H. B. Marriott Watson

“ But tell me; do these horrid people hold many of your bills?"
"More than is comfortable," he said. "They want to sell me up. That's what they're after. Of course I played the fool, but then we all did it. It's heredity," declared Sir Gilbert, with the air of settling the difficulty once and for all.
"Well, if it isn't romantic!" said Miss Harvey. ”

“ Miss Harvey mused. "It is n't good for the health," she said.
"I'm going to climb out at nights," explained Norroy.
"You must n't let them get you," she adjured eagerly.
"Not me!" said Norroy, valiantly.
Miss Harvey rose to go, and offered a parting nod of encouragement to the baronet.
"Don't you mind too much," she advised. Sir Gilbert admired her through his eye-glass. "Old Jake Simmons, a friend of papa's, went bankrupt three times, and he came out on top in the end. Ever been bankrupt before?"
Sir Gilbert shook his head. "I don't cotton to the notion, somehow," he said. ”

“ His exterior manners were without finesse, but we met upon the same platform of behavior, and there was much more than behavior that drew me to him—a sort of good-humored individuality which might be typical of a fine animal. The darkness slowly invested the lawn and the borders, leaving the paths in a higher light. The limes muttered in the air, like those fabled "gossips of the prime." Norroy broke silence.
"Let's go down to the lower garden and the copse," he suggested. ”

“ When they had gone, Sir Gilbert stood looking out of the window in a brown study. But all that his meditations brought was the colloquial remark, "That's a ripping girl!"
I pulled him away from the window. "You're exposing yourself to the fire of the enemy," I said, "and after the episode of the butcher-boy we can't afford to take risks. Please remember you are fighting excellent strategists. And let me tell you this, Norroy; you've pulled through so far by luck more than by management. You must regard yourself in the light of a besieged town. ”

“ It does not signify. The only thing that mattered was that Miss Harvey arrived by herself at the Castle in a great state of excitement, and bursting with sympathy. She made no difficulty about broaching the subject, which she did in Norroy's presence quite naturally; and he accepted her query as naturally. I think that these two people had something akin in the unashamed honesty which characterized them.
"Yes, it's an awful bore, is n't it?" said Sir Gilbert, modestly. "But Brabazon's no end good about it. He's guarding me like a tiger." ”

“ Harvey explained that they had come to pay their dinner-call, but she got no assistance from her daughter, who was wrangling prettily with Norroy as to the exact angle of her elbow.
If I put it there it sticks out too much," she declared, as one resolute on harmonies of figure as well as of sound.
"Just chuck your shoulder up a bit," suggested Sir Gilbert, taking command. "Don't mind your angles; they 'll come into the picture somehow." ”