Various

“ There is just a chance that in the last few pages you may get on the right track, but, if you are honest with yourself, you will have to admit that you did it simply by a process of elimination, after you had made an ass of yourself and arrested every innocent person in the book on suspicion. I think it is Miss Silberrad's manner that throws the detective reader out of his stride. She is so detached. She conveys the impression that she herself is just as puzzled as you are, and that, for all she knows, Barnard Hanson may have been murdered by somebody who is not in the book at all. ”

“ Anyhow, I now inform you formally and officially that I am going to Faringham on Monday in order to deliver a lecture on 'Poetry in its Relation to Life,' before the Faringham Literary Association. It is one of the most famous Associations in the world and has a large lecture-hall capable of seating one thousand people comfortably."
"But why," she said, "did they ask you to lecture?"
"They must," I said, "have heard of me somewhere and guessed that I had wonderful latent capacities as a lecturer. Some men have, you know." ”

“ Stepney Rawson apologizes for producing an historical novel in these days when the present rather than the past is occupying people's minds. But a good historical novel is never really untimely, and Morlac of Gascony is not only well written but deals with a period of English history not often exploited by the historical novelist—the days of Edward the First, when the future of England as a naval power rested on the energy and determination of the sailors of the Cinque Ports. ”

“ After that I decided to withdraw from the detective business and let Miss Silberrad unravel her mystery for herself. If you are of the opinion that a woman cannot keep a secret read The Mystery of Barnard Hanson and become convinced that Miss Silberrad at least is an exception. If I have ever read a more perfectly sustained mystery novel I cannot recall it. ”

“ Quite a kid he was, but he could tell you off as free and flowing as a blooming General, and never repeat himself for ten minutes. He stirred things up considerable—specially the enemy. Sniping was his game; two hours regular every morning, with a Sergeant to spot for him and a Corporal to bring him drinks at intervals of ten minutes to keep him cool. He kept count of the Huns he had outed by notches on the post of his dug-out. Every time he rang the bell he'd cut up a notch, and before he'd been with us a month you could have used that post as a four-foot saw. ”

“ And we others, however scornful we may profess to be, are all at heart desperately interested in the confounded thing called politics, and can all appreciate this shrewd analysis of the vices and virtues of the crowd "which lacks reason but possesses faith," whose despotism is now on trial as once was that of our kings—"unlimited crowddom being as wretched a state as unlimited monarchy." ”

“ I said, "and if we give it two minutes more it will fly into the dining-room."
"Never mind," she said; "there shall be A.B.C.'s in every room till you depart for Faringham. That's poetry."
"But it has no relation to life," I said. "It is not sincere, as all true poetry must be."
"'At this point,'" she said in a quoting voice, "'the lecturer was much affected, and his audience showed their sympathy with him by loud cheers.' Will there be much of that sort of thing?"
"There will be a good deal of it," I said with dignity. "The lecture is to last for an hour exactly." ”

“ If spacious hobbies make for happiness then is Sir Martin Conway the happiest of men. He has been before us at various times of his crowded life, now as an undaunted peak-compeller in Alps and Himalayas, or skiing over Arctic glaciers, or pushing forward into hazardous depths of Tierra del Fuego ”

“ Overwhelmed with work, unable to take personal charge of Bill in Committee, he deputed task, not to Home Rule Irish Secretary, to whom it officially belonged, but to the Unionist Colonial Secretary.
In delicate position, Bonar Law acquitted himself with excellent taste, unerring tact. He did not disguise fact that as a Unionist his sympathies were with the Amendment. But he insisted that more would be lost than gained by trying to enforce Military Service on country divided upon the question. ”

“ Jobey, who has charge of all the cricket implements and is generally the custodian of the playing fields, monstrously drunk, on the ground of having won the battle."
This conclusively proves that there was a Jobey before the old fellow who has just died aged 85. But how anyone can be interested in people aged only 85, I cannot conceive. My own age is 118, and I am still in possession of an exact memory and a deadly diary. ”

“ Animus pugnandi is the root of the matter. A fleet is in a state of disintegration without it. And so long as the German Fleet's activities in the North Sea are confined to peeping out of the Canal to see if the foe is in the neighbourhood one must conclude that this ingredient has been overlooked in its composition. ”

“ Ivor Herbert had moved amendment to Military Service Bill, bring within its purview all unmarried men as they attain the age of eighteen years. The Bill calls to the colours only those who on 15th August last had reached that age.
"When the flames of destruction are approaching the fabric of our liberties," said Sir George Reid by way of peroration, "let us save our house first and discuss our domestic rearrangements afterwards." ”

“ In an ill-inspired moment, however, they decided to have a dramatic plot, and truth compels me to say that this is a dreary affair, tricked out with such dust-laden devices as secret marriages, missing heirs and concealed papers. There is a steward person who alternately is and isn't the rightful Prince, as we delve deeper into the revelations. ”

“ Although Jehan Morlac, the young Gascon, is the principal character in the story the most arresting figure is that of Edward himself, as dexterous a piece of character-drawing as I have come upon in historical fiction for some time. The plot is cleverly constructed to throw a high light on one of the most interesting personalities in the history of the English monarchy. We see Edward as a young man, wild, reckless and brutal ”

“ Only a strong man, with strong men under him, could have saved England then. Morlac of Gascony is not the easy reading which many people insist on in novels which deal with the past, and for this reason it may not be so popular as some historical novels of far less merit ”

“ The able organisation which resulted in Hell being evacuated with just as complete success and the same absence of loss as at Suvla and Anzac, relieves what might otherwise be the rather melancholy spectacle of the winding up of this enterprise. ”

“ Besides you've been complaining of the ink a good deal, and that's always a bad sign."
"Hadn't I mentioned Faringham and the lecture?"
"You had distantly alluded to something impending and you had looked at the A.B.C. several times, but it stopped at that."
"How careless of me!" I said. "I know I meant to tell you all about it."
"You didn't make your meaning clear. It's all part of the secretiveness of men. They tell one nothing and then they're offended if we don't anticipate all their movements." ”

“ For a fleet to exist as a recognisable instrument is not necessarily for it to be in Being. Only by exhibiting a desire to dispute Command at all costs can a fleet be said to come into Being. On the other hand, by being in Being a fleet does not necessarily obtain command or even partial control. ”

“ When night come our Sub. decided he'd had enough. 'Boys,' he says to us, 'one hour before the crimson sun shoots forth his flaming rays from out of the glowing East them Germans is going to be shifted from that trench. We ain't a-going to make a frontal attack,' he says, 'because some of us might have the misfortune to tear our tunics on the enemy entanglements, and housewives is scarce. ”

“ On Jobey's death a line of impostors no doubt was established, trying to profit by the great name; but none of these can be called the original Jobey, except under circumstances of the crassest ignorance or folly.
I am, Yours, etc., Senex.
Sir,—It is tolerably obvious that your correspondent "Drury's" is suffering from hallucinations of the most virulent type. Maxima debetur pueris reverentia is all very well, but facts are facts. There may have been many pseudo-Jobeys, but the real original was born in the year of the Great Fire of London and died in 1745. ”

“ Ye see, all the young men were down at the poorts, gettin' their tickets to Ameriky.
"'This,' ses one of the English Lords—a felly be the name o' Derby—'this,' ses he, 'is tarrible. If the inimy hears o' this, all the Irish in the worrld and in Ameriky won't save us.'
"So he gets out a scheme—he's a tarrible ould schemer is that wan—whereby, ye see, ivery man in England [pg 76] was to inlist to sarve when he was called up, and they were to be made up intil groups, an' the married men was to be put intil the lasht group. ”

“ Then all at once we leaps into the air, gives a yell fit to make any German wish he'd never been born, and falls into their trench, doing bainet drill like it would have done your heart good to see. But we stops it as quick as we begun, because there wasn't a single man in that trench. ”

“ Suppose I shall be in the local paper on Saturday, Bill?"
"Yes. Thrilling Tales from the Trenches, number forty-three."
"Pity he had to go so soon," sighed James. "I was only just beginning to get into my stride."
Cheerful One (to newcomer, on being asked what the trenches are like) . "If yer stands up yer get sniped; if yer keeps down yer gets drowned; if yer moves about yer get shelled; and if yer stands still yer gets court-martialled for frost-bite." ”

“ Shure, in Dublin alone we have three recruitin' offices, to say nothin' of th' recruitin' thram. Ah! 'tis a fine sight to see the thram, Mrs. Flanagan, going up and down the sthreets o' Dublin, with the flags and the fine coloured posthers plasthered on ut, and divil a wan ever in ut, bekase why? there isn't a sowl lift in the city, and what is lift is bein' held back by the polis at the recruitin' office in Brunswick Sthreet. Well, as I was tellin' yez, in England there was no recruitin' like that. ”

“ He was already installed in the reign of William III., and was the first to introduce Blenheim oranges to the Etonian palate. He was an under-sized man, about five feet five inches high, with a pale face and hooked nose and always wore a woollen muffler, which we called "Jobey's comforter." To represent him as belonging to the Victorian age is an anachronism calculated to make the angels weep. ”

“ If five years ago any one had predicted that in a great war in which the Empire was engaged 95,000 recruits would have been raised from Ireland and that there would be 151,143 Irishmen with the colours, would he not have been looked upon as a lunatic?"
One note of discord came from little group below Gangway on Liberal side. Unable to withstand temptation to obtain mean little triumph, they refused to permit withdrawal of Amendment, as suggested by Bonar Law and accepted by Carson, and it was perforce negatived.
ALL FOR IRELAND—A WAR-TIME HARMONY.
Mr. ”

“ When they shtarted the recruitin' av the groups they found that 'twas too many officers they were afther gettin'. I heard there was half a million as had to be given their shtars! An' I needn't be afther tellin' ye, Mrs. Flanagan, that even with all the millions of Irish out there, there wouldn't be room for five hundred thousand officers to lead thim. Besides which every wan knows that the Irish don't want leadin'. 'Tis thim shows the way whin it comes to a charrge. An' sure, as it is, all the Ginirals, exceptin' for an odd wan or two, bees Irish! ”

“ Stout fellows, these German renegades.
"Henley (near) .—Gentleman offers land, piggeries, poultry-houses to lady or gentleman as guest. Pleasant home."—The Lady.
The gentleman to the lady: "Will you occupy a piggery or a poultry-house?" ”

“ There's more than a million gone out of this disthrict alone, and there's Irishmen fightin' in all the himispheres of th' worrld. They tell me that the Irish bees in such numbers that the inimy got fair desprit an' rethreated into Siberia to get away from thim, till they met more av us comin' along from th' other ind of the worrld. ”

“ F'r didn't Lord Kitchener himself go out to see thim at the Dardnells, and ses he, 'What's the use of wastin' brave throops here? We'll lave the English to clane up the threnches,' and on that they packs the Irish off and marches thim thousands of miles intil Siberia. Ah! 'twas the dhrop thim Germins got when they came shtrugglin' along wan day and run up aginst the ould Tinth agin. There was tarrible slaughter that day, and the inimy bruk in great disorther, and is now trying to escape down the Sewers into the Canal. ”

“ But look you here, ivery time a group was called up and the men was put back intil a later group, it made more men for the later groups, until, ye see, whin they called up the lasht group there 'd be forthy-wan times as many men at the ind as at the beginnin'. ”