Excerpt from The Caxtons, Vol. 2 of 2: A Family Picture Nor for me, I am sure, said the Captain, when the servant entered and confuted him, for the letter was for him. He took it up wonderingly and suspiciously, as Glumdalclitch took up Gulliver, or as (if naturalists) we take up an unknown creature that we are not quite sure will not bite and sting us. Ah! It has stung or bit you, Captain Roland, for you start and change color; you suppress a cry as you break the seal you breathe hard as you read and the letter seems short - but it takes time in the reading, for you go over it again and again. Then you fold it up, crumple it, thrust it into your breast pocket, and look round like a man waking from a dream. Is it a dream of pain, or of pleasure]? Verily, I' cannot guess, for nothing is on that eagle face either of pain or pleasure, but rather of fear, agitation, bewilderment. Yet the eyes are bright, too, and there is a smile on that iron lip. 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.