Читать книгу Brother Jonathan онлайн

5 страница из 54

Dennis looked around him for some person to whom he might go for advice in the strange country to which he had been brought. He did not have to look far, for the town was not large, but presently a man whose very gait bespoke importance, came walking, or rather marching, down the street. Dennis went up to him.

“An’ it is somebody in particular you must be,” said Dennis. “You seem to me like some high officer that has lost his regiment, cornet, horse, drum-major, and all; no, I beg your pardon. I mean—well, I mean that you seem to me like one who might be more than you are; I beg your pardon again; you look like a magistrate in these new parts.”

“And who are you with your blundering honesty, my friend? You are evidently new to these parts?”

“And it is an Irishman that I am.”

“The Lord forbid, but I am an Englishman.”

“Then we are half brothers.”

“The Lord forbid. What brings you here?”

“Storms, storms, and it is a shipwrecked mariner that I am. And I am as poor as a coot, and you have ruffles, and laces, and buckles, but you have a bit of heart. I can see that in your face. Your blood don’t flow through a muscle. Have you been long in these parts?”