DOI article:
Sharp, Evelyn: The other Anna
DOI Page / Citation link:https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.25499#0197
By Evelyn Sharp 193
do want to know something about the girl she lives with, the
other Anna, you know—Miss Angell, in fact.”
u I suppose you know what you’re playing at,” said Tom,
good-naturedly ; “ but I’m bothered if I do. Miss Angell doesn’t
live with any one as far as I know. She never introduced me to
a model in her life ; in fact, I only know her very slightly. Some
aunt of hers commissioned me to paint her portrait; that was how
she came to sit for me. Who is the model you were talking
about ? You must have got mixed somehow, old chap.”
“ Mixed ? ” said Askett, mechanically, standing in a vague
manner on the edge of the kerbstone. “ Mixed, yes, that’s it, or
course ; certainly mixed. I suppose—in fact, I believe—well, it’s
that joke, you know.” And to the mystification of his companion,
who stood staring after him, he beckoned with an exaggerated
composure to a hansom, gave the driver an address in Belgravia,
and drove away without a word of farewell.
The other Anna answered her own bell, that evening, because
her maid was out for a holiday. And she found Askett standing
on the door mat outside.
“ Oh ! ” was all she could find to say, though it was extremely
expressive in the particular way she said it.
“ It’s all right,” said Askett, in the most courteous and self-
possessed manner possible. u I’ve only come to ask the other
Anna to marry me, instead of the chap who doesn’t know how to
appreciate her. Do you think she will ? ”
There was the dawn of a laugh in her eyes as she threw the
door wider.
u I believe,” she replied, “ that she still has a lurking fondness
for the other chap. But if you’ll come in I’ll tell you that little
joke of mine, and then-”
“ No need,” observed Askett, “ I think I know it.”
do want to know something about the girl she lives with, the
other Anna, you know—Miss Angell, in fact.”
u I suppose you know what you’re playing at,” said Tom,
good-naturedly ; “ but I’m bothered if I do. Miss Angell doesn’t
live with any one as far as I know. She never introduced me to
a model in her life ; in fact, I only know her very slightly. Some
aunt of hers commissioned me to paint her portrait; that was how
she came to sit for me. Who is the model you were talking
about ? You must have got mixed somehow, old chap.”
“ Mixed ? ” said Askett, mechanically, standing in a vague
manner on the edge of the kerbstone. “ Mixed, yes, that’s it, or
course ; certainly mixed. I suppose—in fact, I believe—well, it’s
that joke, you know.” And to the mystification of his companion,
who stood staring after him, he beckoned with an exaggerated
composure to a hansom, gave the driver an address in Belgravia,
and drove away without a word of farewell.
The other Anna answered her own bell, that evening, because
her maid was out for a holiday. And she found Askett standing
on the door mat outside.
“ Oh ! ” was all she could find to say, though it was extremely
expressive in the particular way she said it.
“ It’s all right,” said Askett, in the most courteous and self-
possessed manner possible. u I’ve only come to ask the other
Anna to marry me, instead of the chap who doesn’t know how to
appreciate her. Do you think she will ? ”
There was the dawn of a laugh in her eyes as she threw the
door wider.
u I believe,” she replied, “ that she still has a lurking fondness
for the other chap. But if you’ll come in I’ll tell you that little
joke of mine, and then-”
“ No need,” observed Askett, “ I think I know it.”