FREE BOOKS

Author's List




PREV.   NEXT  
|<   115   116   117   118   119   120   121   122   123   124   125   126   127   128   129   130   131   132   133   134   135   136   137   138   139  
140   141   142   143   144   145   146   147   148   149   150   151   152   153   154   >>  
ble-looking of the beasts and had them dusted and made as tidy as was possible at short notice, and set out for the Nineveh mansion. You may imagine the sensation that her small but imposing caravan created when she arrived at the hall door. The entire garden-party flocked up to gape. My sister was rather glad to slip down from her camel, and the groom was thankful to scramble down from his. Then young Billy Doulton, of the Dragoon Guards, who has been a lot at Aden and thinks he knows camel-language backwards, thought he would show off by making the beasts kneel down in orthodox fashion. Unfortunately camel words-of-command are not the same all the world over; these were magnificent Turkestan camels, accustomed to stride up the stony terraces of mountain passes, and when Doulton shouted at them they went side by side up the front steps, into the entrance hall, and up the grand staircase. The German governess met them just at the turn of the corridor. The Ninevehs nursed her with devoted attention for weeks, and when I last heard from them she was well enough to go about her duties again, but the doctor says she will always suffer from Hagenbeck heart." Amblecope got up from his chair and moved to another part of the room. Treddleford reopened his book and betook himself once more across The dragon-green, the luminous, the dark, the serpent-haunted sea. For a blessed half-hour he disported himself in imagination by the "gay Aleppo-Gate," and listened to the bird-voiced singing-man. Then the world of to-day called him back; a page summoned him to speak with a friend on the telephone. As Treddleford was about to pass out of the room he encountered Amblecope, also passing out, on his way to the billiard-room, where, perchance, some luckless wight might be secured and held fast to listen to the number of his attendances at the Grand Prix, with subsequent remarks on Newmarket and the Cambridgeshire. Amblecope made as if to pass out first, but a new-born pride was surging in Treddleford's breast and he waved him back. "I believe I take precedence," he said coldly; "you are merely the club Bore; I am the club Liar." THE ELK Teresa, Mrs. Thropplestance, was the richest and most intractable old woman in the county of Woldshire. In her dealings with the world in general her manner suggested a blend between a Mistress of the Robes and a Master of Foxhounds, with the vocabulary of both. In her do
PREV.   NEXT  
|<   115   116   117   118   119   120   121   122   123   124   125   126   127   128   129   130   131   132   133   134   135   136   137   138   139  
140   141   142   143   144   145   146   147   148   149   150   151   152   153   154   >>  



Top keywords:
Treddleford
 

Amblecope

 

beasts

 
Doulton
 

luckless

 

called

 

encountered

 

perchance

 

friend

 

billiard


telephone

 
passing
 

summoned

 
listened
 
haunted
 

serpent

 

blessed

 

luminous

 

dragon

 

disported


voiced

 

singing

 

reopened

 

betook

 

imagination

 
Aleppo
 

richest

 

Thropplestance

 

intractable

 

Teresa


county

 

Woldshire

 
Master
 

Foxhounds

 

vocabulary

 

Mistress

 

general

 

dealings

 

manner

 

suggested


subsequent
 
remarks
 

Cambridgeshire

 

Newmarket

 

attendances

 
number
 

secured

 
listen
 
precedence
 

coldly