Edgar Jepson

“ You see that the strong point about both Lady Loudwater and Colonel Grey is, on your own showing, that they are uncommonly clever; and only stupid people commit murder—except, of course, once in a blue moon."
"But what about these gangs of criminals we sometimes read about, with extraordinarily clever men at the head of them? Don't they exist?" said Mr. Manley, in a tone of surprise.
"They exist; but they don't commit murders—not in Europe, at any rate," said Mr. Flexen. "In the East and in the United States it's different perhaps. Murder is always as much of a blunder as a crime. ”

“ If you’re a Red Indian, be a Red Indian,” said the little boy austerely. He dropped another sharpened match into the paraffin, looked up and caught Jack’s eye.
“He’s come to,” he said, rising; the little girl ran from the fire, and they stood before their prisoner in the full blaze of the candles.
They were pretty, clear-skinned, dark-haired children, with the parted lips and dreamy eyes of idealists, and their faces were shining in an intense, joyful excitement. The face of the little girl was like a face which Jack knew, but could not call to mind. ”

“ John Stuart gazed at him in mild wonder.
“Why, what did I say?” he asked.
“Say?” howled Sir Horace, with a sudden grateful fullness of breath. “Do you realize whom you have been speaking to? It's monstrous! Perfectly monstrous! If ever it comes out that you're not the prince, England—England will be too hot to hold me!”
John Stuart frowned upon him.
“Whoever she may be,” he said, “a woman is a woman, and it's a man's duty to set her right.” ”

“ The autumn wore through; and we never felt the tediousness of the declining year. Long walks with Pamela took the place of my lawn tennis; and I never missed it. In the fuller and healthier life she was enjoying she throve like a flower in its proper sunshine; her beauty and charm increased.
The rites, as Woodfell had promised, were not again that autumn celebrated in the garden of No. 19; at any rate the full rites were not. But some rites were celebrated in his study—at least so it seemed —for three or four times he sent Pamela to bed early, and locked her in her room. ”

“ After his breakfast the Honourable John Ruffin departed to Littlestone to golf; and Pollyooly and the Lump went down to the sands. There are no niggers, pierrots, or bands at Pyechurch, only a few donkeys and a cocoanut-shy. But at low tide there are a thousand acres of firm sand, a children's paradise. Pollyooly enjoyed it beyond words: not only the sands and the sea but also the freedom from care. ”

“ You are, after all, with all your altruism, a wealthy capitalist. Angel, if she had married you, would be a capitalist's wife. Sooner or later the capitalist temper is bound to assert itself, and what now appears to you the noblest philanthropy will appear merely criminal. In the ordinary course of married life you would have your little quarrels, and you'd forever be twitting one another with your respective murders. Would that make for connubial bliss, I ask you?"
"I think it's devilish hard that a man's philanthropic endeavor should be dragged into matters of sentiment," said Chelubai. ”

“ An immense slow smile spread over the expanse of royal face; and the grand duke cried: "Mein Gott! Bud id is nod a child at all—zat! Id is an anchel—a leedle anchel—Italian renascence! Is id nod, Erkelenz?" And he turned to his slim equerry.
"Yes, Highness: authentic," said the equerry.
The Baron von Habelschwert gasped; he could not believe his ears.
The little girl, batting, whacked the ball over the prince's head.
"Run, Adalbert! Run!" shrieked Pollyooly.
"Roon, Adalbert! Der Teufel! Roon!" bellowed the grand duke. ”

“ Knowing Lord Loudwater, I could swear to it morally. There isn't the ghost of a chance that he took his own life. But physically, his right hand might have driven that blade into his heart."
"I thought so myself, though of course I'm no expert," said Mr. Flexen. "And I agree with you when you say that you are morally certain that the wound was not self-inflicted. Those bad-tempered brutes may murder other people, but themselves never."
"Well, I've not your experience in crime, but I should say that you were right," said the doctor. ”

“ The Lady Noggs turned her eyes away from the baby; she could not bear the sight. They wandered round the room, and rested on the red handkerchief knotted round William's throat. In moments of painful emotion the mind will seize on some trivial object and busy itself with it to get away from the pain. So the mind of the Lady Noggs seized on the red handkerchief, started a relieving train of thought and jumped by a natural association, seeing that she had just been talking of the express, to the red flag of the railway signal man. ”

“ I was disposed to make more allowance for the flights of the imagination. It seemed to me that my impression of a hideous, shapeless beast might very well be a mere fancy. But even so, something must have given it to me; there had been something in the garden of No. 19, to inspire that horror into me. Of that I was sure. It clung to me still; all day the memory of it kept interfering with my work; and I came home that night realizing that I had a new interest in life, to discover the cause of that horror. ”

“ Then my wits cleared a little; and I heard, or fancied I heard, a movement in the garden of No. 19; a quiet movement, a faint dragging, brushing movement; and I had an impression—it was not as much as a vision—of a hideous, shapeless, sluggish beast, drawing its pendulous belly over turf. It was moving towards the house.
I stood gasping. Then there came a sharp cry from the dining room of No. 19; and the girl's voice, shrill and full of fear, cried, "Uncle! Uncle! There's something horrible in the garden!" ”

“ She was much less pleased to exchange the society of the lively Eglantine, so full of interesting confidences, for that of the ponderous and doubtless uncommunicative Mr. Wilkinson.
He was fully alive to his importance as being in charge of the daughter of a duke, and did not dream for a moment of putting her into the care of the detective. Indeed, in spite of his greater experience in taking charge of people, that worthy fellow was far too sleepy to be trusted with so elusive a child.
Mr. Wilkinson was far more affable and urbane with her than any one whom Pollyooly had ever met. ”

“ After a while, I could not think of the kiss that I had given her, when I had caught her playing the ghost, without wanting to kiss her again.
Finally I made up my mind that the only thing to do was to bolt, and be quick about it. A course of foreign travel was my only chance of curing myself; and the sooner I took it, the less painful I should find it. I saw plainly that it was not a case for big-game shooting. If I got away to the loneliness of the woods and hills, I should only be worse. I should want Amber worse than ever. ”

“ We walked to the middle of Trafalgar Square in silence; then I said abruptly, "Has Woodfell been raising one of those principalities of the Abyss you talked about?"
"I don't know—I don't know," he said slowly and rather wearily. "One is worked up to such a stress of emotion that one doesn't know—one can't know. The intelligence—the reasoning powers are in abeyance."
"Well, I believe he has. There has always been something wrong —an uncanniness—about the Walden Road; now it is growing unbearable. It's full of horror." ”

“ Bletsoe repeated.
He went back to the drawing-room and, somewhat morosely inviting Agatha to come upstairs, led the way and ushered her into the smoking room.
“How do you do, John?” she began in the tone of one prepared to defend herself.
“Oh, Agatha, how are you?” said the prince in as harsh a tone as he could assume, and by an effort he restrained the charming smile that the sight of beauty always drew from him, remembering in time that John Stuart rarely smiled, and that beauty was about the last thing in the world to draw a smile from him. ”

“ The bright light died down swiftly, as if the fire had been snuffed out; and there was only a gray cloud of incense eddying slowly in the moonlight.
I gasped; and Woodfell's voice rose loud and hoarse in furious, incoherent imprecations, then grew clear, crying, "The swine—the cowardly swine! They've spoilt it! They've spoilt it! May they rot on earth and shrivel in hell!" ”

“ I came away from her, thinking what a pity it was that a miserable little beast, as she so aptly called Lord Dymchurch, should have gone so far to spoil the life of so fine a creature. I did not indeed think that he had done her irremediable harm—as yet. But she was certainly stranded; whether with the five thousand pounds she would certainly have from him, she would get out again into the open sea of life and make a fair and prosperous voyage was doubtful. With a better training, the training of a gentle-woman, she would indeed have been a glorious creature. ”