Free The Reinvention Of Rudd Carter. A Western Action Adventure Novel by R.L. Davis Page A

sweet girl. This summer I grew to love her as if she were my own daughter. They seemed so happy together. I can see now that they loved each other deeply or this wouldn’t have happened.” She turned her gaze back to her husband and asked, “Why can’t they be married? They love each other.”
    Lord Carter let out a loud guffaw. “Can’t you just see the spectacle of our seventeen-year-old son marching down the aisle with his six-month expectant first cousin at Westminster Abbey in full view of the finest families in England?” Glaring at her sternly, he said, “Margaret, I’ll not hear another word about this! There will be no marriage and no leniency. They will each have to pay for what they have done.” He turned and stormed out of the room.

Chapter Seven
    April 1893, Hong Kong
    After a three-week voyage aboard a cargo ship that stopped at every port along the route from England through the Suez Canal, Rudd arrived in Hong Kong. A representative of his future employer was waiting for him at the dock. As he walked down the gangplank, he became aware of a whole new world of sights, sounds, and smells. Stepping onto the dock, a young Chinese man dressed in a dark, three-piece English business suit stepped forward. “Master Carter?”
    “Yes, I’m Rudd Carter.”
    “Welcome to Hong Kong, Master Carter. I am Sui Yen, an officer of the Carter Bank of Hong Kong. If you will, follow me please.”
    Sui Yen led Rudd to two waiting rickshaws. He gestured to one of the rickshaws. “Please be seated while I go and gather your luggage.”
    Rudd took a seat and waited while the luggage was gathered and placed in the other rickshaw, and they started for the bank. The journey was like no other he’d ever experienced before. The two-wheeled cart drawn by a man struck him as a more practical way to move about on highly congested streets than in a four-wheeled carriage drawn by horses.
    The streets were narrow and bustled with people on foot buying and trading goods of all matter and description from open stands. Food was cooking in pots or grilling in the open, and the sweet, tangy aroma of shallot, ginger, garlic and chili blending with cooking wine and sesame oil permeated the air. A cacophony of sounds emanated from hundreds of people all talking on top of each other, ordering, bidding, or arguing over what they wanted. The smell of freshly slaughtered animals and spoiling fish wafted through the streets.
    For twenty minutes, Rudd’s senses were bombarded by the everyday happenstance of daily survival in this new culture in which he would be living.
    Coming to the Carter International Bank of Hong Kong, a modern three-story masonry building, they stopped. Sui Yen ordered the rickshaws to wait and then escorted Rudd into the bank. Once inside he was shown to the floor manager and taken to a spacious mahogany-paneled office where he was introduced to Roger Carter, the bank president and his second cousin. Rudd had heard Roger’s name mentioned in family circles a few times in the past, but he didn’t really know much about him. This man would be in charge of his life for the next few years.
    Roger Carter was a man in his late forties, of medium height and build, whose impeccable manners and heavy Oxford accent seemed a bit much, for a man who lived and worked half a world away from England. Perhaps he’d turned it up a notch to impress the local English merchants he conducted business with every day.
    “I’ve been hearing much about you as of late,” he said, exhibiting an upper class British smile. “There is no need for an in-depth discussion of why you have been placed in my charge. It is your father’s wish that you learn the banking business, and that responsibility has been entrusted to me.” He looked Rudd over for a moment. “Sui Yen, the man who met you at the dock, will be your guide and companion for the next few weeks to help you become acclimated to your new life here in Hong Kong. He will take you to