The Mayor's Wife

Name: The Mayor's Wife
Author: Anna Katharine Green

by Anna Katharine Green

Pages: about 244
Category: Literature & Fiction
Language: English
Reading time: 4.5 h at 250 wpm

Start readingThe whole book, as cards or one word at a time. 2.5 h at 450 wpm in Read mode.

From the opening

But her eyes are on our faces, she is scanning us all with that close and calculating gaze which lets nothing escape. She has passed me by--my heart goes down, down--when suddenly her look returns and she singles me out.
There is a rustle about me; five disappointed girls sink back into their seats as I quickly rise and follow Miss Davies out.
“You are discreet, and you evidently desire a position. You will find a gentleman in my sitting-room. If you come to terms with him, well and good. If not, I shall expect you to forget all about him and his errand the moment you leave his presence. You understand me?”
“I think so,” I replied, meeting her steady look with one equally composed. Part of my strength--and I think I have some strength--lies in the fact that I am quietest when most deeply roused. “I am not to talk whatever the outcome.”
Stirred still further and therefore outwardly even more calm than before, I stopped her as she was moving on and ventured a single query.
“This position--involving secrecy--is it one you would advise me to take, even if I did not stand in need of it so badly?”
“Yes. The difficulties will not be great to a discreet person. It is a first-class opportunity for a young woman as experienced as yourself.”
“Thank you,” was my abrupt but grateful rejoinder; and, obeying her silent gesture, I opened the door of the sitting-room and passed in. A gentleman standing at one of the windows turned quickly at the sound of my step and came forward. Instantly whatever doubt I may have felt concerning the nature of the work about to be proposed to me yielded to the certainty that, however much it might involve of the strange and difficult, the man whose mission it was to seek my aid was one to inspire confidence and respect.

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The Mayor's Wife

From the opening

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