Читать книгу Under the Tiger's Claws; Or, A Struggle for the Right онлайн

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“Devotedly.”

“Are you—are you—sure of that?”

“Positively, sir. It would break Medora’s heart if any ill befell Mr. Kendall, or if——”

“Please, sir,” interposed Flood, with cheeks utterly void of color. “You mean well, sir, and have not spoken unkindly. I shall not forget it, nor that you are the father of one more dear to me than life. I bid you adieu.”

He bowed, put on his hat, then passed out of the conservatory by the door they had entered, and strode across the broad grounds and into the quiet and secluded street.

The rector tottered toward a door leading into the side of the house.

He had barely reached it when, from behind a mass of shrubbery near-by, Nick Carter heard a mingled moan and sob that caused his heart to swell with sudden apprehension. He darted to the spot, and beheld a girl reeling, half fainting, with her face buried in her hands, and her pretty figure shaken through and through with welling sobs.

One glance told Nick it was the rector’s daughter.

With a bound he reached her side, taking her by the arm, while his own kindly face revealed a mingled solicitude and apprehension.