Excerpt from Annis Warleigh's Fortunes: A Novel Sir William had just sworn at Katherine and dragged the breakfast-table aslant toward the fire when Nichols, the butler, brought in the post-bag. His master snatched it roughly out of the man's hands, and flung it upon the rug, where Grace was kneeling to warm her thin shivering person; bidding her Open it and give him his Times, and look if there were any letter from Laurence. Meanwhile he applied himself to the strong ale and game-pie with which he was accustomed to lay the foundation of his ogre's breakfast; and when his son's missive was timidly handed to him, he only laid down his knife and fork to break the seal and flatten the sheet of paper open on the table, and then resumed his weapons that he might satisfy his hunger and his curiosity at one and the same time. His daughters watched his countenance furtively as he read, and saw it change from its animal coarseness and quiescence to a purple and bloated rage. When he opened his mouth, it was to stutter out a volley of frightful oaths which made the young women quail and avert their heads; and having read the document to an end, he tore it furiously in two, flung it toward the fire, and leaving his meal unfinished, dashed out of the room. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.