Differences

This shows you the differences between two versions of the page.

--- the_ninth_child_2 [2026/04/04 02:34] – iam
+++ the_ninth_child_2 [2026/07/21 08:59] (current) – iam
@@ Line 1: / Line 1: @@
-====== The Inner Life 1933 ======
+====== The Inner Life ======
-“What made you cry?” she asked, when she had settled the boy
+== THE HERALD OF THE NEW AGE | MARCH 1935 ==
-and the girl beside her at the tea table in her schoolroom.
+----
-“I ’Twere the cold,” Daisy explained. “We’ve only got the
-kitchen fire, and the others don’t let him come near that.”
-“What others?” asked Dolores, involuntarily looking across the
+<WRAP justify>
-room at the fire blazing on the hearth.
+The baby was a tiny little creature, but finely formed. She rarely smiled, but her serious face was illumined by two great brown eyes. She was called Dolores.
-“Lord, the misses ’as got four kids of her own. There ain’t
+When she grew into childhood she developed a bewildering personality. As a rule she was so bright and merry, but there were days when she was strangely sober, when her eyes were wistful and her tiny figure bent as though she bore a burden on her back. Strangely enough at those times she would choose to dance, and in front of the long mirror in her own room, with her little face puckered into a tragic mask, she would sing an air and dance in perfect measure with her songs. Her adopted mother often watched her, and wondered what the future would hold for this odd child. She decided to allow Dolores to cultivate her talent, and for this purpose took her to a great artist.
-much room for Jim.”
-“Why does she have him, then?” questioned Dolores.
+Dolores was an apt pupil. Her hands and feet were docile to her will, and soon her nerves and muscles grew equally submissive. She became an expert in the intricate art of harmonious movement.
-“’Coz she knows I wouldn’t stay without ’im, an’ then oo’d do
+In her ninth year two events occurred. She knew nothing of the mother who had died at her birth, nor had anyone ever spoken to her of her brothers and sisters. Yet on her ninth birthday Dolores climbed on to the lap of her adopted mother, and laying her head on her shoulder whispered:
-all the work in the ’ouse?”
-Dolores said nothing, and the three began their tea. Daisy and
+“I should like to see the others.”
-Jim ate silently, the absorption of unaccustomed buns and cakes
-commanding all their attention. When Dolores watched them
-her eyes, always so grave, grew tragic. She looked white and
-intent, and her face had a strained expression, as though she were
-trying to hear some one speak, yet there was perfect silence in the
-room.
-It was also in her ninth year that Dolores was taken by her
+“What others?”
-dancing teacher to a theatre, where she danced before the actor-
-manager who was producing a new piece. She was engaged as a
-star dancer, at a high price.
-Her adopted mother protested at first, saying that she would
+“Daisy, Bob and Bill, and Nell, who is a cripple, and needs more care than all of them.”
-always provide for Dolores, and that there was no need for her
-to dance. But Dolores pleaded so earnestly that at last she yielded.
-One engagement led to another, each more remunerative than
+Her adopted mother sought to conceal her surprise. How did the child know of her brothers and sisters?
-the last. The genius of movement burned like a flame in those
-twinkling feet and in the rounded hands up-held like a votive cup,
-and Dolores in her silken draperies was like a young goddess with
-pinions at her heels. But she was always grave.
-Dolores danced for nine years before the public.
+It seemed best to accept the strange occurrence as a natural event, and Dolores was allowed to see her eldest sister. Daisy came with Jim, the youngest boy. They seemed made of coarser clay than Dolores. Daisy was a strong girl in her teens, coarsened by hard work, with red, raw hands, a good-natured face, and the common accent of her class.
-On her eighteenth birthday she came to her adopted mother,
+Jim was a pale and sickly boy, with slow, heavy movements, but his eyes were bright and intelligent, although they were reddened round the lids with crying. Dolores at once noticed this.
-and her sombre mood had fled, her eyes were bright and laughing.
+</WRAP>
-“I’ve done with dancing,” she said.
-“Done with it? But I thought you liked it!”
-----
-The Ninth Child 2
 {{ :3503-19.jpg |}}
 ----
- //⥳ [[the_ninth_child|previous page]] // | // [[the_ninth_child_3|next page]] ⥴ //
+//⥳ [[the_ninth_child|previous page]] // | // [[the_ninth_child_3|next page]] ⥴ //