Sunrise

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Sunrise

The Project Gutenberg EBook of Sunrise, by William Black This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.net
Title: Sunrise
Author: William Black
Release Date: December 14, 2005 [EBook #17308]
Language: English
Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
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SUNRISE.
BY
WILLIAM BLACK.
_Author of "Shandon Bells," "Yolande," "Strange Adventures of a Phaeton," "Madcap Violet" etc., etc._
NEW YORK: JOHN B. ALDEN, PUBLISHER, 1883.

CONTENTS.
CHAPTER PAGE
I. A FIRST INTERVIEW. 1 II. PLEADINGS. 8 III. IN A HOUSE IN CURZON STREET. 14 IV. A STRANGER. 23 V. PIONEERS. 29 VI. BON VOYAGE! 37 VII. IN SOLITUDE. 44 VIII. A DISCOVERY. 51 IX. A NIGHT IN VENICE. 58 X. VACILLATION. 64 XI. A COMMISSION. 72 XII. JACTA EST ALEA. 79 XIII. SOUTHWARD. 86 XIV. A RUSSIAN EPISODE. 94 XV. NEW FRIENDS. 101 XVI. A LETTER. 108 XVII. CALABRESSA. 115 XVIII. HER ANSWER. 123 XIX. AT THE CULTURVEREIN. 129 XX. FIDELIO. 137 XXI. FATHER AND DAUGHTER. 144 XXII. EVASIONS. 151 XXIII. A TALISMAN. 158 XXIV. AN ALTERNATIVE. 165 XXV. A FRIEND'S ADVICE. 172 XXVI. A PROMISE. 179 XXVII. KIRSKI. 186 XXVIII. A CLIMAX. 193 XXIX. A GOOD-NIGHT MESSAGE. 201 XXX. SOME TREASURES. 208 XXXI. IN A GARDEN AT POSILIPO. 215 XXXII. FRIEND AND SWEETHEART. 223 XXXIII. INTERVENTION. 230 XXXIV. AN ENCOUNTER. 237 XXXV. THE MOTHER. 245 XXXVI. THE VELVET GLOVE. 252 XXXVII. SANTA CLAUS. 259 XXXVIII. A SUMMONS. 266 XXXIX. A NEW HOME. 274 XL. A CONCLAVE. 280 XLI. IN THE DEEPS. 288 XLII. A COMMUNICATION. 295 XLIII. A QUARREL. 302 XLIV. A TWICE-TOLD TALE. 308 XLV. SOUTHWARD. 316 XLVI. THE BEECHES. 321 XLVII. AT PORTICI. 329 XLVIII. AN APPEAL. 337 XLIX. AN EMISSARY. 345 L. A WEAK BROTHER. 352 LI. THE CONJURER. 359 LII. FIAT JUSTITIA. 366 LIII. THE TRIAL. 373 LIV. PUT TO THE PROOF. 380 LV. CONGRATULATIONS. 387 LVI. A COMMISSION. 394 LVII. FAREWELL! 401 LVIII. A SACRIFICE. 409 LIX. NATALIE SPEAKS. 416 LX. NEW SHORES. 424
CHAPTER I.
A FIRST INTERVIEW.
One chilly afternoon in February, while as yet the London season had not quite begun, though the streets were busy enough, an open barouche was being rapidly driven along Piccadilly in the direction of Coventry Street; and its two occupants, despite the dull roar of vehicles around them, seemed to be engaged in eager conversation. One of these two was a tall, handsome, muscular-looking man of about thirty, with a sun-tanned face, piercing gray eyes, and a reddish-brown beard cropped in the foreign fashion; the other, half hidden among the voluminous furs of the carriage, was a pale, humpbacked lad, with a fine, expressive, intellectual face, and large, animated, almost woman-like eyes. The former was George Brand, of Brand Beeches, Bucks, a bachelor unattached, and a person of no particular occupation, except that he had tumbled about the world a good deal, surveying mankind with more or less of interest or indifference. His companion and friend, the bright-eyed, beautiful-faced, humpbacked lad, was Ernest Francis D'Agincourt, thirteenth Baron Evelyn.
The discussion was warm, though the elder of the two friends spoke deprecatingly, at times even scornfully.
"I know what is behind all that," he said. "They are making a dupe of you, Evelyn. A parcel of miserable Leicester Square conspirators, plundering the working-man of all countries of his small savings, and humbugging him with promises of twopenny-halfpenny revolutions! That is not the sort of thing for you to mix in. It is not English, all that dagger and dark-lantern business, even if it were real; but when it is only theatrical--when they are only stage daggers--when the wretched creatures who mouth about assassination and revolution are only swaggering for half-pence--bah! What part do you propose to play?"
"I tell you it has nothing to do with daggers and dark lanterns," said the other with even greater warmth. "Why will you run your head against a windmill? Why must you see farther into a mile-stone than anybody else? I wonder, with all your travelling, you have not got rid of some of that detestable English prejudice and suspicion. I tell you that when I am allowed, even as an outsider, to see something of this vast organization for the defence of the oppressed, for the protection of the weak, the vindication of the injured, in every country throughout the globe--when I see the splendid possibilities before it--when I find that even a useless fellow like myself may do some little thing to lessen the mighty mass of injustice and wrong in the world--well, I am not going to stop to see that every