Alice and many others had hoped that the wrecked vessel was still
afloat, but the _Altonia_ had disappeared,--was far below in hundreds
of fathoms of water.
CHAPTER XII
FERNBOROUGH HALL
Fernborough Hall,--not a hall in the town of Fernborough in the
Commonwealth of Massachusetts, but a rambling, old-fashioned brick
building in the County of Sussex in "Merrie England;" a stately home
set in the middle of hundreds of acres of upland, lowland, and
woodland. Wings had been added as required, and a tower from which,
on a clear day, the English Channel could be seen with the naked eye,
while a field-glass brought into view the myriad craft, bound east
and west, north and south, on the peaceful missions of trade.
There was no terrace upon which gaudy peacocks strutted back and
forth, but in front of the Hall was a small artificial lake in which
some transplanted fish led the lives of prisoners. Lady Fernborough
begged the Baronet to end their miserable existence, but, to him,
innovation was folly and destruction bordered on criminality.
"When I am gone, Ella," he would say, "you may introduce your
American ideas, for everything will be yours. When the Fernborough
name dies, let the fish die too."
The long search for his lost daughter had made him misanthropic. His
knowledge of her sad death had been accompanied, it is true, by the
pleasing intelligence that his daughter's child lived, but that
grand-daughter, though of his blood and British born, had not been
educated according to British ideas.
Pages:
92
93
94
95
96
97
98
99
100
101
102
103
104
105
106
107
108
109
110
111
112
113
114
115
116