Fighting the air - 1875 Author:Florence Marryat 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: 27 CHAPTER III. THE MISSING BOAT. TACK was in his dressing-gown and slippers, J kneeling on his knees before the fire and toasting a sausage on a breakf... more »ast fork. He heard the door open without turning round. ' This is too bad, Mrs Adams !' he called out, supposing the intruder to be his landlady. Here's the third morning that daughter of yours has sent up my sausage half raw. I wish to goodness I had never given her that crown on Christmas day.' But the heavy step and the silence undeceived him; he looked up just as Fane sunk down exhausted into a chair. ' Laurence ! old fellow ! Why, where the dickens have you sprung from ? Hasn't the shipsailed? Didn't you go to Liverpool? Is Mrs ? There's nothing the matter, is there ? ' he exclaimed, suddenly interrupting himself as he noticed his friend's general appearance of disorder. ' Matter, Jack ? Only that I've lost everything—everything ! That I am ruined—alone ! ' ' Not dead ?' cried Jack. 'Oh, how I wish I knew—how I wish I knew,' said Fane, in a voice of despair, as tired out and broken down by the events of the last twenty-four hours, he laid his head down on the table and burst into tears. Reeves was greatly shocked. He had never seen Fane in such a condition before, and he could not understand it, but as soon as the latter had recovered his voice he related to him all that had occurred. ' Of course it will come right,' said poor Laurence in conclusion, trying to cheat himself into believing what he so much desired, ' and youmustn't think anything of my giving way as I did just now, Jack. It's from over-fatigue and fasting. The sailors say—and they are the best authorities, you know—there's not the slightest doubt but that all the boats will be in, in the course of a few hours, and I shall be ...« less