Conway

“ There was in Lady Conway much kindness and good-humour, always ready to find satisfaction in what was inevitable, and willing to see all at ease and happy around her—a quality which she shared with Louis, and which rendered her as warm and even caressing to 'our dear James' as if he had been the most welcome suitor in the world; and she often sincerely congratulated herself on the acquisition of a sensible gentleman to consult on business, and so excellent a brother for Walter. ”

“ Mister Shandon! Huh!
But they took their cue from Conway's sharp words and did not wait for breakfast to get ready for the day's work. Big Bill was the first in the corral but the others came trooping after him, roping their horses, saddling and bringing them to the bunk house door to be mounted swiftly as soon as the morning meal could be finished. And, as usual little Andy Jennings saddled an extra horse, a graceful, cat-footed mare, cream coloured, with white mane and tail, for Garth Conway. ”

“ Conway, always a silent boy, could think of nothing to say. He felt towards this stranger who, twenty-four hours ago, had been nothing but a name to him, as he might feel towards a burglar who had just stolen his greatest treasure, and who yet had to be treated with more than mere politeness because he now belonged to the family—a combination of feelings which did not tend towards speech. ”

“ Conway's shoulder Pearl could catch a glimpse of the piazza, and beyond that the faultless blue rim of the horizon; and as she talked she could hear close by the thud and hiss as a wave went up the beach. She longed to be in the water.
"Oh, yes, go if you want to," said Mrs. Conway. She was not exactly cordial. Gentle, friendly people like Edna Conway always go too far when they try to be cold; they have no experience in the rôle. "But try not to keep them waiting too long. My children hate to be kept waiting." ”

“ A small group of people bundled in heavy fur coats stood and chatted by the open doors of the hangar.
“I almost wish they’d come down,” said George Conway. “They must be half-dead for want of sleep, and they’ve already beaten the world’s record by hours. It must be a terrific strain, especially for Dorothy.”
“Oh,” cried Betty Mayo. “Isn’t she marvelous?—and Bill, too!”
“They’re a pair of young idiots!” growled old Mr. Lewis, whose false teeth were chattering. “But I must admit they’re first class sportsmen to stay up all this time for a friend!” ”

“ Conway's ears, who is near the window (exactly what Lulu wishes him to do) . Long ago he has read, like an open page, the pure, adoring heart of this girl—no vanity in him, for it is so palpable to all; to a certain degree he loves her, admires her [Pg 94] fresh, young beauty, her sunny ways; means certainly some day to make her his wife; and something under her surface gayety now that reveals a wistful, unsatisfied yearning touches him to greater tenderness than he has ever felt for her before. ”

“ In an age wherein honesty could boast few genuine martyrs, Conway was certainly the most distinguished. He never ceased to attest his attachment to virtue, at the risk of a most precarious fortune; and he had one merit that added to the beauty of his character, and in which he was singular, that he never mixed party or faction with his line of conduct.65 The Duke of Richmond, Sir George Saville, and Lord John Cavendish, were, undoubtedly, of as unblemished virtue as Conway ”

“ Conway turned away and with slow, heavy tread left the private office and walked toward his desk. When he reached it his emotions overcame him completely, and he laid his head down upon his ledger, tears falling like rain down his face.
In an instant half a dozen of his fellow bookkeepers were about him, frightened beyond words at this unusual scene and inquiring what could be the matter.
For a moment the old cashier hesitated, then he resolved to break the truth to them; they would soon find it out for themselves ”

“ On the low, white bed that occupies the center of the apartment is the recumbent figure of a man, in whose handsome features, even though his eyes are closed in a death-like sleep, we recognize Bruce Conway. He looks like marble as he lies there, his black hair flowing back from his broad, white brow, his closed eyes encircled with purplish rings, the dark mustache slightly shading his mouth, only revealing more plainly the deathly pallor and suffering of the lips.
Standing by the side of the bed, Captain Clendenon looks down at him with infinite pity and tenderness in his dark-gray orbs. ”

“ Madam Conway, stiff and straight and cold as ever, moves with the same measured tread through her gloomy rooms, which are not as noiseless now as they were wont to be, for girlhood—joyous, merry girlhood—has a home in those dark rooms, and their silence is broken by the sound of other feet, not moving stealthily and slow, as if following in a funeral train, but dancing down the stairs, tripping through the halls, skipping across the floor, and bounding over the grass, they go, never tiring, never ceasing, till the birds and the sun have gone to rest. ”

“ Conway was personally one of the most popular men of his day. He was handsome, conciliatory and agreeable, and a man of refined taste and untarnished honour. As a soldier he was a dashing officer, but a poor general. ”

“ There was about the man, emanating apparently from his physical body something oddly like a materialised aura, bespeaking an aggressive character, a strong, dominant personality. Conway, alone with Leland, was a school boy in the presence of his master. Hume, ignoring Garth, challenged that superiority which Conway's weaker nature acknowledged unconsciously. The look of his eye, the very carriage of his handsome head, invited opposition, questioned an authority other than his own. A big, strong man physically his manner gave the impression that he was a big, strong man intellectually. ”

“ Few people of Europe indulge in such hearty bursts of enthusiasm as our own, and there is no more genuine holiday than that when they can honor one who has conferred credit upon his nation. Conway, whose name but a short time back was unknown, had now become a celebrity, and every paragraph about him was read with the liveliest interest. ”

“ Conway smiled her brightest smile on her idol.
"Let me see," glancing at her watch: "only ten o'clock. You can be off for your morning cigar and stroll on the avenue—when you come back we will have decided."
He rose, handsome, smiling, debonaire, but desperately ennuied, and glad, if truth must be told, to get away. Small talk was a bore to him just then, in his perturbed mood. He picked up Lulu's embroidered handkerchief that she had carelessly let fall to the floor, and presenting it with a jaunty "by-by," went his way followed by their admiring eyes. He was his aunt's acknowledged idol ”

“ Conway said, "after all it survived in Washington. Still you are not looking over strong now. Your drive in the warm sun has wearied you. Won't you go up to your old room and lie down to rest?"
"No, thank you; I am feeling very well;" and Lulu, seeing the rapid flutter of Grace's fan, knew she was getting excited and nervous, and interposed with some trifling remark that diverted the attention of their amiable hostess, who remembered then to ask when Captain Clendenon had written, and how he was progressing in his mission abroad. ”

“ Most Englishmen would have been embarrassed by this frank and public bestowal of a virgin affection; but Conway merely laughed.
‘The plaything of an hour,’ he said, shaking his head—‘that’s all we are! In a few months your own countrymen will be in uniform; and Colonel Winter and I will be thrown aside like broken toys—broken tin soldiers! ”

“ Lady Conway had taken a cottage in the Isle of Wight, where Walter, having found the Christmas holidays very dull, and shown that he could get into mischief as well without Delaford as with him, she sent him off in a sort of honourable captivity to James and Isabel, expecting that he would find it a great punishment. Instead of this, the change from luxury to their hard life seemed to him a sort of pic-nic. He enjoyed the 'fun' of the waiting on themselves, had the freedom of Ormersfield park for sport; and at home, his sister, whom he had always loved and respected more than any one else. ”

“ A few days later I met Mr Conway at Breuil, and I asked him what he meant in this case by the term, ‘following the arête.’ His interpretation, which is rather an elastic one, is this: ‘Climb over the pinnacles if it is convenient to do so. If not convenient, shirk them by passing below their western bases.’ This latter method was most probably impracticable on the occasion of our ascent, which fully accounts for the great difference between Mr Conway’s ‘times’ and our own, as we certainly climbed at least as quickly as an average party on the Dent Blanche during the whole of our ascent. ”

“ And to resume: until we fail with the Viscount, we have no need of the soldier. All that we have to think of as regards Conway is, that he falls into no hands but our own, that he should never learn anything of his claim, nor be within reach of such information till the hour when we ourselves think fit to make it known to him—”
“He oughtn't to keep company with that daughter of Paul Kellett, then,” broke in Driscoll. “There's not a family history in the kingdom she hasn't by heart.” ”

“ But be this as it may, it is past doubt that General Conway is a man of excellent understanding, quick and penetrating, that he has seen much service, has read a great deal, and digested well what he has read. It is not less certain that he embarked with the warmest zeal for the great American cause, and it has never been insinuated, unless by those who have the talent of confounding causes, that his zeal has diminished. ”

“ I have the warmest love for my country and for every good Frenchman; their success fills my heart with joy; but, sir, besides, Conway is an Irishman, I want countrymen, who deserve, in every point, to do honour to their country. ”

“ To Bruce Conway the months of slow and tardy convalescence seemed like dead weights on his impatient, restless soul; to Grace Winans, in her splendid but strangely silent home, where but few guests were received, and which she rarely left, time passed as it did to Mariana in the Moated Grange. But for all that, the summer passed like a painful dream, and the "melancholy days" had come; "time does not stop for tears."
Mrs. Conway had prevailed on Bruce to compromise his intention of going abroad again by spending the winter with her amid the gayeties of Washington—the "Paris of America." ”

“ Jackman was not that man. What was there in that man that made the austere, keen-eyed commander witness a character in his beauty invisible to the girl? Conway had mixed with men, and knew human nature. Of one dark side of man's character or spirit he could claim a particular knowledge. ”

“ That's right, Conway, there is nothing like laying in a stock of creature comforts when you have the chance. Look here, landlord, get an empty bottle and put half the whisky in, and then fill them both up with water. Cut that loaf of bread in halves; in that way we can get it in our pockets. That's right; now do the same with the cheese. You and I may not be together, Conway, so it's just as well to divide the commissariat; to say nothing of the convenience of carriage. Now, have you got the handcuffs? That's right, we will be off at once. ”

“ Conway works too incessantly—that is, does not like well enough the indispensable supplement of close mental work—plenty of air & exercise, &c.,—hates walking, & indeed it is not to be wondered at in great, smoky London (I shall be fond enough & proud enough of it too when I am over the Atlantic) . Unless one has a real passion for open air & the sense of sky overhead, like me. I hear Mr. Conway is coming to America for six months in October.
Feb. 25—I kept my letter till to-day that I might have the happiness of speaking to you on my birthday. ”

“ In December 1822 the manager of the Bath theatre, going to Clifton to engage Conway, obtained the answer that he would prefer breaking stones on the road to returning to the most brilliant engagement. At the close of 1823 he started for America, and appeared on 12 Jan. 1824 in New York, where he played Coriolanus, Lord Townley, Beverley, Petruchio, &c., with complete success. Subsequently he delivered in New York some religious discourses. Early in 1828 he took a passage to Charleston. When the vessel arrived off Charleston bar, Conway threw himself overboard, and was drowned. ”

“ Conway died at Lyons in 1655 [387] , and was succeeded by his son Edward, the third Viscount and first Earl of Conway, born about 1623. He held several important military appointments, and was for two years, 1681–3, secretary of state for the north department. He was the author of a work entitled Opuscula Philosophica. He was married three times, his first wife being Anne, the daughter of Sir Henry Finch. Lady Conway was a most accomplished woman, her chief study being metaphysical science, which she carried on with the utmost assiduity in spite of tormenting headaches which never left her. ”

“ Dorothy turned toward George.
“Stoker Conway—I like that name, ‘Stoker.’ How did you get it?”
George grinned. “I was a grubby little mutt—my first term at Lawrenceville. Somebody pasted the name on me, and it stuck.”
“Three celebrities at one table,” sighed Terry. “I knew we had two with us to-night—but a third! It’s just too much. Betty, you and I have just got to do something to make ourselves famous. There’s practically no hope for me, I admit, but you will probably become a movie queen, when you’re old enough—ash-gold hair and a baby doll face are all the rage on the screen!” ”