The Strange Adventures of Captain Dangerous, Vol. 3: Who was a sailor, a soldier, a merchant, a spy, a slave; among the moors...Sala, George Augustus
General
The Strange Adventures of Captain Dangerous, Vol. 3: Who was a sailor, a soldier, a merchant, a spy, a slave; among the moors...
Sala, George Augustus
Adventure and adventurers -- Fiction
When I discovered that this dear little Creature, who was as fair as her
name and as good as gold, was my Countrywoman, I made bold to tell her
that I was English too; whereupon she Laughed, and in her sweet manner
expressed her wonder that I had come to be playing a Fury at the French
Opera House. I chose to keep my Belongings private for the nonce; so the
old Gentleman, treating me as an honest fellow of Low Degree, presented
me with ten Livres, which I accepted, nothing loth, and the Theatre
People even made a purse for me amounting to Fifty more. So that I got
as rich as a Jew, and was much in favour with my Landlord. But, better
than all, the Little Girl, as I was her Preserver, insisted that I
should be her Protector too; and old Mr. Lovell being laid up very bad
with the rheumatism, I was often privileged to attend her home after the
Theatre, walking respectfully a couple of paces behind her, and grasping
a stout Cudgel. Father and Daughter lived in the Impasse Mauvaise
Langue, Rue des Moineaux, behind St. Rogue's Church; and often when I
had got my precious charge home, she would press me to stop to supper,
the which I took very humbly at a side table, and listened to the
stories of old Mr. Lovell (who was very garrulous) about the Forty-five.
"Bless his old heart," thought I; "I could tell him something about the
Forty-five that would astonish him."
'Twas one night after leaving the Impasse Mauvaise Langue that, feeling
both cold and dry, I turned into a Tavern that was open late, for a
measure of Hot Spiced Wine, as a Night-cap. There was no one there,
beyond the People of the House, save a man in a Drugget coat, a green
velveteen Waistcoat, red plush Nethers, and a flapped Hat, all very Worn
and Greasy. He was about my own age, and wore his own Hair; but the most
remarkable thing about him was his Face. I never saw such a Red Face.
'Twas a hundred times more fiery than that of Bardolph in the Play.
'Twas more glowing than a Salamander's. 'Twas redder than Sir Robert
Walpole's (the great Whig Minister who, in my youth, was called by the
Common "Brandy-faced Bob!"). This man's Face was most terribly puffed
and swollen, and the veins all injected with purplish Blood. The tips of
his Ears were like two pendant Carbuncles. His little bloodshot Eyes
seemed starting from their Sockets, while the Cheeks beneath puffed out
like Pillows for his Orbits to rest upon. Not less worthy of remark was
it that this Red-faced Man's Lips were of a tawny White. He was for ever
scrabbling with his hands among his tufted Locks, and pressing them to
his Temples, as though his Head pained him--which there was reason to
believe it did.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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