Barr

“ The headsman whipped off the black cloth and displayed underneath it a box containing a large jug surrounded by eleven drinking-horns. Those present, all now on their feet, glanced with amazement from the masked man to the king. The sternness had vanished from his majesty’s face, as if a dark cloud had passed from the sun and allowed it to shine again. There sparkled in the king’s eye all the jubilant mischief of the incorrigible boy, and his laughter rang to the ceiling. Somewhat recovering his gravity he stretched out his hand and pointed a finger at the cobbler. ”

“ Barr.
"It is love," was the answer. "The rapture of those kisses will be on my lips to my dying day." The artist began to troll the words of a mad song of his own composition I had heard before.
"Paul Barr, though we have long differed on many subjects, we have been friends. But after what I have heard and seen to-day, we must meet henceforth as strangers," said Mr. Spence, with a fire I had never known him display before.
"I adore her, and I am human. See there!" he pointed to the portrait, which hitherto had escaped their attention. ”

“ Barr echoed the words, staring at the ensign as if he thought he had gone suddenly insane.
"Precisely. I intend to produce by artificial means an eruption which will destroy enough of this cliff to set us free, or else blow the Peacemaker herself into atoms." [256]
Mr. Barr buried his head in his hands. Skillful inventor and scientific expert though he was, the last words of the naval officer had sapped even his iron courage.
"Is there no other way?"
"No other way. It's a gamble for our lives."
"What do you propose doing?" asked Mr. Barr in a strange, broken voice. ”

“ He says he will pay you one hundred dollars a month for their board and lodging. He says also, that he can bring with him four or five other lawyers, and I think I can assure you of two of my friends, and there is Scotch Brown, Barton, East, Sutherland, Miller, Thomas, and others whom Mr. Barr nursed through the fever, and who will be glad to return in this way the kindness he showed them.”
“O Mr. Williams!” I answered. “I am most grateful to you. I may not at first manage as well as I should like, but I will do my best.”
“And we will help you, all we can, Mamma,” said Mary and Lilly. ”

“ She has no money to carry on a government. I know that positively.”
We sat talking of probabilities until the dawn grew to sun-rising, and then we rode out to Mr. Illingworth’s place, and had our cup of coffee with him and his wife. And one of the first things he said was, “I tell you, Barr, there will be a turning up and out in the government offices when Houston comes home.”
“He is coming, then?” asked Robert.
“Yes. You will see him some morning soon, sitting in front of Tong’s grocery, looking like a lion, and wearing a Serape Saltillero [3] like a royal mantle. ”

“ Now I said:
"Forister, you are a great rogue. I know you. One thing is certain. You have not my papers and never did you have them."
He looked upon me with some admiration and cried:
"Aye, the cannibal shows a glimmer of reason. No, I have not your foolish papers, and I only wish I had them in order to hurl the bundle at your damned stupid head."
For a kicked man you have a gay spirit," I replied. "But at any rate I have no time for you now. I am off to Bristol after my papers, and I only wish for the sake of ease that I had to go no farther than this chamber. Come, Paddy! Come, Jem!" ”

“ The heavy curtains parted and the king entered the room, clad in the imposing robes of his high state. A frown was on his brow, and he advanced straight from the doorway to the throne at the head of the table, without speaking or casting a glance at any one of the eleven. When he had seated himself he said gruffly,—
“There is a chair for each of you; sit down.”
It is doubtful if any of the company, except the cobbler, at first recognised their ruler as the alleged Laird of Ballengeich; but at the sound of the monarch’s voice several started and looked anxiously one at another. ”

“ You say you will not marry this man to save the estate of Brede?"
"I shall marry no man whom I do not love," repeated Lady Mary firmly.
As for me, I stood there, hat in hand, with my jaw dropped, as if Sullivan had given me a stunning blow in the ear; then the old Earl said sternly:
"I cannot force my daughter: this conference is at an end. The law must decide between us."
"The law, you old dotard," cried the Countess, rounding then on him with a suddenness that made him seem to shrink into his shell. "The law! Is a silly wench to run us into danger of losing what is ours? ”

“ Barr gave quick directions about the placing of my luggage; then drew me into a room which I saw must be the vicar's study.
"Sit here for a moment, my dear," she said, drawing me to a broad window seat and taking her place by my side, while still holding me in that motherly clasp. "Tears are blessed things sometimes, and knowing what I do of your late trials, I am glad for you that you can weep freely. But we shall try and help you to dry your tears. I hope you will be happy with us, and find in your daily occupations one remedy for your trouble." ”

“ Down the wide stairs from the Rittersaal came the clank of armour and rude shouts of laughter. Newly lighted torches flared up here and there, illuminating the courtyard, and showing, dangling against the northern wall a score of ropes with nooses at the end of each. Into the courtyard clattered the Baron and his followers. The Abbot stood with arms folded, pressing a gilded cross across his breast. He was a head taller than any of his frightened, cowering brethren, and his noble emaciated face was thin with fasting caused by his never-ending conflict with the world that was within himself. ”

“ I went to bed prostrated physically, and sick at heart. True as it doubtless was that Paul Barr would never voluntarily have insulted me, I had deliberately exposed myself to the tipsy eccentricities of a man whose habits were not unknown. Might I not also have discovered, if I had been wholly candid with myself, that there was genuine feeling in the words of devotion he had so frequently whispered to me, and that under the extravagance of his behavior there lurked a vein of real sentiment? ”

“ Who are you?”
“That is what I wish to tell your lordship when I get the opportunity. As for yesterday, I feigned nothing. I but retold what an old gipsy once said to me regarding the King and Lord Strafford. I wished to engage your attention, but, like the underlings of this palace, you turned me away.”
“Your persistence shall be rewarded, but with this proviso. If the news you make so much of is not worth the telling, then shall you expiate your impudence in prison. If you fear to accept the risk, you had better begone while there is yet time, and let us see no more of you.” ”

“ Mary was that he'd been seen on the day of Lady Hereward's murder, not far from the woods where she was killed; but the odd thing is, we can't find out where the story started; and, of course, it may or may not be true. Wherever he is, though, Mr. Barr must know he's wanted, and why. Don't you think that looks a little queer for him? If he has nothing to hide, and no reason to keep out of the way, why doesn't he turn up, or send word where he is? Don't you, as a straightforward woman, feel that?"
"Perhaps," said Miss Maunsell, non-committally. "But Mr. Barr was a queer young man." ”

“ Paul Barr however bowed to her in so superb and deferential a manner that I thought she looked rather flattered than otherwise, which relieved my worst apprehensions, and I found myself straightway [Pg 144] chatting with him in a somewhat spirited vein. Heard, in my own drawing-room, Mr. Barr's compliments and ardent speeches moved me to badinage, and I saw no harm in accepting them as the ordinary give-and-take of the would-be lady-killer, more original and therefore more entertaining than those of a fashionable flirt, but still of the same general character. ”

“ Whether my plan miscarries or not, there will be no need to fear a reprisal, and that has much to say in its favour."
"It is everything in its favour," said the shoemaker, with a sigh of relief.
"Very well, then, I will meet you here on Wednesday night at this time, and learn whether or not they agree to have me as one of their number. If they refuse, there's no harm done; I shall say nothing, and the King will know no more about the matter than he does now." ”

“ Barr, whose charity was ever prevailing, and whose firm goodness was rendered efficient by proportionate strength. To her the inmates of this building were objects of unlimited interest. She gave up all the energies of her life for their benefit, and learned to find in each diseased mind some sane spot capable of understanding the sympathy she gave.
188What Mrs. Barr was to her charge, Catharine became in another way. Notwithstanding her hard life, she was not uneducated: no girl of good natural ability ever need be ignorant in this land. ”

“ Paddy and Jem, now seemingly quite recovered from their misusage of Sunday, stood back of the group with eyes and mouths open, gazing upon me with an admiration I could not but appreciate.
"Come out of that," said I, "and take this cutlery up to my room," and they did.
I sat down at the table and wrote a letter to Mr. Brooks.
"Sir," said I in it, "I don't know whether I am plaintiff or defendant in the suit that 's coming on, but whichever it is here 's a bundle of legal evidence for your use. You mentioned the word 'violence' to me when I had the pleasure of calling on you. ”

“ I suppose the poor man thought that black doom had fallen upon him from the sky. He gave a great howl as he, Forister, the cloaks, cushions, and rugs spread out grandly in one sublime confusion.
Some ladies screamed, and a bold commanding voice said: "In the devil's name what have we here?" Behind the unhappy servant had been coming two ladies and a very tall gentleman in a black cloak that reached to his heels. What have we here?" again cried this tall man, who looked like an old eagle. He stepped up to me haughtily. I knew that I was face to face with the Earl of Westport. ”

“ Janet stood alone, her hands clenched in nervous tension. How passionately she resented her mother's domestic tyranny! In the narrow, intolerant religious atmosphere of Brooklyn, she had endured it long enough, endured it since childhood as one of the mysterious dispensations of Providence.
Her mind was flooded with hatred of the Barrs and all that they stood for.
The Barrs were a characteristic product of the American environment. Mrs. Barr belonged to a decadent branch of an old Mayflower stock connected with the Bradleys, the Saltonstalls, and other well-known New England names. ”

“ How much more unselfish and ennobling a life than that of the feverish money-getter, with all his appliances of forge and factory, and export and import! I had found an answer to my yearnings and my unrest in this untiring devotion to abstract truth.
[Pg 136] A part of this was true undoubtedly of Paul Barr as well. Ardor and zeal were the very essence of his philosophy; but it was easy to divine by looking at him—at least it appeared so to me—that he lacked the spirit of persistent, unselfish scholarship which distinguished his rival. ”

“ The ex-chancellor sat down again, and drew his hand across his damp forehead.
"Your Majesty," spoke up the baron, a ring of defiance in his voice, "I speak not for my comrades, but for myself. I begin no game I am afraid to finish. We were about to dice in order to discover whether your Majesty should live or die."
A simultaneous moan seemed to rise from the assembled traitors. The smile returned to the king's lips.
"Baron," he said, "I have ever chided myself for loving you, for you were always a bad example to weak and impressionable natures. ”

“ I was back to the wall, and in a leisurely and contemptuous way I drew my sword.
"The first gentleman who advances is a dead man," said I pleasantly.
Some drew away quickly; some hesitated, and then withdrew subtlely. In the mean time the screeches of the Earl mocked them all.
"Aye, the wild Irishman brings you up to a stand, he does! Now who will have at him? In all Bath I have no friend with a stout heart?"
After looking them over I said:
"No, my Lord, you have none."
At this insult the aged peer arose from his chair. "Bring me my sword," he cried to his valet. A hush fell upon us all. ”

“ We must act it. The papers are yours, but you took them from me unfairly. You may destroy them. Otherwise I will have them back and discover what turned you into a great rogue near the end of your days."
"Hearken!" screamed the Earl. "Hearken! He threatens." The door into the parlour flew open, and Lord Strepp and Colonel Royale appeared on the threshold, their faces blank with wonder.
"Father," cried the young lord, stepping hastily forward, "whatever is wrong?"
"That!" screamed the Earl, pointing a palsied finger at me. "That! He comes here and threatens me,—a peer of England." ”

“ Now, the drink we had at our meetings heretofore was vile, and no more fitted for a Christian's throat than is the headsman's axe; but if you ever tasted anything better than this, tell me where to get a hogshead of it."
The headsman having filled their horns, the leader raised the flagon above his head and said—
"I give you the toast of the King!"
"No, no," said the boyish monarch. "I want to drink this myself. I'll give you a toast. 'May there never come a time when a Scotchman is afraid to risk his head for what he thinks is right!'"
And this toast they drank together. ”