United States or Kosovo ? Vote for the TOP Country of the Week !
Let us draw a veil over the scene. Miss Pritty has been brought to this pass by Mr Charles Hazlit, whose daughter, Aileen, has been taken ill in China. Being a man of unbounded wealth, and understanding that Miss Pritty is a sympathetic friend of his daughter and an admirable nurse, he has written home to that lady requesting her, in rather peremptory terms, to "come out to them."
It's not over-light here, sur; mind yer feet as ye go, an' pay attintion to your head, for what betune holes in the floor an' beams in the ceilin', tall gintlemen like you, sur, come to grief sometimes." Thanking the figure for its civility, Mr Hazlit knocked at the door indicated, but there was no response. "Sure it's out they are!" cried the figure from the other end of the passage.
After this they spent a very happy evening together, during the course of which Mr Hazlit took occasion to ask Edgar to accompany him into a little pigeon-hole of a room which, in deference to a few books that dwelt there, was styled the library. "Mr Berrington," he said, sitting down and pointing to a chair, "be seated. I wish to have a little private conversation with you.
"Hooray! Here's a lark!" screamed a small street-boy. "Go it! Plice! A skrimmage!" yelled another street-boy in an ecstasy of delight, which immediately drew to the spot the nucleus of a crowd. Mr Hazlit was a man of promptitude. He was also a large man, as we have elsewhere said, and by no means devoid of courage.
Not a breath of wind ruffled the sea, which shone like a mirror, reflecting perfectly the sea-birds that accompanied them. Everything was so calm and peaceful that the captain sent a message to Mr Hazlit and his daughter to request them to come up and enjoy the fresh air. During the brief action described, they had been sent below to be out of danger.
Aileen gave a particularly minute, but irrepressible and quite inaudible scream; Mr Hazlit sat bolt up in his chair, as if he had seen a ghost; and Miss Pritty feeling, somehow, that her diplomacy had not become a brilliant success shrank within herself, and wished it were to-morrow. Their various expressions, however, were as nothing compared with Edgar's blazing surprise.
All we can say is that, when we consider the thousands of divers who are daily employed all over the world, accidents of the kind you have just witnessed are not numerous. If I were to refrain from going down because this accident has occurred, I might as well refrain evermore from entering a railway-carriage. We must risk something sometimes in our progress through life, Mr Hazlit.
We do not profess to know much thereof, but the amiable reader will understand our meaning. Just after the attack had begun, and Mr Hazlit had sallied from the hut with his war-club, as already related, Aileen became deeply impressed with the fact that all the women and children who had been wont to visit and gaze at her in wonder had vanished.
While the operations we have described were being carried out on board the gun-boat, in the pirate village poor Mr Hazlit was seated on a stump outside a rude hut made chiefly of bamboos and palm leaves.
Mr Hazlit took the young man's hand and said, "You may;" but he said it sadly, and with a look that seemed to imply that he had no expectation of Edgar ever attaining to the required position. Satisfied with the shake of the hand, our hero turned abruptly away, and went off to ruminate by the sea-shore.
Word Of The Day