ISBN: 2940015872521

CONTENTSPART ONESIR OLIVER TRESSILIANCHAPTER I. THE HUCKSTER II. ROSAMUND III. THE FORGE IV. THE INTERVENER V. THE BUCKLER VI. JASPER LEIGH VII. TREPANNED VIII. THE … Plus…

CONTENTSPART ONESIR OLIVER TRESSILIANCHAPTER I. THE HUCKSTER II. ROSAMUND III. THE FORGE IV. THE INTERVENER V. THE BUCKLER VI. JASPER LEIGH VII. TREPANNED VIII. THE SPANIARDPART TWOSAKR-EL-BAHR I. THE CAPTIVE II. THE RENEGADE III. HOMEWARD BOUND IV. THE RAID V. THE LION OF THE FAITH VI. THE CONVERT VII. MARZAK-BEN-ASAD VIII. MOTHER AND SON IX. COMPETITORS X. THE SLAVE-MARKET XI. THE TRUTH XII. THE SUBTLETY OF FENZILEH XIII. IN THE SIGHT OF ALLAH XIV. THE SIGN XV. THE VOYAGE XVI. THE PANNIER XVII. THE DUPEXVIII. SHEIK MAT XIX. THE MUTINEERS XX. THE MESSENGER XXI. MORITURUS XXII. THE SURRENDERXXIII. THE HEATHEN CREED XXIV. THE JUDGES XXV. THE ADVOCATE XXVI. THE JUDGMENTPART I. SIR OLIVER TRESSILIANCHAPTER I. THE HUCKSTERSir Oliver Tressilian sat at his ease in the lofty dining-room of thehandsome house of Penarrow, which he owed to the enterprise of hisfather of lamented and lamentable memory and to the skill and inventionof an Italian engineer named Bagnolo who had come to England half acentury ago as one of the assistants of the famous Torrigiani.This house of such a startlingly singular and Italianate grace for soremote a corner of Cornwall deserves, together with the story of itsconstruction, a word in passing.The Italian Bagnolo who combined with his salient artistic talents aquarrelsome, volcanic humour had the mischance to kill a man in a brawlin a Southwark tavern. As a result he fled the town, nor paused in hisheadlong flight from the consequences of that murderous deed until hehad all but reached the very ends of England. Under what circumstanceshe became acquainted with Tressilian the elder I do not know. Butcertain it is that the meeting was a very timely one for both of them.To the fugitive, Ralph Tressilian--who appears to have been inveteratelypartial to the company of rascals of all denominations--affordedshelter; and Bagnolo repaid the service by offering to rebuild thedecaying half-timbered house of Penarrow. Having taken the task inhand he went about it with all the enthusiasm of your true artist, andachieved for his protector a residence that was a marvel of gracein that crude age and outlandish district. There arose under thesupervision of the gifted engineer, worthy associate of MesserTorrigiani, a noble two-storied mansion of mellow red brick, floodedwith light and sunshine by the enormously tall mullioned windows thatrose almost from base to summit of each pilastered facade. The maindoorway was set in a projecting wing and was overhung by a massivebalcony, the whole surmounted by a pillared pediment of extraordinarygrace, now partly clad in a green mantle of creepers. Above the burntred tiles of the roof soared massive twisted chimneys in lofty majesty.But the glory of Penarrow--that is, of the new Penarrow begotten of thefertile brain of Bagnolo--was the garden fashioned out of the tangledwilderness about the old house that had crowned the heights abovePenarrow point. To the labours of Bagnolo, Time and Nature had addedtheir own. Bagnolo had cut those handsome esplanades, had builtthose noble balustrades bordering the three terraces with their fineconnecting flights of steps; himself he had planned the fountain, andwith his own hands had carved the granite faun presiding over it and thedozen other statues of nymphs and sylvan gods in a marble that gleamedin white brilliance amid the dusky green. But Time and Nature hadsmoothed the lawns to a velvet surface, had thickened the handsomeboxwood hedges, and thrust up those black spear-like poplars thatcompleted the very Italianate appearance of that Cornish demesne.Sir Oliver took his ease in his dining-room considering all this as itwas displayed before him in the mellowing September sunshine, and foundit all very good to see, and life very good to live. Now no man has everbeen known so to find life without some immediate cause, other than thatof his environment, for his optimism. Sir Oliver had several causes. Digital Content>E-books>Fiction>Fiction>Fiction, SAP Digital >16<