A Queer Race: The Story of a Strange People — page 125: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

125: A QUEER RACE. CHAPTER XxX. THE SHARK FIGHTERS. ‘¢ WHAT relation is Amyas Fane to the queen?” I asked ‘Field, as we sat smoking our pipes in the veranda of his house, and watching the crescent moon as it rose out of the mist beyond the Painted Rocks. ‘¢ He is the eldest son of her father’s younger brother, and the next in the line of succession.” ‘<¢You mean that if she were to die, he would become king?” ‘“Not king; protector.” ‘‘T mean protector. I have no certain information on the subject, but I take it for granted that she is not mar- ried.” ) “No,” laughed Field. ‘* Mabis not married. I wish she were.” | ‘Nor likely to be?” ‘Not that Iam aware of; nor do I think she favors anybody.”’ “Toes anybody favor her?” «Oh, dear, yes! Most of our eligible young men would be glad to become Mab’s husband. But I suppose she will choose for herself in good time.” ‘Do your Fair Island ladies propose, then?” ‘‘As often as not. Denzil was a strong advocate for the equality of the sexes; he said that when a young woman takes a fancy to any particular young man, there is no harm in her telling him so.” «‘ And is that principle acted on at present?” “As often as not. It 1s sometimes one way, some- times the other.” | 1 then asked my host how it was that the queen’s expression of a desire to visit England should have caused so much surprise, not to say horror, among those who heard her. } ‘‘She said that, did she?” exclaimed Field, horrified in his turn. ‘* What will she be saying next, I wonder? I don’t think she was in earnest, though. She often says out- rageous things, just to startle people; and ’pon my word, she succeeds. I can easily tell you why they were surprised. Her grceat-great-grandfather was one of the wisest men (E(@) Al C JOO KS (E(0)