Lab
Library
Journal
Shop
Sign in
to keep
Share image
1
290
Zuleika Dobson; Or, An Oxford Love Story
·
Sir Max Beerbohm
259
Katie
had
sought
refuge
in
the
need
for
“putting
the
gentlemen’s
rooms
straight,”
against
the
arrival
of
the
two
families
to-morrow.
Duster
in
hand,
and
by
the
light
of
a
single
candle
that
barely
survived
the
draught
from
the
open
window,
she
moved
to
and
fro
about
the
Duke’s
room,
a
wan
and
listless
figure,
casting
queerest
shadows
on
the
ceiling.
There
were
other
candles
that
she
might
have
lit,
but
this
ambiguous
gloom
suited
her
sullen
humour.
Yes,
I
am
sorry
to
say,
Katie
was
sullen.
She
had
not
ceased
to
mourn
the
Duke;
but
it
was
even
more
anger
than
grief
that
she
felt
at
his
dying.
She
was
as
sure
as
ever
that
he
had
not
loved
Miss
Dobson;
but
this
only
made
it
the
more
outrageous
that
he
had
died
because
of
her.
What
was
there
in
this
woman
that
men
should
so
demean
themselves
for
her?
Katie,
as
you
know,
had
at
first
been
unaffected
by
the
death
of
the
undergraduates
at
large.
But,
because
they
too
had
died
for
Zuleika,
she
was
bitterly
incensed
against
them
now.
What
could
they
have
admired
in
such
a
woman?
She
didn’t
even
look
like
a
lady.
Katie
caught
the
dim
reflection
of
herself
in
the
mirror.
She
took
the
candle
from
the
table,
and
examined
the
reflection
closely.
She
was
sure
she
was
just
as
pretty
as
Miss
Dobson.
It
was
only
the
clothes
that
made
the
difference--the
clothes
and
the
behaviour.
Katie
threw
back
her
head,
and
smiled
brilliantly,
hand
on
hip.
She
nodded
reassuringly
at
herself;
and
the
black
pearl
and
the
pink
danced
a
duet.
She
put
the
candle
down,
and
undid
her
hair,
roughly
parting
it
on
one
side,
and
letting
it
sweep
down
over
the
further
eyebrow.
She
fixed
it
in
that
fashion,
and
posed
accordingly.
Now!
But
gradually
her
smile
relaxed,
and
a
mist
came
to
her
eyes.
For
she
had
to
admit
that
even
so,
after
all,
she
hadn’t
just
that
something
which
somehow
Miss
Dobson
had.
She
put
away
from
her
the
hasty
dream
she
had
had
of
a
whole
future
generation
of
undergraduates
drowning
themselves,
every
one,
in
honour
of
her.
She
went
wearily
on
with
her
work.
Marker
Marker
Fine marker
White-out
Fine white-out
Circle
Paint
Unmarker
Hand
Scalpel
Dice
Sieve
Purify
Undo
Redo
Start over
