United States or Eswatini ? Vote for the TOP Country of the Week !
Some one held the horse, and the two men went up to the sixth floor and into Carstairs's studio, where they discovered pretty Mrs. Carstairs in the act of sewing a new collar-band on one of her husband's old shirts. She went on at this while the railroad king, who seemed a very simple, kindly old gentleman, wandered around the studio and turned over the pictures, but made no comment.
The Gazette, we know, wants to run you out of town in order to have a free hand in slaughtering Hare. Last night they supposed that my looking like Stanhope was the best card they had. This morning they will guess that there may be a still better one lying around somewhere. The Daily tells them that I'm Varney, and, what is much more interesting, that I'm using Elbert Carstairs's yacht. Mrs.
"Meet me upstairs in ten minutes," said Varney, "and we'll talk about plans." Varney was wrong in one thing: Mr. Carstairs's Cypriani was not ready to start anywhere at half a day's notice. For that reason it did not start for Hunston on the following afternoon. As always happens, the preparations for the little expedition took four times as long as anybody would have thought possible.
If there is time, I may even decide to show these fellows how a reform proposition ought to be handled to ensure results." Far off on the hill a single light twinkled through the trees, very yellow against the pale moonlight. Varney's eye fell upon it and absently held it. It was Mary Carstairs's light, though, of course, he had no means of knowing that.
Varney stood at Miss Carstairs's elbow, cool, smiling, controlling the situation with entire and easy mastery. "It occurs to me, Miss Carstairs," he said, "that I should begin our tour by showing you our sailing-master's wife, Mrs. Ferguson decidedly the cultured member of the ship's household. She reads Shakespeare. She recites Browning. I dare say that she even sings a little Tennyson.
Above forward, on a coil of rope, McTosh, the head steward and one of Mr. Carstairs's oldest servants, smoked a bad pipe, and expectorated stoically into the Hudson. The thought of the essential commonplaceness of this sort of thing recurred to Peter Maginnis.
"Hanged if I know," said Peter, frankly. "I'll see you in New York if not sooner." With which cryptic observation he clattered down the stairs to the gig. Varney beckoned the sailing-master from the quarter-deck. "I am returning to New York, as I told you, Ferguson, with the young lady, Mr. Carstairs's daughter. Start as soon as possible." The sailing-master stared at the deck.
Carstairs's husband, no matter who got hurt. Miss Carstairs should come to the Cypriani to-morrow as she had promised. In heaven or earth, on land or sea, there was no power which should keep him from having his will there. But then there was the Gazette. Smith, the clever, would doubt that the Cypriani had really gone back to New York.
To escape his scrutiny I became more violent in my motions. He stopped a moment and looked at me steadily. "Poor fellow!" said he, to my great relief, as I felt at once that I had successfully deceived him. Then he turned to the ward doctor and remarked: "Take care he does not hurt his head against the bed; and, by the by, doctor, do you remember the test we applied in Carstairs's case?
'Do I understand that Sir Nigel Christopherson stole Captain Carstairs's motor-car in the middle of the night and left his own damaged one in its place? said Miss Abingdon, 'and that he regards this matter quite lightly? 'Toffy is a cheery soul, said Peter. 'You are all cheery souls! said Miss Abingdon hopelessly.
Word Of The Day