Excerpt from The Sword of Damocles: A Story of New York Life The elder gentleman did not return the smile. Instead of that he remained gazing at the ample coal-fire thata burned in the grate before him with a look that to the young musician was simply inexplicable. You see the Ship in haven, he murmured at last but do not consider what storms it has weathered or what perils escaped. It is a voy age I would encourage no son of mine to undertake. Yet you are not the man to shrink from danger or to hesitate in a course you had marked out for yourself, be cause of the struggle it involved or the difficulties it pre sented the young man exclaimed almost involuntarily as his glance lingered with a certain sort of fascination on the powerful brow and steady if somewhat melancholy eye of his companion. 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.