The Adventures of Harry Rochester: A Tale of the Days of Marlborough and EugeneStrang, Herbert
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The Adventures of Harry Rochester: A Tale of the Days of Marlborough and Eugene
Strang, Herbert
Blenheim, Battle of, Blindheim, Bavaria, Germany, 1704 -- Juvenile fiction
Harry murmured his thanks and bowed himself out. His nerves were
a-tingle with his unexpected good fortune. To have seen and spoken with
the greatest man in the kingdom was itself an unforeseen privilege; and
the prospect of assistance from such a powerful and august personage
filled him with elation. The earl had shown no great cordiality, it was
true; but Harry was inclined to draw good augury from the few words he
had uttered. They were probably more sincere than a warm volubility
would have been. He left the house with a sparkling eye and a springy
gait, and looked eagerly around to see if Sherebiah were near at hand to
hear his news. But Sherebiah was nowhere to be seen. Having no
particular business, now that his great errand was accomplished, Harry
walked through Whitehall into St. James’s Park, in the hope that he
might catch a glimpse of Queen Anne herself. The guard had just been
changed at St. James’s Palace, and a stream of people met him as he
strolled along the Mall. He was interested in watching them—the fine
ladies with their hoops and patches, the beaux with their many-coloured
coats, canes dangling at their buttons, toothpicks between their teeth,
and snuff-boxes in frequent use. So absorbed was he that he was
startled when all at once a hand struck him a hearty blow on the
shoulder, and a voice exclaimed:
"Hey, Harry, what make you, ogling the ladies?"
He turned and saw his friend Godfrey Fanshawe, the captain of the
cricket team to whose victory he had so much contributed. The two young
fellows shook hands heartily.
"What brings you to London?" continued Fanshawe.
"I’ve come in search of fortune, like Dick Whittington. You heard of my
father’s death?"
"Ay, but nothing since. They seldom write letters at home."
Harry then explained the course of events which had brought him to
London, concluding with his recent interview with Marlborough and
Godolphin.
"Egad, man!" exclaimed Fanshawe, "you’re in luck’s way indeed. Would
that I stood so well with the two greatest men in England. My lord
Marlborough will gazette you an ensign of foot or a cornet of horse; and
my cornetcy, I may tell you, cost my father a pretty penny. What luck,
Harry, if we make the next campaign together! The earl will surely go
back to Flanders when the winter is over."
"I should like nothing better."
"Where are you staying?"
"At the Angel and Crown, in Threadneedle Street."
"You must leave that and come westward. Are you alone?"
"Sherry Minshull is with me at present; but he’ll get work for himself
as soon as I am settled."
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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