



Produced by David Widger





THE TRADER'S WIFE

By Louis Becke

Unwin Brothers 1901




CHAPTER I

Brabant's wife was sitting on the shady verandah of her house on the
hills overlooking Levuka harbour, and watching a large fore and aft
schooner being towed in by two boats, for the wind had died away early
in the morning and left the smooth sea to swelter and steam under a sky
of brass.

The schooner was named the _Maritana_, and was owned and commanded by
Mrs. Brabant's husband, John Brabant, who at that moment was standing on
the after-deck looking through his glasses at the house on the hill, and
at the white-robed figure of his wife.

"Can you see Mrs. Brabant, sir?" asked the chief mate, a short,
dark-faced man of about thirty years of age, as he came aft and stood
beside his captain.

"Yes, I can