The Masquerader; A Novel [Paperback]

Katherine Cecil Thurston (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: January 31, 2008

THE MASQUERADER - 1905 - TWO incidents, widely different in character yet bound together by results, marked the night of January the twenty-third. On that night the blackest fog within - a four years memory fell upon certain portions of London, and also on that night came the first announcement of the border risings against the Persian government in the province of Khorasanthe announcement that, speculated upon, even smiled at, at the time, assumed such significance in the light of after events. At eight oclock the news spread through the House of Commons but at nine men in the inner lobbies were gossiping, not so much upon how far Russia, while ostensibly upholding the Shah, had pulled the strings by which the insurgents danced, as upon the manner in which the St. Georges Gazette, the Tory evening newspaper, had seized upon the incident and shaken it in the faces of the government. More than once before, Lakely - the owner and editor of the St. Gemges-had stepped outside the decorous circle of tradition and taken a plunge into modern journalism, but to-night he essayed deeper waters than before, and under an almost sensational heading declared that in this apparently innocent border rising we had less an outcome of mere racial antagonism than a first faint index of a long-cherished Russian scheme, growing to a gradual maturity under the drift policy of the present British government. The effect produced by this pronouncement, if strong, was varied. Members of the Opposition saw, or thought they saw, a reflection of it in the smiling unconcern on the Ministerial benches and the government had an uneasy sense that behind the newly kindled interest on the other side of the House lay some mysterious scenting of battle from afar off. But though these impressions ran like electricity through the atmosphere, nothing tangible marked their passage, and the ordinary business of the House proceeded until half-past eleven, when an adjournment was moved. The first man to hurry from his place was John Chilcote, member for East Wark. He passed out of the House quickly, with the half-furtive quickness that marks a self-absorbed man and as he passed the policeman standing stolidly under the arched door-way of the big court-yard he swerved a little, as if startled out of his thoughts. He realized his swerve almost before it was accomplished, and pulled himself together with nervous irritability. Foggy night, constable he said, with elaborate carelessness. Foggy night, sir, and thickening up west, re sponded the man. Ah, indeed Chilcotes answer was absent. The constables cheery voice jarred on him, and for the second time he was conscious of senseless irritation. Without a further glance at the man, he slipped out into the couit-yard and turned towards the main gate. At the gate-way two cab lamps showed through the mist of shifting fog like the eyes of a great cat, and the familiar Hansom, sir came to him indistinctly. He paused by force of custom and, stepping forward, had almost touched the open door when a new impulse caused him to draw back. No, he said, hurriedly. No. Ill walk. The cabman muttered, lashed his horse, and with a clatter of hoofs and harness wheeled away while Chilcote, still with uncertain hastiness, crossed the road in the direction of Whitehall...

Product Details

• Paperback: 350 pages
• Publisher: Read Books (January 31, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1408619784
• ISBN-13: 978-1408619780
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 6 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.3 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)