Fantasy fiction; Science fiction; Utopias -- Fiction
The rich treasures are coming to Stax, my castle in Norfolk--such as
are not bequeathed, by Morse's munificence, to the museums of England
and the galleries at Brazil.
Soon the immense plateau will be England's aerial terminus for the mail
ships from all parts of the world.
While Gideon Morse lived it was impossible to publish the truth. It is
to appear now, at last, and I simply want to tie a few loose ends, and
to bring down the curtain, leaving nothing unexplained.
First of all let me say that the general public knew nothing at all of
the horrors in which I was so intimately concerned.
Juanita and I were married very quietly in Westminster Cathedral soon
after Midwinter went to his account. The enormous fortune that she
brought me, supplementing my own very considerable means, operated in
the natural way. Other journals were added to the _Evening Special_, and
we started a great campaign for the sweetening of ordinary life, and not
unsuccessfully, as every one knows.
They made me a baron, and four years afterwards, Earl of Stax. As for my
father-in-law, he refused to budge from the City in the Clouds.
I don't mean that he didn't make appearances in society, but he loved to
get back to his fantastic haven, from whence, like a magician, he
showered benefits upon London.
Arthur Winstanley, as everybody knows, is Under-Secretary for India and
the most rising politician of our day.
It is said that William Rolston, editor of the _Evening Special_, is
our most brilliant journalist, though the older school condemn him for
an excess of imagination. I saw the other day, in the old-fashioned
_Thunderer_, a slashing attack upon a series of articles which had
recently appeared upon China, and which the critic of the _Thunderer_
conclusively proved to be written from an abysmal depth of ignorance.
I don't often go to the office now, though I am still proprietor of the
paper, but when I do, and sit in the editorial room, I miss Julia
Dewsbury, best of all private secretaries since the beginning of the
world.
Bill, however, assures me that she is all right, entirely taken up with
the children, and not in the least inclined to bully him in spite of her
eight years advantage in age.
"To that woman," says Bill reverentially, "I owe everything."
Let me wind up properly.
Crouching behind a high wall on Richmond Hill is a modest hostelry still
known as the "Golden Swan." It is still my property, and pays me a
satisfactory dividend. It is run by a co-partnership, which I should say
is unique.
The Honest Fool and my ex-valet, Mr. Preston, perform this feat
together, but, now that Morse is dead and the Chinese have all departed,
I fear they will lose a good deal of custom. This I gathered from Mr.
Mogridge, that pillar of the saloon bar, who happened to meet me by
chance in Fleet Street not long ago.
"'Allo! Why, it's Mr. Thomas, late landlord of the 'Golden Swan'!" said
Mr. Mogridge. "'Aven't seen you for years. What are you doing now?"
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