Edward Carson Rosebery

“ PRIMROSE, ARCHIBALD JOHN, fourth Earl of Rosebery (1783–1868) , eldest son of Neil, third earl of Rosebery, by his second wife, Mary, only daughter of Sir Francis Vincent of Stoke d'Abernon, Surrey, was born at Dalmeny Castle, Linlithgowshire, on 14 Oct. ”

“ If Queen Victoria, remaining very largely at home, could wield an immense and undoubted personal influence in Europe, partly because of an ability which made the late Lord Tennyson describe her as "the greatest statesman in Europe" and the Earl of Rosebery say that in matters of foreign policy she advised her Minister of Foreign Affairs more then he advised her, [7] how much more was King Edward entitled to personal prestige in Europe and fitted for diplomatic work amongst its rulers. His Royal Mother had known many Sovereigns and seen many Kings and statesmen come and go ”

“ Old head and young head pondered in silence.
“If they could come together in some wholly unexpected way, without personalities, and not as Roseborough and Jack Falcon, who shook the dust of Roseborough from his feet sixteen years ago! If only they could meet under other identities and, having no memories, each immediately find the other’s true self!”
“Like a fairy prince and a fairy kingdom. Oh, yes, that would be lovely. But,” the gay, mocking light danced within her eyes again, “even if life is ‘beautifully arranged,’ it is not so beautifully arranged as all that!” ”

“ Lord Salisbury told me he was the best occasional speaker he had ever heard; and certainly he was an exceptionally gifted person. He came to Glen constantly in my youth and all of us worshipped him. No one was more alarming to the average stranger or more playful and affectionate in intimacy than Lord Rosebery. ”

“ I shall not know the truth from a lie, but she will, and if you lie we shall not find the treasure."
"Barbara went to Dorchester to try and save the highwayman, Gilbert Crosby," said Sir John. "It was Rosmore's device to send her word that Crosby was a prisoner, and on the way she was captured, not by the King's troops as a rebel, but by men in Rosmore's pay. She is in no real danger, but she does not know this. She will not be brought before Jeffreys or any other judge, but she will be treated as though this were to be her fate. ”

“ Rosemary, in white from head to foot, stood behind her mother's chair and all the light in the room seemed to center in her eyes and hair. [9] Shirley, looking like a particularly wholesome and adorable cherub from her sunny curls and wide, gray eyes to her fat and dimpled knees scuffled in an impatient circle around her own special seat and Sarah, a stout and stolid little Indian in tan linen and scarlet tie, showed her one beauty—a set of strong, even white teeth—in an engaging smile.
"Well how smart we are," smiled the doctor, surveying them appreciatively. ”

“ Vaguely conscious of the unfamiliar and uncomfortable chair in which he sat, the young man looked out upon Rosemary, bone of his bone and flesh of his flesh, with an all-embracing, all-understanding love. It came to her with a sense of surprise that father was only a little older than she was; he had paused, and she, receiving the gift of life from him, had gone on. And the little mother, brave in her white satin, with her long veil trailing down from her wreath of orange blossoms; she too, loved Rosemary; indeed, with a holy deepening of her soul, she loved the whole world. ”

“ You are a little girl, dear, in spite of your great age, you see. What about Sarah?"
"You ask more questions than any one I ever knew," cried the exasperated Sarah with bitter frankness. "I wanted to read my rabbit book, [40] but Shirley teased and I played dominoes to please her. And now I suppose you'll be saying I ought to go to bed!"
"Rosemary?" said Doctor Hugh.
"Sarah is supposed to go to bed at eight o'clock," announced Rosemary reluctantly. "She used to argue with Mother nearly every night. No one ever wants to go to bed early, Hugh, and lots of the girls stay up till ten." ”

“ Since Roseborough would have it that she was not a Mearely, nor a legitimate child of Roseborough, she would let them all experience the encounter they sought with little Rosamond Cort, the farmer’s daughter, of Poplars Vale, who could fill her two hands with earth and declare “this is my earth—the earth I sprang from!” ”

“ Roseborough is full of them already. Another of those is an outrage!”
“My—dear—child! What is an outrage?”
“That another oldish man is coming to Roseborough! I want a fairy prince—or a beggar—or a tramp—if only he is young! He can come to the back door in bare feet and fustian, or in rags and patches. I shan’t mind what he wears or how empty his pockets are, if only he is young—young—and can laugh out loud and say ‘Good-morning, Rosamond!’”
“My—dear! You go so fast; and tears and laughter71 follow each other so rapidly that I am all in a whirl. But if you think my Jack....” ”

“ That very afternoon, when Rosemary left to take care of the Simmons baby while his proud mother attended the fortnightly meeting of her card club, Sarah and Shirley decided to sail boats in the bath-tub. Unfortunately, when the tub was half filled, Ray Anderson called them to come and see his new kiddie car and when that was duly inspected, Sarah pressed Shirley into service to help her feed the rabbits.
"Let's go up to the store and buy 'em some fresh carrots," Sarah suggested. "I'll get the money out of the tin bank—Rosemary won't mind, 'cause I'll pay her back soon as I can." ”

“ London, March 7, Sunday.—Breakfast at Lord Houghton’s, who has adopted Rogers’ custom of social breakfasts. It was a very amusing party—Joaquin Miller [167] the American writer, Henry Cowper, Lord Arthur Russell, &c. There was a young man there whom I did not notice much at first, but I soon found that he was very remarkable, and then that he was very charming indeed. It was Lord Rosebery. He has a most sweet gravity almost always, but when his expression does light up, it is more than an illumination—it is a conflagration, at which all around him take light. ”

“ Galsworthy’s [28] plays there is a woman who laments that she is “too fine and not fine enough.” The description seems to fit Lord Rosebery. He talks with a certain disdain of his own business. “Office,” he once said, “is indeed an acquired taste, though by habit persons may learn to relish it, just as men learn to love absinthe, or opium, or cod-liver oil.” He could nourish a fine intellectual contempt for the gawds and toys of politics and society. But beneath this philosophy was a quite keen appetite for worship of any kind. The reverence of the excellent Cory was a luxury to the youth ”

“ Look at the chairs; when you sit down, you feel you are settled there for life—and will not move again till some one carries you to the churchyard. I came here so proudly—to be the wife of such a fine, distinguished gentleman. I thought it would be a wonderful life—with all this,” she waved her hands to indicate the furnishings of Mr. Mearely’s museum. “But it wasn’t. It was dreadful. In its heart, Roseborough still regards me as an alien and an upstart. My mother once sold butter. They remember that. They are waiting for a chance to rub it in. ”

“ And then he looked helpless. Edward had risen and was pacing the veranda, ready to withdraw from hearing if the conversation became confidential. Norton was excitedly explaining the condition of affairs in Robley's county, and that gentleman found himself at leisure. Passing him Edward attracted his attention.
"You smoke, Mr. Robley?" He offered a cigar and nodded toward the far end of the veranda. "I think you had better let Mr. Montjoy explain matters to his father," he said. Robley joined him.
"How much do you need?" said Edward; "the outside figure, I mean. ”

“ Rosemary promised, leaning her head confidingly against his shoulder. "I always keep quiet, while Angel puts on her thinking cap."
Hugh laughed, and was silent. But his head was too hot to wear a thinking cap, and no story would come at his half-hearted call.
Rosemary waited in patience for him to begin. "One, two, three," she counted under her breath; for she had learned to count up to fifty, and it was good practice when one wished [Pg 99] to make the time pass. She had just come to forty-nine, and was wondering if she might remind the fairy father of his duty, when the door opened. ”

“ Rosmore.
"It is a hard fact, that is what concerns us," said Sir John; "and it becomes necessary to prove beyond question that we are heart and soul for King James. There is one way that you may easily do so, Barbara. You will remember a conversation I had with you recently concerning Lord Rosmore. He wished—"
"I pray you, Sir John, this is not the moment to thrust my wishes upon your niece."
"I say it is," was the sharp answer. "I have wit enough to see the safest road, and to take it. Since it is also a pleasant road, why should there be any hesitation or delay?" ”

“ Dear Mrs. Lee! I always know exactly how to manage her. In fact, my dear Mrs. Mearely, I sometimes say that that is my one great gift; (Will you be quiet, Central?) —er—my one great gift is managing people, especially in emergencies.”
“All Roseborough admits that, Mrs. Witherby. It is a wonderful gift; but not your only one, I’m sure. So we can rely on you this afternoon to carry the breakfast invitation to those of our dear friends who have no telephones? That means, chiefly, the Gleasons, the Montereys, and the Pelham-Hews.” ”

“ It was to him wholly natural that Rosamond Mearely—being, for all her beauty and wealth, only a woman after all and therefore an inferior—should have decided to entrain him; because, forsooth, he was a man. He did not see how she could have chosen better in all Roseborough. ”

“ And at this the astonished look on Edward's face deepened.
"Is Mr. Minturn here?" he asked.
"No; but his son is. Are you so surprised that I should have prayers in my father's absence?"
"Yes," said Edward; "I didn't know—I mean I didn't think"—
"You didn't think I had learned to pray, perhaps. Thank God, I have." Then he laid his hand kindly on Edward's shoulder. "Have you learned that precious lesson yet, my friend?"
"Yes," said Edward softly; "a good while ago."
"I am very glad; you will never learn anything else that is quite so important. What is all the study for, by the way? ”

“ It seemed to Rosemary that Sarah and Shirley must have turned back the hands of the clock to delay their bed hour. They monopolized their brother, seated on either side of him in the porch swing while the summer dusk slowly deepened and Mrs. Willis rested in the big chair which had an arm strong and broad enough to hold Rosemary who knitted with outward calm and inward fever. Were those children never going to bed? ”

“ But it is hard to live here, so close to earth, without love. Roseborough was made for love. That is what ails us all—Palametta, and The Kilties and the Pelham-Hews and—and—Rosamond Mearely! Well, I hope the old bald thing will marry Anabeth and then she’ll stop that crying every time a man is mentioned. ”

“ As he looked up, their eyes met again, and each knew what was in the other's mind.
"Angel, dearest," said Rosemary, "do tell the fairy father you're glad to see him."
Evelyn started. "Why do you call him that?"
"Because he said he was a fairy, and would have to vanish soon. But you'll beg him not to, won't you?"
"I—I should be sorry to lose him again. We haven't many friends, in these days." The bright head was bowed over the child's, as Rosemary clung to her mother's dress.
"You never lost me," said Hugh Egerton. "It was I who lost you. Evie, you don't know what black years these have been. ”

“ He had made himself equally free of the house and grounds of Villa Rose. Though, before others, his manner to the Villa’s lady was formal, he expressed, in private, the intimate affection of a brother. Her widowhood appealed to his chivalry; and her black ribbons, he said, put out the sun for him; how had the anomaly of grief entered Roseborough and how had it attached itself to her?
“In me you have always a brother, a friend, a protector,” he would say. “What privilege of manhood is more to be envied than the right to shelter women?” ”

“ Witherby so that dear Mrs. Lee can continue to believe in the beneficent spirit of Roseborough. Roseborough will open its arms to her Jack Falcon instead of tearing off his hair—that is, if he still has hair. B’r’r’r, but I am a-weary of old men!”
She gathered up her breakfast dishes, and took them into the kitchen. The kitchen closet yielded a blue-checked all-over apron of Amanda’s. Rosamond literally dropped herself into it at the neck. ”

“ In Roseborough, persons of his and Miss Crewe’s birth and kindred could not marry on nothing but love. Their families, and Roseborough, demanded of them that they settle themselves properly in life, to keep up appearances. ”

“ Shirley screamed with pain and after Rosemary [101] had bathed the poor bruised finger and Winnie had comforted the child with a cookie, Aunt Trudy declared that her nerves were too unstrung to spend the day in such a house and that she would go to town and shop.
"That means I'll have to answer the telephone while I'm practising," grumbled Rosemary. "Oh, dear, how selfish everyone is! I've a good mind to sit down and read on the porch while it is shady. All the others do as they please and I will, too." ”

“ Lee,’ she said to me, ‘when Jenny Hackensee sews a bow on even a child’s hat, or a bone button on the band of a genteel woman’s flannel petticoat, my conscience is satisfied that it will never come off!’ Poor Miss Jenny. She fears that the Roseborough ladies may forget her worth and run after follies. My dear husband used to say that that trait was one of the charms of Roseborough—namely, the loving regard each person in the community has for the general morale. ”