Conduct of life -- Fiction; Fantasy fiction; Parables
All his vast wealth was given to charities; all went to charity except
the house. That was left “To my friend, Camille Barringcourt, as a
slight token of esteem, and in remembrance of the past.” That was all.
No one had ever heard or seen anything of this friend, and no one knew
anything of the past. But lawyers, like detectives, have a way of
hunting people up. In a little time it was spread abroad that Camille
Barringcourt lived in Fairysky, or at least was staying there, a country
which much resembled Italy on the Earth.
It may also be mentioned here that Camille Barringcourt and the lawyer
were left executors of those vast charities.
The first thing about the new-comer’s arrival that excited general
interest was the advent of six horses. All were black as night, with
long tails, fiery eyes, shining coats, and tossing, untamed heads.
Nearly all the little boys in that aristocratic neighbourhood were late
for school that morning; or better, never went. Accustomed as they were
to beautiful horses, they had never even in their experience seen
anything to equal these. The six black horses travelled through the
crowded thoroughfares singly led, each by a groom. Their trappings were
of a deep red, and no unnecessary weight was placed upon them. The men
who led the animals were men who understood their business, and had
great patience with their coquettish, curvetting ways. Just as the
journey was drawing to a close the traffic in the streets was for the
minute stopped. Five of the six horses had passed the crossing, and the
last was drawn up close to Lady Flamington’s carriage. Whether it was
her ladyship’s hat (she was one of the best dressed and most beautiful
women of the day), or whether her two thoroughbreds were ready to enter
into the fun of the thing, and dance a lively impromptu pirouette with
the new arrival, it would be hard to say. However, the black steed began
a dance, anything but safe in the state of the crowded thoroughfare, and
the bays in harness did their best to follow suit. It was a spirited
attempt; then the groom for once lost his temper.
“Get up, you devil!” said he. The horse took him literally and reared
up, despite his efforts to keep it down, dragging him with it, in its
wild, untamable fury. The trampling forepaws struck on the cushions of
my lady’s brougham. What might have been the result it is impossible to
say, for her escape on the other side was cut off by a huge lorry drawn
up against her like a wall, but just at that moment a voice fell on the
hubbub and the consternation, and the “voice that breathed o’er Eden” on
the day of her marriage had never been so welcome to Lady Flamington as
that one now. At the same time a hand, the whitest, the most beautiful
she had ever seen (so she told her friends after), grasped at the
bridle.
“Waugh-o, Starlight—Starlight! Come, then.”
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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