- You have recently read
-
- How Jakhals Fed Oom Leeuw
- What Old Johanne Told
- The Boy in the Land of Shadows
- The laidly worm of Spindleston Heugh
- The woman with three hundred and sixty-six children
- How the Tales came to be told
- The four clever brothers
- The Knapsack, the Hat, and the Horn
- The Two Kings' Children
- Aunt Jane's Nieces at Millville
- Clean
Aunt Jane's Nieces at Millville
Patsy and Beth thought
they knew her, and admired or liked rather than loved their cousin.
Uncle John thought he knew her, too, and was very proud of his eldest
niece in spite of some discovered qualities that were not wholly
admirable.
An extensive course of light literature, not void of "detective
stories," had at this moment primed Louise with its influence to the
extent of inducing her to scent a mystery in the history of Captain
Wegg. The plain folks around Millville might speculate listlessly upon
the "queer doin's" at the farm, and never get anywhere near the truth.
Indeed, the strange occurrences she had just heard were nearly forgotten
in the community, and soon would be forgotten altogether--unless the
quick ear of a young girl had caught the clue so long ignored.
At first she scarcely appreciated the importance of the undertaking. It
occurred to her that an effort to read to the bottom of the sea
captain's romance would be a charming diversion while she resided at
Millville, and in undertaking the task she laughingly accused herself of
becoming an amateur detective--an occupation that promised to be
thrilling and delightful.
Warned, however, by the rebuff she had met with from Uncle John, the
girl decided not to confide either her suspicions or her proposed
investigation to anyone for the present, but to keep her own counsel
until she could surprise them all with the denouement or required
assistance to complete her work.
Inspired by the cleverness and fascination of this idea, Louise set to
work to tabulate the information she had received thus far, noting the;
element of mystery each fact evolved. First, Captain Wegg must have been
a rich man in order to build this house, maintain two servants and live
for years in comfort without any income from his barren farm lands. What
became of his money after his death? Why was his only son obliged to fly
to the cities in order to obtain a livelihood? Secondly, the Captain, a
surly and silent man, had brought hither--perhaps by force--a young
woman as his wife who was so unhappy that she pined away and died.
- Page:
- 1
- 2
- 3
- 4
- 5
- 6
- 7
- 8
- 9
- 10
- 11
- 12
- 13
- 14
- 15
- 16
- 17
- 18
- 19
- 20
- 21
- 22
- 23
- 24
- 25
- 26
- 27
- 28
- 29
- 30
- 31
- 32
- 33
- 34
- 35
- 36
- 37
- 38
- 39
- 40
- 41
- 42
- 43
- 44
- 45
- 46
- 47
- 48
- 49
- 50
- 51
- 52
- 53
- 54
- 55
- 56
- 57
- 58
- 59
- 60
- 61
- 62
- 63
- 64
- 65
- 66
- 67
- 68
- 69
- 70
- 71
- 72
- 73
- 74
- 75
- 76
- 77
- 78
- 79
- 80
- 81
- 82
- 83
- 84
- 85
- 86
- 87
- 88
- 89
- 90
- 91
- 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
- 117
- 118
- 119
- 120
- 121
- 122
- 123
- 124
- 125
- 126
- 127
- 128
- 129
- 130
- 131
- 132
- 133
- 134
- 135
There was once a king who was very powerful. He had great influence over the wild beasts and animals. Now the tortoise was looked upon as the wisest of all beasts and men. This king had a son named Ekpenyon, to whom he gave fifty young girls as wives, but the prince did not like any of them. The king was very angry at this, and made a law that if any man had a daughter who was finer than the prince's wives, and who found favour in his son's eyes, the girl herself and her father and mother should be killed.
© 2013-2019 FairyTales
Almost all texts on this website are from the Public Domain.