Page:Robert Barr - Lord Stranleigh Philanthropist.djvu/191

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LORD STRANLEIGH ON GUARD
181

"All right, Blake. What do you propose?"

"I propose a little spasm of sanity for a change. I suggest that you telegraph your instructions to the solicitors, thus saving the whole forenoon to-morrow, besides encouraging the telegraph people. Then select what furniture you need right here in Kingsbridge. The seller will gladly cart it over to Lannacombe, and his men would carry it up the hill, placing it in the particular houses you choose. You thus assist local trade, always a popular thing to do, and the shopkeeper will be most anxious to please you. Doubtless your yacht will be saved from shipwreck, and I shall escape an unnecessary journey to London."

"Why, I thought you were tired of this place? Nothing doing, according to you."

"I'm not tired of Kingsbridge and Salcombe. The tired feeling comes upon me among those rocks. Still, if you furnish a villa or two, and engage a cook who will equal the range I buy, I'm content to spend the whole summer at Lannacombe."

"Right you are, Blake. I think of Minerva whenever you begin to discourse."

"I've another suggestion to make. Telegraph to the captain of your yacht commanding him to bring her round to Salcorabe Harbour, and not to