Books › The second violin, 1906 › scan 26
Scan 26
The second violin, 1906
12 lines. Read by computer on 3 September 2026. Printed page 6. See the scan on archive.org.
1was all the truce necessary. Charlotte's sulks never lasted longer than Lanse's impatience.
3They laid aside their instruments and gathered round their father. Graceful, brown-eyed Celia sat down beside him; Charlotte's curly black hair mingled with his heavy iron-gray locks as she perched upon the arm of his chair, her scarlet flannel arm under his head. The youngest boy, Justin, threw himself flat on the hearth-rug, chin propped on elbow, watching the fire; sixteen-year-old Jeff helped himself to a low stool, clasping long arms about long legs as his knees approached his head in this posture; and the eldest son, pausing, drew up a chair and sat down to face the group.
5"Now for it," he said. "It looks serious—a consultation of the whole. Mayn't we have mother to back us?"
7"I've sent mother to bed," Mr. Birch explained. "She wanted to come down to hear you play, but I wouldn't let her. And indeed there are moments——" He glanced quizzically at his eldest son.
9"Yes, sir," Lansing responded, promptly. "There are moments when the furnace pipes convey up-stairs as much din as she can bear."
11Mr. Birch sat looking thoughtfully into the fire for a minute or two.
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