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    The Lost House
    The Lost House
    The Lost House
    Ebook73 pages1 hour

    The Lost House

    By Richard Harding Davis

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    About this ebook

    This early work by Richard Harding Davis was originally published in the early 20th century and we are now republishing it with a brand new introductory biography. 'The Lost House' is a short story by this famous war correspondent. Davis attended Lehigh University and Johns Hopkins University, but was asked to leave both due to neglecting his studies in favour socialising. During the Second Boer War in South Africa, Davis was a leading correspondent of the conflict. He saw the war first-hand from both parties perspectives and documented it in his publication 'With Both Armies' (1900). He wrote widely from locations such as the Caribbean, Central America, and even from the perspective of the Japanese forces during the Russo-Japanese War. Davis died following a heart attack on 11th April, 1916, at the age of 51.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherWhite Press
    Release dateJan 29, 2016
    ISBN9781473396821
    Author

    Richard Harding Davis

    Richard Davis was born and educated in Melbourne and now lives in Queensland. He was encouraged in his writing by Alan Marshall, Ivan Southall and later, Nobel prize-winning author Patrick White. Richard pursued a successful career in commerce before taking up full-time writing in 1997. Since then his published works have included three internationally acclaimed biographies of musicians: Geoffrey Parsons - Among Friends (ABC Books), Eileen Joyce: A Portrait (Fremantle Press) and Anna Bishop - The Adventures of an Intrepid Prima Donna (Currency Press). The latest in this series is Wotan’s Daughter - The Life of Marjorie Lawrence.

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      Book preview

      The Lost House - Richard Harding Davis

      TheLostHouse_FC.jpg

      The Lost House

      by

      Richard Harding Davis

      Copyright © 2013 Read Books Ltd.

      This book is copyright and may not be

      reproduced or copied in any way without

      the express permission of the publisher in writing

      British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data

      A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library

      Contents

      The Lost House

      Richard Harding Davis

      I

      II

      III

      Richard Harding Davis

      Richard Harding Davis was born on 18th April 1864, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. He was the son of two writers, Rebecca Harding Davis (a prominent author), and Lemuel Clarke Davis (a journalist and editor of the Philadelphia Public Ledger).

      Davis attended Lehigh University and Johns Hopkins University, but was asked to leave both due to neglecting his studies in favour socialising. With some help from his father, Davis was able to find a position as a journalist at the Philadelphia Record, but was soon fired from the post. He then spent a short time at the Philadelphia Press before moving to the New York Evening Sun, where he became a controversial figure, writing on subjects such as execution, abortion, and suicide. He went on to edit Harper’s Weekly and write for the New York Herald, The Times, and Scribner’s Magazine.

      During the Second Boer War in South Africa, Davis was a leading correspondent of the conflict. He saw the war first-hand from both parties perspectives and documented it in his publication With Both Armies (1900). Later in his career he wrote a story about his experience on a United States Navy ship that shelled Cuba as part of the Battle of Santiago de Cuba. His article made the headlines and prompted the Navy to refuse to allow reporters aboard their vessels for the remainder of the war.

      He wrote widely from locations such as the Caribbean, Central America, and even from the perspective of the Japanese forces during the Russo-Japanese War. He also covered the Salonika Front in the First World War, where he spent a time detained by the Germans on suspicion of being a spy.

      Davis married twice, first to Cecil Clark in 1899, and then to Bessie McCoy in 1912, with whom he had one daughter. Davis died following a heart attack on 11th April, 1916, at the age of 51.

      I

      It was a dull day at the chancellery. His Excellency the American Ambassador was absent in Scotland, unveiling a bust to Bobby Burns, paid for by the numerous lovers of that poet in Pittsburg; the First Secretary was absent at Aldershot, observing a sham battle; the Military Attache was absent at the Crystal Palace, watching a foot-ball match; the Naval Attache was absent at the Duke of Deptford’s, shooting pheasants; and at the Embassy, the Second Secretary, having lunched leisurely at the Artz, was now alone, but prepared with his life to protect American interests. Accordingly, on the condition that the story should not be traced back to him, he had just confided a State secret to his young friend, Austin Ford, the London correspondent of the New York REPUBLIC.

      I will cable it, Ford reassured him, as coming from a Hungarian diplomat, temporarily residing in Bloomsbury, while en route to his post in Patagonia. In that shape, not even your astute chief will suspect its real source. And further from the truth than that I refuse to go.

      What I dropped in to ask, he continued, is whether the English are going to send over a polo team next summer to try to bring back the cup?

      I’ve several other items of interest, suggested the Secretary.

      The week-end parties to which you have been invited, Ford objected, can wait. Tell me first what chance there is for an international polo match.

      Polo, sententiously began the Second Secretary, who himself was a crackerjack at the game, is a proposition of ponies! Men can be trained for polo. But polo ponies must be born. Without good ponies——

      James, the page who guarded the outer walls, of the chancellery, appeared in the doorway.

      Please, Sir, a person, he announced, with a note for the Ambassador, he says it’s important.

      Tell him to leave it, said the Secretary. Polo ponies——

      Yes, Sir, interrupted the page. But ‘e won’t leave it, not unless he keeps the ‘arf-crown.

      For Heaven’s sake! protested the Second Secretary, then let him keep the half-crown. When I say polo ponies, I don’t mean——

      James, although alarmed at his own temerity, refused to accept the dismissal. But, please, Sir, he begged; I think the ‘arf-crown is for the Ambassador.

      The astonished diplomat gazed with open eyes.

      You think—WHAT! he exclaimed.

      James, upon the defensive, explained breathlessly.

      Because, Sir, he stammered, it was INSIDE the note when it was thrown out of the window.

      Ford had been sprawling in a soft leather chair in front of the open fire. With the privilege of an old school-fellow and college classmate, he had been jabbing the soft coal with his walking-stick, causing it to burst into tiny flames. His cigarette drooped from his lips, his hat was cocked over one eye; he was a picture of indifference, merging upon boredom. But at the words of the boy his attitude both of mind and body underwent an instant change. It was as though he were an actor, and the words thrown from the window were his cue. It was as though he were a dozing fox-terrier, and the voice of his master had whispered in his ear: Sick’em!

      For a moment, with benign reproach, the Second Secretary regarded the unhappy page, and then addressed him with laborious sarcasm.

      James, he said, people do not communicate with ambassadors in notes wrapped around half-crowns and hurled from windows. That is the way one corresponds with an organ-grinder.

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