Publisher's Synopsis
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. 1896 edition. Excerpt: ... CHAPTER X. Pour days--a long draught of freedom and contentment. The sea had been rough, but it was deepest blue now, and the sunshine was pricking it with gold. Light and warmth seemed to fill the world; a happy breeze swept past the ship, touching the travellers on its way. Katherine's face had lost the hunted look it wore the day she came on board. The captain stared at her with undisguised admiration, and wondered what might be her history. Her fellow-passengers were disposed to be friendly. But, luckily, reserve was natural to her; it stood her in good stead now, and helped her to keep them at a distance. "Sensible girl," a middle-aged man going out to Venice said to himself; "she knows her own business and means to mind it." The ship arrived at Gibraltar on the fifth day, and the passengers went ashore for a few hours. It was early morning; the market was crowded, the main street full of life. Katherine hesitated; she was half afraid, then, telling herself that she was alone, and hoped to be so for ever, gathered courage. She walked a little way towards Europa Point, then the courage fled; she turned round quickly and went back. "Not yet, not yet," she said to herself. "I know it is beautiful, but it is so strange, and I am blind and deaf, and feel safe nowhere but on board." It was a comfort to see the ship again. She sat on deck and watched the Rock and its wonderful gardens, which were a mass of bloom, and the people moving to and fro; and she looked across at the African coast on the other side, and thought how wonderful it was to see the edge of another quarter of the world. Mr. Belcher and Montague Place seemed to have passed out of her life, but the events of the last week had left her tired. By and by she would feel better....
