The Project Gutenberg EBook of Major Frank, by A. L. G. Bosboom-Toussaint

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Title: Major Frank

Author: A. L. G. Bosboom-Toussaint

Translator: James Akeroyd

Release Date: December 5, 2008 [EBook #27425]

Language: English

Character set encoding: ASCII

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Major Frank

By

A. L. G. Bosboom-Toussaint

Author of "The English in Rome," etc.

Translated from the Dutch

By

James Akeroyd

London

T Fisher Unwin

26 Paternoster Square

1885

MAJOR FRANK.

CHAPTER I.

A Letter from Sir Leopold van Zonshoven to Mr. William Verheyst
at A----.

The Hague, March, 1865.

Dear Friend,--If you are not too deeply absorbed in some lawsuit or
other, come to me by the first express you can catch from your little
provincial town. Something wonderful has happened, and I have great
need of a friend to whom I can confide my secret. Imagine Leopold
van Zonshoven, who seemed destined from his infancy to figure in this
world as a poor gentleman--imagine your friend Leopold suddenly come
into an immense fortune.

An old aunt of my mother's, of whom I had never heard, and who it seems
had quarrelled with all her relations, has hit upon the sublime idea of
playing the "Fairy Godmother" to me. By her will I am made sole heir
to all the property she died possessed of. I, who with the strictest
economy and self-control have barely managed to keep out of debt;
I, who have never given way to youthful follies or run into excess,
now see a million thrown at my head. This is contrary to the ideas of
the romancing novelist, who as a rule reforms and rewards the wildest
youth. I almost knocked over the lamp on opening the letter which
contained this incredible news; fortunately my landlady caught i