Abduction -- Fiction; Americans -- Europe -- Fiction; Love stories
“I'd give a round sum if I could grow a set of whiskers as readily
and as liberally as Turk,” commented Dickey, sadly. “He came out of
Phil's room this morning, and I dodged behind a door post, thinking
he was a burglar. Turk looks like a wild man from Borneo, and his
whiskers are not ten days out. He's letting 'em grow so that he can
venture outside the castle without fear of recognition. I'd like to
get outside these walls for half a day.”
“I detest whiskers,” decided Lady Jane.
“So do I, especially Turk's. But they're vastly convenient, just the
same. In a couple of days Turk won't know himself when he looks in
the mirror. I believe I'll try to cultivate a bunch.”
“I'm sure they would improve you very much,” said Lady Jane,
aggressively. “What is your idea as to color?”
“Well, I rather fancy a nice amber. I can get one color as easily as
another. Have you a preference?”
“I think pink or blue would become you, Dickey. But don't let my
prejudices influence you. Of course, it can't make any difference,
because I won't recognize you, you know.”
“In other words, if I don't cut my whiskers you'll cut me?”
“Dead.”
“Lots of nice men have whiskers.”
“And so do the goats.”
“But a brigand always has a full set--in the opera, at least.”
“You are only a brigand's apprentice, and, besides, this isn't an
opera. It is a society tragedy.”
“Won't you have another egg?” he asked, looking politely at her
plate. Then he inquired if Miss Garrison would like to join him in a
climb among the rocks. She smiled wistfully and said she would be
charmed to do so if she were not too feeble with age when the time
came to start.
Consumed with a desire to acquaint herself with her surroundings,
she begged her companions to take her over the castle from turret to
cellar. Later in the day, with Turk carrying the lantern, she was
eagerly taking notes in the vast, spooky caves of Craneycrow.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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