Through by daylight

Mr. Waddie Wimpleton, an elegant young gentleman of fifteen, by all odds the nicest young man in Centreport, was firing at a mark with a revolver. It was a very beautiful revolv...

My father’s house was near the spot. I had been planting peas in the garden all the morning, and I had observed that the young gentleman was unusually steadfast in his occupatio...

The grove into which I had retreated was on the border of Colonel Wimpleton’s estate, and in its friendly covert I made my way to the road which led to the steamboat wharf. I pu...

After we had sufficiently discussed the explosion and my father’s financial affairs, Christy Holgate took from under the seat where he sat a curiously-shaped black bottle and a...

When I first made my appearance, he had thrust his head and shoulders through the window, apparently to examine the situation, and determine in what manner he could best dispose...

I was entirely satisfied with myself as I put the pocket-book into my breast pocket, and carefully buttoned my coat. I felt as though I had really done “a big thing,” allowing t...

I was both amazed and confounded when it was ascertained that the pocket-book did not contain the money. From the depth of despair my father and myself had gone up to the pinnac...

My father and I had always been on the best of terms. He was very considerate to me, and used to talk with me a great deal; indeed, he treated me in such a way that I had very l...

Middleport had a terrible fall in the unfortunate slip of the dummy engine; and if any Wimpletonians, on the other side of the lake, witnessed the catastrophe, I am afraid they...

My mother wept as she thought of the past, and dreaded the future. It would have been comparatively easy to endure the loss of the twenty-four hundred dollars; but it was intole...

I left the house more to conceal my own emotions than for any other reason. I had been imprudent. My father was not only dependent upon Colonel Wimpleton for the excellent situa...

Under the influence of the better thoughts which my good mother had suggested to me, I was willing to do better deeds. I was ready to apologize; I had done so, but I could not g...

There were not many men in Centreport who were not either the toadies or the employees of Colonel Wimpleton. He was an absolute monarch in the place, and his will was law, to al...

“Haven’t you any one in Middleport that can raise that engine?” I asked, with a pleasant smile, after I had taken a seat in Tommy Toppleton’s beautiful sail-boat, with my old sk...

The enthusiastic cheering which followed the passage of the dummy from the water to the land was grateful to me, and I enjoyed it to a degree which I cannot express. I felt just...

I was in my element--in charge of a steam-engine. Though I had never seen a dummy before this one, I comprehended the machinery at a glance. I hardly heard the tumultuous yells...

For the first time in my life I had some fears in regard to meeting my father. I dreaded the terrible infirmity which was beginning to develop itself anew in him. Under ordinary...

I hastened into the house, and told my mother that father was coming. She bestowed upon me a glance so full of anxiety that I comprehended the question she desired to ask, and I...

My father was himself again. He was clothed in his right mind once more. He even appeared to have forgotten that I had emptied the bottle the day before, and treated me as kindl...

I found the dummy just as I had left it on the preceding day. I kindled a fire in the furnace, rubbed down the machinery, filled up the water tank, and took on a supply of coal,...

I was very intent upon explaining to Miss Grace Toppleton the mysteries of the dummy engine, and I was not pleased to have the agreeable interview broken off. I was vexed, annoy...

I have been so busy with the history of our family affairs, and the incidents which sent me over to Middleport, that I have not had much to say about the Lake Shore Railroad; bu...

The appearance of the dummy, going at full speed, filled me with anxiety. I was sure that something was wrong, for I knew that Major Toppleton was not stirring at that hour in t...

It is not necessary for me to quote any of the big words which Major Toppleton used when I told him the Wimpletonians had been over and torn up a quarter of a mile of the track...

I was never so “taken aback” in my life as when I heard the silvery voice of Miss Grace Toppleton, and saw the magnificent gift in her hand. At any time I should have looked at...

My father was very unhappy, and my mother was afraid he would again resort to the cup for solace in his misfortune. I do not know what she said to him; but he treated her very t...