Alexander Forbes

“ And to be held in disgrace like Jack or Dodie would have been, if they had been naughty?
He opened his door impatiently to call after Forbes to take away his tea, but at the sight of the bread and water, he lost his temper completely, and taking up the glass, he threw it on to the ground, smashing it to pieces. Then locked his door again, and would not open it, though nurse shook it violently.
Then it was that Mr. Hodson's words about Alexander came into his mind, and Geoffrey stood quite still in his walk.
"'He that ruleth his spirit is greater than he that taketh a city,'" thought Geoff. ”

“ For four years Forbes continued to reside at Chichester, but in 1840 he removed to London, chiefly with the object of improving the ‘Review.’ This move no doubt entailed upon him a considerable pecuniary loss, for he could never expect at the age of fifty-three (even though, through the influence of his friend, Sir James Clark, he was appointed physician to the queen's household) to obtain a London practice equal to what he had enjoyed at Chichester. ”

“ No wonder then that the boys and girls coming from the upper town were filled with enthusiasm and confidence.
"Why, girls, it's simply going to be another walk-over!" laughed a pretty miss who carried the colors of Clifford upon her bosom, as she proudly flaunted a flag of the same stripe.
"A case of 'Alexander with ten thousand men, went up the Alps and down again!'" mocked a second enthusiast, smiling at Frank's sister.
"Time will tell, Susie," answered Helen, trying to appear quite satisfied; but she knew the chances were very much against Frank and his team. ”

“ They cooled in their adoration presently, and before the campaign was over there were among them those who openly said that since they were seemingly to be a subject race, they preferred to be subject to the Turk rather than to the Russian.
The glamour of the hour stirred to idealisation195 the stolid, self-centred Bulgarians; but the most indifferent spectator could not but realise the nobility of Alexander’s presence, as he returned the greeting of his victorious soldiers. A man not far off sixty, he then looked exceptionally young for his age ”

“ Thus the morning wore on, the mighty fleet, giant dreadnaughts, armored cruisers, scouts, and destroyers, spread out for miles over the wide expanse of ocean, all moving in perfect unison, maneuvered at the behest of Fraser’s guiding mind. Now they would speed up, now slow down, now change course to port or starboard, much as a hawk with watchful eye will hover and wheel before the final swoop on his prey. And ever the suspense grew more acute.
Admiral Johnson on the bridge scanned the wide horizon where his great line of ships stretched away as far as the eye could reach, and farther. ”

“ Here there are bays and harbors seldom visited by the great stream of cruising yachts, where, over dense forests of spruce that rise from the water’s edge along a rugged shore line, great ospreys wheel and scream, and in countless mossy nooks in the depth of the wood close by the sound of the surf, the witchery of Nature’s solitude casts a spell over the lonely wanderer. ”

“ Then as they passed Daunt Rock and, forming their scouting line, plunged into the head seas that swept their narrow decks, there came the test of the sailor’s morale. To learn to live and carry on in their cramped quarters, rolling, pitching, and thrashing about till it seemed as if neither flesh and blood nor steel could stand it any longer, while the cold, gray rollers, washing over the ship from stem to stern, chilled the very soul, was a feat that seemed to call for even more than human powers of adaptation. ”

“ Surmounting the rest of the garden high up on the slope is an ancient watch-tower commanding a view of the sea. Crumbling steps overgrown with weeds lead up the side to its summit. Beside it stands a majestic and venerable tree, a conifer of the cedar or cypress group, which must have stood there for centuries casting its deep shade on the old watch-tower. Framed under its great lichen-covered branches, the wide expanse of the blue ocean makes the fairest of pictures—one on which the eye can rest and never tire. ”

“ With explosive force the news spread through the Western world, like a titanic peal of thunder echoing from mountain crest to valley and reverberating throughout the land. The bells rang, and all the populace gave themselves to wild joy or solemn thanksgiving.
As soon as the surrender had been made, the Allied fleet proceeded to Gibraltar to take possession. At the first opportunity for shore liberty, Evans found Kendrick, and for hours they talked over the events since they had separated in the dark on the shore at Punta Delgada. ”

“ In a few days he was again at the wheel of his beloved boat, the sails pulling hard in the fresh southwest wind. Leaving New Bedford, he headed for the Maine coast. Once more alone in his seaworthy little ketch, he cruised along the coast by easy stages, northward and eastward, farther and farther from the crowded habitats of man, to the spruce-clad, rocky islands of Maine. Off Seguin he stood well out to sea, the gentle rocking of the boat on the ocean swell lulling him into a happy reverie as she glided along before the summer breeze. ”

“ With a blaze that lit the sky she burst into fragments, leaving nothing but oil and wreckage when the smoke cleared. Another, hit in a starboard boiler room, was unable to maintain speed, and, to avoid being pounded to pieces as she dropped astern past the entire battle-line of the Allies, turned sharply to port and escaped behind her own line of battleships. The remainder of the battle cruisers, battered and crippled, drew out of range while still they could, pursued by destroyers racing after like a pack of hungry greyhounds. ”

“ I said. “When I can't help it I tell the truth. I'm never reckless or immoderate in the use of it, for there's no sense in giving it out in chunks so big that they excite suspicion. I'm kind o' careful with the truth when I tell ye that Richard Forbes is better than all the statues and paintings and domes and golden ceilings in Italy.” ”

“ Forbes stared aghast at a wholesale condemnation that must include Mrs. Neff, Persis, Winifred, Alice, and the respectable rest. He had not yet learned that certain journalists are mere newsboys always beating out of their dreadnaught typewriters cries of "Extra! Extra! All about the turrible moider!"
Forbes was dumfounded to learn that the modern Babylon plus Nineveh, New York, could be sent to bed at one o'clock and forbidden to dance by daylight. Ordinarily nothing on earth would have mattered less to Forbes than the fate of tea-dances. ”

“ There may be a tussle, but Forbes is bound to cave in the end. He is infatuated with his wife and she knows her power. She is as set on this match as you could be. She’s had the bee in her bonnet for a good many years, to cut as great a dash in London as she does in New York. Of course she’s in it in a way when she’s over there for a month or two during the season, but she wants a long sight more than that. Her ancestry does her no good because the English trunk of the family died out two hundred years ago. ”

“ But then so many men had held her in their arms when she danced. Even his daring had not impressed her memory. So many men must have pressed her too daringly. It was part of the routine of her life, to rebuff men who made advances to her.
Forbes left the bridge and left the park, humbled to nausea. His cheeks were so scarlet that the conductor on the Seventh Avenue car stared at him. He could not bear to walk back to his hotel. When he reached there he went to his room, dejected. There was nothing in the town to interest him. New York was as cold and heartless as report had made it. ”

“ He would be a husband worth having—a soldier, a gentleman, a lover, distinguished—nobody would laugh if she went up the aisle with him.
Luckily Forbes had money. He was surely not so rich as Willie. But then Persis was not mercenary. She wanted only a reasonable amount—just enough to keep up with the procession, have a fresh hat now and then, and some gowns and a contemporary car, and a place in town and a place out of town, and enough to go abroad on every summer, and South every winter, and a few things like that. Surely Mr. Forbes must have enough money for such a simple household. ”

“ When I came away that night after our conversation with her I had entirely forgotten her failure as an actress, and it is only later, since I have thought over the evening in detail, that I have returned to my first standpoint of wonder at the easy toleration of the English public. When you are actually with her, talking to her, looking at her, Forbes's attitude is the only possible and reasonable one. ”

“ During his later years Forbes was so entirely absorbed in his literary and scientific pursuits that he neglected to take sufficient exercise; the death of his wife, to whom he was profoundly attached, caused him to suffer severe mental trouble; his constitution, already enfeebled by a recurrent fever caught in South America, gave way, and he died on 5 Dec. 1876. Many representative men of science attended his funeral at Kensal Green cemetery, London, on 12 Dec. 1876. Forbes joined the Geological Society in 1853, and had been one of the secretaries since 1871. ”

“ Forbes sat in the dark room in an arm-chair and muffled his bathrobe about him, watching the electric signs working like solemn acrobats—the girl that skipped the rope, the baby that laughed and cried, the woman that danced on the wire, the skidless tire in the rain, the great sibyl face that winked and advised chewing-gum as a panacea, the kitten that tangled itself in thread, the siphons that filled the glasses—all the automatic electric voices shouting words of light. ”

“ The bitterness of his tone did not escape Forbes.
“Surely.” Forbes saw the fifteen thousand in bills at the girl's feet, her dull misery over the loss of the box. Had Crawford believed her jewels to be in it? Oh, it was damnable!
They arrived presently before an apartment-building.
“We get out here,” said Crawford, shutting off the power. “Mort, every man has a curtain which he does not lift even to his best friend. To-night I'm going to lift a corner for you. It is because I want some one with me. I am in no mood for sentiment. Come.”
Forbes followed him. ”

“ Forbes joined the king at Hanover, and afterwards returned home. In 1724 he was appointed to command the Canterbury of 60 guns on the Mediterranean station, and was employed on shore at the defence of Gibraltar against the Spaniards in 1726–7. In September 1727 Forbes, who had previously sat in the English House of Commons for the borough of Queenborough, was called to the Irish house of peers under the title of Baron Forbes. ”

“ I was heavy at heart, but I felt that Forbes was right, and my own instinct told me that my ideas were better than my performance—and Forbes was right. Nothing was left of the tales; not a shred of paper, not a scrap of writing. They had all gone up the chimney in smoke. There was no self-pity. I had a grim kind of feeling regarding the thing, but I had no regrets, and I have never had any regrets since. I have forgotten most of the titles, and indeed all the stories except one. But Forbes and I were right ”

“ And now as to Washington. His letters are typical of the young man to whom these western forests were not unfamiliar; they are patriotic and loyal. Though he was standing for election to the House of Burgesses in his home county, he had refused to accept a leave of absence to do his electioneering—which in no wise prevented his election. I cannot find any ill-boding prophecy in his letters, concerning the making of a new road westward from Raystown, which after events did not justify. He affirmed that Forbes could not reach Fort Duquesne by a new road before the winter set in ”

“ Indeed, if the unknown listener were Enslee, Forbes would not stand as the protector of Persis at all, but as a ruthless tempter of another man's love. If it were Ten Eyck, he would have ground for reviling Forbes as one whom he regretted sponsoring, a wolf admitted into the fold in sheep's clothing. ”

“ A fellow-countryman of Forbes has built beside Forbes's Road (now Forbes Street) , in the city of Pittsburg, a magnificent library. What could be more fitting or beautiful than that this brave Scotchman's memory should be honored with a monumental pillar here on his road which "opened the Great West to English enterprise?" And let it bear the sweet human testimony of a British historian: "No general was ever more beloved by the men under his command." [7]
↑ Forbes to Bouquet, August 28, 1756. ”

“ After all, I have no right to make light of Forbes' predicament. It is not very agreeable to have Her burst in upon you when you look ready for the oven, like a Thanksgiving turkey. And Forbes, for all his amatory flights, was (and is) a clean, kindly, honorable young man, capable of rising to heights, as shall be seen. ”

“ He was alone in the world, his lilacs and his heart barred out and rejected. She had retreated to Enslee's stronghold and shuttered herself in.
Forbes turned away to exile in a world of gloom. He heard a little sound above, and whirled quickly. The shutters were opening again. He saw her eyes. She was frowning fiercely; but that was because of the sharp sun, for her lips were smiling and she was whispering something.
He hurried to the spot beneath her window. He saw that her hair had been stuffed back into her nightcap. ”