Americans -- England -- Fiction; London (England) -- Fiction; Millionaires -- Fiction
‘But he doesn’t want to. He wants to give up all his royal rights, and
live as a subject. He wants to marry a woman who isn’t a Princess.’
‘Is she rich?’
‘Her father is,’ said the girl. ‘Oh, Dad! can’t you guess? He--he loves
me.’ Her head fell on Theodore’s shoulder and she began to cry.
The millionaire whistled a very high note. ‘Nell!’ he said at length.
‘And you? Do you sort of cling to him?’
‘Dad,’ she answered, ‘you are stupid. Do you imagine I should worry
myself like this if I didn’t?’ She smiled through her tears. She knew
from her father’s tone that she had accomplished a victory.
‘It’s a mighty queer arrangement,’ Theodore remarked. ‘But of course if
you think it’ll be of any use, you had better go down and tell your
Prince Eugen that that million can be fixed up, if he really needs it. I
expect there’ll be decent security, or Sampson Levi wouldn’t have mixed
himself up in it.’
‘Thanks, Dad. Don’t come with me; I may manage better alone.’
She gave a formal little curtsey and disappeared. Racksole, who had the
talent, so necessary to millionaires, of attending to several matters at
once, the large with the small, went off to give orders about the
breakfast and the remuneration of his assistant of the evening before,
Mr George Hazell. He then sent an invitation to Mr Felix Babylon’s room,
asking that gentleman to take breakfast with him. After he had related
to Babylon the history of Jules’ capture, and had a long discussion with
him upon several points of hotel management, and especially as to the
guarding of wine-cellars, Racksole put on his hat, sallied forth into
the Strand, hailed a hansom, and was driven to the City. The order and
nature of his operations there were too complex and technical to be
described here.
When Nella returned to the State bedroom both the doctor and the great
specialist were again in attendance. The two physicians moved away from
the bedside as she entered, and began to talk quietly together in the
embrasure of the window.
‘A curious case!’ said the specialist.
‘Yes. Of course, as you say, it’s a neurotic temperament that’s at the
bottom of the trouble. When you’ve got that and a vigorous constitution
working one against the other, the results are apt to be distinctly
curious.
Do you consider there is any hope, Sir Charles?’
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