The Upas Tree A Christmas Story for all the Year
[Illustration: "That figure was not his own." From a drawing by F.H. Townsend. (_page 202_)] The Upas Tree _A Christmas Story for all the Year_ By Florence L. Barclay _Author of "The Rosary," etc_ G.P. Putnam's Sons New York and London The Knickerbocker Press
to pace the room. One side of his face was quite grotesquely
distorted, and his lean fingers, thrust precipitously into his
pockets, were digging frenziedly into their own palms. "Oh, but Eve!"
he reiterated sharply, "you will be happy with John! I know you will!
John is a--John is a--Underneath all that slowness, that ponderous
slowness--that--that--Underneath that--"
"That longish--reddish--grayish beard?" interpolated little Eve
Edgarton.
Glaringly for an instant the old eyes and the young eyes challenged
each other, and then the dark eyes retreated suddenly before--not the
strength but the weakness of their opponents.
"Oh, very well, Father," assented little Eve Edgarton. "Only--"
ruggedly the soft little chin thrust itself forth into stubborn
outline again. "Only, Father," she articulated with inordinate
distinctness, "you might just as well understand here and now, I
won't budge one inch toward Nunko-Nono--not one single solitary little
inch toward Nunko-Nono--unless at London, or Lisbon, or Odessa, or
somewhere, you let me fill up all the trunks I want to--with just
plain pretties--to take to Nunko-Nono! It isn't exactly, you know,
like a bride moving fifty miles out from town somewhere," she
explained painstakingly. "When a bride goes out to a place like
Nunko-Nono, it isn't enough, you understand, that she takes just the
things she needs. What she's got to take, you see, is everything under
[Illustration: "That figure was not his own." From a drawing by F.H. Townsend. (_page 202_)] The Upas Tree _A Christmas Story for all the Year_ By Florence L. Barclay _Author of "The Rosary," etc_ G.P. Putnam's Sons New York and London The Knickerbocker Press