Anthony Hope

“ Sir Matthew examined the colonel through his eyeglasses with a critical stare.
"It looks," said he, "very like what I have always supposed Colonel Merridew to have been; indeed, exactly like."
My father frowned heavily. Sir Matthew's speech was open to unfavorable interpretation.
"You mean," interposed the vicar, "a man of courage and decision? Yes, yes, indeed; the face looks like the face of just such a man."
"Poor Uncle John," sighed my father. ”

“ My father was a very firm man. I am not Sir Matthew Marston's son, and I do not scruple to describe him as an obstinate man. But in this world the people who say "yes" generally beat the people who say "no"—hence comes progress or decadence, which you will—and although both Sir Matthew and my father insisted that the acquaintance between Miss Marston and myself should not continue, the acquaintance did continue. ”

“ Or was it to annoy Sir George Marston's descendants? I cannot answer these questions. As the vicar says, there is no reason to suppose that Uncle John stole the rubies; yet any gentleman may well suppose that he stole the rubies. Uncle John smiles placidly down on me, with his glass of port between his fingers, and does not solve the puzzle. He was an uncommon man, Uncle John! ”

“ Allow me to hand you the rubies."
Sir Matthew bowed stiffly, took the Maharajah's rubies, counted them carefully, and dropped them one by one into his waistcoat pocket,
"Take away that bottle of port," said my father. "The tin will have ruined the flavor."
"What shall I do with it, sir?" asked Dawson.
"Whatever you please," said my father, and looking up again at Uncle John's picture, he exclaimed in an admiring tone,
"An uncommon man, indeed! How few would have contrived so perfect a hiding-place!"
"Sylvia," said Sir Matthew, "get your cloak." ”

“ We used to meet every day in highest exultation, and part every day in deepest woe. We talked of death and elopement alternately, and treated our fathers with despairing and most exasperating dutifulness. ”

“ Uncle John, being denied the remedy of a gentleman, carried the case into the courts, although not into the court which Sir George had indicated.
An action of slander was entered and tried. Uncle John filled town and country with his complaints. He implored all and sundry to search him, to search his house, to search his park, to search everything searchable. A number of gentlemen formed themselves into a jury and did as he asked, Uncle John himself superintending their labors. No trace of the rubies was found. Sir George was unconvinced; the action went on, the jury gave the colonel £5,000 ”

“ A daughter is, I take it, harder to resist than a son. It was for this reason, and not because Sir Matthew was in any degree less stubborn than my father, that the first overtures came from the Marstons. ”

“ It was forty years or more since the colonel had—or had not—stolen the Maharajah's rubies. Many suns had gone down on the wrath of both families. A treaty must be made. The Marstons must agree to say no more about the crime, the Merridews must consent to forgive the false accusation. The Maharajah's rubies had vanished from the earth; their evil deeds must live after them no longer. Sylvia and I agreed on all these points one morning in the woods among the primroses. ”