Brian

“ They were going forward, walking at times, and at times riding, till they came to a spring that there was by the side of the road. ‘Now, Brian,’ said the fox, ‘unless thou dost strike off my head with one blow of the White Glaive of Light into this spring, I will strike off thine.’
‘S’tia,’ said Brian, ‘a man is kind to his own life.’
And he swept the head off him with one blow, and it fell into the well. And in the wink of an eye what should rise up out of the well but the son of the king that was father to the Sun Goddess. ”

“ He looked as if he had passed through some period of illness or sorrow of which the traces could never be wholly obliterated. There was a pathetic hopelessness in his face which was somewhat remarkable in so young a man.
The passenger who regarded him with so much interest was also a young man, not more than Brian's own age, but apparently not an Englishman. He spoke English a little, though with a foreign accent, but his French was remarkably good and pure. He stopped short at last in front of Brian and eyed him attentively, evidently believing that the young man was asleep. ”

“ They took him by the breeches, and they hurled him into ditches,
⁠And they pushed him under waterfalls, and this is what they said:
⁠"You are Sir Brian—don't laugh,
⁠You are Sir Brian—don't cry;
⁠You are Sir Brian, as bold as a lion—
⁠Sir Brian, the lion, good-bye!"
Sir Brian struggled home again, and chopped up his battleaxe,
⁠Sir Brian took his fighting boots, and threw them in the fire.
He is quite a different person now he hasn't got his spurs on,
⁠And he goes about the village as B. Botany, Esquire.
⁠"I am Sir Brian? Oh, no!
⁠I am Sir Brian? Who's he? ”

“ Neither will Brian.
George (moving to R. end of settee) . Well, that's what I keep telling him, only he won't see it. Just as I keep telling you about those ridiculous curtains. (Points to cupboard with pipe in right hand over his left shoulder.) It seems to me that I am the only person in the house with any eyesight left.
Olivia. Perhaps you are, darling; but you must let us find out our own mistakes for ourselves. (Sits on stool L.C.) At any rate, Brian is a gentleman; he loves Dinah, Dinah loves him; he's earning enough to support himself, and you are earning enough to support Dinah. ”

“ Sir Brian had a pair of boots with great big spurs on,
A fighting pair of which he was particularly fond.
On Tuesday and on Friday, just to make the street look tidy,
He’d collect the passing villagers and kick them in the pond.
“I am Sir Brian!” (sper-lash)
“I am Sir Brian!” (sper-losh!)
“I am Sir Brian, as bold as a lion—
Is anyone else for a wash?”
[93]
Sir Brian woke one morning, and he couldn’t find his battle­axe ”

“ Nothing happened at all, except that I received a letter from Doctor Herter with the promised introduction to an oculist just now at the Front, and that I realized, after three days' absence, how Brian is improving. He has less the air of a beautiful soul, whose incarnation in a body is a mere accident, and more the look of a happy, handsome young man, with a certain spiritual radiance which makes him remarkable and somehow "disturbing," as the French say. If anything could stop the rats gnawing my conscience, it would be this blessed change. Brian is getting back health and strength. ”

“ To explain, to accuse myself before Brian, to make him despise the only person he had to depend on, and so to spoil the world for him, was another thing. [Pg 50]
I accepted the fate I'd summoned like the genie of a lamp. "Yes, Brian, I'm here," I answered. And I went to him, and took possession of the hand Mrs. Beckett had left free. "I never told you about my romance. It was so short. And—and one doesn't put the most sacred things in letters. I loved a man, and he loved me. We met in France before the war, and lost each other. ”

“ An idle life had exhausted him sooner than other men are exhausted by a hard-working career. He knew of men at the Bar who had lived hard and worked like galley slaves, and who yet retained all the fire and freshness of youth.
The guests had alighted by the time Brian reached the portico, and Vernon was in his sister's arms. She held him away from her, to show him to her husband—a thin fair-haired boy of eleven, in a gray highland kilt and jacket, like a gillie—fresh rosy cheeks, bright blue eyes.
'Hasn't he grown, Brian? and isn't he a darling?' she asked, hugging him again. ”

“ He was aging quickly—so much Brian perceived, and dwelt upon—with excellent effect—in his subsequent narrative of the voyage to some of the servants at the Castle. The cosmetic that will withstand the constant application of sea-water has yet to be invented, so that in half an hour Lord Fotheringay would not have been recognized except by his valet. Brian had taken aboard a well-preserved gentleman with a rosy complexion and a moustache almost too black for nature. ”

“ Brian passed with the nurse inside the screen, and looked pityingly at the patient.
"Yes," he said, in a low tone, "it is the man I know."
He thought that Dino was unconscious, but at the sound of his voice—low though it was—the patient opened his eyes, and fixed them upon Brian's face. Brian had said that his appearance would produce no agitation, but he was mistaken. A sudden change passed over that pale countenance. Dino's great dark eyes seemed to grow larger than ever; his face assumed a still more deathly tinge; the look of mingled anguish and horror was unmistakable. ”

“ Brian straightened to his full gaunt height. The young people were not tall; though stiff and worn with age, Brian knew he was still a bonily overpowering creature. Once, among men, he had mildly enjoyed being more than life-size.
As a shield for the lonely, frightened thing that was his mind, he put on a phony sternness: "I wish to examine you about Millstone and your knowledge of Abraham. How many others are living at Millstone?"
"Two fives, sa," said the boy promptly, "and I who may be called Jonason and this one we may call Paula. ”

“ I waved before my eyes the flag of Brian's need, and my bad courage came back.
I let Mr. Beckett lead me to the sofa. I let his hand on my shoulder gently press me to sit down by his wife, who had not spoken yet. Her blue eyes, fixed with piteous earnestness on mine, were like those of a timid animal, when it is making up its mind whether to trust and "take to" a human stranger who offers advances. I seemed to [Pg 39] see her thinking—thinking not so much with her brain as with her heart, as you used to say Brian thought. ”

“ And I will meet thee under Cony-oak.
Ralph. I will, sir. [Exit.
Brian. How now! by the mass, my hound stays upon something; hark, hark, Bowman! hark, hark there!
Mil. Brother, Frank Jerningham, brother Clare!
Brian. Peace; that a woman's voice! Stand! who's there? Stand, or I'll shoot.
Mil. O lord! hold your hands, I mean no harm, sir.
Brian. Speak, who are you?
Mil. I am a maid, sir. Who? Master Brian?
Brian. The very same: sure, I should know her voice? Mistress Millicent!
Mil. Ay, it is I, sir.
Brian. God for his passion! what make yo [Pg 249] u here alone? ”

“ Brian, with a quiet smile at her enthusiasm, went on: “I know exactly what I want to say, and why I want to say it. There is a world of people, Auntie Sue, whose lives have been broken and spoiled by one thing or another, and who have more or less cut themselves loose from everything, and are just drifting, they don't care a hang where, because they think they have failed so completely that there is nothing more in life for them. ”

“ I have no fancy for Brian myself: I find him entirely too much of a prig; but I will say that he might twist the old man around his finger if he would only yield a little more to his wishes and opinions. It is a lucky thing for us that he will not, but it does not make his folly less. Fancy! Mr. Singleton asked him to live with him, look after his business, and generally devote himself to him during his life, with the promise of making him his sole heir, and he refused! Can you believe that?"
"I must believe it if you are sure of it," replied Marion, smiling at the energy of the other. ”

“ Dinah (giggling) . Oh, Brian, you're heavenly. What fun we shall have when we're married.
Brian (with exaggerated dignity) . Sir Brian Strange, R.A., if you please, Miss Marden. Sir Brian Strange, R.A., writes: "Your Sanogene has proved a most excellent tonic. After completing the third acre of my Academy picture, 'The Mayor and Corporation of Pudsey,' I was completely exhausted, but one bottle of Sanogene revived me, and I finished the remaining seven acres at a single sitting."
Olivia (rising and looking about her) . Brian, find my scissors for me. (Sits again.) ”

“ Never was there any one like Brian for drawing out confidences from shut-up souls (except you, Padre!) if he chooses to open his own soul, for that end; and apparently he thought it worth while in the case of Dierdre. He began by telling her things about himself—his old hopes and ambitions and the change in them since his blindness. He confessed to the girl (as he confessed to me long ago) how at first he wished desperately to die, because life without eyesight wasn't life. He has so loved colour, and beauty, and success in his work had been so close, that he felt he couldn't endure blindness. ”

“ And tell Brian—be sure you tell Brian to come home to-night. It is his right, nobody can keep him out. But not alone. Tell him not to come alone."
It was with these words ringing in his ears that Rupert was driven back to Dunmuir.
Brian and his wife arrived about nine o'clock in the evening, as they had said in the letter which Mr. Colquhoun had received. Vivian, wrought up by this time to a high pitch of excitement, did not wait five minutes before pouring the whole of his story into Brian's ear. Brian's eyes flashed, his face looked stern as he listened to Kitty's message. ”

“ Brian has merely decided to marry the sweetest and best girl that there is in the world. I don’t think you’re quite wise to talk in that fashion, and I don’t think I’d do it if I were in your place. I’ve no doubt you’ll see Brian again shortly. At the present moment, as he has been, well, let us say compelled to take the money for necessary expenses, perhaps you will allow me to replace what you consider you have lost.”
“You are very good, my dear nephew; you are always more than generous. ”

“ What would you do in George's position?
BRIAN. Do? Say to the woman I loved, "You're mine, and let this other damned fellow come and take you from me if he can!" And he couldn't—how could he?—not if the woman chose me.
(LADY MARDEN gazes at BRIAN in amazement, GEORGE in anger, OLIVIA presses his hand gratefully. He has said what she has been waiting—oh, so eagerly—for GEORGE to say.)
DINAH (adoringly) . Oh, Brian! (In a whisper) It is me, isn't it, and not Olivia?
BRIAN. You baby, of course!
LADY MARDEN. I'm afraid, Mr. Strange, your morals are as peculiar as your views on Art. ”

“ Never mind. I believe that, on the whole, the grain of advice which I have acquired out of your bushel of talk, is good, and is destined to bear good fruit. I’ll have my career in the world, that my father may learn ‘what’tis to love.’ My mind is made up. Come, Brian, to the shore!”
“Not till I tell your honour the story of the lovely young Princess Fither,” said the boatman, assuming a sentimental expression that was extremely comical.
“Brian, Prince of Storytellers, let it be brief,” said Edmund. ”

“ I suppose he told me in that letter why you came to London, and asked me to meet you or something; and I wish I had met you, if it would have prevented this unfortunate accident of yours, or whatever it was. My own carelessness is always to blame," said Brian, with a heavy sigh, "and I don't wonder that you look coldly upon me, Dino, when I seem to have done you such an unfriendly turn. ”

“ Brian is not the kind of young man to be kept at bay by a mild nonentity like the Fräulein. He told me before he left that he was desperately in love with you, and that he meant to win you for his wife. I asked him how he intended to keep a wife, and he said he should write for the magazines, and do theatrical criticisms for the newspapers, till briefs began to drop in. He was determined to win you if you were to be won. So I feel sure that he made you an offer, unless, indeed, that horrid old Pew spoiled all by her venomous conduct.'
'That is it, dear. ”

“ Brian answered. “She wishes to be alone, and we must not disturb her. She will be all right in a little while. Come, let us walk down toward the bluff.”
When they had reached a spot on the river-bank a short distance above the Elbow Rock cliff, Brian said to his companion: “Judy, I want you to tell me something. Did Auntie Sue ever send money in a letter to the Empire Consolidated Savings Bank, in Chicago?”
“The black, beady eyes shifted evasively, and the mountain girl turned her sallow, old-young face away from Brian's direct gaze. ”

“ It is hard for us all; but I think it is hardest of all for you."
"I would have given my life for his, Angela," said Brian, in a smothered voice.
"I know you would. I know you loved him," said Angela, the tears streaming now down her pale cheeks. "There is only one thing for us to say, Brian—It was God's will that he should go."
"How you must hate the sight of me," groaned Brian. He had almost forgotten the presence of Mrs. Luttrell, whose hard, watchful eyes were taking notice of every detail of the scene.
"I will not trouble you long; I am going to leave Scotland; I will go far away ”