The Master of Silence
THE MASTER OF SILENCE CHAPTER I Near the end of my fourteenth year I was apprenticed to Valentine, King & Co., cotton importers, Liverpool, as a "pair of legs." My father had died suddenly, leaving me and his property in the possession of my stepmother and my guardian. It was in deference to their urgent advice that I left my home in London (with little reluctance, since my life there had never been happy) to study the art of money-making. On arriving at the scene of my expected triumphs I was assigned to the somewhat humble position of errand boy. In common with other boys who performed a like service for the firm I was known as "a pair of legs." Lodgings of a rather modest character had been secured for me in the western outskirts of the city near the banks of the Mersey. I was slow to make friends, and my evenings were spent in the perusal of some story books, which I had
"Well, I am sure I don't see why men should arrogate to themselves the
sole right to an investigating turn of mind," said Raleigh, impatiently.
"Why shouldn't the ladies want to see the inside of this club-house? It
is a compliment to us that they should, and I for one am in favor of
letting them, and I am going to propose that in the Ides of March we give
a ladies' day here."
"Then I shall go South for my health in the Ides of March," said
Confucius, angrily. "What on earth is a club for if it isn't to enable
men to get away from their wives once in a while? When do people go to
clubs? When they are on their way home--that's when; and the more a
man's at home in his club, the less he's at home when he's at home. I
suppose you'll be suggesting a children's day next, and after that a
parrot's or a canary-bird's day."
"I had no idea you were such a woman-hater," said Raleigh, in
astonishment. "What's the matter? Were you ever disappointed in love?"
"I? How absurd!" retorted Confucius, reddening. "The idea of _my_ ever
being disappointed in love! I never met the woman who could bring me to
my knees, although I was married in the other world. What became of Mrs.
C. I never inquired. She may be in China yet, for aught I know. I
regard death as a divorce."
"Your wife must be glad of it," said Raleigh, somewhat ungallantly; for,
THE MASTER OF SILENCE CHAPTER I Near the end of my fourteenth year I was apprenticed to Valentine, King & Co., cotton importers, Liverpool, as a "pair of legs." My father had died suddenly, leaving me and his property in the possession of my stepmother and my guardian. It was in deference to their urgent advice that I left my home in London (with little reluctance, since my life there had never been happy) to study the art of money-making. On arriving at the scene of my expected triumphs I was assigned to the somewhat humble position of errand boy. In common with other boys who performed a like service for the firm I was known as "a pair of legs." Lodgings of a rather modest character had been secured for me in the western outskirts of the city near the banks of the Mersey. I was slow to make friends, and my evenings were spent in the perusal of some story books, which I had