The Martyrdom of Madeline

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: ' Yes, Madlin.' ' You won't tell Uncle Mark about my dancing.' ' I don't know?dancing be downright wicked.' 'I couldn't help it. Polly Lowther offered to teach me, and all the other girls can dance a bit. And if you won't say a word to Uncle Mark, I'll let you cut up my new money-box that Uncle Mark gave me, and find out what's inside.' Unaccountable as it may seem, this extraordinary proposition seemed to find peculiar favour in Uncle Luke's eyes. His large eyes twinkled, and his mouth broadened from ear to ear, but he pretended to shake his head from side to side in solemn deprecation of the bribe. Madeline watched him keenly, and just as he seemed wavering, she lifted his great brown hand to her mouth, and gave it a passionate kiss. This seemed to unsettle Uncle Luke altogether, and he murmured eagerly? ' All right, Madlin, / shan't tell.' And Madeline knew well that a promise of this sort from Uncle Luke was as good as an oath from any other man. They quickened their pace, but she continued to play with and fondle his hand, and now and then to hold it to her lips. Confidence of this sort was what the little man loved best of all things in the world, and the smile upon his face grew broad and bright with intelligent content. CHAPTER II. 1 UNCLE ' LUKE AND ' UNCLE ' MARK. While the setting sun gleamed on Grayfleet, its grim church, and its cluster of red-tiled dwellings, Uncle Luke took a footpath leading across the marshes. All around them the landscape was flat and level, with little or no vegetation; for over the dark low levels the sea had crawled, and would crawl again. Here and there hovered a seagull, tempted in from the distant salt water, and searching the marsh for plunder; and once, as they passed a shallow pool, blood-red in the light, a h...