[{"node":{"title":"Hanna244","Collections":"Part Three","Contributor":"Linen Hall Library","Coverage":"1951","Creator":"Linen Hall Library","Date":"Thursday, April 7, 2016","Format":"TIFF","Identifier":"Hanna244","Item Description":"Manuscript","Keywords":"Skillen, Crane","Language":"English","Path":"https://www.niliteraryarchive.com/content/hanna244","Publisher":"Linen Hall Library","Relation":"Linen Hall Library","Rights":"Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike CC BY-NC-SA","Scanned image":{"src":"https://www.niliteraryarchive.com/sites/default/files/Hanna244_0.jpg","alt":""},"Source":"LHL Archive","Transcript":"\ufeff\n\n237\n\nSkillen saw her seated in the opposite corner, her small\nshy vivid face turned to him.\n\nFor the first time the assurance of the youth\nwavered. He smiled sheepishly and bobbed his head \"Good\nevening,\" he said. If she answered, her voice was so\nlow that he did not hear it, but the smile she gave him\nwas sufficient.\n\nSlowly his cocksureness returned. After a few\njocular remarks to Andrew he turned his attention to the\nolder people, feeling warily for the most friendly one\namong them. He was no fool, young Skillen, and talked\nsensibly to Hamilton about tools and their cost, and\ncrops and the prices they fetched. Now and again he\nthrew a polite word to the woman at the table, but it\nwas Frank who encouraged him and drew him out. It was\nthe cripple lying back on the sofa who had realised the\nmoment the young man entered the house why he was there,\nwho had caught and interpreted the shy swift glance\nbetween Skillen and Martha. And as the conversation\ngrew the man on the sofa flowered into wit end laughter,\nand his gaeity spread to the others. Sarah gave up her\nwork at the table and drew a chair into the circle.\nMartha and Andrew, amid the talk and laughter, gazed\nwith curiosity at this new Frank, they had never known\nbefore. Hamilton sat quietly among them, except when a\nbark of laughter was drawn from him, his dark eyes\nfixed on his brother and a happy smile playing on his\nmouth. This was the Frank he remembered.\n\nThen, as Sarah stretched forward to lower the\nkettle on the crane, Skillen stood up quickly. \"I must\nbe away now,\" he said. \"You'll stay for a cup o' tea,\nsurely,\" said Sarah. \"Ah, its getting on,\" he answered,\nbuttoning his jacket, \"and I dont want to be giving\nyou any bother.\" \"Its no bother at all,\" Andrew assured\n","Type":"Text"}}]