Diggle

“ In 1879 he was elected for the Marylebone division to the London school board, on which he remained until 1897, being chairman from 1885 till 1894. Diggle was an active member of many committees for the betterment of the conditions of the working classes, and published Pleas for Better Administration upon the London School Board (1881 and 1885) . ”

“ Her name is fragrant in the North, sir, save where ostlers gather at the tavern and pass gossip on for gaping yokels."
"Countered, you dandy!" laughed Digby's neighbour. "Grooms in Oxford and grooms in the North—hey, where's the difference?"
"We shall prove it, sir, at dawn to-morrow," said Digby, his hand slipping to his sword-hilt.
"Oh, content. I always liked to slit a lie in two, and see the two halves writhe and quiver."
The Squire of Nappa, looking at these two, guessed where the danger of the King's cause lay. Men see clearly when heart and soul and purpose are as one. ”

“ IN WHICH DAN PARTS WITH OLD FRIENDS AND PREPARES TO CLAIM A REWARD “Never, I’ll warrant you, had the greatest of woods resounded with so strange a commotion,” continued Diggeldy Dan, as he again took up the thread of his story. “Never, I’ll make bold to surmise, had so singular a carry-all with such a gayly dressed passenger boomed through the quiet of its sunset hour. For what could have proved more of a surprise to those peaceful surroundings than the approach of an elephant most as big as a house, coming onward with strides as wide as a wall, and a clown clinging fast to one foot! ”

“ Doctors always ordered people holidays. Rosslyn had done it himself repeatedly, especially when at a loss. He saw now how absurd it was and how ironically his patients must have smiled to themselves.
He went slowly. It had been a great strain. Now it was over. Of course he had known. At the bottom of their hearts every one had known. She herself had been the least self-deceiving of any of them. He remembered the compassionate, enigmatic smile with which she had met his cheerful protestations and Digby's incessant plan making.
Poor Digby! ”

“ Jingle’s face gradually relaxed; and something distantly resembling a wink quivered for an instant in his left eye.
‘Very good, very good,’ said the little man, observing the impression he had made. ‘Now, the fact is, that beyond a few hundreds, the lady has little or nothing till the death of her mother—fine old lady, my dear Sir.’
‘Old,’ said Mr. Jingle briefly but emphatically.
‘Why, yes,’ said the attorney, with a slight cough. ‘You are right, my dear Sir, she is rather old. She comes of an old family though, my dear Sir; old in every sense of the word. ”

“ The garden made a fitting background. Digby couldn't help being proud of it. The sunshine and the blue sky, paling to twilight, made the prettily dressed women look like living flowers, and the men their sombre, careful gardeners. Claire sat in the midst of them. She was radiant. Wherever he went Digby seemed to see her. ”

“ Now listen to me with both your funny white ears and with all your two twinkling eyes. For this is the message from Too-Bo-Tan, to all the animals of Spangleland: Beginning on the morrow and on every day ever after, there is to come a wee little hour in the twilight when all the monkeys, and lions, and tigers, and things are to be let out of their cages, allowed to dance and to play and do as they will.”
“But, oh, Pretty Lady, that will not do at all,” burst in Diggeldy Dan. “Their cages are locked, there’s no hour to spare, and—and maybe they’d eat folks up!” ”

“ Digby wrapped up in the child; return home; mysterious life for two years; child patient, thoughtful, loving; has learned to work; manages for father; often [Pg 546] supports him; constitution rapidly breaking; thought of what will become of this child—worst disease of all. Poor Digby!—Never did a base, cruel, unkind thing in his life; and here he is, walking down the lane from Colonel Pompley's house! Now, if Digby had but learned a little of the world's cunning, I think he would have succeeded even with Colonel Pompley. ”

“ The doors of Mr Diggs' tommy-shop opened. The rush was like the advance into the pit of a theatre when the drama existed; pushing, squeezing, fighting, tearing, shrieking. On a high seat, guarded by rails from all contact, sate Mr Diggs senior, with a bland smile on his sanctified countenance, a pen behind his ear, and recommending his constrained customers in honeyed tones to be patient and orderly. Behind the substantial counter which was an impregnable fortification, was his popular son, Master Joseph ”

“ Jingle skipped playfully up to the spinster aunt, imprinted a chaste kiss upon her lips, and danced out of the room.
‘Dear man!’ said the spinster, as the door closed after him.
‘Rum old girl,’ said Mr. Jingle, as he walked down the passage.
It is painful to reflect upon the perfidy of our species; and we will not, therefore, pursue the thread of Mr. Jingle’s meditations, as he wended his way to Doctors’ Commons. ”

“ Needless to say, Diggeldy Dan was the clown, while Lion—wearing an old silk hat that Seal sometimes juggled in the real circus, and armed with a whip that Puma had brought from the great tent beyond—played ringmaster. ”

“ I was much better off, too, at the diggings than I had been in California, for I was now one of the ruling faction; and, though things were bad enough in some respects, people were generally civilised and humane, compared to gold-diggers I had met on the other side of the globe. My luck, however, was much the same. All I could do was to keep body and soul together, till at last I had to come to the conclusion that I was not cut out for a gold-digger. On my way up to the diggings, I had rested at a station owned by an old gentleman, who seemed to take an interest in me. ”

“ The airs I have given myself, and the freedom I have taken, have been of service both to myself and Edith--to her in many ways, and to myself in keeping from me all serious addresses from men I could not love.--Yours is the first proposal I have ever had, Digby; so do not let what my uncle has said, make you believe that you have conquered a queen of hearts, who has set all others at defiance."
"No gentleman was ever refused by a lady," answered Digby, laying a strong emphasis on each noun-substantive.
"So, then, you were quite sure, before you said a word!" cried Zara, laughing. ”

“ Now, look here, you throw me down those ten big apples, one by one, so that I can catch them, and I'll let you go out by the Apple Door that no one but me has the key of.'
'Why don't you pick them yourself?' Diggory asked.
'I'm too old; you know very well that old men don't climb trees. ”

“ You must not be so talkative, Diggory. You must be all attention to the guests. You must hear us talk, and not think of talking; you must see us drink, and not think of drinking; you must see us eat, and not think of eating.
Dig. By the laws, your worship, that's parfectly unpossible. Whenever Diggory sees yeating going forward, ecod, he's always wishing for a mouthful himself. ”

“ The old Earth man is to be patched to poor Tiggle, instead of Ghip-Ghisizzle, who has in some way managed to escape from the Room of the Great Knife—no one knows how but Tiggle, and Tiggle won't tell. ”

“ If not, you must tell your father not to wait for me, as I was suddenly called away on business."
"But how shall I know the result of your expedition?" demanded Zara; "we shall be surrounded, I fear, by watchful eyes."
"We must trust to fortune and our own efforts to afford us some means of communication," replied Digby. "But remember, dearest lady, that for this great object, you have promised to cast away all reserve. For the time, at least, you must look upon Edward Digby as a brother, and treat him as such." ”

“ Digby and her husband, Mijuel of the Mizrab, a very well bred and agreeable man, who has given us a great deal of valuable advice about our journey. They possess a charming house outside the town, surrounded by trees and gardens, and standing in its own garden with narrow streams of running water and paths with borders full of old fashioned English flowers—wall-flowers especially. There are birds and beasts too; pigeons and turtle doves flutter about among the trees, and a pelican sits by the fountain in the middle of the courtyard guarded by a fierce watch-dog. ”

“ Marshall had looked out and written all his down and poor Digby had actually forgotten them before he had been able to find one of them out.
“The moon moves, or is moved, round the earth,” said Marshall, quietly.
“Now you see, Digby, the advantage of being able to turn over the leaves of a dictionary rapidly,” said Mr Nugent. “Of two people with equal talents, the one who possesses that simple mechanical power to the greatest perfection will beat the other, in as far as he will gain the information for which he is seeking in so much less time. ”

“ The very next month, Dig's father gave up the notion of making him into a gentleman,—for the bobbin-net speculation waned,—and there was an end to making an immense fortune in a twinkling. He embarked the little capital he had gained in the more staple manufacture of the town, took Diggory into the trade, and associating with plain, sensible men, and cultivating knowledge in his leisure hours, Diggory Lawson was happier every day, and was no longer "the lad who felt like a fish out of water." ”

“ A DIGGER'S CHRISTMAS It was on the Tinpot Gully diggings, now known to fame by a far more euphonious title, that early in the fifties I spent my first Christmas in Australia. There were all sorts and conditions of men there, men from every nation and every class. Englishmen and Italians, Russians and Portuguese, Persians, Chinamen, and negroes, sons of peers and London pickpockets, all rubbed shoulders on the Tinpot Gully diggings. ”

“ He was a tall, thin, wiry man, with a bald forehead, and grey hair, and a keen intelligent countenance. Digby was very fond of him, and he in return doted on the young master, and would have gone through fire and water to serve him. He had already contrived to instruct Digby in many of the secrets of his science, and as he used to say, “It was a pleasure to teach Master Digby, he took to it so kindly, and was afraid of nothing. He’d grapple with a weasel, or a snake, or a pike, and not cry out for help, when most other young ’uns would a been running screaming away from them. ”

“ But all men are not so content as thou, said the peddler. They are ill-fed, they must work without stint. Wilt not thou join hand to help them that suffer?
Yea, brother, Diggon answered him; yea! But then he knit his brows, and, If all we go up to London to reason with nobilité, who 'll take care o' the sheep?
The peddler sat silent, abashed; till on a sudden Diggon threw his head back and laughed, with Who but the Good Shepherd!—Diggon 's a fool!
So the days passed, and the peddler waited for Calote. She, meanwhile, was taken into favour at the manor-house. ”

“ Long before Vargu—”
“The Watch! The Watch! The Petal Watch!” broke in Diggeldy Dan. “A thousand pardons, Pretty Lady, but it’s almost closed!”
“So it is,” cried she, jumping to her feet. “We’ve not a moment to lose.
“Back to your places, every one of you,” she added, as she bounded to her seat on the White-White Horse, “until half after twilight to-morrow, when I’ll come to tell you the rest.” ”

“ The under-masters looked on with stern countenances and lowering brows; while old Ketch never had had such a disappointment in all his life (the one grand disappointment of last night excepted) as he was feeling now, at the deferred flogging.
Diggs, the boat-house keeper, was a widower, with one child, a girl of ten years old. His mother lived with him—an aged woman, confined to her bed, of late, with rheumatic fever, from which she was slowly recovering. On the previous night Diggs was out, and the girl had been sent on an errand, Mrs. Diggs being left in the house alone. ”

“ Of course, you mean—”
“To write our message, tie it to the balloons and get the east wind to carry it over the hill to the place where Giraffe saw the sun go down,” finished Monkey.
And then the excitement that followed! 40The writing of the message fell to Diggeldy Dan and, after no end of changes—all, of course, for the better—there appeared these words written on a corner that had been torn from the great circus poster:
“Dear Pretty Lady with the Blue-Blue Eyes,
At Sunset House, just over the hill: “We all want you to visit us. We all promise to be very quiet. ”

“ There were some doubtful characters among the diggers, but they were as a general rule a fine stamp of men, slow to form friendship, but this once made, was loyally given and maintained when fortune smiled, and not withheld when she frowned, on one or other. The digger of the past was not often known to desert or turn down the man or woman to whom he once gave his friendship. ”

“ My name is Digby, a poor major in his Majesty's ---- regiment of Dragoons, to whom the two serious misfortunes have happened of being born an eldest son, and having a baronetcy thrust upon him."
"Couldn't be worse--couldn't be worse!" replied the old gentleman, laughing. "And so you are Sir Edward Digby! Oh yes. I can tell you, you are expected, and have been so these three weeks. The whole matter's laid out for you in every house in the country. You are to marry every unmarried woman in the hundred. ”

“ In those days the different animals mingled not at all, each being content to keep solely to the company of his very own kind. Now, one day, this monkey named Vargu was seated in the fork of a tree, quite lost in deep thought, when a leopard trotted by underneath. Spying the leopard—”
“Pretty Lady, Pretty Lady,” Diggeldy Dan interrupted.
“Dan!” cried Lion.
“But the Watch, the Petal Watch—it’s closing!” answered the clown in despair. ”