Fortune's My Foe: A RomanceBloundelle-Burton, John
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Fortune's My Foe: A Romance
Bloundelle-Burton, John
English fiction -- 19th century
It has been said that this chin made other men mistrust him. And, it
may also be said, it was of so peculiar a shape as to make people
dislike him. In truth, it was a blemish to what otherwise would have
been a good-looking face--a long oval face, in which were set the soft
dark eyes above mentioned. But this chin, running down to a point (so
that some wondered how his barber shaved it, while others said it
looked like a sheep's tail stuck on to an ordinary face), spoilt all.
It caused him to look crafty; it seemed to make him lisp a little as
he spoke, as though its weight was more than his lower jaw could bear;
and it gained his enemies, since it irritated those who regarded it.
It gave him, too, a cynical appearance, which was not obnoxious to
him, as he considered that it emphasised the clever things which he
flattered himself he was particularly smart at saying. For the rest,
he was fairly tall, not badly knit, and as lean as a greyhound.
Thinking of her whom he apostrophised as Ariadne, and of her sweet,
clear eyes and supple form--with the Fanshawe Manor and the hundred
thousand guineas not forgotten!--his thoughts lent themselves to other
things in connection with her. To a letter he had addressed to her at
Fanshawe Manor, this side of Portsmouth--one full of holy vows of
admiration and esteem; a billet containing a little scrap of poetry
(written for him, probably, by a garreteer of Grub Street for
half-a-crown); one suggesting also that, by great good chance, he
would be in the neighbourhood of Havant on a certain evening now close
at hand, and that then "his wandering love-led steps" (for so he
phrased it) would turn, as turns the needle to the pole, towards the
avenue of limes where oft Phyllis was known to walk at eve and
Philomel to warble. Perhaps, too, the gutter-poet had helped him in
this charming composition!
"Ay, so I wrote," he said to himself now. "And so I did. Well! well!
Now for the means. I vow they run uncommon short." Whereupon he
unlocked a 'scrutoire that stood close to him, and thrusting his hand
into a drawer, pulling forth a silk purse. A well-filled one, too, as
it seemed by its weight; one heavy enough for any beau to carry,
provided always that it was so carried simply to supply the wants of
the passing hour, and was backed up by a good sound balance at Sir
Mathew Decker's Bank, or at some other. But, should it happen to
represent all the available cash that its owner was in possession of
as his whole goods, then but a lean and sorry purse.
He turned its contents out upon the table before him, picking out
amongst them five great three pound twelve shilling pieces, which he
stacked carefully in a little heap by themselves.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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