Leonard Merrick

Name: "A Weak Imitation"
Author: Leonard Merrick

Summary

“"A Weak Imitation"”, published in 1894, is a work by Leonard Merrick. It explores elements such as Bret, adventurer and intimacy.

Quotes from "A Weak Imitation" (Leonard Merrick)

Leonard Merrick, "A Weak Imitation" (1894)

“ He argues lazily that the true economy is to travel first-class on account of the people to be met. He meditates that aboard ship one mixes with distinctly wealthier persons than one knows at home, and adds that for the creation of intimacy a week at sea is equal to a year ashore. Yes, the adventurer would go cabin, and, what is more, he would most certainly be playing a David-and-Jonathan-duologue with a desirable passenger by the time of sighting Queenstown. ”

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Source: Wikisource

Leonard Merrick, "A Weak Imitation" (1894)

“ I am not particularly chummy with anybody else, and I distinctly prefer the lady. Throgmorton Street is getting unnecessarily attached to me. That is the worst of a passenger who doesn't thaw to the multitude; when he does take a liking, he is apt to be importunate. He is all the time hanging on to me when I want to drift Miss Bret-ward. ”

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Source: Wikisource

Leonard Merrick, "A Weak Imitation" (1894)

“ Nothing is perfect—the peach has a stone, and the nice American woman declines the vowel “u”—but when she is nice probably la belle Americame gets as near perfection as a New Yorker chasing the dollars comes to perpetual motion. And that is about “as near as makes no difference.” She has the geniality of her husband and brothers, with the refinement that they lack; the charm of her sex allied to the spontaneity of her nation. Miss Bret is eminently companionable, under other circumstances she would represent the interest of my trip. ”

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Source: Wikisource

Leonard Merrick, "A Weak Imitation" (1894)

“ I suggested to Miss Bret that we should limit ourselves to the opposite side of the boat.
I had helped her on with her jacket, and found her the pin belonging to the sailor-hat. What a sense of intimacy there is in helping a laughing woman to put on her “things!” What a curb one has to keep on one's self not to say too much!
Don't think I shall turn in yet. It's a heavenly night: go up and smoke, and look at the stars!
Sunday.
Great Scott! the “stockbroker” is the lord! Was there ever such good fortune! Verily hath the Adventurer wisdom, and I, his disciple, am in luck. ”

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Source: Wikisource

Leonard Merrick, "A Weak Imitation" (1894)

“ The brilliant adventurer of fiction who always finds it wise to be extravagant would not vacillate an instant; I know it. I know how that successful extravagance of his always warms my heart and fascinates me, so that I follow his impecunious career in hansoms with far more interest than the struggles of the hero whose notion of economy is to go in the omnibus. ”

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Source: Wikisource

Leonard Merrick, "A Weak Imitation" (1894)

“ Astonishing thing that before a woman has been aboard twelve hours she knows everything about every one—from the domestic relations of the first officer to the history of an improvident person with thirteen children in the steerage. ”

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Source: Wikisource

Leonard Merrick, "A Weak Imitation" (1894)

“ If anything stimulates me to get friendly with a pretty woman it is being looked at as if she didn't know I was there! I think the eyes are gray. She does not seem to have any companion with her, and gives one the idea of being unmarried. ”

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Source: Wikisource

Leonard Merrick, "A Weak Imitation" (1894)

“ The coast of Cork is getting clearer every minute. Everybody on deck, staring and chattering. The idiot who fancies his French accent has lent her his field-glasses, and she is flirting with him outrageously. ”

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Source: Wikisource

Leonard Merrick, "A Weak Imitation" (1894)

“ Am not sure the American language hasn't a certain piquancy. “Candies?” it sounds pretty, I think. Could not avoid noticing how nice she looked with a caramel in her mouth,—the provoking movement of the lips, don't you know. (By Jove, I have just written it! And she has been chaffing me about that British “don't you know” like anything!) Suppose there is nothing intrinsically beautiful in sucking a caramel, but some women are adorable whatever they do. ”

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Source: Wikisource

Leonard Merrick, "A Weak Imitation" (1894)

“ Merely rich people are no use to me, but there are enough dollars on board—including the reputed contract of a variety actress—-to sink the ship. She (not the ship, the actress) has already established a little coterie of admirers; they form a rather noisy semi-circle which the other women (and the men who don't belong to it) eye with envious reprobation. Funny the curiosity a professional excites in the philistine. ”

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Source: Wikisource

Leonard Merrick, "A Weak Imitation" (1894)

“ Have not had any conversation with him since I made the discovery, because I could not leave Miss Bret abruptly, but I design the afternoon for him in its entirety.
Hope I am not beginning to take too lively an interest in Miss Bret. Must confess to a feeling of restlessness, which I am aware is premonitory of a cropper. Think on the whole it would be as well to give her a wider berth during the remainder of the voyage. To think is to do: wider berth resolved! ”

Leonard Merrick

Summary

Quotes from "A Weak Imitation" (Leonard Merrick)

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