Affairs of State / Being an Account of Certain Surprising Adventures Which Befell an American Family in the Land of Windmills

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Being an Account of Certain Surprising Adventures Which
Befell an American Family in the Land of Windmills
With Illustrations by F. VAUX WILSON
1906
The Wiles of Womankind
Archibald Rushford, tall, lean, the embodiment of energy, stood at the window, hands in pockets, and stared disgustedly out at the dreary vista of sand-dunes and bathing-machines, closed in the distance by a stretch of gray sea mounting toward a horizon scarcely discernible through the drifting mist which hung above the water.
Though why you wanted to come here at all, he continued, presumably addressing two young ladies in the room behind him, or why you want to stay, now you are here, passes my comprehension. One might as well be buried alive, and be done with it. The sensations, I should imagine, are about the same.
Oh, come, dad! protested one of the girls, laughing, you know it isn't so bad as that! There's plenty of life—not just at this hour of the morning, perhaps, —with a fleeting glance at the empty landscape,— but the hour is unfashionable.
As everything seasonable and sensible seems to be here, put in her father, grimly.
And such interesting life, too, added the other girl.