Doyle

“ The curious thing is that although every one knows how much he respects Doyle as a great man, and every one is aware that he is one of the most popular, if not the most popular, of the authors of the day, not every one has analysed the soundness of his literary fame. In my opinion, of all very popular authors, Doyle deserves his popularity as an author most. No man living has written better historical novels, judged from the standpoint of eloquence, accuracy or thrill. ”

“ Lord Dacre stepped forward and wrung me by the hand. "By George, sir," said he, "I never thought to feel toward a Frenchman as I do to you. You're a man and a gentleman, and I can't say more." Lord Rufton said nothing, but his hand-grip told me all that he thought. Even Colonel Berkeley paid me a compliment, and declared that he would think no more about the unfortunate cigar. And she—ah, if you could have seen the look she gave me, the flushed cheek, the moist eye, the tremulous lip! When I think of my beautiful Lady Jane it is at that moment that I recall her. ”

“ Doyle reached a stage of innocuous desuetude, and his entertainers gradually faded away, leaving him as one "who treads alone some banquet hall deserted," covered with glory and stray champagne corks that had seen better days.
The next day I called upon Miss Ware and acquainted her with the result of my investigations. She evinced little surprise, remarking that Doyle's story simply confirmed her first impressions of the man, and it was obvious to me, judging from the correctness of her diagnosis of his case, that a woman's intuition is an element that must always be reckoned with. ”

“ Apart from his talent, it was no doubt the fact of his being his father’s son—the son of John Doyle, the once famous and eminent HB—which first attracted the attention of the promoters of Punch, and he was only nineteen when, in 1843, he was taken on the regular pictorial staff of that periodical. It was to the cheery, delightful pencil of Richard Doyle that the paper owed much of the popularity which it subsequently achieved. ”

“ Then he let the reins hang loose on the pony's back, and he slapped Tom Spring with his fat hand upon the shoulder.
"Splendid!" he cried, his great red face shining with ecstasy. "Oh, Lord! but it was beautiful!"
"What!" cried Spring. "You saw the fight?"
"Every round of it! By George! to think that I should have lived to have had such a fight all to myself! Oh, but it was grand," he cried, in a frenzy of delight, "to see his lordship go down like a pithed ox and her ladyship clapping her hands behind the bush! ”

“ Three men were standing quite close to us—fifteen mètres at the farthest. The middle one was of a good height, and yet not too tall—about the same height, in fact, that I am myself. He was clad in a dark uniform with a small cocked hat, and some sort of white plume upon the side. But I had little thought of his dress. It was his face, his gaunt cheeks, his beak-like nose, his masterful blue eyes, his thin, firm slit of a mouth which made one feel that this was a wonderful man, a man of a million. ”

“ She put her arms forward with the trusting air of a pretty child who claims an embrace as her due, but the king stepped swiftly back from her, and warned her away from him with an angry gesture.
"All is over forever between us," he cried harshly. "Your brother will await you at the east gate at six o'clock, and it is my command that you wait there until you receive my further orders."
She staggered back as if he had struck her.
"Leave you!" she cried.
"You must leave the court."
"The court! Ay, willingly, this instant! But you! Ah, sire, you ask what is impossible." ”

“ When Doyle turned him out in the end he was saying that he had your cheque for £60 in his pocket. I don’t suppose Doyle believed that. Nobody would. But he probably thinks you gave £40 or £45.”
“All I gave was £30. But I don’t see that it matters what Doyle believes.”
“It does matter,” said Dr. O’Grady. “If Doyle believes you gave £40 for the filly, and if you were to offer her to him for £35 he’d think he was getting a bargain and he’d jump at it. Doyle’s just the kind of fool who thinks he knows all about horses and so he’s quite an easy man to stick. Come on now, and we’ll try.” ”

“ Will you try another flight, or do you stand by your last?'
'Five hundred and eight paces will serve my turn,' answered the Brabanter, looking askance at this new opponent.
'Tut, John,' whispered Aylward, 'you never were a marksman. Why must you thrust your spoon into this dish?'
'Easy and slow, Aylward. There are very many things which I cannot do, but there are also one or two which I have the trick of. It is in my mind that I can beat this shoot, if my bow will but hold together.'
'Go on, old babe of the woods! Have at it, Hampshire!' cried the archers, laughing. ”

“ Great sir, brave sir, let me kiss that conquering hand!"
"Nay, nay, dame, stand back! Well, if you must needs have one of them, take this which is the clean one."
"It is the other I crave—that which is red with his blood! Oh! joyful night when my lips have been wet with it! Now I can die in peace!"
"We must go, Aylward," said Simon. "In another hour the dawn will have broken. In daytime a rat could not cross this island and pass unseen. Come, man, and at once!" ”

“ Such was the figure which rolled towards the king, bearing in his right hand his many-feathered beaver, and appearing in his person, as he was in his mind, an absurd burlesque of the monarch.
"Why, monsieur, you seem less gay than usual to-day," said the king, with a smile. "Your dress, indeed, is bright, but your brow is clouded. I trust that all is well with Madame and with the Duc de Chartres?"
"Yes, sire, they are well; but they are sad like myself, and from the same cause." ”

“ The remarkable water-colors of Charles Doyle, which I have seen, have a graceful fantasy that remind one of the work of Richard Doyle, but at times they have a grimness, a sense of the eerie and the terrible that lift them beyond anything that the Punch artist ever attempted ”

“ For half an hour we worked, the sweat dropping from our faces, our arms and backs aching with the exertion. Then we went out into the portico of the church, and looked eagerly up and down the silent, crowded streets. Not a sound, not a motion, in answer to our summons.
"It's no use. No one is left," I cried.
"We can do nothing more," said Mrs. Challenger. "For God's sake, George, let us get back to Rotherfield. Another hour of this dreadful, silent City would drive me mad."
We got into the car without another word. Lord John backed her round and turned her to the South. ”

“ As a story-teller Doyle has, in my opinion, no living equal. He is a modern tale-spinner, fit to be ranked with the romancers who sit on rugs in Oriental bazaars, guardians of the Arabian Nights.
One virtue of The Land of Mist is that it does give a dramatic and authentic picture of what seances and mediums are really like. ”

“ You have brought out poets as the sun brings out flowers. How many have we not seen--Moliere, Boileau, Racine, one greater than the other? And the others, too, the smaller ones--Scarron, so scurrilous and yet so witty--Oh, holy Virgin! what have I said?"
Madame had laid down her tapestry, and was staring in intense indignation at the poet, who writhed on his stool under the stern rebuke of those cold gray eyes.
"I think, Monsieur Corneille, that you had better go on with your reading," said the king dryly.
"Assuredly, sire. Shall I read my play about Darius?" ”

“ Challenger smiled with weary and tolerant contempt, as a kindly man would meet the yapping of a litter of puppies. He sat slowly down, blew out his chest, passed his hand caressingly down his beard, and looked with drooping eyelids and supercilious eyes at the crowded hall before him. The uproar of his advent had not yet died away when Professor Ronald Murray, the chairman, and Mr. Waldron, the lecturer, threaded their way to the front, and the proceedings began. ”

“ Meanwhile accept my love and every wish for your speedy promotion, although it cannot be obtained in the way which you suggest.'"
"Ah," cried the king, his love shining in his eyes, "how could I for an instant doubt her! And yet I had been so shaken by the others! Francoise is as true as steel. Was it not a beautiful letter, Louvois?"
"Madame is a very clever woman," said the minister evasively.
"And such a reader of hearts! Has she not seen my character aright?"
"At least she has not read mine, sire."
There was a tap at the door, and Bontems peeped in. "The archbishop has arrived, sire." ”

“ He had not seen them the night before, but now it was all I could do to keep my face as I watched him; for instead of our homely Scottish nod, he bent up his back like a louping trout, and slid his foot, and clapped his hand over his heart in the queerest way. ”

“ Doyle was so cocksure of his deductions that it antagonized me. On his part, I am sure, while he may not have had much respect for my profession, he had a wholesome fear of it, as many detectives have. For, after all, we newspaper men have the key that unlocks the door to everything. ”

“ Tell me, comrade, is it sooth that we shall have another fling at these Frenchmen? It is so rumoured in the guard-room, and that Sir Nigel will take the field once more.'
'It is like enough, mon gar, as things go.'
'Now may the Lord be praised!' cried the other. 'This very night will I set apart a golden ouche to be offered on the shrine of my name-saint. I have pined for this, Aylward, as a young maid pines for her lover.'
'Art so set on plunder then? Is the purse so light that there is not enough for a rouse? ”

“ Doyle wakened him by announcing the arrival of the buggy. The good man, who had more than one nobbler during the morning could not hold his tongue, but made still another wordy attempt to express his gratitude. "Whither me girl lives or dies, it'll not be Mat Doyle who forgits what you did for him this night, doctor! An' if iver you want a bit o' work done, or some one to do your lyin' awake at night for you, just you gimme the tip. ”

“ Old Brewster drew a blackened clay pipe from his pocket, and began to stuff the tobacco into the bowl. In an instant it slipped through his fingers, and was broken to pieces on the floor. His lip quivered, his nose puckered up, and he began crying with the long, helpless sobs of a child.
"I've broke my pipe," he cried.
"Don't, uncle, oh don't!" cried Norah, bending over him, and patting his white head as one soothes a baby. "It don't matter. We can easy get another."
"Don't you fret yourself, sir," said the sergeant. ”

“ The flush had faded in an instant, and a deathly face was before me. Her dry lips could not speak the “No” which I saw rather than heard.
“Surely your memory deceives you,” said I. “I could even quote a passage of your letter. It ran ‘Please, please, as you are a gentleman, burn this letter, and be at the gate by ten o’clock.’”
I thought that she had fainted, but she recovered herself by a supreme effort.
“Is there no such thing as a gentleman?” she gasped.
“You do Sir Charles an injustice. He did burn the letter. But sometimes a letter may be legible even when burned. ”

“ Life has become like that great Grimpen Mire, with little green patches everywhere into which one may sink and with no guide to point the track. Tell me then what it was that you meant, and I will promise to convey your warning to Sir Henry.”
An expression of irresolution passed for an instant over her face, but her eyes had hardened again when she answered me.
“You make too much of it, Dr. Watson,” said she. “My brother and I were very much shocked by the death of Sir Charles. We knew him very intimately, for his favourite walk was over the moor to our house. ”

“ I answered, "which is exciting you and doing you a good deal of harm."
"Right there, lad!" he cried, his eyes sparkling from the effects of the brandy. "Plenty on my mind—plenty! But I can work out the latitude and the longitude, and I can handle my sextant and manage my logarithms. You couldn't prove me mad in a court of law, could you, now?" It was curious to hear the man lying back and coolly arguing out the question of his own sanity.
"Perhaps not," I said; "but still I think you would be wise to get home as soon as you can, and settle down to a quiet life for a while." ”

“ An instant later the door flew open, and there was his thin tall figure standing upon the threshold, with his skirts flapping in the wind.
'My dear friends,' he cried, peering out into the gloom with his hand over his eyes to screen them from the salt-laden wind and driving sand, 'I had given you up. I thought that you were never coming. ”

“ I would sooner wrestle with the great bear of Navarre.'
'It was a trick,' cried John.
'Aye was it. By my ten finger-bones! it is a trick that will add a proper man to the ranks of the Company.'
'Oh, for that,' said the other, 'I count it not a fly; for I had promised myself a good hour ago that I should go with thee, since the life seems to be a goodly and proper one. Yet I would fain have had the feather-bed.'
'I doubt it not, mon ami,' quoth the archer, going back to his tankard. 'Here is to thee, lad, and may we be good comrades to each other! But holà! ”

“ As to me, I had my orders to take his place from the only man upon earth whose word I have never disobeyed."
"Yes, Sir Charles," said Mrs. Harrison, who had left the gig and approached us. "You can make the most of it this time, for never again shall you have my Jack—not if you were to go on your knees for him."
"She's not a patron of sport, and that's a fact," said the smith.
"Sport!" she cried, with shrill contempt and anger. "Tell me when all is over." ”