Frank R. Stockton

Name: Mrs. Cliff's Yacht
Author: Frank R. Stockton

Mrs. Cliff's Yacht

Summary

“Mrs. Cliff's Yacht”, is a work by Frank R. Stockton. It explores elements such as the Dunkery Beacon, Cliff and Burke.

Quotes from Mrs. Cliff's Yacht (Frank R. Stockton)

Frank R. Stockton, Mrs. Cliff's Yacht

“ Miss Cushing, of course, had no excuse for leaving, for this was her own house; and although the others might have pleaded errands, a power stronger than their disposition to fly—stronger even than their fears of what Mrs. Cliff might say to them when she knew all—kept them in their seats. The spell of self-interest was upon them and held them fast. Whatever was said and whatever was done they must be there! At this supreme moment they could not leave the room. They nerved themselves, they breathed hard, and listened!
"You see, Sarah," said Miss Inchman, "we must all die!" ”

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Source: Gutenberg

Frank R. Stockton, Mrs. Cliff's Yacht

“ Cliff. "Is it after breakfast-time?"
"No," said Willy; "but it's this! What are you going to do in that big house, with all the bedrooms, parlor, library, and so forth? You say that you are going to have one room, and that I'm to have another, and that we'll go into the old house to feel at home whenever we want to; but I believe we'll be like a couple of flies in a barrel! You're going to furnish your new house with everything but people! You ought to have more people! You ought to have a family! That house will look funny without people! ”

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Source: Gutenberg

Frank R. Stockton, Mrs. Cliff's Yacht

“ And once, when she saw her gazing with an earnest eager glare—and whoever would have thought of any sort of a glare in Miss Barbara's eyes—upon some bank-notes which Mrs. Cliff was paying out for a carved cabinet for which it was a little doubtful if a suitable place could be found, but which was bought because Miss Eleanor thought it would give an air of distinction in whatever room it might be placed, Willy began to suspect the meaning of that unusual exhibition of emotion.
"She's money hungry," she said to herself, "that's what's the matter with her!" ”

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Source: Gutenberg

Frank R. Stockton, Mrs. Cliff's Yacht

“ Cliff, with a smile, "you want to get married."
"You've hit it exactly," said he. "I want a wife. Of course I don't expect to get exactly such a wife as Captain Horn has—they're about as scarce as buried treasure, I take it—but I want one who will suit me and who is suited to me. That's what I want, and I shall never be happy until I get her."
"I should think it would be easy enough for you to [Pg 310] get a wife, Mr. Burke," said Mrs. Cliff. "You are in the prime of life, you have plenty of money, and I don't believe it would be at all hard to find a good woman who would be glad to have you." ”

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Source: Gutenberg

Frank R. Stockton, Mrs. Cliff's Yacht

“ Burke gave the wheel to Burdette and came down, when Mrs. Cliff immediately rushed to him. She was not hurt, but had been dreadfully shaken in body and mind. "Oh, what are we going to do?" she cried. "They are wretched murderers! Will they keep on trying to sink us? Can't we get away?"
"We can get away whenever we please," said Burke, his voice husky and cracked. "If it wasn't for Shirley, I'd sail out of their sight in half an hour." ”

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Source: Gutenberg

Frank R. Stockton, Mrs. Cliff's Yacht

“ Mr. Burke, who guided and commanded the expedition, supplied the impelling energy; Mrs. Cliff had her check book with her; Willy was ready with any amount of enthusiasm; and the past life of Miss Eleanor Thorpedyke and her sister Barbara had made them most excellent judges of what was appropriate for the worthy furnishing of a stately mansion.
Their youth and middle life had been spent near Boston, in a fine old house which had been the home of their ancestors, and where they had been familiar with wealth, distinguished society, and noble hospitality. ”

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Source: Gutenberg

Frank R. Stockton, Mrs. Cliff's Yacht

“ Working hard, laughing much, eating most heartily, and sleeping well, the busy and hilarious little party on board the Summer Shelter steamed into the harbor of Kingston, after a much shorter voyage than is generally made from Nassau to that port.
"If I could get a crew of jolly parsons," cried Captain Burke, "and could give them a month's training on board this yacht, I'd rather have them than any crew that could be got together from Cape Horn to the North Pole!" ”

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Source: Gutenberg

Frank R. Stockton, Mrs. Cliff's Yacht

“ But, of course, one person's conscience isn't another person's, and we've each got to judge for ourselves, and be judged afterwards!"
Now Willy leaned forward in her chair, and her eyes glistened. As her body grew colder, so did her temper grow warmer.
"If it's Mrs. Cliff you're thinkin' about, Nancy Shott," said she, "I'll just tell you that you're as wrong as you can be! There isn't a more generous and a kinder person in this whole town than Mrs. Cliff is, and she isn't only that way to-day, but she's always been so, whether she's had little or whether she's had much!" ”

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Source: Gutenberg

Frank R. Stockton, Mrs. Cliff's Yacht

“ I know that this is a mighty queer world, and that even the richest people can often come down with a sudden thump just as if they had slipped on the ice."
Mrs. Cliff smiled. "Nothing has happened to me," she said. "I have had no set-backs, and I am just as rich to-day,—I should say a great deal richer, than I was on the day when Captain Horn made the division of the treasure. But I know very well why you thought something had happened to me. You did not expect to find me living in this little house."
"No, by the Lord Harry, I didn't!" exclaimed Burke, slapping his knee. ”

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Source: Gutenberg

Frank R. Stockton, Mrs. Cliff's Yacht

“ If you could persuade Miss Eleanor to come and sit in your parlor when you are having company to see you, it would set you up in Plainton a good deal higher than any money can set you up."
"They would never agree to anything of the kind," said Mrs. Cliff, "and you know it, Willy!"
"I don't believe it," said Willy. "I believe they'd come! Just see how willing they were to come here with you! I tell you, Sarah, that the older and older those Thorpedyke ladies get, the more timid they get, and the more unwilling to live by themselves! ”

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Source: Gutenberg

Frank R. Stockton, Mrs. Cliff's Yacht

“ We do not feel that we would be the kind of men we would like to think we are, if, after all your kindness and great consideration, we should step on shore and continue the very delightful programme you have laid out for us, while you are left in doubt, perplexity, and perhaps danger, on your yacht. There are five of us who feel that they cannot join in the offer which I am about to make to you and the Captain, but the rest of us wish most earnestly and heartily to offer you our services—if you think they are worth anything—to work this vessel to Jamaica. ”

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Source: Gutenberg

Frank R. Stockton, Mrs. Cliff's Yacht

“ Cliff had now fully determined to become the owner of a yacht, but she would not do so unless she saw her way clear to carry out the benevolent features of the plan which Mr. Burke had suggested.
"What I want," said Mrs. Cliff, "is to have the whole thing understood! I am perfectly willing to spend some of the pleasant months sailing about the coast and feeling that I'm giving health and pleasure to poor and deserving people, especially children, but I am not willing to consider myself a rich woman who keeps an expensive yacht just for the pleasure of cruising around when she feels like it! ”

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Source: Gutenberg

Frank R. Stockton, Mrs. Cliff's Yacht

“ Cliff, to see, this very morning, Willy Croup coming out of Barney Thompson's house and to hear from her afterwards that she had been to order him to come here to put up a new kitchen door, which I do not suppose is absolutely needed, and even if it is, I am sure I would wait a good while before I would have Barney Thompson come into my house with diphtheria, that very minute, perhaps, in the throats of one or maybe more of his children; but of course, if people choose to trifle with their own lives, it is their own business. ”

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Source: Gutenberg

Frank R. Stockton, Mrs. Cliff's Yacht

“ Mrs. Cliff's whole heart was now in the projected cruise of the Summer Shelter. When she had thought of it with only Willy and herself as passengers, she could not help considering it was a great extravagance. Now she was going to begin her series of sea-trips in a fashion far superior and more dignified than anything yet thought of. To be able to give such an invitation to a Synod was something of which she might well be proud, and she was proud. ”

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Source: Gutenberg

Frank R. Stockton, Mrs. Cliff's Yacht

“ The Monterey started southward towards the point where they had last seen the yacht and the Dunkery Beacon, and the pirate ship, veering off to the south-east, steamed slowly away. The people on board of her were looking everywhere for Banker, for without him they knew not what they ought to do, but if their leader ever came up from the great depth to which he had sunk with Mok's black hands upon his throat, his comrades were not near the spot where, dead or alive, he floated to the surface. ”

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Source: Gutenberg

Frank R. Stockton, Mrs. Cliff's Yacht

“ Cliff was rapidly becoming a different woman from the old Mrs. Cliff of Plainton. At the time she stepped inside of the addition to her house the change had begun, and now it showed itself more and more each day. She had seen more beautiful things in Paris, but there she looked upon them with but little thought of purchasing. In New York whatever she saw and desired she made her own.
The difference between a mere possessor of wealth and one who uses it became very apparent to her. Not until now had she really known what it was to be a rich woman. ”

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Source: Gutenberg

Frank R. Stockton, Mrs. Cliff's Yacht

“ There's nothin' money can give a person that's better than plenty of people to do things. Lots of them on hand all the time, like the crew of a ship."
"But I couldn't do that, Mr. Burke," said she; "my house is too small. I haven't any place for servants to sleep. When I enlarge my house, of course, I may have more servants."
"Oh, I wouldn't wait for that," said he; "until then you could board them at the hotel."
This suggestion was strongly backed by Willy Croup, and Mrs. Cliff took the matter to heart. ”

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Source: Gutenberg

Frank R. Stockton, Mrs. Cliff's Yacht

“ Cliff. "Captain Horn," said she, her voice so shaken by her emotion that she scarcely spoke above a whisper, "we did everything we could, and this is what has come of it!"
"Everything!" exclaimed Captain Horn, suddenly [Pg 293] turning towards her. "You have done far more than could be expected by mortals! And now," said he, turning to the little party, "don't let one of us grieve another minute for the sinking of that gold. If anybody has a right to grieve, it's Captain Hagar here. He's lost his ship, but many a good sailor has lost his ship and lived and died a happy man after it. ”

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Source: Gutenberg

Frank R. Stockton, Mrs. Cliff's Yacht

“ The pilot left the Summer Shelter; three of the clergymen shovelled coal; four of them served as deck hands; and two others ran around as assistant cooks and stewards; Mr. Portman and Mr. Burdette lent their hands to things which were not at all in their line of duty; Mrs. Cliff and Willy pared the vegetables, and cooked without ever thinking of stopping to fan themselves; while Captain Burke flew around like half-a-dozen men, with a good word for everybody, and a hand to help wherever needed. It was truly a jolly voyage from Nassau to Kingston. ”

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Source: Gutenberg

Frank R. Stockton, Mrs. Cliff's Yacht

“ The very idea of shipping again on a merchant vessel made the blood run cold inside of me, and I swore to myself that I wouldn't do it.
"To be sure, I wouldn't give up all notion of a lark. A sailor with money,—and I don't believe there ever was an able-bodied seaman with more money than I had,—who doesn't lark, at least to some degree, has no right to call himself a whole-souled mariner; so I made up my mind to have one lark and then stop."
Mrs. Cliff's countenance clouded. "I am sorry, Mr. Burke," said she, "that you thought it necessary to do that. ”

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Source: Gutenberg

Frank R. Stockton, Mrs. Cliff's Yacht

“ Buskirk was reported that afternoon to Mrs. Cliff, the good lady sat aghast. "I've decided about the park," she said, "and that is all very well. But what do you mean by a yacht? What could be more ridiculous than to talk about me and a yacht!"
"Ridiculous!" exclaimed Burke. "It's nothing of the kind! The more I think of the idea, the better I like it, and if you'll think of it soberly, I believe you'll like it just as much as I do! In the first place, you've got to do something to keep your money from being dammed up and running all over everything. ”

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Source: Gutenberg

Frank R. Stockton, Mrs. Cliff's Yacht

“ Cliff. "And Mr. Shirley will see them! And oh, Mr. Burke, why can't we see them? Of all things in the world I want to see Edna, and the Captain too! And why can't we go straight to Jamaica in the Summer Shelter instead of going anywhere else? We may get there before they all leave; don't you think we could do that?"
The eyes of Captain Burke fairly blazed. "Do it!" he cried, springing to his feet. "I believe we can do it; at any rate we can try! The same to you, madam, I would do anything in the world to see Captain Horn, and nobody knows when we will have the chance! ”

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Source: Gutenberg

Frank R. Stockton, Mrs. Cliff's Yacht

“ She knew that it would be almost impossible to find a tenant who would take that house, especially for winter occupancy, and that even if a tenant could be found, the rent would be very little. And she knew, moreover, that having come to a decision Eleanor could not be moved from it.
She found Mr. Burke and Willy with Mrs. Cliff, but as he knew all about the project and had taken great interest in it, she did not hesitate to tell her message before him. Mrs. Cliff was very much disappointed.
"That ends the matter!" said she. "Your house cannot be rented for the winter!" ”

Frank R. Stockton

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Quotes from Mrs. Cliff's Yacht (Frank R. Stockton)

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