The Hidden Sin
| Preis: | 14.95 EUR* (inkl. MWST zzgl. Versand - Preis kann jetzt höher sein!) |
| Versand: | 0.00 EUR Versandkostenfrei innerhalb von Deutschland |
| Partner: | buecher.de |
| Hersteller: | Forgotten Books (Browne, Frances) |
| Stand: | 2015-08-04 03:50:33 |
Produktbeschreibung
Excerpt from The Hidden Sin: A Novel In the forenoon of the 25th of December, 1816, I was sitting in one of those high, narrow boxes partitioned off the public room of the old Greek Coffee-house, which then stood in Finsbury Pavement, reading the morning paper, and feeling that I was a stranger in London, having arrived the day before by the American ship "Franklin," from Baltimore. The coffee-house was empty, the streets were dreary, with a dull, heavy fog and shut-up shops; every body was at church or at home getting ready for their Christmas dinner; but while I sat there, seeing that there was no news, and wondering how I should spend the day, two men in earnest conversation entered, and took possession of the box next to mine. I knew they did not see me, and had come there for private talk, but I saw them. One was a tall, gray-haired man, with a large frame, a slight stoop, a sober, intelligent look, and features of the Scottish type, but somewhat softened, like the faces one meets with in the north of Ireland. The other was at least twenty years younger, a smaller man, thin, dark, and disagreeable looking; one could not say why, for he had good black eyes and hair, features of the Jewish mould, and an appearance of wiry strength, but somehow there was an expression in his face of being on the look-out to do somebody mischief, and having accounts to settle with all mankind. He was listening in a friendly manner, however, to the elder - I was going to say gentleman, but that term did not exactly apply to either of the pair; though respectably dressed, they were both unmistakably clerks, fresh from mercantile offices, and in their holiday trim. "It is just sixteen years ago," said the senior, when coffee had been ordered and the waiter dismissed; "it happened the very year that Ireland lost her Parliament, the last of the century, and much about this season. I remember it well; I was in La Touche´s employment - the only clerk he ever kept, so I ought to know a good deal about the family." "No doubt you do," said his companion. "Did they live in Ireland?" "In Armagh, my native place," said the elder man - he spoke with a semi-Scottish accent wonderfully suited to his look - "a town in the north, not large but very ancient, and of greater note in old times than it is now. They say Saint Patrick built his first Christian church there on the site of the present cathedral. They show the hermitage in which he lived and died, a low hut in the church-yard overgrown with ivy, and the old people have fine tales about a college which stood hard by, and students flocking to it from France and Spain, when learning was every where scarce but in Ireland. I suppose they were partly true, like most fine stories. There was nothing of the kind in my time, nor for hundreds of years before it; but Armagh was a bishop´s see, the chief town of one of the Ulster counties, foremost in the linen trade, and on the coach road between Dublin and Belfast. It had a good market for corn and flax, linen cloth and yarn. The country round was all gentlemen´s seats and comfortable farms. There were hand-looms and spinning-wheels going in every house; there were bleach greens beside every stream, with webs spread out and whitening in the summer sun, and there was a deal of safe, steady business done in the town. Small and old as it was, some people made their fortunes there. We did not expect such great gatherings as they do in England, but we had our rich men, and La Touche was counted one of them. I have heard my father say that his father came from Dublin, and set up the first bank that ever was known in Armagh, the year the new style came in." "Was the family French?" said his listener. What a hard metallic tone his voice had; how low, and yet how clear it was!
* Preis kann jetzt höher sein. Den aktuellen Stand und Informationen zu den Versandkosten finden sie auf der Homepage unseres Partners.
Folgende Produkte könnten dir ebenso gefallen
