The Girl's Own Paper, Vol. XX. No. 1001, March 4, 1899

The Girl's Own Paper, Vol. XX. No. 1001, March 4, 1899

Sometimes he caught himself wondering if he really were the same Roy Baron, who once had lived in a happy London home, with never a care or a trouble; who had wept salt tears in a Paris bedroom, because Denham had to leave him behind for a few days; who had carried himself with a gay heart through more than three years of Verdun captivity. Not that the whole of that time had been spent in the great crowded dungeon below. The gendarmes knew better, when a prisoner possessed a little money. The very first morning after Roys arrival, he had been conducted above ground, glad enough to go, though grieved to leave little Will Peirce behind; and it had been intimated to him that, if he chose to pay for the benefit, he might be put into a room with a few other prisoners of a better grade. Roy had thankfully availed himself of the chance, and he had done his best to get Will brought up also, but there he had failed. During more than four months he had lived, monotonously enough, in a barely-furnished room, with half-a-dozen companionsan elderly Naval officer of the rougher sort, a half-pay Colonel, a musician who solaced his own imprisonment and made worse that of others by incessant piping upon a flute, and three well-to-do men in the merchant line. It was a lonely existence for the boy. The men were kind to him, but utterly uncongenial, and they spent most of their time in high play. Roy had no interests, no employments, nothing in common with these men, among whom his lot was cast. The temptation to be drawn in, to find relief from his own thoughts in the excitement of gambling, was often terribly severe; but he remembered always his own reiterated promise to Denham in the past, and he resisted manfully. He was not conquered; and through all his after life Roy Baron was the stronger man for that successful fight in his boyish days. Every victory makes one stronger, every defeat makes one weaker, for the years to follow. ......Buy Now (To Read More)

Product details

Ebook Number: 57015
Author: Various
Release Date: Apr 21, 2018
Format: eBook
Language: English

Contributors

Editor: Peters, Charles, active 1880-1907