Читать книгу The Peacock Feather. A Romance онлайн

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He had also laid in a store of fair foolscap paper and a large bottle of ink. The joy of creation had taken possession of him. His brain was again fertile. It was partly on this account that he had been ready to take up a fixed abode, since fate had flung one in his path. He owed it to the children of his brain to give them every chance, though his first child had been brought forth amidst difficulties and hardships.

The news that a stranger, wearing a peacock feather in his hat, had taken up his abode in the cottage of ill-omen spread like wild-fire through [Pg 46]the village. Women glanced at him with frightened eyes, men regarded him with suspicion. The owner of the provision shop, indeed, held a kind of neutral ground. Until it should be proved that Peter’s shillings were accursed, he might as well have the advantage of them.

The children looked at Peter with awe, mingled with curiosity. There was a kind of fearful joy in watching one who was a friend of that terrible personage the Devil. At night, truly, he was to be avoided, but in daylight, with his bronzed face and brilliant peacock feather, he looked not unprepossessing.