Mary Roberts Rinehart

Name: Twenty-Three and a Half Hours' Leave — Chapter III
Author: Mary Roberts Rinehart

Twenty-Three and a Half Hours' Leave… (1918)

Summary

“Twenty-Three and a Half Hours' Leave — Chapter III”, published in 1918, is a work by Mary Roberts Rinehart. It explores elements such as Sergeant Gray, slicker and elevator.

Quotes from Twenty-Three and a Half Hours' Leave… (Mary Roberts Rinehart)

Mary Roberts Rinehart, Twenty-Three and a Half Hours' Leave… (1918)

“ Booth alone? She was mystified and not a little indignant, and when she started the car again it was with a jerk of irritation.
Inside the hallway, behind the elevator, cursed and raged Sergeant Gray. At every step in the doorway he shook with apprehension. Behind him stretched a wooden staircase, toward which he cast agonised eyes. The elevator came down, discharged its passengers, filled again and went up. Outside in the brilliant street thousands of feet passed, carrying people fully clothed and entitled to a place in the sun. ”

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Source: Wikisource

Mary Roberts Rinehart, Twenty-Three and a Half Hours' Leave… (1918)

“ But the tears were of rage.
“I'll lose my job if I leave this car,” observed the elevator man. He had recovered from his fright, and besides he had recognised the boy's service hat.
“Soldier, aren't you?”
“Yes. Look here, old man, I'm in a devil of a mess. Lot of our fellows, met them outside—it's a joke. Ill joke them!” he added vindictively.
“Some fellows got a queer idea of humour,” observed the elevator man. “I might send out for you. Got any money?”
The full depth of his helplessness struck Sergeant Gray then and turned him cold. ”

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Source: Wikisource

Mary Roberts Rinehart, Twenty-Three and a Half Hours' Leave… (1918)

“ At ten forty-five a scout patrol in slickers having been sent out reported the supply sergeant not in the camp quartermaster's office, as observed through a window, and the troop officers as having gone for the day.
Black despair, then, in a hundred and ninety-five hearts, but in no one of them such agony as in Sergeant Gray's. Clad in an army slicker he made a dozen abortive attempts to borrow a uniform from tall men in other companies, but inspection was on, and had commenced with the Headquarters Troop. Not a man dared to be found with less than “breeches, O. D. wool, prs., two.” ”

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Source: Wikisource

Mary Roberts Rinehart, Twenty-Three and a Half Hours' Leave… (1918)

“ For heaven's sake, fellows, not on the street! I tell you I've got a girl with me. A nice girl. A——”
The stable sergeant hesitated and glanced toward the car.
“All right,” he said, “But we're going to take that slicker back to camp. We promised the troop. You can step inside that door. I guess that's satisfactory?”
He glanced at the group, which nodded grimly.
For an instant Sergeant Gray was tempted to run and chance it, but the girl had turned her head and was watching them curiously. Hope died in him. He could neither run nor fight. And the group closed in on him. ”

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Source: Wikisource

Mary Roberts Rinehart, Twenty-Three and a Half Hours' Leave… (1918)

“ What d'you think of a country that will send fellows to fight like that, eh?”
Mr. Booth's small black eyes peered at him suspiciously.
“Is it possible?” he demanded. “This great country, so rich, and—no uniforms.”
“Uniforms!” continued Sergeant Gray, beginning to enjoy himself hugely. “Why, say, we haven't anything! No guns worth the name, not enough shoes. Why, a fellow in my company's wearing two rights at this minute. And as for uniforms—why, I'1l tell you this—my whole company's going round to-day like this, slickers and nothing else.”
“Amazing!” commented Mr. Booth unctuously. ”

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Source: Wikisource

Mary Roberts Rinehart, Twenty-Three and a Half Hours' Leave… (1918)

“ But he failed to count the camp quartermaster; and that Destiny, which had taken him in hand forty-eight hours ago, was making of him her toy.
Now camp quartermasters are but human. They have their good days and their bad, and sometimes it rather gets on their nerves, the eternal examining and determining, for instance, that every man of perhaps thirty thousand possesses in perfect condition:
2 breeches, O. D. wool, prs. 2 coats, O. D. wool. 1 overcoat, O. D. wool. 1 slicker. 1 hat. ”

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Source: Wikisource

Mary Roberts Rinehart, Twenty-Three and a Half Hours' Leave… (1918)

“ Not that he put it that way, of course.
“The one thing you mustn't do,” she warned him, “is to tell when you actually sail. I thought you might say that the submarine trouble has held up all sailings, and you're not going for a month.” ”

Mary Roberts Rinehart

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