Castle Vane (Electronic book text)

MAJOR JOHN HILARY VANE, of Her Majesty's One Hundred and Forty-sixth Regiment of Foot, strode angrily up George Street. If a man ever wore that expression of feature which is known as "a black look," it was worn by the senior major of the old "Perishers" on this sunny morning in the year of Our Lord one thousand eight hundred and forty. So black was it that a child ceased its play at the corner of Hunter Street, and howled dismally, as it caught sight of the lowering countenance of the tall field-officer. A top-hatted constable had paled to the roots of his red whiskers as he saluted him; and old Danny Burke, a First Fleeter, tottering along the sidewalk with the help of two sticks, had tripped over one of them, and sprawled into the gutter, in an access of sudden terror, when he beheld the major close upon him.