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256 pages

English

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Winds of Fortune is a novel brimming with romance and adventures... a pirate captain who turns out to be a real gentleman to the damsel in distress and a lost Incan treasure make for a first-rate Regency swashbuckling pirate romance!

Sujets

Policier & Thriller

Thriller

Romance policière

Historical

Regency

Romance

Fiction

Romance historique

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Publié par	Rare Treasure Editions
Date de parution	08 novembre 2021
Nombre de lectures	0
EAN13	9781774643655
Langue	English

Informations légales : prix de location à la page 0,0050€. Cette information est donnée uniquement à titre indicatif conformément à la législation en vigueur.

Extrait

Winds of Fortune
by Jeffery Farnol

First published in 1933
This edition published by Rare Treasures
Victoria, BC Canada with branch offices in the Czech Republic and Germany
Trava2909@gmail.com
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage or retrieval system, except in the case of excerpts by a reviewer, who may quote brief passages in a review.
Winds of Fortune

by
JEFFERY FARNOL

To CAPTAIN FRANK SHAW I Dedicate This Romance of Perilous Seas IN TRUEST AFFECTION AND MESSMATE AHOY!
When the Sun is over the foreyard, forget not thy friend

CHAPTER I
IN WHICH I BEGIN MY ASTONISHING NARRATION
My nose I have never wished other than it is, for, though neither purelyGreek nor classically Roman, it is yet of a delicate tho' sufficingassertiveness and suits the fashion of my countenance to a nicety. Butthen my eyes—large, darkly blue and long-lashed (thank Heaven)—are(alas!) too wide-set and beneath low sweep of brows themselves all toomannishly thick (though my woman Deborah will not have it so and criethhorror on my suggestion of plucking), tho' your slim, high-arching browssuggestive of a youthful surprised innocence be at present all the mode.
Yet these same eyes of mine (thanks to their shape, size and lashesaforesaid) can be emotionally various as and when I will; thus, mymirror assures me, they can instantly flame to a steadfast scorn, flashmost passionate resentment or swoon with a tender languishment, and allextreme convincingly.
Then again (and oh, the pity on't) my mouth, though naturally vivid, is(alack) too large for beauty's perfection and do I attempt to pout inrosebud fashion, it showeth too altogether detestably luscious.Howsoever, my teeth being white and even, instead of pouting I can smileengagingly.
As to my person, I am neither too tall nor too short, of shape trulyfeminine and very justly proportioned; in this Nature hath shown suchdiscriminating kindliness [Pg 2] that I, in gratitude therefor, take pains toset off her noble handiwork to fullest advantage. As, for instance, thepatch so justly placed a little below my right eye and the artfuldisorder of my auburn hair, loose braided and caught in curls (four)above my left ear. Also, being long and graciously limbed, I detestthese hooped petticoats and distortionate panniers beneath whichdeformity may go all unsuspect; thus myself doth favour the soft mysteryof clinging draperies that may, as it were, shadow forth some vision ofthe delectable truth they hide.
Thus then Ursula Revell (that is, myself) doth stand confessed, ætat. twenty-three, very serenely conscious of her good points bodily andmental, and grieving (albeit secretly) for her bad, yet with faith inherself and her destiny and therefore nothing diffident.
And I have revealed myself with this precise exactitude that such as maychance to read this narration shall know in some sort what manner ofcreature was I who sat in my boudoir beneath the dexterous hands of mydevoted maid Deborah, all unwitting the singular adventures, direperils, horrific fears, woeful doubts and fierce joys that were tocommence for me upon that sunny afternoon of July, in the year of GraceSeventeen Hundred and Two.
"Beyond all question," said I, turning to glimpse the curve of my neckin the looking-glass, "I shall never marry him, Deborah."
"La now, Miss Ursula, ma'm, why ever not?" bleated Deborah. "And him aVi-count, such great gentlemen! And what's more, one as you can't judge,seeing, ma'm, as you've never seen him—"
"Not since childhood, but I've heard so much of him, Deb, that I alreadydespise him perfectly."
"Oh, ma'm, and him your uncle's very own choice."
"And this of itself is sufficing reason to refuse him since my UncleCrespin's choice is not and never could [Pg 3] be mine.... And so indecentlysudden! Besides, I've no mind to be wed; marriage at best is an odiousbusiness to women of sentiment."
"But, Mistress Ursula, I declare!" gasped Deborah, "oh, la, ma'm, if allwomen thought so, where should us all be? And you to say so, MissUrsula, you as so many fine gentlemen be so ready to die for! There wasthe Captain gentleman at the Wells, ever prepared to swound at yourpretty feet."
"And a heartless fortune-hunting wretch!" quoth I.
"Well, the sweet young nobleman with the soulful eyes as writ you thatpome—and the London beaux nigh a-fighting for to hand you from yourcoach and chair, whenso you go to Town! And the dooel as was fit overyou in Lincoln Inn Felds last time! Oh, you to speak so against holywedlock, and so many fine men a-dying to wife you!"
"This," said I, rising, "this is why I esteem horses nobler creaturesthan men. Howbeit, I'll surely never be wed by this Viscount wretch—"
"Ah, but Mistress Ursula, oh, my dearie, you was made for love sure andto mother pretty babes—"
"Horrors, woman! Hold thy naughty tongue—"
"But, ma'm—"
"Be silent!"
"Yes, Mistress Ursula, only if you so dare cross him, whatever will youruncle say?"
"Rage and curse, to be sure, Deborah, but then, so shall I, for to-day Imean to vindicate myself once and for all, and so away to Aunt Selina atShalmeston."
"Oh, 'tis sad, grievous sad you should ha' been left an orphant soyoung!" sighed Deborah. "And nobody as do love ee true save ... only ...poor me!" Here she dropped a large tear upon my hand, whereupon Iinstantly kissed her comely face and cuddled her buxom form and snuggedmy head into the warm soft hollow of her neck and shoulder, cleanforgetting the nicely ordered disorder of my hair. [Pg 4]
"Sweet, true soul," said I, "dost know I love thee ... hast been mycomfort many's the time ... thou'rt so fragrant and good andcommon-sensed—"
"And thou," she sobbed, "so lonely ever but for me ... and never to knowa mother's tender care—"
"My mother!" said I, now weeping also, "my mother that died so young ...and I have sorely missed her ... to ha' known a mother's love 'stead o'the drunken tantrums of a sottish uncle—"
"Hist now, dearie ... you'm so headstrong wild and Sir Crespin be soturble fierce, and now if you disobey him—"
"I'm too old to be whipped these days, Deborah, and am my own mistress,thank God, to choose my own way, be it up or down. So pack and makeready, for I'll whisk thee away with me to Shalmeston. I'll ride my baymare and you pillion with Gregory. Howbeit, Uncle Crespin shall notforce me into wedlock 'gainst my will,—no, never!" said I, snapping myteeth on the word. "I'll not marry—an' I ever should, then the man whotakes me to his heart shall be mine own choice; ay, by heavens, a choiceserenely deliberate and based on sure knowledge of him—or I'll die amaid to lead apes in hell right joyfully!"
Thus said I, frowning on my reflection in the mirror and mightydetermined, little recking (poor soul) what wild, outrageous weddingmine was to be indeed.
Then catching up riding cloak, hat and gauntlets, I went forth of mychamber and adown the wide stair to face my guardian uncle and dare myfate.
I found Sir Crespin somewhat fuddled, as was usual with him at thishour, sprawled in great elbowchair, his long peruke awry, coat andwaistcoat loose and unbuttoned, and slopping wine-glass on his knee.Perceiving myself, he rose unsteadily, waved his glass in jovialsalutation, dropped it, cursed it pettishly, filled another and favouredme with a staggering bow. [Pg 5]
"Ha—hail!" quoth he, 'twixt gasp and hiccough. "Hail to the wi-witchingbride! Adzooks, 'tis a blooming Hebe! No, 'slife, 'tis a glowing Venus!Barrasdale's a dev-lish fort'nate dog!"
"Uncle Crespin," said I in tone of disgust and turning to an adjacentmirror to set on my befeathered riding hat with due care, "you show moreodious drunk than usual!"
"And th-thou ... thou'rt a pert minx to say so!" he stammered angrilyand sank down in his chair again very sudden.
"Pray, is your Viscount arrived?" I demanded.
"Not yet—no, but ha' pa-patience, sweet carnality, aha, temper y'r hotblood—"
"Sir Crespin," cried I, my eyes instantly aflame with bitter scorn, "youare base as you seem! Be silent, sir, and hear me."
"Ha—silent? I? This to me—"
"Uncle Crespin, to serve some purpose of your own, you would marry me toa man I have never seen but know by report for a very rakehell—"
"Nay, faith; no more than is the gent-gentlemanly fashion, girl. We beall rakes and ever shall be whiles a man's a man and woman's thete-tempting—"
"He is also a drunkard, Uncle."
"Why, the lad drinks, as gentlemen must and should, but marriage shallsettle him, I'll warrant—"
"Tho' not with me, Uncle Crespin. I'll none of him—"
"Hey? What—?"
"I utterly refuse even to contemplate such vile, detestable union, as Iam here to tell his lordship whenso you produce him—"
"Why ... damme, will ye dare cross me then?" gasped my uncle, clawinghimself up to his uncertain feet. "Ye curst termagant shrew, will yedare me to—?"
"Uncle," said I, catching up the heavy riding whip that chanced to hand,"you know well how that I have dared you all my unhappy days. As achild, I nothing [Pg 6] feared you, despite your slaps and whippings; as awoman and my own mistress, I despise you, yet was content to suffer youhere at my house of Revelsmead—"
"Ha—suffer me, by God—"
"But, good uncle mine, three weeks agone you proposed this marriage tome first and I told you then I'd die rather. But now, Uncle, rather thanendure the shame of such wedlock or become the victim of your schemes,I'll see this Viscount dead—ay, by my virginity and you too!"
"God's my life!" gasped my Uncle Crespin, actually recoiling before themenace of my look. "The wench threatens murder!" Then he clenched hisgreat hands in sudden menace, but as he came at me, I raised the heavywhip and stepped to meet him.... What shameful doings might have chancedI scarce dare think, nor is there need, for in this moment a strangevoice stayed us, a