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Walpole, Hugh, Sir, 1884-1941

"The Captives"

Toms."
Perhaps both Grace and Paul had a sharp troubling impression of
having caught some strange creature against their will. Maggie had
risen from the table and stood for the moment by the door facing
them, her short hair, standing thick about her head, contrasting
with her thick white neck, her body balanced clumsily but with great
strength, like that of a boy who has not yet grown to his full
maturity. She tossed her head back in a way that she had and was
gone.
The Caroline affair was of another sort. Some days after Christmas,
Maggie went to have tea with Caroline. She did not enjoy it at all.
She felt at once that there was something wrong with the house. It
was full of paintings in big gold frames, looking-glasses, and
marble statues, and there was a large garden that had an artificial
look of having been painted by some clever artist in the course of a
night. Maggie did not pay a long visit. There were a number of men
present; there was also a gramophone, and after tea they turned up
the carpet in the dining-room and danced.
Caroline, in spite of her noise and laughter, did not seem to Maggie
to be happy.


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