[…] Mad as a cut snake, he was. Good thing he didn′t have a gun. He′d a shot all three of the blokes and the snake too. Probably shot me just for laughing.

I doffed my hat to the wondrous horse, the fast trotter, the best in mother England; and I too drew a deep ah! and repeated the words of the old fellows around. Such a horse as this we shall never see again; a pity that he is so old.

relics from a departed era

The majority of the adults, however, viewed Luisa Santiaga as the precious jewel of a rich and powerful family whom a parvenu telegraph operator was courting not for love but self-interest.