Читать книгу The Perfect World. A romance of strange people and strange places онлайн

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“Well, boys,” said Mr. Winthrop, “I suppose you feel used to your life among us now?”

“Yes,” answered Alan. “It seems almost like home to us.”

“We’ve never had a proper home,” broke in Desmond.

“Ours is rather a romantic story,” said Alan. “Our mothers were twin sisters—they married on the same day and went to the same place for their honeymoon. A year later my mother died in giving me birth, and Desmond’s mother died when he was only a few months old, so we were both left babies to get on the best way we could without a woman’s care.”

“Poor lads! Poor lads!” sighed the vicar.

“When I was five my father died,” said Desmond, “and four years later Alan’s father was drowned. Uncle John then took us to live with him—but as he was a bachelor we were brought up in the care of nurses and tutors, and had no real home life.”

“You are fond of your uncle?” queried the vicar.

“Rather!” answered Alan. “Uncle John is the dearest old boy imaginable. He’s a bit of a crank though. He has been working for years on what he calls his ‘Petradtheolin’ airship.”