Byrd

“ Byrd perceived that he should not be obliged to speak. Though the music, or possibly the words, struck her like a blow, it likewise served to recall her to herself. Dropping her gaze, which had remained fixed upon his own, she turned her face aside, saying with forced composure:
"This near contact with crime is dreadful." Then slowly, and with a quietness that showed how great was her power of self-control when she was not under the influence of surprise, she inquired: "And who do they think this person is? What name do they presume to associate with the murderer of this woman?" ”

“ Byrd's companion, whose name, by-the-way, was Duryea. "It is Miss Tremaine's reception night. She is the daughter of one of the professors of the High School," he went on, whispering his somewhat late explanations into the ear of Mr. Byrd. "Every Thursday evening she throws her house open for callers, and the youth of the academy are only too eager to avail themselves of the opportunity of coming here. Well, it is all the better for us. Miss Dare despises boys, and in all likelihood we shall have her entirely to ourselves." ”

“ Douglass Byrd will be the first one. And besides having the soul of honor and loving-kindness in it, Byrdsville looks like it might be one of the outposts of heaven, where tired souls can come to rest before going up the shining ladder.
All the houses are old-fashioned, with wide doors for welcoming and with vines running over the chimneys and up to the eaves, while blooms and buds tumble over the walls and burst from the gardens into the street. Yes, I think Byrdsville might be called the smile-place on the old earth's round face.
But to return to Father and Tony at the front gate ”

“ Richard Byrd couldn’t have had better ancestors to back him up in his adventures, but every ounce of courage, every bit of perseverance that he inherited, he needed. He was a man who met with hundreds of disappointments, and innumerable obstacles in carrying out the plans that meant so much to him and to the world. But he was never downed by them. Set-backs that would have made other men, men of lesser caliber turn from their paths and give up their plans, were just so much more of a spur to him. ”

“ BYRD, WILLIAM (1538?–1623) , musical composer, is generally supposed to have been the son of Thomas Byrd, a gentleman in the Chapel Royal under Edward VI and Mary. This statement is pure conjecture; there were several families who bore the same name at this period. The only evidence corroborative of it is that William Byrd's second son was named Thomas, possibly after his grandfather. ”

“ Byrd slowly bowed.
Mr. Ferris continued for a moment looking alternately from one to the other; then he observed:
"When two such men unite in an opinion, it is at least worthy of consideration." And, rising, he took on an aspect of sudden determination. "Whatever may be the truth in regard to this matter," said he, "one duty is clear. Miss Dare, as you inform me, has been—with but little idea of the consequences, I am sure—allowed to remain under the impression that the interview which she held in the hut was with her lover. ”

“ Byrd's own sense of personal revolt against the man, could not influence him in the discharge of his duty, which was to save another of less interesting and perhaps less valuable traits of character from the consequences of a crime he had never committed. ”

“ I thought more than once to stop in at some settler's cabin. But mark you, Byrd, I came on. Why? I cannot say. 'Chance,' Mr. Evlyn Byrd, if you like. I would call it otherwise. But no matter."
He paused a moment, and then continued:
"I came in by the river. It was all dark like the kingdom of Satan. Then, suddenly, I saw a light and your boat tied up. This light seemed somewhere inside, and its flame puzzled me. I got down from my horse and went onto the steamboat. I found no one, but I found the light. It was a fire just gathering under way. ”

“ In 1589 Byrd's ‘Songs of Sundrie Natures’ and the first book of his ‘Cantiones Sacræ’ were published by East at the sign of the Black Horse in Aldersgate Street. In the following year the same composer contributed two madrigals to Thomas Watson's ‘First Sett of Italian Madrigalls Englished,’ as he had previously done in the case of ‘Musica Transalpina,’ and in 1591 the second set of Byrd's own ‘Cantiones Sacræ’ was issued by his assignee. In 1591 East printed a new edition of the psalter of William Damon, the first issue of which had been published by John Day in 1579. ”

“ Byrd was, of all men, then, the very one to feel the utmost attraction toward, and at the same time the greatest shrinking from, the pursuit of such investigations as were likely to ensue upon the discovery of the mysterious case of murder which had so unexpectedly been presented to his notice. As a professional, he could not fail to experience that quick start of the blood which always follows the recognition of a "big affair," while as a gentleman, he felt himself recoil from probing into a matter that was blackened by a possibility against which every instinct in his nature rebelled. ”

“ Now, there are always men who are constitutionally averse to change, and of these was the great, but not too amiable, Mr. William Byrd. We can, therefore, quite appreciate his feelings on this particular innovation and understand the frame of mind in which he writes, in a preface to his "Songs of Sadness," thus: "There is no music of instruments whatever to be compared to the voyces of men, when they are good, well-sorted and ordered."
Orlando Gibbons was the impersonator of the new spirit; William Byrd was the jealous guardian of the old. ”

“ Byrd, retiring into his shell, from which he had momentarily thrust his head.
"Does it not strike you that there are rather more persons present than are necessary for the purposes of justice?" asked the lawyer, now coming forward with a look of rather pointed significance at the youthful stranger.
Mr. Ferris at once spoke up. "Mr. Orcutt," said he, "let me introduce to you Mr. Byrd, of New York. He is a member of the police force, and has been rendering me assistance in the case just adjourned."
"A detective!" repeated the other, eying the young man with a critical eye. ”

“ Byrd shook his head and they again crouched down over the fire.
"And, now, what did you learn in Buffalo?" inquired the persistent Hickory.
"Not much," acknowledged Mr. Byrd. "The man Brown was entirely too ubiquitous to give me my full chance. Neither at the house nor at the mill was I able to glean any thing beyond an admission from the landlady that Mr. Mansell was not at home at the time of his aunt's murder. ”

“ He is very much interested in machinery, and has invented something——" [184]
"Oh, Clara, you are not going to sit here," interposed the reproachful voice of a saucy-eyed maiden, who at this moment peeped around the corner of the piano. "We want all the recruits we can get," she cried, with a sudden blush, as she encountered the glance of Mr. Byrd. "Do come, and bring the gentleman too." And she slipped away to join that very Mr. Brown who, by his importunities, had been the occasion of the former interruption from which Mr. Byrd had suffered. ”

“ Mr. Byrd flashed a quick askance look at his colleague from under his half-fallen lids, but made no answer. [317]
"It is not pride alone," resumed the rough-and-ready detective, half-musingly; "though he's as proud as the best of 'em. Neither is it any sort of make-believe, or I wouldn't be caught by it. 'Tis—'tis—what?" And Hickory rubbed his nose with his thoughtful forefinger, and looked inquiringly at Mr. Byrd.
"How should I know?" remarked the other, tossing his stump of a cigar into the fire. "Mr. Mansell is too deep a problem for me."
"And Miss Dare too?" ”

“ Byrd’s a leader. No matter where he has come in contact with men, he has won their love and respect, and has got more work out of them by his kindness and gentleness than anybody else could have by slave-driving. They worked for Byrd because they liked to, not because they had to. He imbued them with his spirit of adventure, so that every man of them was determined that his expedition should be successful, and that Byrd should be the first man to fly across the Pole.
“One of the hardest jobs of all was packing down the snow into a hard, smooth runway for taking off. ”

“ Byrd afterward remarked, by so much as the cracking of a twig, his voice rose quiet, yet vaguely sinister, in the words:
"You have conquered. If any man suffers for this crime it shall not be Craik Mansell, but——"
The sentence was never finished. Before the words could leave his mouth a sudden strange and splitting sound was heard above their heads, then a terrifying rush took place, and a great limb lay upon the walk where but a moment before the beautiful form of Imogene Dare lifted itself by the side of the eminent lawyer. ”

“ Byrd's death took place (probably at Stondon) on 4 July 1623. It is recorded in the ‘Chapel Royal Cheque Book’ as that of a ‘father of musicke,’ a title which refers as much to his age as to the veneration in which he was held by his contemporaries, a feeling which was expressed by Peacham (Compleat Gentleman, ed. 1622, p. 100) as follows: ‘In Motets, and Musicke of pietie and deuotion, as well for the honour of our Nation, as the merit of the Man, I preferre aboue all other our Phœnix, M. William Byrd, whom in that kind, I know not whether any may equall. ”

“ It was in the year of the Spanish Armada, 1588, that William Byrd published “Psalms, Sonnets, and Songs of Sadness and Piety,” the first Elizabethan song-book of importance. Few biographical particulars concerning Byrd have come down. As he was senior chorister of St. Paul’s in 1554, he is conjectured to have been born about 1538. From 1563 to 1569 he was organist of Lincoln Cathedral. He and Tallis were granted a patent, which must have proved fairly lucrative, for the printing of music and the vending of music-paper. In later life he appears to have become a convert to Romanism. ”

“ Both the Byrds were looking interested, Stefan unreservedly, Mary with a pucker of doubt.
“Now, don't begin about Elliston,” exclaimed Constance, forestalling objections. “We've heaps of room, but it would spoil your fun to bring him. I want you to get a trained nurse for the week—finest thing in the world to take a holiday from maternity once in a while.” She turned to Stefan as a sure ally. “Don't you agree, Mr. Byrd?”
“Emphatically,” beamed he, seizing her hand and kissing it. “A glorious idea! Away with domesticity! A real breath of freedom, eh, Mary?” ”

“ On the 22nd of February 1569 he was sworn in as a member of the Chapel Royal, but he does not seem to have left Lincoln immediately. In the Chapel Royal he shared with Tallis the honorary post of organist, and on the 22nd of January 1575 the two composers obtained a licence for twenty-one years from Elizabeth to print music and music-paper, a monopoly which does not seem to have been at all remunerative. In 1575 Byrd and Tallis published a collection of Latin motets for five and six voices, printed by Thomas Vautrollier. In 1578 Byrd and his family were living at Harlington, Middlesex. ”

“ That jolly, plump laugh of Mamie Sue's is going to save some kind of a serious situation yet, friend leather Louise.
If you are the kind of person that has dumb love for your friends, you see more about them than folks who can express themselves on the sacred subject. That lunch party with those five jolly girls out in the side yard of the Byrd Academy gave me a funny, uneasy feeling, and I now know the reason. Roxanne Byrd brought one small apple, two very thin biscuits, and some cracked hickory nuts. ”

“ Byrd has been made known for his “happy proficiency in polite and varied learning.” He was not peculiar, however, among the gentlemen of his generation for a style which shows an acquaintance with what is recognized as literature. Most of the people who possessed inherited wealth and established position were able to spell correctly, and they obeyed the laws of English grammar. ”

“ And then, when it was drawn so tight that it did not seem possible to endure any more, Johnny Byrd appeared at Ri-Ri's side, conscious-eyed and boyishly embarrassed, but managing an offhand smile.
[Pg 110] "And is this the very first mountain you've ever climbed?" he demanded banteringly.
Gladness rushed back into the girl. She raised a face that sparkled.
"The very first," she affirmed, very much out of breath. "That is, upon the feet. In Italy we go up by diligence and there is always a hotel at the top for tea."
"We'll have a little old bonfire at the top for tea. . . . ”

“ From the title one would gather that Byrd’s first English collection was mainly of a sacred character, but in an epistle to the reader he hastens to set us right on that point:—“Benign reader, here is offered unto thy courteous acceptance music of sundry sorts, and to content divers humours. If thou be disposed to pray, here are psalms; if to be merry, here are sonnets.” There is, indeed, fare for all comers; and a reader has only himself to blame if he goes away dissatisfied. ”

“ Miss Byrd, however, either did not feel sentimental or preferred to take another way to show it. “Well, Walter,” she began, “I suppose I ought to ask about everybody and then you ought to ask about everybody and by the time we have learned [Pg 97] all about everybody, we should be at the embassy saying good-night, without either of us knowing anything we really wanted to know. So suppose we take everybody’s health for granted and talk of things we really care about.”
Topham started. This girl was not the Lillian Byrd he had known. ”