Читать книгу On the Brink of a Chasm: A record of plot and passion онлайн

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“I am waiting for my answer,” said Nurse Ives.

“Yes,” cried Tarbot, starting and opening his eyes. “If you do what I require, if our scheme succeeds, I will make you my lawful wedded wife in the sight of Heaven.”

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Sir Piers Pelham, aged seven, was an autocrat. He lived in a big house, daintily and luxuriously furnished. He had servants to do his bidding; each whim was attended to immediately; his mother was there to obey his every dictate. He was the King in No. 12 Ashley Mansions. Nothing was too great to do for him, nothing too hard to endure for his sake.

At present the little baronet was under the care of guardians—his mother was one, a lawyer of the name of Carroll was another, and Luke Tarbot, one of the cleverest and most rising doctors in Harley Street, the third. When Piers came of age he would enter into a property which represented over sixty thousand pounds a year.

The boy’s father had died while hunting a month before his birth. He had never been the reigning baronet. The reigning baronet was an old man, who had passed from life when little Piers was a year old. From that time the boy was Sir Piers Pelham. If he died the title would go to Dick Pelham, who was his second cousin.