Various

“ Something, we know not what, unless it be the fearless confidence with which these wild-birds respond to the offered kindness, showing no dread of the many spectators, carries us back in thought to the shores of sunny Italy, and above all to Venice, that Queen of the Adriatic, who, dethroned though she be, yet casts the spell of her irresistible charm over all whose hearts beat responsive to the touch of beauty in art ”

“ It was curious, and yet pleasant, to see how they would come to her with the story of their feats and adventures, like knights of old, who valued most their victories in the jousts in that they gained them the smile of the queen of the tournament. If either of them had won a prize, or made the top score in a match, or done some other redoubtable thing, his chief pleasure was in the thought of Queen Margerie’s delight at the news. ”

“ Madame De Vigne did not answer.
Miss Pen took one of her hands. ‘Mora—dear friend,’ she said, ‘you will treat him kindly to-night—more kindly than you did before?’
‘I shall not treat him unkindly.’
‘You will not refuse him what he asks? He is a noble, true-hearted man, of whose love any woman might be proud. You will not say No to him this time? ”

“ Miss Wynter turned away to hide a smile. ‘What fun it will be to tell all this to Dick, by-and-by!’ she said to herself.
‘We must cultivate him, my dear,’ resumed her ladyship, who evidently deemed two strings better than one, to her niece’s bow. ‘In these days, a bishop’s son is not by any means to be sneered at. Who knows but that he may take a fancy to you! ”

“ Madame De Vigne came forward. Lady Renshaw and Miss Wynter rose.
‘Lady Renshaw—Miss Wynter—permit me to introduce to you Miss Gaisford and my sister, Miss Loraine.—Penelope, Clarice—Lady Renshaw and her niece, Miss Wynter—friends of Mr Ridsdale.’
The two girls shot a critical glance at each other, as girls always do when they are introduced.
‘The girl Archie’s engaged to!’ remarked Bella under her breath. ‘Well, she’s awfully handsome; nobody can deny that. I suppose that by the side of her I look a regular gipsy. That gown she’s got on was never made in town. Quite a country cut. ”

“ By the margin of the waves, where it is now low water, are what look like huge glistening white boulders, forming a continuous boundary, whose snowy surface reflects the light, and glitters and flashes under the rays of a December sun, set in so blue a sky as more nearly to approach that of Italy than any we have yet seen in our sombre-tinted British Isles. ”

“ Lady Renshaw had evidently a fine faculty for leaping to conclusions from very insufficient data.
‘O aunt, how clever you are!’ was the comment of the wicked Bella.
‘That’s as it may be, my dear,’ was the complacent answer. ‘What are our brains given us for but to make proper use of them.’
‘Don’t you think Mr Golightly very nice-looking?’ asked Miss Wynter with the most innocent air imaginable.
‘Intellectual-looking, no doubt. He has the air of a man who habitually burns the midnight oil. ”

“ Fresh from recollections such as these, which the feeding of the sea-gulls had brought vividly to memory, upon returning slowly down the pier, we were unpleasantly roused by seeing that five out of every six ladies we met were found to wear either wings or whole birds as the so-called decoration of hats and bonnets. To say nothing respecting the very questionable taste of wearing things which bear the semblance of death, the wholesale slaughter of small birds which goes on to satisfy the requirements of recurring fashion, cannot be too strongly deprecated. ”

“ Archie Ridsdale entered the sitting-room from the veranda, followed—bashfully—by Mr Richard Dulcimer, otherwise Mr Golightly.
‘Ladies all,’ began Archie, ‘allow me to introduce to you my old friend and college chum, Dick Golightly—one of the best of fellows when you come to know him, but, like the snail, of a most retiring disposition—one of those people, in fact, whom it takes a deal of persuasion to coax out of their shell.—Golightly, don’t blush, there’s a dear boy; the ladies won’t eat you.—Madame De Vigne—Miss Gaisford—Miss Loraine. ”

“ But at this juncture I discovered that Mr Ridsdale was staying here with a party of friends in their own suite of rooms. Then a happy thought struck me, and I said to my niece: “Considering our long friendship with dear Archie, I wonder whether we should be looked upon as intruders if we were to go to Madame De Vigne and beg of her to find space for us in a corner of her sitting-room during the two or three days we intend staying in this place.”’ Here her ladyship, being slightly out of breath, paused for a moment. ”

“ Like many other things, it may be catching.—But now, I must run off, or those good people will have gobbled up all the soup.’ At the door she turned. ‘Mora, I will never forgive you if the answer is anything but Yes—yes—yes!’
‘There goes as true-hearted a friend as any woman need wish to have,’ said Mora. She sighed, and rose and crossed to the window. ‘If I could but open my heart to her!—if I might but tell her everything! But not even to her dare I do that. And yet he must know—he must be told! What will he say—what will he do when he has read my letter? ”

“ Let us take our stand in the Piazza di San Marco, with its glorious many-domed cathedral, its campanile pointing to the heavens, its ducal palace, clock-tower, Moorish arcades, and that vastness of proportion, whose impressiveness is heightened by the stillness so foreign to our modern life in other cities where horse and vehicular traffic create an incessant, deafening hum. ”

“ The result was that, around London at anyrate, robins were for some time quite a rarity.
Surely any one who has witnessed such scenes as those we have so imperfectly tried to describe, would hardly again order her milliner to use birds as a decoration for dresses and bonnets. This special form of cruelty, like so many other of our mistaken dealings with the animal creation, probably springs more from ‘want of thought’ than from ‘want of heart.’ Its effects, however, are no less baneful than if they were the deliberate outcome of a desire for wholesale slaughter. ”

“ What a’—— Suddenly her ladyship caught sight of something outside the window. She rose and crossed the room and peered out through her glasses. ‘Why, I declare there’s that young curate again, sitting under a tree all alone with his book!’
Miss Wynter’s languor vanished in a moment. She started to her feet. ‘Where, aunt?’ she asked eagerly.—‘Yes, poor fellow; he does look rather lonely, doesn’t he?’
‘I don’t suppose you have the slightest notion who the young man really is?’ said her ladyship, with the air of a person who has made a grand discovery.
Bella threw a startled look at her aunt. ”

“ You will know them all better by-and-by.—Now don’t, for goodness’ sake, be a snail.’—Then turning, he exclaimed with a well-feigned start: ‘Ah! Lady Renshaw, as I live!’ and with that he held out his hand, which her ladyship grasped with much cordiality.
‘This is indeed an unlooked-for pleasure,’ he went on. ‘I never see your ladyship without being reminded of what the poet says: “A thing of beauty is a joy for ever.”’
‘Fie, you naughty boy’—tapping him with her fan—‘you are not a bit improved since I saw you last.’
‘Allow me,’ continued Archie. ”

“ But Madge’s friendly intention to break the news to her of Caleb’s position was frustrated. Jenny Wodrow, the maiden to whose graces Pansy had been directed to recommend herself, although good-natured in the main, had been ready to give more of her favour to the stalwart Agitator than to any of the other lads about. That all the shafts levelled at him with her bright eyes and soft tongue fell pointless, she attributed rightly to the charms of the gardener’s daughter. In church, in field, or at the harvest-home, Caleb had no vision for any one but Pansy. ”

“ Lady Renshaw proceeded to make herself at home, appraising the ornaments on the chimney-piece, peering into a photograph album, turning over a book of engravings, trying a drawer or two in the cabinet, and so on.
‘Really a charming room; quite the best in the hotel, I have been given to understand,’ she remarked. ‘To think of the audacity of this Madame De Vigne in engaging such a room for herself and party! But these adventuresses are nothing if not audacious. Yes, a charming room; and it will suit us admirably. ”

“ It’s no part of my duty to enlighten her.’
‘I am so glad to hear it,’ continued her ladyship innocently. ‘The duties of such an exalted position must be very trying to the constitution. For myself, I am happy to say that I have always been a stanch upholder of the Establishment.’
Mr Golightly bowed, but had no reply ready. ”

“ Miss Wynter had first turned red and then pale while listening to her ladyship’s apology. ‘O auntie, auntie, what fibs you are telling!’ she murmured under her breath.
‘So now, dear Madame De Vigne, you know all,’ resumed her ladyship. ‘If we shall incommode you in the slightest degree, pray tell us so at once, and’——
Madame De Vigne held up her hand in gentle deprecation. ‘Not another word is needed, Lady Renshaw,’ she said. ‘What you ask is a very small favour, indeed. Pray, consider this room as yours during your stay. ”

“ It happened that about this time we had hit upon a novel and pleasant form of amusement with which to beguile the monotony of our studies, Tunder’s defective vision giving us ample opportunity for the recreation. There were to be had at the Greychester toyshops little wooden frogs made to jump with a spring. It was a matter of intense and absorbing delight to us to range our frogs in line and test their powers by seeing which would take the longest jump. ”

“ The ‘Refuse Destructor’ is the name of a very useful furnace recently invented by Mr Stafford, the borough engineer of Burnley, which has been doing such efficient work in consuming street and other refuse by fire that it promises to be extensively adopted in other towns. Street sweepings, the offal from slaughter-houses and fishmongers’ shops, and unpleasant matter of all kinds treated in this furnace are rendered not only harmless, but are converted into a residuum which can be utilised for mixing with mortar and for other purposes. Hence the machine can be made almost self-supporting. ”

“ But there is just a possibility that it may not be too late even now to repair your wretched blunder.’
‘But Mr Ridsdale is engaged, is he not?’
‘O my dear, engagements nowadays are lightly made and as lightly broken. It is quite possible that by this time the foolish young fellow may be thoroughly cured of his infatuation for this young woman, whom nobody seems to know anything about, and may be longing for some friendly hand to snap the thread that binds him to her. It is quite possible that when he sees you again he may’—— Here her ladyship nodded meaningly at her niece. ”

“ Bishops, like other people, find it convenient to forget old friends when they have a mind to do so.’
‘Charming young lady, Miss Wynter,’ Master Dick ventured to remark presently to her ladyship.
‘I’m pleased you think so. Bella’s a sweet girl, though I say it who ought not. She is looking towards us. I believe she has something to say to you, Mr Golightly.’
‘Has she? Then perhaps your ladyship will kindly excuse me.’ He rose, glad enough to get away from the dowager, and crossed to his lady-love. ”