Sad Cypress Read Online Free PDF

Youcouldn’t stand, sit or lie in it. You’d think anyone condemned to that would die in a few weeks. Not at all. One man lived for sixteen years in an iron cage, was released and lived to a hearty old age.”
    Laura Welman said:
    â€œWhat’s the point of this story?”
    Peter Lord said:
    â€œThe point is that one’s got an instinct to live. One doesn’t live because one’s reason assents to living. People who, as we say, ‘would be better dead,’ don’t want to die! People who apparently have got everything to live for just let themselves fade out of life because they haven’t got the energy to fight.”
    â€œGo on.”
    â€œThere’s nothing more. You’re one of the people who really want to live, whatever you say about it! And if your body wants to live, it’s no good your brain dishing out the other stuff.”
    Mrs. Welman said with an abrupt change of subject:
    â€œHow do you like it down here?”
    Peter Lord said, smiling:
    â€œIt suits me fine.”
    â€œIsn’t it a bit irksome for a young man like you? Don’t you want to specialize? Don’t you find a country GP practice rather boring?”
    Lord shook his sandy head.
    â€œNo, I like my job. I like people, you know, and I like ordinary everyday diseases. I don’t really want to pin down the rare bacillus of an obscure disease. I like measles and chicken pox and all the rest of it. I like seeing how different bodies react to them. I like seeing if I can’t improve on recognized treatment. The trouble with me is I’ve got absolutely no ambition. I shall stay here till I grow side-whiskers and people begin saying, ‘Of course, we’ve always hadDr. Lord, and he’s a nice old man: but he is very old-fashioned in his methods and perhaps we’d better call in young so-and-so, who’s so very up to date….’”
    â€œH’m,” said Mrs. Welman. “You seem to have got it all taped out!”
    Peter Lord got up.
    â€œWell,” he said. “I must be off.”
    Mrs. Welman said:
    â€œMy niece will want to speak to you, I expect. By the way, what do you think of her? You haven’t seen her before.”
    Dr. Lord went suddenly scarlet. His very eyebrows blushed. He said:
    â€œI—oh! she’s very good-looking, isn’t she? And—eh—clever and all that, I should think.”
    Mrs. Welman was diverted. She thought to herself:
    â€œHow very young he is, really….”
    Aloud she said:
    â€œYou ought to get married.”
    IV
    Roddy had wandered into the garden. He had crossed the broad sweep of lawn and along a paved walk and had then entered the walled kitchen garden. It was well-kept and well-stocked. He wondered if he and Elinor would live at Hunterbury one day. He supposed that they would. He himself would like that. He preferred country life. He was a little doubtful about Elinor. Perhaps she’d like living in London better….
    A little difficult to know where you were with Elinor. She didn’t reveal much of what she thought and felt about things. He liked that about her… He hated people who reeled off their thoughts and feelings to you, who took it for granted that you wanted to know all their inner mechanism. Reserve was always more interesting.
    Elinor, he thought judicially, was really quite perfect. Nothing about her ever jarred or offended. She was delightful to look at, witty to talk to—altogether the most charming of companions.
    He thought complacently to himself:
    â€œI’m damned lucky to have got her. Can’t think what she sees in a chap like me.”
    For Roderick Welman, in spite of his fastidiousness, was not conceited. It did honestly strike him as strange that Elinor should have consented to marry him.
    Life stretched ahead of him pleasantly enough. One knew pretty well where one was; that was always a blessing. He supposed that Elinor and he