Peter and Jane; Or, The Missing HeirMacnaughtan, S. (Sarah)
General
Peter and Jane; Or, The Missing Heir
Macnaughtan, S. (Sarah)
Inheritance and succession -- Fiction
When the ship steamed away from St. Vincent in the evening, and the
lighthouse on Bird Rock made a luminous point in the gathering darkness,
the sight of land and of the hills had done Peter good, and had restored
him to the normal and natural man again. He turned to look back at the
rugged island, with the one point of light high up in its lighthouse, and
he thought that it was like some lamp which a woman sets in the window to
guide her husband home. With that feeling came a deep sense of the love
and the confidence which he and Jane had in each other; he knew that she
would not fail him whether he were rich or poor, happy or unhappy, and
that seemed the only thing in the world worth knowing for certain.
After leaving St. Vincent the weather became intensely hot, the wind was
with the ship, and there was not a breath of air to be had. Dunbar never
felt the heat at all; he had not an ounce of spare flesh on his body, and
he always ate two chops and some curry for breakfast, because, he said,
if you were paying for a thing you might as well have it. He played in
bull tournaments, and had a habit, that was almost provoking, of doing
everything better than any one else. His sharp-featured face, long keen
nose, and eyes with an intelligent-looking pince-nez fixed in front of
them, seemed to speak of a sleepless vigilance.
Peter, having a very small amount of information on any subject at his
command, was impressed by Mr. Dunbar, and thought that he might make a
fortune if he used his talents on the music-hall stage or at a bureau for
the supply of general information. The man seemed able to answer any
question that might be put to him.
'That is an extraordinary chap,' he said to Toffy. 'I wonder if he would
be of any use to us in the way of finding out about my brother?' But
eventually he decided that nothing ought to be done until they should see
Sir John Falconer.
'We had rather a disappointment here,' he wrote from Rio, in one of his
unliterary letters, 'because the yellow fever is so bad that we are not
allowed to land. I don't suppose you have any idea how tiresome a day in
port is if one does not go ashore. The heat is really terrific, and
under the awnings it feels exactly like sitting in an oven.' In
conclusion Peter wished he was at home again, and thought Toffy seemed
rather down in his luck; and he remained Jane's ever-loving Peter.
'I will tell you a strange thing about Rio,' began Dunbar, as he walked
up and down the ship that evening. 'If you make your fortune there, you
always go back to England and say that by right you are a Castilian
noble.'
'It would be a very large fortune that would tempt me to live in this
beastly climate,' said Peter, who was in a grumbling mood.
'I believe,' said Toffy, 'that with luck one could make a lot of money in
Argentine. I have got a scheme in my head now, which, if it comes off,
should place me beyond the reach of want.'
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account