Doramin

“ In the afternoon she would sit in a very roomy arm-chair, opposite her husband, gazing steadily through a wide opening in the wall which gave an extensive view of the settlement and the river.
'She invariably tucked up her feet under her, but old Doramin sat squarely, sat imposingly as a mountain sits on a plain. He was only of the nakhoda or merchant class, but the respect shown to him and the dignity of his bearing were very striking. He was the chief of the second power in Patusan. ”

“ To cut off the escape of those who might survive, and to prevent more of them coming up, Dain Waris was ordered by Doramin to take an armed party of Bugis down the river to a certain spot ten miles below Patusan, and there form a camp on the shore and blockade the stream with the canoes. ”

“ Those they leave behind do not know when to look for their return. They go to their own land, to their people, and so this white man too would. . . . I don’t know what induced me to commit myself at this point by a vigorous “No, no.” The whole extent of this indiscretion became apparent when Doramin, turning full upon me his face, whose expression, fixed in rugged deep folds, remained unalterable, like a huge brown mask, said that this was good news indeed, reflectively ”

“ The two parties in Patusan were not sure which one this partisan most desired to plunder. The Rajah intrigued with him feebly. Some of the Bugis settlers, weary with endless insecurity, were half inclined to call him in. The younger spirits amongst them, chaffing, advised to "get Sherif Ali with his wild men and drive the Rajah Allang out of the country." Doramin restrained them with difficulty. He was growing old, and, though his influence had not diminished, the situation was getting beyond him. ”

“ By this time Lavirotte was thoroughly restored to health. Daily he paid a visit to Dora. The course of their true love was running with idyllic smoothness. No suitor could be more tender, enthusiastic, constant-minded than he. Dora's life was one long daydream. Her former solitary life in London now seemed to her like a dreary unreality, forced upon her imagination merely that her present life might stand out in glory against so gray and sad a background. Since Lavirotte left London of old, the place had grown dull and dismal around her. ”

“ Kurd?"
"I never have thought of it as noise," said the good woman simply, "the dear child is making such progress with her music, it is a pleasure to hear her."
"And Dora, where can Dora be? Is she bewitched too? It is time for her to begin her sewing; where can she be? Dora! Dora! Have you gone into the garden again?"
Aunt Ninette's voice was querulous and excited. To be sure, Dora had crept down again to peer through her opening in the hedge, and she was now listening as if enchanted, to Lili's gay music. ”

“ Those hundred, as if Glendy still were here—
Old Glendy, whose thin throat still mastered them.
Yet Daniel saw how Dora, dropping her eyes,
Sat silent, deathly silent; and how Bruce,
Guardian to her, looked only down—
Looked everywhere save at the singer, singing:
Take your Dora by the hand.
There is life within her waist.
And there is woe, unless you stand
And love with bravery is graced.
[34]
So all the world will know her wed,
And all the people call it yours—
The life within her, small and red ”

“ Dora understood her inmost thoughts and experiences, and was able to share everything with her. Paula, who all her life had looked for a friend in vain, found the reality even more lovely than anything she had imagined. Dora was too adorable a being for anyone to just invent. She, like her bosom friend, regretted ever having to go to bed, and hated losing any of the precious time still left.
Rolf's studies in the matter of charades had taken on such a serious character, that he could frequently be seen running up and down the garden paths with hands folded behind his back. ”

“ There was an unlooked-for note of excitement in Dorat's voice and gesture.
“One Summer at Melun—one Summer when I had three happy weeks in Barbizon. There was a time, you know, when I used to think I could paint things!”
“It is fine! It is splendid! And it is yours!” He turned and caught her hands in both of his. “Here is the answer to all your talk. There, in that little frame, lies the end of all your fears. I felt it; I knew it from the first! You are one of us. You are an artist yourself. You are one of the guild; and you have nothing to fear from your own!” ”

“ Ella did not improve, and never since Dora came to Rose Hill had she sat up more than an hour, but lay all day on her bed, while her face grew white almost as the wintry snow, save when a bright red spot burned upon her cheeks, making her, as Dora thought, even more beautiful than she had been in health. Once in the gathering twilight, when they sat together alone, she startled Dora with the question, "Is everybody afraid to die?"
"Mother was not," answered Dora, and Ella continued, "But she was good, and I am not. I have never done a worthy act in all my life. ”

“ She is no more to me than a friend, and possibly not that. Sometimes I fancy she avoids and even dislikes me. I’ve suspected it ever since that fatal fair when she urged me to buy what I could not afford just then. She thought me avaricious, no doubt, a reputation I fear I sustain, at least among the fast young men; but my heavenly Father knows, and some time maybe Dora will. I like to call her Dora here alone. The name is suited to her, brown-eyed, brown-haired Dora. If she were one whit more like Anna, I never could have liked her as I do,—brown-eyed, brown-haired Dora. ”

“ Against two people Edermont had warned her, but he had omitted to specify a third. Out on the lawn, under the cedars, Dora saw the black figure of Joad. It would appear from his parting words to his patron that he knew what had been told to Allen. Dora was on the point of crossing to him, and wringing, if possible, the truth from his reluctant lips, but her instinctive repulsion to the man prevented her from taking him into her confidence. If she wanted help, she must rely on herself or upon Allen. He was her affianced lover, and she felt that she could trust him. ”

“ Dora tore her dress from his grasp in horror. "You know who killed Mr. Edermont!"
"Yes; I will tell the name; I will gain the fortune; I will give it to you. Only consent to be my wife."
"Your wife!" cried Dora, shrinking back with visible repugnance.
"Ah, I know that I am old," said Joad piteously, "but reflect. There is much to be gained by you. I cannot live long; you would soon be my widow. I would leave you all the money; and think how rich you would be!"
"I wouldn't marry you if you offered me millions!" said Dora with contempt. "I love one man only, and him only shall I marry." ”

“ Father and mother had risen and walked up and down the garden, while the children came closer and closer to Dora, each talking very hard. Paula said less than the others, but quietly made her observations. Rolf and the twins stood as near as possible to the little visitor and Hun had actual hold of her, in the fear she might escape him.
"If you crush Dora the very first time she comes, she won't be able to come again," said Jul, who had stretched himself out full length in his chair. "Give her a little room to breathe, please." ”

“ Already, in mid June, high long days
Hovered the world, and change, like ripening fruit,
Hung ever, ever plainer. Yet no man,
No god distinguished more in this green time
Than purposes that crossed; and ever tighter.
In Daniel’s house the woman who was resting—
Daily, in scorn, Berrien spoke the word—
Still did not spare the beautiful dream body
She sent to him by dark, when Dora too
Lived by his side and loved him: standing there
In the shed radiance of one who smiled
And smiled, and burned his reticence away. ”

“ Daniel saw him there, gesticulating,
With his feet spread, as if he meant to spring,
To throttle someone. And Darius blinked.
But music and the distance drowned their words.
And now the tall nurse, bending over Dora,
Whispered to her and Bruce; and the boy, rising,
Reached for a small hand. The singer had said
To take it, and he took it, and pulled up
The girl who still was trying to be free,
To save him.
And the music never stopped.
“Kiss her if you dare!” cried old man Glendy.
And many a dancer did. But neither Bruce
Nor Dora, arm in arm, had present ears. ”

“ That night Dora went up to her little room for the last time, for the next morning she was to move over to the other house. The happy family of children whom she had secretly watched with longing heart, were now to be her brothers and sisters; the lovely garden into which she had gazed with hopeless eyes was henceforth to be her home; she was to have parents who would surround her always with their protecting love. She was to learn what the others learned; yes, to have regular studies with them, as well as music-lessons. Dora's heart was flooded with the thoughts that welled up within her. ”

“ Yes, that is what I am and always shall be; for he really deserves it and Dora too is quite different from what she used to be. Hella says one can see for oneself that love ennobles; up till now she has always thought that to be mere poetical fiction.
May 15th. Father said: I don’t care much about these visits to the Richters as long as that young jackanapes is still there, but Mother can’t very well refuse. We shall wear our green coats and skirts with the white blouses with the little green silk leaves for Dora does not like to wear all white except in summer. ”

“ Outspoken Dora informed us, before the day was much older, that the Longs had asked whether that was her brother, or my young man. So we took them into our confidence, and even borrowed "the trap" for one of the roughest and the sweetest drives that ever we had, through those splashing lanes, dropping Dermot at his lodgings to write his letters, while the harvest moon made a path over the sea, no longer leaden, but full of silvery glittering light. There had something come back into the air which made us feel that life was worth living, after all! ”

“ And only Berrien’s boarder, the gold woman
Who stood so close by Daniel—only that one
Kindled. Then she blazed, and Daniel, blushing,
Knew she had found his thought.
So I have lost her—
This was his thought—have lost her. Then my love
Must die, and no man know it. He was true, [35]
That singer. It is not my life she carries—
Dora, who was mine for that cold minute;
Dora, whom I never can forget.
The eyes of the theater woman burned so fiercely,
Punishing his own, that Daniel shook. ”

“ The words poured from his lips with a string of eager questions which Dorama could only answer with sobs.
"Who do you say this woman is?" demanded Alderbury in some bewilderment.
"She is Dorama, my wife, sir! And see what they have done to her, poor child! Not content with nearly beating the life out of me they have widowed her! the brutes! This is my uncle's doing. I will be even with him. He shall answer for it with his life! I will kill him as he would have killed me; and I will widow his——"
"Gently, Ananda! The Hindu in you dies hard. ”

“ Hun, who had taken hold of her from behind, cried lustily, "Come with me, come with me!"
Paula whispered into Dora's ear at the same time, "Go with the twins first, or they will only cry and fuss. I will look for you later on."
"Dora," said Jul now, trying to subdue the little ones, "you had better stick to me, if you want to have a peaceful existence in this house. If you spend all your time with Paula, you are bound to become terribly romantic, and that will make you lose your appetite. With Rolf, you will find your whole life turned to an unfathomable riddle." ”

“ I shall never do a better thing in all my life, and when a man has done his best he ought to go, lest, peradventure, he live to do his worst, and die in doing it." "And Dora?" The look of exaltation faded from the face of Lavirotte. "And Dora, my darling Dora! My own sweet, trusting girl!" he cried, tenderly. "I do not understand myself; I am two beings; I have two natures. To myself I would be merciless to gain this final glory of assuaging the wrong I have done my friends, and in act forgiving the injury this man Kempston has done to me. But Dora! Dora! ”

“ Well, the word pretty is perhaps a concession to Jeremy. The only girl in the place is always pretty. Dora was, at any rate, fresh and fair, lithe and clean-limbed, gay and full of fun.
A dreadful peril threatened, with which Dora appalled her own fancy and Jeremy's troubled heart. At seventeen school is still possible—a finishing-school. Mrs. Hutting had brandished this weapon, conscious in her own mind that the rectory finances would hardly suffice to put an edge on it. Dora did not realise this difficulty. ”

“ Then Dora comes in, and finds uncle Frank gone. She tells Bertie she has something to show him. He follows her [51] out through the kitchen, and up a long pair of stairs, to an attic. There is a large box in the attic. Dora calls it a chest. It is painted blue, and has a lid to it. The lid is made of woven wire.
Dora goes on tiptoe and looks over into the box. Then she softly raises the lid, and lifts Bertie up so that he can see into it. "Oh, what funny cats!" cries little Bertie.
"Indeed they are not cats," Dora says, smiling. ”