Penny Dreadfuls, 1916 · page 278 of 400
Tom Anderson, Dare-Devil: A Young Virginian in the Revolution — page 278: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
# Victorian Penny Dreadful Page: Prose Narrative This is a page of running prose from *Tom Anderson, Dare-Devil*, a penny dreadful serial. The text introduces the Governor's household in Barbados—Lady Amy Dalton, her young brother Lord Harry (future Earl of Mulgrave), and their companion Mrs. Council—and describes their morning on the mansion's piazza overlooking the bay. A visitor, Mr. Knatchbull, arrives, and young Harry engages him in conversation about the French phrase "ami de la maison" (house-cat/familiar friend), with Knatchbull promising to become tame before returning to Guadeloupe. The passage establishes colonial setting and social dynamics while introducing a recurring character.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
260 Tom ANDERSON, DareE-DEvIL “Oh, Dick says—anything!” This from Lady Amy Dal- ton, young-lady sister of small-boy Harry. Lady Amy was pretty as a pink; but not the daughter of the Governor- General for nothing. These three made up the Governor’s household. The young lady, Mrs. Council, — sheep-dog to the motherless beauty, — and eight-year-old Lord Harry who, if he lived, would one day be the sixth Earl of Mulgrave. Lord Mulgrave, Governor of Barbados, was Governor-General of Grenada, St. Vincent, Trinidad, Tobago, St. Lucia, and so on, — when these last happened to be English possessions, — “with their respective de- pendencies.”’ But as some of them were alternately Eng- lish and French colonies, in rather giddy succession, — certain of them changing hands annually, — the adminis- trator of British governmental affairs had jurisdiction over a territory whose boundary lines were subject to violent contraction or expansion, as the cards fell. The three persons on the piazza of the Governor’s Man- sion — the house was about a mile beyond Bridgetown on an elevation commanding the bay — chattered, stared through binoculars at the shipping, and gave little sighs of satisfaction at the coming of the delicious breeze; for it was ten in the morning, and the northeast trade was punc- tual. “There comes Dick.”” And Harry ran to meet a tall, well-made young fellow who was strolling toward the house. “"There’s Mr. Knatchbull,” purred Mrs. Council. “Dick’s dreadfully inevitable,” with the resignation of seventeen. Harry had tucked his hand in the young man’s, and Harry’s childish treble reached two pairs of ears. “Dick, what does ami de la maison mean?!” ‘Tame as a house-cat.”’ “Well, that’s what Amy said you were.” ‘“T will be, before I go back to Guadeloupe; I promise you, Lord Harry.” Knatchbull, a favorite in the Gov- ernor’s household, was no infrequent visitor. His comings ECONMMICLOOOKS,(6©) m