The Red Derelict

This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated.1904 Excerpt: ... CONCLUSION "OH, how good you have been to us! No; really, when I want to find words--well, I simply can't." "Then don't try. That's the simplest way out of the difficulty, isn't it?" answered Wagram, with a smile. Delia Calmour shook her head, a puzzled little frown contradicting, as it were, the soft light that was in her eyes, and a certain tender curving of the lips. Her gaze swept over the network of sunlight glinting on the sward beneath the arching oaks, then rested on the adjacent palisade enclosing the African animals, whose quaint bellow would every now and then vie with the shout of the cuckoo to break the stillness of the lustrous summer air. She thought of herself--now enabled to make more than a comfortable living by turning her musical talents to account; of Clytie, doing exceedingly well in her own line; of raffish Bob, removed from Bassingham influences and third-rate Pownall & Skreet, to be given every chance at a fair salary with a first-class legal firm in London; of the three younger ones at school again, only at far better schools than they had ever dreamed of before--and, thus thinking, she did not exaggerate in declaring that she could not find words to express her appreciation to the man beside her--to whom all this was due. And again she repeated this. "My dear child," he answered, "haven't I told you before that it's our duty to help each other in this world as far as lies in our power? At any rate you seemed to bear in mind that principle when you literally forced the skipper of the Runic to put back because you had glimpsed some unknown poor devil left on board the derelict. Eh?" "That's different--quite different." Again she felt strangely tongue-tied. The past couple of years flashed through her mind, and how they had seemed to...