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Rogues and Vagabonds

Rogues and Vagabonds

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Chapter 1 THE WRECK OF THE 'BON ESPOIR.'

Word Count: 2067    |    Released on: 01/12/2017

was goi

ear, bright light. It was a glorious summer day-a time when life pulsed joyously, and ever

eyes worn with long vigils glistened in the silver light that fell on them; the

had come to the fifty souls left on board the Bon Espoir. They were alone upon the trackless ocean. Around them lay leagues of lonely water. Their fate would be a myste

dashed to pieces, and engulfed amid the roar of the billows, the how

eir happy childhoods; no billows to seethe-only little playful wavelets that lapped against the ship's side gently, and seemed to

doomed. She had sprung a leak in midocean on the previous night, in a lonely part,

ght wa

ew at once. The captain had shouted to them to keep near the ship, but the order had been disobeyed. When t

of vision. The wind had sunk, the waves were at rest, and the sun b

t yet until they fell into the track of other vessels, took counsel together a

little warning, the baby waves swelled into gigantic billows, and the sighing zeph

y found the water gaining on them. They had gone below, torn their hair, beaten their breasts, cried aloud to the saints

he sailors were not in a condition to move-certainly not to work. They had resigned themselves to their fate now. T

aiting for the end, their faces pale, their

that would know them no more. One man whispered to those who stood near him that he had heard his little boy cry "Father!" and another said that in the n

een them and death, and they c

ted a companionship in misery; they

away to his post after a few last words of encouragement to the lit

hrone of Grace for strength and sustenance in this hour of supreme peril. Briefly he addressed his little flo

ly aft, he felt a hand

t. But on a closer inspection the defects were apparent. The lips were sensual; the eyes had that strange look which one sees in the hunted animal. The fear of something behind was apparent upon the face the moment the features were disturbed from their repose. A dark moustache covered the too thick upper lip, and th

ing to the clergyman. Directly that gentleman turned kindl

id, after a pause; 'but ca

a deserted pa

ng in the clergyman's face and now resting on the deck; 'but I think I ought to. You are a clergyman, an

ed his interviewer e

crime?'

senger

ind,' he murmured. 'I fancy when the

ut to share your fate is, perhaps, rather a superstitious than a religious deed. Let us understand each other. We both believe that we are about to die. You

tell some human being my secret, and it will at least be off my mind. I feel as if th

dded, 'Speak on; but I warn you that whatever you tell me, should we, by the Lor

cket-book, and handed it, wit

ter hes

h a supreme ef

d the Bo

n the night of the 15th of September, 18-, I stabbed my cousin, Ralph Egerton, in a gambling-house, kept by

Gurth E

from him and read it. Then h

eeling came over Gurth Egerton. He reached out h

the book and thrust

of your awful crime. Pray, for your time is short. Remember, shou

erton, with a white face, was about to turn a

il! A

ained their eyes. In that wild moment of sudden hope al

ce, but still visible, were

reast. Strong men laughed and cried and hugge

oke from their drunken sleep

sing ship's attention, when suddenly the vessel heeled over, there was a gurgling sound, the roar and rush of

where the ship and her living freight had sunk the blue wave

waves. As the Bon Espoir sank, the clergyman's hand had hurled

sailed late that afternoon over the

t he could see something that looked like a b

manned an

it returned with

g a man in the last stage of exhaustion. They

-drowned body from the stern of th

ook it in charge, and pron

alf-drowned man

ptain, when he had recove

ered the man, feebly. 'She

are

ent. His senses were ev

lehardt, of Philadelph

oked round

except me?' he aske

a s

gh, and relapsed once mo

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1 Chapter 1 THE WRECK OF THE 'BON ESPOIR.'2 Chapter 2 TOPSEY TURVEY SEES A GHOST.3 Chapter 3 MR. EDWARD MARSTON MEETS AN OLD FRIEND.4 Chapter 4 NO. FIFTEEN, LITTLE QUEER STREET.5 Chapter 5 MISS DUCK HAS A WORD TO SAY.6 Chapter 6 AN OFFER OF MARRIAGE.7 Chapter 7 A CHAT OVER OLD TIMES.8 Chapter 8 MR. DUCK'S NEW LODGERS.9 Chapter 9 CONCERNING GERTIE HECKETT, A KIND LADY, A GOOD DOG, AND A WICKED BIRD.10 Chapter 10 IN WHICH GRIGG AND LIMPET EXPLAIN.11 Chapter 11 A VERY NICE OLD GENTLEMAN.12 Chapter 12 GOES INTO A LITTLE FAMILY HISTORY.13 Chapter 13 THE MASTER OF EDEN VILLA.14 Chapter 14 JABEZ SEES THE GHOST.15 Chapter 15 MR. GURTH EGERTON COMES TO LIFE.16 Chapter 16 LIMPET, JUNIOR, TRANSACTS SOME BUSINESS.17 Chapter 17 SMITH AND CO. AT WORK.18 Chapter 18 THE FORGED CHEQUE.19 Chapter 19 GERTIE MAKES A PROMISE.20 Chapter 20 GERTIE MAKES A DISCOVERY.21 Chapter 21 GURTH EGERTON BECOMES AMBITIOUS.22 Chapter 22 MR. JABEZ DISSEMBLES.23 Chapter 23 THE ADRIANS AT HOME.24 Chapter 24 OLD SWEETHEARTS.25 Chapter 25 GEORGE HAS 'THE STRAIGHT TIP.'26 Chapter 26 PECULIAR BEHAVIOUR OF MR. SETH PREENE.27 Chapter 27 THE PRODIGAL'S RETURN.28 Chapter 28 SQUIRE HERITAGE MAKES A WILL.29 Chapter 29 THE BURGLARY AT THE HALL.30 Chapter 30 HOW FATHER AND SON MET AGAIN.31 Chapter 31 IS SLIGHTLY RETROSPECTIVE.32 Chapter 32 FATHER AND DAUGHTER.33 Chapter 33 HUNTED DOWN.34 Chapter 34 A BUNCH OF VIOLETS.35 Chapter 35 MRS. ADRIAN'S CONVERSION.36 Chapter 36 RIVALS.37 Chapter 37 SMITH AND CO. START IN A NEW LINE.38 Chapter 38 RUTH ANSWERS A LETTER.39 Chapter 39 THE GOLD ROBBERY.40 Chapter 40 THE ADRIANS GO OUT TO TEA.41 Chapter 41 AN AFTERNOON CALL.42 Chapter 42 A DUEL OF WORDS.43 Chapter 43 THE GREAT BLANKSHIRE BANK.44 Chapter 44 A JOURNEY'S END.45 Chapter 45 A FRIEND IN NEED.46 Chapter 46 SMITH AND CO. DISSOLVE PARTNERSHIP.47 Chapter 47 MR. JABEZ MAKES A DISCOVERY.48 Chapter 48 MR. SETH PREENE EXECUTES A LITTLE COMMISSION.49 Chapter 49 MR. MARSTON GOES TO CHURCH.50 Chapter 50 FOR BETTER, FOR WORSE.51 Chapter 51 EXIT EDWARD MARSTON.52 Chapter 52 AN ESCAPED CONVICT.53 Chapter 53 SHAKSPEARE'S NURSE.54 Chapter 54 AT HERITAGE HALL.55 Chapter 55 THE ARREST.56 Chapter 56 A RESCUE.57 Chapter 57 SQUIRE HERITAGE HAS A BAD ATTACK.58 Chapter 58 DR. OLIVER BIRNIE'S NEW PATIENT.59 Chapter 59 A VISITOR FOR RUTH.60 Chapter 60 A SECRET MEETING.61 Chapter 61 A LATE VISITOR FOR MR. EGERTON.62 Chapter 62 A MESSAGE FROM THE SEA.63 Chapter 63 EDWARD MARSTON GOES HOME.64 Chapter 64 GURTH AND HECKETT.65 Chapter 65 MR. JABEZ DUCK DISTINGUISHES HIMSELF AT LAST.66 Chapter 66 BESS MAKES A CONFESSION.67 Chapter 67 GERTIE'S BIBLE.68 Chapter 68 GERTIE GAINS HER HERITAGE.69 Chapter 69 AND LAST.