Richard Marsh

“ When I think how conscious you yourself must be of how completely the tables have been turned, I assure you that I am ready to dance about the room with joy. I trust, Mr. Bennett, that you will perceive and allow that these few remarks point a moral and adorn a tale. What I am now about to do with you is this. You brought that chloroform to stupefy me. On the contrary, with it Hannah shall stupefy you. When you are stupefied she will open the window, she will drag you to it, and she will drop you out. There is only a drop of about twelve feet. ”

“ You think yourself somebody, don't you, captain?"
Captain Rudd looked as if he would if he could; in his eyes there gleamed something very like a foreshadowing of assault and battery. The foreman made a little movement with his hands, which, possibly, was intended to be a counsel of peace. Anyhow, the captain allowed the last word to be Jacob's. Mr. Tyler, his handkerchief still pressed to his ear, appealed to the captain in a tone of voice which was almost tearful.
"As man to man, sir, let me beseech you to take pity on the dreadful situation we are in." ”

“ It certainly was not a favourable example of the way in which a young woman should use her best young man.
"Now, Hannah, you can stand Mr. Bennett on his feet," remarked Miss Jones, when she saw that Miss Welsh had completed her task. "If Mr. Bennett is unable to stand you had better prop him up with his back against the wall."
Miss Welsh propped Mr. Bennett up with his back against the wall: he would have certainly been unable to stand alone. Miss Jones addressed herself to him:
"You see, Mr. Bennett, how entirely I have Hannah under my control. She is beautifully subjective. ”

“ We might, for instance, state in open court, through the mouth of our worthy foreman, that we are willing to give the prisoner the benefit of the doubt."
"But there is no doubt. Let us do justice though the heavens fall. Have you yourself any doubt that James Bailey stole Samuel Nichols's corn and hay?"
"Ah, dear sir, there is only One who can say. He has no doubt. We are not omniscient."
"That sort of talk may be all very well in a pulpit, Mr. Plummer. It is out of place in a court of law when we are dealing with ascertained facts." ”

“ Sir Tristram's jaw dropped open. His resemblance to a bulldog perceptibly decreased.
"Duke!"
"I am not certain, in coming to-night, that I have not allowed my friendship for you to carry me too far. Still, I have come."
"Your Grace is more than sufficiently severe. If you will allow me to exactly explain my position in this matter I shall have no difficulty in making that evident. I fear that Miss Cullen is a dangerous young woman."
The Duke shrugged his shoulders.
"You, of all men, ought to know that, under certain circumstances, women are dangerous--and even girls." ”

“ Mr. Plummer raised his hands and shook his head, as if he was sorry for Mr. Moss.
"Let us show mercy, that we may be shown it," he all but whispered.
"In other words," struck in Captain Rudd, "we are to do evil in order that good may come--even to the extent of prostituting truth."
"I am afraid, in our present situation, these things are not arguable. Some of us, thank Heaven, see things through eyes of our own."
"Precisely, and it is because they don't appear to be arguable that I once more suggest to the foreman that the court be informed that we are unable to agree." ”

“ Where are these people?"
"In the hall, sir."
"I won't see anyone till I've had my breakfast. I'm not going to have all my habits disarranged simply because I happen to have found a purse. I ought to have stated that no applications were to be made till after twelve; I never dreamt that people would have come at this time of day. Show the people with the cards into the drawing-room, and leave the others in the hall. And, Saunders, it would be a little obvious, perhaps, to remove the hats and umbrellas from before their very faces, but keep a sharp eye on them!" ”

“ The big woman waved her hand in the direction of the mantelshelf. "I've another in my pocket, and I've told you who I am besides; but, to oblige you, I don't mind telling you who I am again. I'm Mrs. Bindon."
Mrs. Harland turned upon the little woman. There was frenzy in her air.
"Then who are you?"
Said the little woman, between her sniffs:
"I am Mrs. Bindon too."
"You are Mrs. Bindon too! Is the man a bigamist?"
The big woman smiled.
"There is no bigamy in Utah."
"Utah!" Mrs. Harland staggered back. "Utah!" She looked wildly round the room. "Isn't Utah where the Mormons are?" ”

“ And so thoroughly did he enter into the spirit of the thing that he was still engaged in cursing her when the door opened, and in front of him was Miss Cullen with the handle in her hand.
She looked charming, and by that we mean even more charming than usual. She had changed her dress for a peignoir, or a dressing-gown, or something of the kind. Beyond question Sir Tristram had no notion what the thing was called. It suited her to perfection--few men had a better eye for that sort of thing in a woman than he had. ”

“ Grice. "Now, Mr. Foreman, won't you offer the jury a sandwich each? It is about our dinner-time."
Mr. Grice eyed the packet in front of him as if he were more than half disposed to act on the suggestion.
"I really don't think, Mr. Longsett, that you ought to eat sandwiches out of a pure spirit of contradiction."
"Never mind what you think; you give me back my property, or I'll give the whole lot of you in custody." The parcel was restored to him. He brandished it aloft. "There you are, you see, a lot of grown men go and steal another man's property, and you treat it as a joke. ”

“ Before Saunders or I could interpose she had thrown the door wide open, and was addressing her, by now, excited audience, as if to the manner born.
"My good people, I am Sarah Eliza Warren, of Greenbush Villa, Hackney, and, like yourselves, I have been brought to this house by what seems to me to amount to false pretences. I don't believe that a purse has been found at all. If you take my advice you will do as I am doing--you will insist on being compensated for your loss of time, and for your out-of-pocket expenditure!" ”

“ Sir Tristram faced round to her with something of the bulldog look which had come upon his face when he had found himself in front of Mr. Stanham.
"May I inquire, Miss Cullen, why you go out of your way to use language of such extravagant exaggeration? It would be gross absurdity, amounting almost to prostitution of language, to call the offence of which I was guilty, if it was an offence, a crime."
"Perhaps it is because you are a lawyer that you are unaware that not so very long ago a man was sentenced to six months' imprisonment for exactly the same thing." ”

“ I'm not going to have Tommy bothered about settlements. I'm settlement enough for Tommy. What you have to do is to sit down and to simply write this: 'My dear Mrs. Stanham,--Speaking as Lord Chancellor, it gives me much pleasure in assuring you, as a ward of the court, that your marriage with Mr. Thomas Stanham meets with my entire and unreserved approval.--Yours faithfully, Tristram Triggs!'" Sir Tristram glowered--he might! But she was undismayed. "You will have to do it, sooner or later--you're a very clever man, and you know you will!--so why not do it at once?" ”

“ But some people have manners of their own. Is that the way in which to treat a lady who comes to visit you--standing there and staring?"
"A lady!" Mrs. Harland gasped. "Do you think I don't remember you?"
Mrs. Harland's form absolutely swelled as she glared at the big woman seated in the easy-chair.
"You, Louisa Brown, whose name is to this day a byword in the village, to dare to come into my drawing-room--and in those clothes!" ”

“ Mr. Moore, the usher, took his glance as containing an inquiry.
"I found him with the rest of the pupils in the playground."
"Oh," repeated Mr. Harland, "you found him with the rest of the pupils in the playground."
"I rather reckoned to find the others here," drawled the short-sighted youth, as, very carefully, he replaced the broken spectacles upon his nose. "We didn't agree. I guess they're on the road."
"Is this"--Mr. Harland addressed his question to one of the other Masters Bindon--"is this your brother?"
"I disown him," answered Rufus, on whom the principal's glance happened to fall. ”

“ Sir Tristram looked about him as if he wondered why the earth did not open to swallow her. He seemed to gasp for breath.
"Miss Cullen, I beg that you will not suppose that under any possible circumstances I could listen, even for a single instant, to what, to me, are your hideous insinuations. But one possible solution I do see to the painful situation in which you stand. If the person whom you have illicitly and improperly married----"
"Not improperly married,--how dare you!" ”

“ Pearson. The Baron d'Ardigny is not my husband.'
"'Not your husband!'
"He sprang up with a shout. The revolver clattered to the floor. If it was loaded it was a miracle that it did not go off. 'Not D'Ardigny! Is it possible that you duped him too?'
"'I am at your mercy, Mr. Pearson, and you are, of course, free to use towards me any language which, as a gentleman, may be consistent with your code of honour.'
"'My code of honour! Such words from you! You ruined me--is that not so? You tempted me to desert my ship. ”

“ To consent to your marrying?--Ah!--I see!--If the matter is laid before me in due and proper form--it is possible that you have a certain individual in your mind's eye whom you are willing to make the happiest of men--and I was satisfied that he was a fit and a proper, person, and every care was taken to safeguard your interests--then, my dear Miss Cullen, nothing would give me greater pleasure than to give my consent to your being happily launched on what, I fear, is too often the troubled sea of marriage. ”

“ The sergeant--he was a sergeant--made short work of the clearance, even managing, by dint of an assurance that he would listen to all she had to say afterwards, to dislodge "Sarah Eliza Warren." Then he turned to me.
"Now, perhaps, you will tell me what this means. If you're the householder, as you say, you yourself ought to turn anyone out of your own house you want to turn out, as a policeman has no right to come into a private house unless an actual charge is to be preferred. I don't know what you've been doing, but you seem to be responsible for something very like a riot." ”

“ Sir Tristram fidgeted. He seemed not to have complete control over his tongue.
"Miss Cullen, I trust that I may never be found lacking in respect to a lady. If I have been so unfortunate as to have offended you I proffer you my most sincere apologies, and I humbly entreat for your forgiveness."
Miss Cullen remained, obviously, wholly unmoved.
"When a criminal expresses his contrition, is he held, by so doing, to have sufficiently purged himself of his offence?" ”

“ Harland. They seemed to be mentally appraising her. She herself appeared to be stricken with a sort of mental paralysis, as though the invasion had stricken her dumb.
At last--it seemed a very long at last--the door reopened, and there appeared the red-haired Master Bindon--John F. Stanley. His appearance was followed by another interval of silence. The ladies stared at him. He stared at the ladies. No enthusiasm was shown on either side. The thick-set woman broke the silence.
"So it's you?"
"It's me." He edged away. "Don't you hit me!" he exclaimed.
"Aren't you ashamed of yourself?" ”

“ Although we may be married, sir, we have not yet been upon our honeymoon."
"I'll kiss you, if you like."
"Thank you kindly, gentle sir!" She favoured him with a sweeping curtsey. "Tommy, even you have no idea of the ramifications and complications of our peculiar situation." Mr. Stanham had removed his hands from his pockets. They occupied a more agreeable position round the lady's waist. "See if I don't snatch you from the lion's jaws."
"Does that mean that you will help me to escape from Holloway?"
"It means that you will never get as far as Holloway!" ”

“ Harland turned again and shouted, "Tell your mistress at once that Mr. Bindon's here!"
"They're coming!"
"How dare you, sir, try to shut the door in my face!"
"They're coming, Mr. 'arland! They'll murder me! You've spilt the cart!"
Mr. Bindon's agitation was extreme. There was a rush of feet along the passage, a sound of many skirts. A whirlwind of excited women dashed through the study door.
"Where's Mr. Bindon?" cried Louisa Brown--that was. ”

“ Grice, so that's all about it. I say not guilty!"
Mr. Moss explained.
"The plain fact is, Mr. Foreman, Mr. Longsett is a relation of the prisoner; he ought not to have been on this jury at all."
This time Mr. Longsett did raise his eyes--and his voice too.
"I've as much right to be on the jury as you have--perhaps more. Who do you think you are? I pay my way--and I pay my servants too! They don't have to county-court me before they can get their wages. Only the other day I was on a jury when they were county-courting you. So it isn't the first jury I've been on, you see." ”

“ Stopping it, I hustled Stacey-Lumpton into the road before he in the least understood what was happening.
"Now then, look alive! Here's the very 'bus we want! Jump up!"
I assisted him on to the step. He made as if to go inside. I twisted him towards the stairs. He remonstrated.
"My dear fellow, I really must beg of you to allow me to get inside this omnibus."
"Nonsense. You'll be crushed to death, besides being suffocated alive. There's plenty of room outside. Up you toddle." ”

“ May I ask if I am indebted for the pleasure of your presence here to the fact of your having lost a purse?"
"A purse? On my soul and honour, sir, in my time I've lost hundreds--hundreds! Positively hundreds!"
I believe I gasped--he spoke with an airy indifference as if that kind of thing were commonplace.
"As I was saying to some of those fellows downstairs, if there's a man in England who has lost more things than I have, I should like to meet him. It's a genius I have; as sure as I get a thing I lose it. And the more it costs, the more it's lost. As for purses, they're my strongest point. ”

“ At the very best, a safe, to a professional man, means the wasting of valuable time.
"She keeps them in her bedroom, in the chest of drawers, in a red leather box, in the little top drawer on the left-hand side."
Mr. Bennett felt a glow steal all over him. He began to conceive quite a respect for Miss Cecilia Jones.
"And the gold--where does she keep that?"
"In tin boxes. There are ten of them. There are a thousand sovereigns in each. There are five boxes on each side of the chest of drawers." Mr. Bennett possessed considerable presence of mind, but he almost lost it then. ”

“ Timmins endeavoured to encourage him.
"Come, Mr. Tyler, come! Bear up! It'll soon be over now!"
"If anything serious comes of the cruel suffering which is being inflicted on me I shall look to you gentlemen for compensation. I'm a poor man; it's always a hard struggle, with my poor health, to make two ends meet. I can't afford to pay doctors' bills which have been incurred by the actions of others!" ”