W. Pett Ridge

“ He edged away slightly and seemed half inclined to suggest another name. "There is no doubt, to my mind," she went on in the manner of one propounding a novel idea, "that everything is ordered for us in this world. We are mere puppets; we have to obey the strings that pull us. ”

“ The blustering wind consumed as much of the cigar as he himself did, but he smoked sufficiently to arrange and to make up his mind. It was a wrench to have to alter all his plans; hard on a middle-aged bachelor to have to relinquish his state of single content ”

“ It is quite useless, Lewis, for you to contradict me because I know that it is so."
"My dear Margaret," he protested, "I don't contradict you."
"Oh yes, you do," said the lady firmly; "you wouldn't be a man if you didn't. And please, please don't pull the tarpaulin away. You can sit closer, surely!" He apologised and edged nearer to her. "I should think, Lewis," she continued, "that when you come to the end of your life the one thing with which you will have to reproach yourself most will be the unmanly way in which you broke off our engagement." ”

“ Mr. Homersham put out one arm, and with some difficulty saved the opulent lady from disaster.
"Thank you ever so much," she said gratefully. "This is such a very awkward arrangement, and—Martin, how tiresome you are! A clumsier maid I think I never saw." The maid, having picked herself up, ran down recklessly into the arms of two sailors, who caught her and swung her round neatly. "How 's that, umpire?" demanded the two sailors of each other.
"Margaret," said Mr. Homersham suddenly, pulling off his travelling-cap.
"Lewis!" ejaculated the lady. ”