Evan Harrington; Or, He Would Be a Gentleman (Paperback)

Purchase of this book includes free trial access to www.million-books.com where you can read more than a million books for free. This is an OCR edition with typos. Excerpt from book: the gates of the town, a mounted trooper spurred furiously past, and, slashing out at him, gashed his thigh. Mrs. Melchisedeo found him lying at his door in a not unwonted way, carried him up stairs in her arms, as she had done many a time before, and did not perceive his state till she saw the blood on her gown. The cowardly assailant was never discovered; but Mel was both gallant, and had, in his military career, the reputation of being a martinet. Hence divers causes were suspected. The wound failed not to mend, the trowsers were repaired: Peace about the same time was made, and the affair passed over. Looking on the fine head and face, Lady Roseley saw nothing of this. She had not looked long before she found covert employment for her handkerchief. The widow standing beside her did not weep, or reply to her whispered excuses at emotion?gazing down on his mortal length with a sort of benignant friendliness; aloof, as one 'whose duties to that form of flesh were well-nigh done. At the feet of his master, Jacko, the monkey, had jumped up, and was there squatted, with his legs crossed, very like a tailor! The imitative wretch had got a towel, and as often as Lady Roseley's handkerchief traveled to her eyes, Jacko's peery face was hidden, and you saw his lithe skinny body doing grief's convulsions: till, tired of this amusement, he obtained possession of the warrior's helmet, from a small round table on one side of the bed; a casque of the barbarous military-Georgian form, with a huge knob of horse-hair projecting over the peak; and under this, trying to adapt it to his rogue's head, the tricksy image of Death extinguished himself. All was very silent in the room. Then the widow quietly disengaged Jacko, and, taking him up, went to the door and deposited him outside. During h...