The Delectable Duchy by Sir Arthur Thomas Quiller-Couch
page 9 of 214 (04%)
page 9 of 214 (04%)
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or your Constant Readers shall know what that meaning was. My dear
fellow, you belong to a strong race--a race that has beaten us and taken toll of us, and now carves 'Smith' and 'Thompson' and such names upon our fathers' tombs. But there are some things you have not laid hands on yet; secrets that we all know somehow, but never utter, even among ourselves, nor allude to. If I told you what Billy Tredegar did to-day, and why he did it, I tell you frankly your article would make some thousands of Constant Readers open wide eyes over their breakfast-cups. But you won't know. Why, after all, should I say anything to spoil Cornwall's prospects as a health-resort?" My friend took this very quietly, merely observing that it was rather late in the day to take sides against Hengist and Horsa. But he was sorry, I could see, to lose his local colour. And as I looked down, for the last time that night, upon Troy, this petition escaped me-- "O my country, if I keep your secrets, keep for me your heart!" THE SPINSTER'S MAYING. "_The fields breathe sweet, the daisies kiss our feet, Young lovers meet, old wives a-sunning sit; In every street these tunes our ears do greet-- Cuckoo, jug-jug, pu-wee, to-witta-woo! Spring, the sweet Spring_." |
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