require but he made no direct appeal to her approval or even esteem once settled at the plantation he seemed to like to sit upon the wide Portico in the shade of one of the big Corinthian pillars smoking his cigar lazily and listening attentively to Gaston's experience as a sugar planter this is what I call living he would utter with deep satisfaction as the air that swept across the sugar field caressed him with its warm and scented velvety touch it pleased him also to get on familiar terms with the big dogs that came about him rubbing themselves sociably against his legs he did not care to fish and displayed no eagerness to go out and kill gr specks when Gaston proposed doing so go Nail's personality puzzled Mrs baroa but she liked him indeed he was a lovable inoffensive fellow after a few days when she could understand him no better than At first she gave over being puzzled and remained peaked in this mood she left her husband and her guests for the most part alone together then finding that goell took no manner of exception to her action she imposed her Society upon Him accompanying him in his Idol strolls to the mill and walks along the bature she persistently sought to penetrate the reserve in which he had unconsciously enveloped himself when is he going your friend she one day asked her husband for my part he tires me frightfully not for a week yet dear I can't understand he gives you no trouble no I should like him better if he did if he were more like others and I had to plan somewhat for his comfort and enjoyment Gaston took his wife's pretty face between his hands and looked tenderly and laughingly into her troubled eyes they were making a bit of toilet sociably together in Mrs baroda's dressing room you are full of surprises Mel he said to her even I can never count upon how you are going to act under given conditions he kissed her and turned to fasten his cat before the mirror here you are he went on taking pork goil seriously and making a commotion over him the last thing he would desire or expect commotion she hotly resented nonsense how can you say such a thing commotion indeed but you know you said he was clever so he is but the poor fellow is run down by overwork now that's why I asked him here to take a rest you used to say he was a man of ideas she retorted I expected him to be interesting at least I'm going to the city in the morning to have my spring gowns fitted let me know when Mr goil is gone I shall be at my aunt octavi that night she went and sat alone upon a bench that stood beneath a live oak tree at the edge of the gravel walk she had never known her thoughts or her intentions to be so confused she could gather nothing from them but the feeling of a distinct necessity to quit her home in the morning Mrs baroa heard footsteps crunching the gravel but could discern in the darkness only the approaching red point of a lighted cigar she knew it was goil for her husband did not smoke she hoped to remain unnoticed but her white gown revealed her to him he threw away a cigar and seated himself upon the bench beside her without a suspicion that she might object to his presence your husband told me to bring this to you Mrs Baroda he said handing her a filmy white scarf with which she sometimes enveloped her head and shoulder ERS she accepted the scarf from him with a murmur of thanks and let it lie in her lap he made some commonplace observation upon the banful effect of the night air at the season then as his gaze reached out into the darkness he murmured half to himself night of South Winds night of the large few Stars still nodding night she made no reply to this apostrophe to the night which indeed was not addressed to her Gil was in no sense a diffident man for he was not a self-conscious one his periods of Reserve were not constitutional but the result of moods sitting there beside Mrs Baroda his silence melted for the time he talked freely and intimately in a low hesitating draw that was not unpleasant to hear he talked of the old College days when he and Gaston had been a good deal to each other of the days of keen and Blind Ambitions and large intentions now there was left with him at least a Phil iophic acquiescence to the existing order only a desire to be permitted to exist with now and then a little whiff of genuine life such as he was breathing now her mind only vaguely grasped what he was saying her physical being was for the moment predominant she was not thinking of his words only drinking in the tones of his voice she wanted to reach out her hand in the darkness and touch him with the sensitive tips of her fingers upon the face or the lips she wanted to draw close to him him and Whisper against his cheek she did not care what as she might have done if she had not been a respectable woman the stronger the impulse grew to bring herself near him the further in fact did she draw away from him as soon as she could do so without an appearance of too great rudess she rose and left him there alone before she reached the house gell had lighted a fresh cigar and ended his apostrophe to the night Mrs baroa was greatly tempted that night to tell her husband who was also her friend of this Folly that had seized her but she did not yield to the Temptation beside being a respectable woman she was a very sensible one and she knew there are some battles in life which a human being must fight alone when Gaston arose in the morning his wife had already departed she had taken an early morning train to the city she did not return till goell was gone from under her roof there was some talk of having him back during the summer that followed that is Gaston greatly desired it but this desire yielded to his wife's strenuous opposition however before the year ended she proposed wholly from herself to have goil visit them again her husband was surprised and delighted with the suggestion coming from her I am glad sherem to know that you have finally overcome your dislike for him truly he did not deserve it oh she told him laughingly after pressing a long tender kiss upon his lips I have overcome everything you will see this time I shall be very nice to him end of a respectable Woman by Kate chopan read by Lois Hill