A Bid for Fortune by Guy Boothby (top 5 ebook reader .txt) 📕

salver and handed it to Phyllis.

“Another present, I expect,” she said, and began to untie the string that bound it.

When the first cover was removed a layer of tissue paper revealed itself, and after that a large Russia leather case came into view. On pressing the spring the cover lifted and revealed a superb collet⁠—as I believe it is called⁠—of diamonds, and resting against the lid a small card bearing this inscription:

With heartiest congratulations and best wishes to Lady Hatteras, in memory of an unfortunate detention and a voyage to the Southern Seas,

From her sincere admirer,

Dr. Nikola.

What do you think of that?

Well, to bring my long story to a close, the Great Event passed off with much éclat. We spent our honeymoon in the Blue Mountains, and a fortnight later sailed once more for England in the Onzaba. Both Mr. Wetherell⁠—who has now resigned office⁠—and the Marquis of Beckenham, who is as manly a fellow as you would meet anywhere in England, accompanied us home, and it was to the latter’s seaside residence that we went immediately on our arrival in the mother country. My own New Forest residence is being thoroughly renovated, and will be ready for occupation in the spring.

And now as to the other persons who have figured most prominently in my narrative. Of Nikola, Baxter, Eastover, or Prendergast I have never heard since. What gigantic coup the first-named intends to accomplish with the little Chinese stick, the possession of which proved so fatal to Wetherell, is beyond my power to tell. I am only too thankful, however, that I am able to say that I am not in the least concerned in it. I am afraid of Nikola and I confess it. And with this honest expression of my feelings, and my thanks for your attention and forbearance, I will beg your permission to ring the curtain down upon the narrative of my bid for fortune.

Colophon

A Bid for Fortune
was published in 1895 by
Guy Boothby.

This ebook was produced for
Standard Ebooks
by
David Grigg,
and is based on a transcription produced in 2006 by
Colin Choat and Roy Glashan
for
Project Gutenberg Australia
and on digital scans available at the
Internet Archive.

The cover page is adapted from
Sydney Harbour,
a painting completed in 1907 by
Arthur Streeton.
The cover and title pages feature the
League Spartan and Sorts Mill Goudy
typefaces created in 2014 and 2009 by
The League of Moveable Type.

The first edition of this ebook was released on
July 23, 2019, 11:35 p.m.
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