John Dorrien
A Novel (Classic Reprint)

Excerpt from John Dorrien: A Novel<br><br>It was six o'clock, and quite dark, October being the lime of the year, and yet Mrs. Dorrien, who was to have been home by five, had not come back from town. Johnny, as he sat perched up on his high chair, looking down at the fire in the grate before him, wondered rather anxiously what kept his mother out so late. We call him Johnny because he was only ten years old, and a very little fellow, too, for that time of life. He was not a fine boy, nor yet a handsome one. He was undersized, to begin with, and his little face was thin and pale - the face of a child who stays too much within. Even the firelight, which showed so plainly the turned-up nose and pointed chin, could not pretend to give the glow of health to what it lit up. And yet, seen by that fitful light - there was none other in the room, Johnny being strictly forbidden to touch the petroleum-oil lamp - it had a quaint charm of its own. The brow, around which clustered rich brown curls, was firmly and finely moulded. The eyes, of a dark gray, were so beautiful, so full of light and fire,, and yet so deep and tender, that, if you had seen them once, you never forgot them again, even as the mobile, expressive countenance never left your memory when you had once watched its wonderful play. In repose it had not much to recommend it to favor, for it owed nothing to color or to clear, fine outline. His beautiful eyes, and the little, eager, passionate soul that lived in his frail body, and shone out through them, gave Johnny his only claim to that dower of beauty which the sons and daughters of Adam would all so gladly possess.<br><br>About the Publisher<br><br>Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com<br><br>This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.