Читать книгу The Dark River онлайн

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Having watched the vessel disappear around a distant headland, the consul switched on his reading lamp and took up his newly arrived copy of Blackwood's. He loved the old periodical and looked forward to its coming from month to month. He found there a picture of England and the outposts of Empire as he had known and thought of them in his younger days, and it reassured him to believe that, despite the vast changes wrought by the war, the old life still persisted; that it contained in it the seeds of health and vigor to perpetuate itself down the generations to come. He was in the midst of the first article when the bell in his office tinkled faintly. Looking up, he found a young man in gray flannels standing at the top of the verandah steps.

"Mr. Tyson?"

The consul, after a quick appraising glance, rose from his chair.

"At your service, young man. Come in."

"If I'm intruding, please say so, frankly. I can come just as well at another time."

"Not at all, not at all. I'm merely loafing after the exhaustion of steamer day. You came by the Makura?"