Doubs

“ As David Dubbs met the ambushed winds that leaped upon him at the corner of the court, he also met the person to whom he had waved his hand from the store-door. If you had looked for the stature of a man you would have been doubly mistaken,—first in sex, next in size. It was neither a man nor a woman. There, in a blustery doorway, shaking with cold, but ever on the alert, crouched a little girl. ”

“ Then, advancing to Mary, cold and motionless as a statue, "Courage, madam," said he, "courage! Whatever happens, a friend yet remains for you in the castle; it is Little Douglas."
Scarcely had he finished speaking when the door of the queen's apartment opened, and William Douglas and Lady Lochleven, preceded by servants carrying torches and armed soldiers, appeared on the threshold: the room was immediately filled with people and light.
"Mother," said William Douglas, pointing to his brother standing before Mary Stuart and protecting her with his body, "do you believe me now? Look!" ”

“ It is Dobbs who has compensated for my sightless eyes, my useless ears, my voiceless throat and my crippled legs. There is a glass of water on my typewriter table. Without Dobbs to fill it when it has been emptied, my plight will be like that of Tantalus. Few have come to this house since we have lived here—there is little in common between garrulous country folk and a paralytic who cannot see, hear or speak to them—it may be days before anyone else appears. Alone . ”

“ Red and shining, his hair slicked down stylishly with bear's grease, his best homespun suit on, Doby mounted a borrowed horse to sit behind his mother, and formed one of a company who fared away to the grove where the meeting was held.
His shoes were tied round his waist by a thong. They were ready to put on when he came in sight of the meeting-place. Cobbled [113] shoes of leather were the most expensive luxury a pioneer boy could own. Neither Doby nor any other backwoods fellow would think of wearing them if he could possibly go barefoot or use his moccasins. ”

“ A noble instance is 139related of the liberality of his great patron, Mr. Spiering, the husband of the lady above-mentioned, resident of the king of Sweden at the Hague, namely, that he allowed him a thousand guilders a year, with no other stipulation than that Douw should give his benefactor the preference of purchasing every picture he painted, for which he always paid him to the full extent of his demand. He lived to a great age, but his sight was so affected by the minuteness of his performances that at the age of thirty he was obliged to use spectacles. ”

“ As Doby eyed the savage he thought: "How handsome he is and how powerful! Perhaps Tecumseh had the same appearance."
Under the boy's admiring stare the Indian stood absolutely and perfectly still, minute after minute, minute after minute, until Doby became possessed of an impulse to test that stolidity, to shock that dignity. So he impishly blew into the pig's-bladder whistle. Its blast rent the air.
With snake-like quickness the Indian's hand shot out. He grabbed the whistle and hid it in his blanket. He offered a blue-jay feather in exchange. ”

“ Dobbs’ heart failed him when he heard it. Every one was afraid of old Squire Harry, for in his anger he regarded neither his own interest nor other men’s safety.
“Ho, Dobbs! you’re not fit for Craybourne, the farm’s too much for you, and I’ve nothing else to gi’e ye.” Dobbs’ heart quailed at these words. “You’re a fool, Dobbs—you’re a fool—you’re not equal to it, man. I wonder you didn’t complain o’ your rent. It’s too much—too high by half. I told Cresswell to let you off every rent day a good penn’orth, for future, and don’t you talk about it to no one, ’twould stop that.” ”

“ Hugh liked to hear the old minister talk like that, for he understood that Mr. Dobbs was really a Civil War veteran, and in the old days had once been known as the “Fighting Parson.” If those unruly men fancied that because he was a shepherd of a flock he would not fight to save his pet lambs from the devouring wolves they made the greatest mistake of their whole lives.
So Mr. Dobbs quickly got the mayor on the wire and asked him to come over to the parsonage without a moment’s delay; also to fetch Doctor Kane along with him if he could possibly do so. ”

“ These were all man-hunters. They were hard-bitted, calloused, merciless in their calling, but at heart they were still kids. Dobie was one of them. He was no younger nor older than they. The hard life of the border makes men out of boys.
As Dobie rode along through the dust he scanned the hills closely. To the north, as far as eye could see, there were nothing but hills, boulders and mesquite. Southward stretched the same hills into Old Mexico, the land of great unrest. Suddenly Dobie drew up his horse and peered closely at the hills north of the road. ”

“ She dressed herself long before the appointed time, in a cool, pleasant-looking white-serge suit that had been intended for the trousseau. Miss Proll, coming upon her in the hall, gave a disapproving glance.
"I couldn't wear black!" Claire explained. "I simply couldn't!..."
"Ah yes, of course! You are right."
Her lips quivered when she finally faced Stillman.
"You are in white, I see," he said, with an air of gentle approval. "I am glad of that! It makes everything seem more cheerful."
They went down the stairs in silence. Stillman lifted her into the car—she could feel his hand tremble. ”

“ I must warn you, however, not to confound him with the Dobie, a creature of far less sense and activity. In fact, the Dobie was what I have heard a poor woman called her husband’s ghost, “a mortal heavy sprite;” and hence the common border phrases, “Oh ye stupid Dobie!” or “She’s but a senseless Dobie.” [1] The Brownie was therefore preferred as a guardian of hidden treasure, and to him did the Borderers commit their money or goods, when, according to the custom prevalent in wild insecure countries, they concealed them in the earth. ”

“ How quickly he would "trade back" the knife for the handkerchief, and how happily Doby's tears over the loss of his property would be changed to smiles over its recovery!
The chuckling father and the weeping son reined up beside the trail.
Mr. Holman said to Doby: "I can see the judge coming now. We will stop him. You must speak to him yourself. It will please his sense of justice to have you demand reparation because you feel sure of his kindness. When he gives you the knife he will give you his affection with it. He will be your friend for life." ”

“ Doby looked in true respect at his friends of many scars. His hand went up to his cap. He took it off in the presence of these patriots.
The Kentucky settlers called these men "Long Hunters" because they could stay out more weeks on hunting-trips than less stalwart backwoodsmen. "Long Knives" was the name the Indians gave them on account of the ferocious dirks they carried. Even Doby sported his stone knife in a formidable sheath.
Soft-hearted Simon Kenton had taken Doby along for a "lucky penny" or "pocket-piece" as a later time would have taken some entertaining child for a "mascot." ”

“ Since Dubois has proved himself a traitor—" [293]
"Oh, mamma!" came now in great sobs, "you are not playing with me. He has come; he is here; the horse I heard stop at the door—"
"Was that of the marquis," acknowledged the mother. "He is in the sitting room, child, but he does not expect you at present. This evening you shall see him if you will promise me what I have asked. Otherwise he must go. I will have no complications arising out of a secret betrothal. If you have not sufficient strength—"
"Oh, I have strength, mamma! I have strength. ”

“ Then she uttered a cry of pain, and drooping her head—
“Douglas against Douglas; brother against brother!” she murmured: “it only wanted this last blow.”
“Madam, madam,” cried her escort, “there is not an instant to lose: the young master of Douglas cannot hold out long thus alone against five; let us fly! let us fly!” And two of them taking the queen’s horse by the bridle, put it to the gallop, at the moment when George, after having beaten down two of his enemies and wounded a third, was thrown down in his turn in the dust, thrust to the heart by a lance-head. ”

“ A whole cityful," thought Doby, remembering the three thousand inhabitants of Cincinnati, "is such a crowd of people that a boy emigrant doesn't know any person and he feels left out of everything and—anyway—no boy can have a really good time without a dog."
Doby had another reason for being forlorn. He had been rejected by a group of men whom he wanted to join on an expedition into Kentucky. No one likes to be snubbed. ”

“ Only,” continued Douglas, approaching the window and showing to the queen a little house on Kinross hill,—“only, look every evening in that direction, madam, and so long as you see a light shine there, your friends will be keeping watch for you, and you need not lose hope.”
“Thanks, Douglas, thanks,” said the queen; “it does one good to meet with a heart like yours from time to time—oh! thanks.” ”

“ There are no benumbed limbs aching in the dingy corners of half-tumbled down houses, no wrinkled, aged jaws chattering, no infants moaning at their mother's breasts with cold, while many a pampered lady grows peevish and irritated, if Dobbs forgets the jars of warm water for the end of her cosy bed. ”

“ DOWEY, grimly, ‘That’s great.’
Mr. Willings ascends the stair without one backward glance, like the good gentleman he is; and the Doweys are left together, with nearly the whole room between them. He is a great rough chunk of Scotland, howked out of her not so much neatly as liberally; and in his Black Watch uniform, all caked with mud, his kit and nearly all his worldly possessions on his back, he is an apparition scarcely less fearsome (but so much less ragged) than those ancestors of his who trotted with Prince Charlie to Derby. ”

“ He’s buried up there alone—well, he deserved it. Was Dobbs there, from Craybourne? He was good to Dobbs. He gave that fellow twenty pun’ once, like a big fool, when Dobbs was druv to the wall, the time he lost his cattle; he was there?”
“Yes, I saw Dobbs there, sir, he was crying.”
“More fool Dobbs—more fool he,” said the Squire, and then came a short pause; “cryin’ was he?”
“Yes, sir.”
“He’s a big fool—Dobbs is a fool.”
“A man cryin’ always looks a fool, the rum faces they makes when they’re blubbin’,” observed Harry. “Some o’ the Wykeford folk was there—Rodney was at his funeral.” ”

“ Dover, Strait of, divides France from England and connects the English Channel with the North Sea, and at the narrowest 20 m. across; forms a busy sea highway; is called by the French Pas de Calais.
Dovrefeld, a range of mountains in Norway, stretching NE. and extending between 62° and 63° N. lat., average height 3000 ft.
Dow or Douw, Gerard, a distinguished Dutch genre-painter, born at Leyden; a pupil of Rembrandt; his works, which are very numerous, are the fruit of a devoted study of nature, and are remarkable for their delicacy and perfection of finish ”

“ Ah! the good time is passed. But I hope that, thanks to you, it will return, and that the house will feel your elevation."
"Oh! my poor gossip," said Dubois, stooping down in order that La Fillon might unclasp his frock, "you see that now things are much changed, and that I can no longer visit you as I used to."
"You are proud. Philippe comes there."
"Philippe is only regent of France, and I am an archbishop. Do you understand? I want a mistress at a house where I can go without scandal; like Madame de Tencin, for example."
"Yes, who will deceive you for Richelieu." ”

“ He shook his head. "Now—have the young men of our kind learned the pioneering. We old mastered it not."
Doby was shocked. Such robbery and disappointment worried him. He looked to his father to say something cheery to the plucky little man.
Mr. Holman, big and brawny, equal to any demand of frontier life, gazed kindly at Ol' Pap Soisson, who had found its trials almost too much for him. "We will give you a taste of game to-day. Go, Doby, and shoot that gobbler we have been hearing."
"But, pa," protested Doby, "wild turkey isn't good in the spring. Nobody eats it." ”

“ He refuses to be fattened: he balks; he has colic and spasms; he lies down in harness; he impales himself upon a broken rail; he keels over upon the grass, whizzing like a capsized engine; he bites himself—and has driven the family to the verge of insanity when Dobbs returns and upon beholding the "noble old fellow," shouts that they have the wrong horse! ”

“ The light from the gas-jet in the passage struck into it, but beyond a chair and a tall screen-like object in the middle of the floor, it seemed to David to be empty.
'That's his atelier, of course,' said the unknown; 'and mine is next to it, at the other end. I suppose he has a cupboard to sleep in somewhere. Most of us have. But I don't know anything about Dubois. I don't like him. ”

“ She broke off suddenly, realizing the futility of her protest.
"To-morrow morning," replied the Japanese, blandly. "All right to-morrow morning. You stay here.... I fix a place. You see.... I fix a very nice place for young lady."
He went out with the tray and Claire rose and walked to the window. Flint broke into the room noisily. She turned—he had two dusty bottles in his hand, and an air of triumph.
"Mr. Flint, it seems that there has been a washout. I understand that no trains are running. What can I do? I must get back; really I...." ”

“ One would have thought that all these years of wandering had taken the edge off any national feeling, but he seemed suddenly to have flamed with the old folk-consciousness, as some bare twig bursts into a white heat of bloom with the coming of spring. Now all the fury that moved him to assault the ramparts of learning was being poured out in the prospect of personal sacrifice for his native land. He was caught up in this cloud of fire and transfigured. When he spoke of these things Claire felt awe. She had never yet beheld a man gripped by an emotional enthusiasm. ”