David Teniers

“ He must be the man who had notified the Secretary of the treason, Tenney started to fold up the list, his eye running idly down the columns of names as he did so. As though printed in letters of flame, he saw the name, Henry Davis. The camera eye begets the photographic brain. He knew the name, and the face that the name belonged to stood before his mental eyes. Yet Tenney did not start, gave no sign of emotion. He merely folded the paper neatly and handed it to the chief clerk who had procured it for him with a languid thanks. ”

“ There had been wistaria in Aiken. There was snow in New York. There was a hurricane in Chicago. But in the smoker bound West there was a fine old gentleman in a blue-serge suit and white spats who took a fancy to David, just when David had about come to the conclusion that nothing in the world looked friendly except suicide.
If David had learned nothing else from Miss Tennant, he had learned to speak the truth. "Any employer that I am ever to have," he resolved, "shall know all that there is to be known about me. ”

“ Terence has the art of making us feel interested in the favour of almost all his characters: they insensibly gain ground in our good opinion: even this Davus, who certainly has a spice of the rogue about him, creates a warm interest in his favour by his fidelity to Pamphilus; and his generosity in risking his own safety to serve him: he braves the threats of Simo, when, by assisting him, and betraying Pamphilus, he must have secured the old man’s favour, and consequently great advantages to himself. But very few of the worst characters in Terence’s plays seem to us to be wholly unamiable. ”

“ He stepped into the sleigh and, drawing the robe about him, drove off, the horse answering buoyantly. Tira sat, the stillest thing out of a wood where stalking danger lurks, her eyes on her sewing. Tenney was staring at her; she knew it, and could not raise her lids. Often she failed to meet his glance because she so shrank, not from his conviction of her guilt, but the fear of seeing what she must remember in blank night watches, to shudder over. For things were different at night, things you could bear quite well by day. Now he spoke, with a restrained certainty she trembled at. ”

“ BUT Tenney did not mail the plans to Itchi Marcy. Tenney was not above changing his mind. In a corner of a quiet café to which he repaired after leaving the Chief's office, Tenney thought.
Tenney was neither a faker nor a bluffer. His confidence when he left the Secretary had not been assumed. He had his own reasons for confidence.
"It's half the battle," he used to say. "If I'm dead sure that I'm going to get what I'm after, I don't have time to think about the possibility of losing out, and if I don't think about losing, well—I don't lose." ”

“ I can always depend on you. You're one man I can trust to do a job right."
Jeff Morrow grinned. "Thanks, Mr. Tanner. Working for you and Mr. Berendt is more than a job for me. You're two of the swellest guys I ever met."
Tanner was glad the shadows of night hid the grimace on his face. He slapped Morrow friendily on the shoulder. "Speaking of Miles, reminds me. He's having a private little party at his place tonight. To celebrate his engagement to Carol Grant. Said he'd like to have you drop around for a drink. Think you can make it?" ”

“ She was still with Raven in the hut, trying to speak his language, follow out his thought for her. She gave a little quick rush across the room and, to Tenney's overwhelming surprise, her hands were on his shoulders, her face so close to his that her sweet breath fanned him. He had never seen her so. She had to be pursued, coaxed, tired out with persuasion before she would even accept the warmth he too often had for her.
"Isr'el," she said, "Isr'el Tenney! if you ever ag'in, so long as you live, think wrong o' that baby there, you'll be the wickedest man on God's earth." ”

“ and therefore, as thinketh the great bishop Hall, 'tis one of the severest imprecations which David ever utter'd against the enemies of the Lord—and, as if he had said, 'I wish them no worse luck than always to be rolling about.'—So much motion, continues he (for he was very corpulent) —is so much unquietness; and so much of rest, by the same analogy, is so much of heaven. ”

“ Tenney, again contemplating his joined finger-tips. “But it isn’t of so much importance compared with some other things. There’s bigger game afoot than partnerships in hardware stores.”
Horace gave a little laugh of mingled irritation and curiosity. “What the devil are you driving at, Tenney?” he said, and swung his chair once more to face his visitor. ”

“ Sometimes the distracted young man thought he caught glimpses of a safe middle course. In these sanguine moments it seemed feasible to give in his adhesion to Tenney’s scheme, and go along with him for a certain time, say until the intentions of the conspirators were revealed. ”

“ Edward FitzGerald, though a contemporary, was not as yet known to Tennyson; but Lord Houghton seems to have been fully justified in saying that the Cambridge of those days could boast a body of young men such as had been rarely surpassed in promise. Chief among them, in Tennyson's opinion, and in that of many good judges, was Arthur Hallam. Whatever might be the dreariness of the lecture-room, a young man of genius could have no reason to complain that his lot was cast in barren places. Tennyson in later years always looked back with affection to those 'dawn-golden times' ”

“ Some years before, he had paid a passing visit at Woodbridge to “the lonely philosopher, a man of humorous [Pg 376] melancholy mark, with his gray floating locks, sitting among his doves.... We fell at once into the old humour, as if we had been parted twenty days instead of so many years.” It is a rarity in modern life that two such men as Tennyson and FitzGerald, whose mutual friendship was never shaken, should have met but once in some twenty-five years, although divided by no more space than could be traversed by a three hours’ railway journey. ”

“ Tenney stretched out his hands. He was looking at them, not at Raven.
"I can't git it out o' my head," he continued, in a broken whisper, "there's suthin' on 'em. You don't see nothin', do you? They look to me——"
There he stopped, and Raven was glad he did not venture the word. What had Raven to say to him? There seemed not to be anything in the language of man, to say. But Tenney came alive. He was shaking with a great eagerness.
"I tell you," he said, "a man don't know what to do. ”

“ It may be that the claim of Tennyson to popular sovereignty will, in the end, rest chiefly on the pleasure which he gave to many thousands of his fellow-countrymen, a pleasure to be renewed and found again in English scenes, and in thoughts which coloured grey lives and warmed cold hearts, which shed the ray of faith on those who could accept no creeds and who yet yearned for some hope of an after-life to cheer their declining days. ”

“ Terence said, as seriously as O'Grady himself; "and it is unfortunate that you are such an abstemious man, or, as you say, its effects might have been corrected."
"It's me opinion, Terence, my boy, that you are a humbug."
"Then, Captain O'Grady, it is clear that evil communications must have corrupted my good manners."
"It must have been in your infancy then, Terence, for divil a bit of manners good or bad have I ever seen in you; you have not even the good manners to take a glass of the cratur when you are asked."
"That is true enough," Terence laughed. ”

“ Tenney," said Nan, "I don't care a scrap whether I'm saved or not, if I can make this world swing a little easier on its hinges." That seemed to her a figure not markedly vivid, and she continued. "It needs a sight of oiling. Don't you see it does? O, Mr. Tenney, think of the poor little boy that's got to live along"—the one phrase still seemed to her the best—"not right, and grow to be a man, and you may die and leave him, and his mother may die. ”

“ On that occasion Mr Balfour's description of Tenniel as “a great artist and a great gentleman” was applauded by the press of the whole country.
The main quality of Sir John Tenniel's work is accuracy of drawing, precision of touch, grace and dignity of conception, and—so far as such things can be compatible—geniality of satire. Tenniel raised the political cartoon into a classic composition, from which a sense of nobility is rarely absent. ”

“ The Poet was, of course, its centre, and that remarkable woman, Mrs. Cameron, was stage-manager of what was for us young people a great drama. For Tennyson was still writing the “Idylls of the King,” which had so greatly moved the whole country, and we felt that we were in the making of history. There were many in Freshwater who were keenly alive to their privilege. Even among the permanent residents in the neighbourhood there were not a few who were worthy of remark, and Farringford was very hospitable and often added to their number some of the most interesting people in England. ”

“ He walked away, swinging his dinner pail, down across the meadow to the lower woods, and Raven, after the fringe of birches had closed upon him, hurried off to the hut. He did not expect to find her. The pail in Tenney's hand was sufficient evidence, even if the man's going to his work were not. Tenney would never have abandoned his search or his waiting for her, and if he had, he would not have delayed to pack a dinner pail. The hut was empty of human life, but the bricks were warm. She could not have left until the early morning. Mechanically he piled kindling near the hearth. ”

“ Grandmother Tenney's black blanket shawl was in the parlor chest of drawers, that and her hood, disfiguring ancientry of dress. She ran into the parlor, snatched them out, tied on the black knitted hood and, not unfolding the shawl, wrapped it about her shoulders. The baby was in his cradle, and she gave him one glance. If he waked, he would cry. Let him cry. But she did lock the door behind her, and put the key on the sill, a place Tenney would know. Half way down the path, she went back, took the key again and dropped it into her apron pocket. ”

“ You're a mighty mean man, Tenney. A mean cuss, that's what you are."
Tenney, in the surprise and mortification of this, barked out at him:
"Don't ye call me a cuss. I'm a professin' Christian."
"Stuff!" said Raven. "That's all talk. I wonder a man of your sense shouldn't see how ridiculous it is. You're not a Christian. When you stand up in meeting and testify, you're simply a hypocrite. No, I don't call you a Christian. I call you a scamp, on the way to being locked up."
Tenney's mind leaped back a space. ”

“ While backward, still backward, falls Tenny beside.
We are nearing the turn, the first quarter is past—
’Twixt leader and chaser the daylight is cast.
The distance elongates, still Tenny sweeps on,
As graceful and free-limbed and swift as a fawn;
His awkwardness vanished, his muscles all strained—
A noble opponent, well born and well trained.
I glanced o’er my shoulder, ha! Tenny, the cost
Of that one’s second flagging, will be—the race lost.
One second’s weak yielding of courage and strength,
And the daylight between us has doubled its length. ”

“ He was a man of science, the friend of Hunter and of Cavendish, an anatomist and natural philosopher. The fruits of Tenner's discovery are spread over the whole earth. This humble village doctor has saved more lives than the most glorious conqueror destroyed, but his name is little honored, and the only monument to his memory has been banished from association with vulgar kings and skillful homicides to an obscure corner of the great city where his only homage is the health and beauty of the children who play around his statue. ”

“ Your business will be to say ditto to whatever me and Wendover say.”
A full minute’s pause ensued, during which Mr. Tenney gravely watched Horace sip what remained of his drink.
“Well, what shall it be? Do you go in with us?” he asked, at last.
“I’d better think it over,” said Horace. “Give me, say, till Monday—that’s five days. And of course, if I do say yes, it will be understood that I am not to be bound to do anything of a shady character.”
“Certainly; but you needn’t worry about that,” answered Tenney. “Everything will be as straight as a die. ”

“ This was a far less lucid explanation than Horace had looked for. Tenney had been so anxious for a confidential talk, and had hinted of such dazzling secrets, that this was a distinct disappointment.
“What did you mean by saying that I had the whole game in my hands?” he demanded, not dissembling his annoyance. “Thus far, you haven’t even dealt me any cards!”
Mr. Tenney lay back in his chair again, and surveyed Horace over his finger-tips. “There is to be a game, young man, and you’ve been put in a position to play in it when the time comes. ”

“ You are not the man to do things for nothing. What you haven’t told me is what there is in this affair for you.”
Mr. Tenney seemed complimented by this tribute to his commercial sense and single-mindedness. “No, I haven’t told you,” he said, buttoning his coat. “That’ll come in due time. All you’ve got to do meanwhile is to keep still, and to take the thing when it comes to you. Let me know at once, and say nothing to any living soul—least of all Tracy—until you’ve talked with me. ”

“ The Waring contract is half mine. I'll be damned if he steals the business from me too!"
Miles was on his feet. "I'm warning you, Bert. Stop that kind of talk. You don't know what you're saying."
"I know what I'm saying, and even more, I know what I'm going to do. I'm taking the Viking to Deimos, and once I sign with Waring you can consider our partnership ended. You can have the Earth operation all to your goddamned self. I'll start up with the Deimos deal."
Tanner leaned forward and scooped up the contracts from the desk as Carol watched him in stunned concern. ”