Emily Climbs Read Online Free PDF Page B

any way, but now I said,
    “‘Dean, please don’t sneer at yourself like that – not with me, at least. I
never
think of you as Jarback.’
    “Dean took my hand and looked right into my eyes as if he were trying to
read my very soul
.
    “‘Are you sure of that, Emily? Don’t you often wish that I wasn’t lame – and crooked?’
    “‘For your sake I do,’ I answered, ‘but as far as I am concerned it doesn’t make a bit of difference – and never will.’
    “‘And never will!’ Dean repeated the words emphatically. ‘If I were sure of that, Emily– if I were only sure of that.’
    “‘You
can
be sure of it,’ I declared quite warmly. I was vexed because he seemed to doubt it – and yet something in his expression made me feel a little uncomfortable. It suddenly made me think of the time he rescued me from the cliff on Malvern Bay and told me my life belonged to him since he had saved it. I don’t like the thought of my life belonging to any one but myself– not
any one
, even Dean, much as I like him. And
in some ways
I like Dean better than any one in the world.
    “When it got darker the stars came out and we studied them through Dean’s splendid new field-glasses. It was very fascinating. Dean knows all about the stars – it seems to me he knows all about everything. But when I said so, he said,
    “‘There is one secret I do not know – I would give everything else I
do
know for it – one secret – perhaps I shall never know it. The way to win – the way to win –’
    “‘What?’ I asked curiously.
    “‘My heart’s desire,’ said Dean dreamily, looking at a shimmering star that seemed to be hung on the very tip of one of the Three Princesses. ‘It seems now as desirable and unobtainable as that gem-like star, Emily. But – who knows?’
    “I wonder what it is Dean wants so much.
    “May 4, 19–
    “Dean brought me a lovely portfolio from Paris, and I have copied my favourite verse from
The Fringed Gentian
on the inside of the cover. I will read it over every day and remember my vow to ‘climb the Alpine Path.’ I begin to see that I will have to do a good bit of scrambling, though I once expected, I think, to soar right up to ‘that far-off goal’ on shining wings. Mr. Carpenter has banished that fond dream.
    “‘Dig in your toes and hang on with your teeth – that’s the only way,’ he says.
    “Last night in bed I thought out some lovely titles for the books I’m going to write in the future
–A Lady of High Degree, True to Faith and Vow, Oh, Rare Pale Margaret
(I got that from Tennyson),
The Caste of Vere de Vere
(ditto) and
A Kingdom by the Sea
.
    “Now, if I can only get ideas to match the titles!
    “I am writing a story called
The House Among the Rowans
– also a very good title, I think. But the love talk still bothers me. Everything of the kind I write seems so stiff and silly the minute I write it down that it infuriates me. I asked Dean if he could teach me how to write it properly because he promised long ago that he would, but he said I was too young yet – said it in that mysterious way of his which always seems to convey the idea that there is so much more in his words than the mere sound of them expresses. I wish I could speak so
significantly
because it makes you
very interesting
.
    “This evening after school Dean and I began to read
The Alhambra
over again, sitting on the stone bench in the garden. That book always makes me feel as if I had opened a little door and stepped straight into fairyland.
    “‘How I would love to see the Alhambra!’ I said.
    “‘We will go to see it sometime – together,’ said Dean.
    “‘Oh, that would be
lovely,’
I cried. ‘Do you think we can ever manage it, Dean?’
    “Before Dean could answer I heard Teddy’s whistle in Lofty John’s bush – the dear little whistle of two short high notes and one long low one, that is
our signal
.
    “‘Excuse me – I must go – Teddy’s calling me,’ I