On still another evening they tried Shakspere. Miss Alicia felt that a foundation of Shakspere would be “improving” indeed. They began with “Hamlet.”
He found play-reading difficult and Shaksperian language baffling, but he made his way with determination until he reached a point where he suddenly grew quite red and stopped.
“Say, have you read this?” he inquired after his hesitation.
“The plays of Shakspere are a part of every young lady’s education,” she answered; “but I am afraid I am not at all a Shaksperian scholar.”
“A young lady’s education?” he repeated. “Gee whizz!” he added softly after a pause.
He glanced over a page or so hastily, and then laid the book down.
“Say,” he suggested, with an evasive air, “let’s go over that ‘Maud’ one again. It’s—well, it’s easier to read aloud.”
The crude awkwardness of his manner suddenly made Miss Alicia herself flush and drop a stitch in her knitting. How dreadful of her not to have thought of that!
“The Elizabethan age was, I fear, a rather coarse one in some respects. Even history acknowledges that. Queen Elizabeth herself used profane language.” She faltered and coughed a little apologetic cough as she picked up her stitch again.
“I bet Ann’s never seen inside Shakspere,” said Tembarom. Before reading aloud in the future he gave some previous personal attention to the poem or subject decided upon. It may be at once frankly admitted that when he read aloud it was more for Miss Alicia’s delectation than for his own. He saw how much she enjoyed the situation.