Yachting Tales Author:William Henry Giles Kingston 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: THE CHASE OF THE HEIEESS. CHAPTER I. A BACHELOR OF THE ALBANY AND HIS MISTRESS. As I entered his luxuriously-furnished bachelor rooms in the Albany, he ... more »rose from a piano, from which his fingers had been eliciting some melancholy notes, and, with the air of a man pretty utterly up, pointed to the sofa, and sank into an arm-chair opposite me. " What's the matter ? " I asked, observing his pale cheek and lacklustre eye. " That the world has become stale, flat, and uuprofitable, and that, except to enjoy an occasional cigar, there is little in it worth living for, Try one." Pushing, as he spoke, a box of Havannahs across the table. Lighting one himself, he leaned back as if overcome with the exertion. " Try falling in love," I said. " Stale," he answered, with a look of ineffable disgust. " I've tried that." " Scientific pursuits!" I suggested, in a no very confident tone. " You have a mind." " Flat—Flat. Don't speak of such an idea," was his reply. " Politics. Plunge into the excitement of a contested election ! " " Uuprofitable—most uuprofitable, and decidedly fatiguing. No man in his senses ever touches politics, in my opinion ; which accounts for the idiotic way things are managed," he answered languidly. " Travel!" " What ! be bored on the day of starting, and every successive day, and know that the farther one gets from home the longer must be the duration of the horrible process. How can you, my dear Frothyton, suggest so cruel an expedient! " he exclai med, leaning slightly forward and then falling slowly back again. I saw, however, that I had stirred him up a little, and a bright idea having that moment occurred to me, that I might mature it it threw myself hack after my friend's example, and allowed a wreath of smoke from the fragran...« less