A Fistful of Dust Read Online Free PDF

better man for my sister. The wedding was all set and then Henry had a business matter to attend. This brought him to Mars and while there, he said he would look into this Phobos business. I thought nothing of it, considered the property worthless, but Henry joked. Said that I should add extraterrestrial real estate to the company’s portfolio. I saw no harm in it. I didn’t even imagine that Henry would carry out his plan…but when we lost word…” Highmore’s face lost some of its colour. “Phobos is my last attempt at finding him…and find him I must, alive and well or…” The words stopped almost at the same moment his hand reached out, feeling blindly for the table. The tea he had barely touched splashed into the saucer. The cup appeared to be perilously in danger. Arnaud swept in to save it.
    “There are also…personal matters, and…” Mr Highmore seemed to want to express too many emotions in few words. Elizabeth stared at the floor, her hands clasped in her lap. Although no tears were evident, she gave the impression of feeling uneasy witnessing her brother overcome like this in front of strangers. “You see, quite possibly… No. I do, indeed, owe Henry my life, and I would save his in return for all the good things he has done for me, but also for the sake of my sister.”
    His grip on the cane turned Highmore’s knuckles white as he leaned forward. Everyone in the room tensed as if they expected him to spill from the chair. His personage was suddenly so agitated that Annabelle would not have been surprised to see him fall at her feet in a fit of convulsions.
    “On the one hand, my coming out here and not simply hiring others to find him is foolish. It is worse that I brought my sister, but as you now realise she has a mind of her own at times that does not always readily display itself. If something happens to any of us…” His gestures told them of a future he could not contemplate. “For those who are left their heartache will be tenfold, but Elizabeth loves him, and I owe him. I could do no less. I do not wish anything to happen to my sister, but if I die in exchange for saving Henry’s life then I am assured he will take care of her and give her all that her heart desires. I am certain that he is all that she desires, and she would be content living a poor life if she had him to share it with.”
    Good sentiments if a little passé. Annabelle could not be so satisfied as to have a man be the only thing she wanted, but a man to share the things she wanted with her…that was indeed a different matter.
    3.
    “TO BUSINESS.” FOLKARD sounded quite his usual self again. They had finished one round of refreshments, and were partaking of another, this time with a little of the promised brandy, although Nathaniel was certain Folkard had ordered its employment in an attempt to mellow Highmore. Even Arnaud had finally taken a seat once the brandy appeared. “You travelled to the Astusapes Highlands. Why?”
    “Henry’s trail…”
    “Forgive me. It would be better to ask what you discovered. We understand he was seeking transport to Phobos, but what led him to believe such a thing could be found?”
    “That…I am at something of a loss to explain, except in a circuitous way.”
    “Mr Highmore, really we must.”
    “Bear with me, Captain, please. When I followed Henry’s trail, the minutiae of which I won’t bore you, it led out to the Highlands, that is true, but initially I believed he was heading for the shipyards in Parhoon.” He paused, looking a little dreamy, and although Folkard was not the only one to want to hurry him, they held their tempers. “Ahh, would that I had found him there. I would have told him to forget this folly. Would that we had time for cricket at the Parhoon Oval and stayed awhile.”
    Was Highmore waxing lyrical?
    “My enquiries led me to a bar. Henry had…taken a room there.” He sounded rather perplexed over that. “Why he should choose to board in some