Explore "The Sealed Message" by Fergus Hume on Textopian. Read with annotations and highlights.
Notwithstanding his fantastical babble to Macandrew, Gerald was a shrewd young man. He prosecuted his search for the unknown sender of the message, less to find a wife than to see the end of the adventure. At the enjoyable age of thirty, he was not particularly keen on getting married, although his friends persistently advised him to do so. But, as Haskins pertinently observed, it was absurd to marry merely for marrying's sake. "When I meet THE woman," said Gerald wisely, "I shall ask her to be my wife. Otherwise -- -- " And a shrug would complete the unfinished sentence.
Tod was quite ready to leave the conclusion of the fishing adventure to his friend. Being in love with a particular girl, he thought of her only, and had no wish to search for another girl, even though she were an illiterate princess, who fluted like a nightingale. What with earning his living, and fighting Lady Euphemia, and wooing Charity Bird, and tricking Mrs. Pelham Odin, who was strongly opposed to that wooing, Macandrew's hands were quite full. Within two days he betook himself to London, keen upon seeing _The Moon Fay_ ballet, in which Charity was dancing. But before his departure he unwittingly did Gerald a service by learning something about the Pixy's House, and that same something was less romantic than unpleasant.