Young April

by Egerton Castle

Purchase of this book includes free trial access to www.million-books.com where you can read more than a million books for free. This is an OCR edition with typos. Excerpt from book: m Such a hare is madness, the youth, to skip over the meshes of good council, the cripple. Shakespeare. The lady looked at the Englishman, and the Englishman looked at the lady. He saw her eyes grow round, and an adorable red mouth part over the loveliest teeth with the most good-humoured smile in the world. Her hand went up, and, forefinger on the point, the gesture of an unsophisticated child: Oh! but do me the favour to look at that one, cried she. These words came shrilly across the courtyard, accompanied by a crow of laughter. And the fine proportions he had but just admired shook till the gray silk shimmered again. All eyes went up: landlord's, waiters' and postilion's, lady's-maid's and stableman's, the very horses' and pigeons', it seemed. And, acutely conscious of his light attire, the young man retired, blushing, into the inner recesses of his room;but not before he had caught a pleasant nod ? nay, and if he did not greatly err, something singularly akin to a wink ? from the merry-eyed lady on the steps. It was not all youthful ingenuous modesty that sent the blood flying to his cheeks. It needs but a spark to kindle a well-laid fire. Start at noon ? with Smiley ? Never! Thirty days, said the Duke ? thirty days are an eternity, and by the Lord Harry I shall have them! Mr. Smiley had recovered his equanimity. John, who had a nice hand on the razor, had shaved the reverend countenance to velvet smoothness, and there are few things more restoring to a man's self-esteem than the consciousness of being properly shaven. As he proceeded to clothe his portly form in decent clerical black, a genial smile gradually crept over his features. He had acted mentor to many sprigs of nobility, but never before to a fullblown Duke. High in favou...

166 pages, Paperback

First published June 1, 2010

About the author

Egerton Smith Castle F.S.A. (12 March 1858 – 16 September 1920) was an author, antiquarian, and swordsman, and an early practitioner of reconstructed historical fencing, frequently in collaboration with his colleague Captain Alfred Hutton. Castle was the captain of the British épée and sabre teams at the 1908 Summer Olympics.

He was born in London into a wealthy family; his maternal grandfather was the publishing magnate and philanthropist Egerton Smith. He was a lieutenant of the Second West India Regiment and afterwards a captain of the Royal Engineers Militia. He was also an expert on bookplates and a keen collector.

Egerton Castle co-authored several novels with his wife, Agnes Castle.