Explore "Nina" by Louis Becke on Textopian. Read with annotations and highlights.
When Captain Henry Charlton -- generally known as "Bully Charlton" -- stepped on shore at Townsville in North Queensland with his newly-wedded wife, his acquaintances stared at them both in profound astonishment. They had heard that he had married in Sydney, and from their past knowledge of his character expected to see a loudly-attired Melbourne or Sydney barmaid with peroxided hair, and person profusely adorned with obtrusive jewelry. Instead of this they beheld a tall, ladylike girl with a cold, refined face, and an equally cold and distant manner.
"Well, I _have_ seen some curious things in my time," said Fryer, the American master of a Torres Straits pearling schooner, to the other men, as they watched Charlton and his wife drive away from the hotel, "but to think that _that_ fellow should marry a lady! I wonder if she has the faintest idea of what an anointed scoundrel he is?"