Author Description

This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can usually download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1897 edition. Excerpt:...less of a man who had been beaten and who was extremely surprised to find himself so. He came back, to made it more remarkable, while the diminished party were still at luncheon, and sat down humbly in the lowest place by the side of the governess to partake of the mutton and rice pudding which Lady ane thought most appropriate when the family was alone. Algy was the only stranger left of all the large party which had dispersed that morning, the few remaining men having gone out to shoot; and to Algy, as an invalid, the roast mutton was of course quite appropriate. "What luck! without even your lunch!" they cried out--Algy with a roar (the fellow was getting as strong as an elephant) of ridicule and delight. "As you see," said Sir Charles with a solemnity which he could not shake off. The very governess divined his meaning, and that sharp little aney--the horrid little thing, a mite of fourteen. "Oh, didn't Stella ask you to stay to lunch? Didn't they give you any thing to eat after your walk?" that precocious critic cried. And Sir Charles felt with a sensation of hatred, wishing to kill them all, that his own aspect was enough to justify all their jokes. He was as serious as a mustardpot; he could not conjure up a laugh on his face; he could not look careless and indifferent or say a light word. His tail was between his legs; he felt it, and he felt sure that everybody must see it, down to the little boys, who, with spoonfuls of rice suspended, stared at him with round blue eyes; and he dared not say, "Confound the little beggars!" before Lady ane. "What is the matter?" she asked him, hurrying him after luncheon to her own room away from the mocking looks of the...