Cornwall (England : County) -- Fiction; Treasure troves -- Fiction; World War, 1914-1918 -- England -- Fiction
He must go to work _very_ cautiously. Being all unused to the
possession of money, but accustomed to consider it as a weapon of
which fortunate men obtained a hold to employ it in "besting" others
less fortunate, he foresaw endless calls upon his cunning. But this
did not forbid his indulging in visions in which--being also at
bottom good-natured--he pictured himself as playing the good genius
in his native town, earning general gratitude, building in a
large-handed way the new pier that was so badly needed, conferring
favours right and left, departing this life amid the mourning of the
township, perchance (who could tell?) surviving for the wonder of
generations to come in a carved statue at the Quay-head. He had
observed, in the ports he had visited abroad, such statues erected in
memory of men he had never heard tell of. It would be a mighty fine
thing--though a novelty in Polpier--to have one's memory kept alive
in this fashion. . . . He would lord it in life too, as became a
Nanjivell--albeit the last of the race. To the Penhaligon family he
would be specially kind. . . . Upon other deserving ones he would
confer surprising help by stealth. . . . He wished now that, in spite
of experience, he had married and begotten children--an heir at
least. It would be a fine thing to restore the stock to a prospect
of honour. He wondered that in the past he had never realised his
plain duty in this light and taken the risk. As it was, the old name
could only be preserved in a commonalty's gratitude.
The flagged floor galled him cruelly; for he was of lean build.
Shift his posture or his weight as he might, after a few seconds'
ease his haunch-pins were pressing again upon the pavement, with no
cushion of flesh but a crushed nerve or two that kept telephoning
misery to his knee and fetching fierce darts of pain for response.
A quick succession of these, running into one as though a red-hot
iron had been applied under the thigh, searing it to the very bone,
stabbed suddenly into his brain with a new terror. He had forgotten
the anonymous letter and its threat!
He was a rich man now. The business of a rich man was to stay at
home and preserve his riches while making use of them-like
Pamphlett. Who in this world ever heard of a rich man being hauled
off to serve in the Navy as a common seaman? The thing was
unprecedented. He could buy himself out; at the worst by paying up
the money he had drawn.
Yes, but this would involve disclosing his wealth, and the source of
it. . . . He was terribly afraid of publicity. He had enemies, as
the letter proved: he suspected that the law itself might be another
enemy--you could never predict which side the law would take--and
between them, if they got to know his secret, they would despoil him.
. . . On the other hand if, covering his secret, he opposed but a
passive resistance, they might carry him off to jail, and then all
this money would be laid bare to the world. Intolerable exposure!
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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