Fayal

“ As the vessel was heading out through the islands the next morning, the steamer on which Brennan was a passenger was seen at a distance, going in to Fayal and the captain bestowed a grim smile upon Duggan. ”

“ Men with no money or education were as a rule excluded. “We want gentlemen here,” said Sir John, and struck the right note at once. But he saw the usefulness of that ex-waiter from the Cabinet Club, and Thomas had no trouble in making good his position on the island.
The position of director and adviser rather [115] pleased Sir John; the position of President of the Exiles’ Club pleased him far more and sealed him to Faloo. It was a chance suggestion which led to the formation of the club. Six men sat over their Sauterne and oysters one evening and listened to the music of the surf. ”

“ What a child you are, Fay; one can never make you understand things. No, I am going up to London to get what I want, and meet Egerton and Powis, the other fellows who are to join us. I shall sleep at the club to-night, and you may expect me to be down to dinner to-morrow. The next day—” here he hesitated; “well, there is time enough to talk of saying good-bye then.”
“Yes, yes, I understand now. Go and get ready; and, Hugh, don’t forget to kiss baby.”
“All right,” he laughed good-humoredly; and then Fay stood quite still, holding the table, till he came back. ”

“ THE CARL OF THE DRAB COAT
CHAPTER I
One day something happened to Fionn, the son of Uail; that is, he departed from the world of men, and was set wandering in great distress of mind through Faery. He had days and nights there and adventures there, and was able to bring back the memory of these.
That, by itself, is wonderful, for there are few people who remember that they have been to Faery or aught of all that happened to them in that state.
In truth we do not go to Faery, we become Faery, and in the beating of a pulse we may live for a year or a thousand years. ”

“ After a residence of nearly twelve months in the United States, General La Fayette has at last returned to Europe. Hitherto we have, somehow, abstained from saying a single word on the extraordinary spectacles by which his visit has been throughout distinguished. We have, like all mankind, been struck mute, as it were, by each successive gushing out of the spontaneous and unpurchased homage of ten millions of free people. ”

“ We found General La Fayette surrounded by his patriarchal family—his excellent son and daughter-in-law, his two daughters (the sharers of his dungeon in Olmütz) and their husbands, eleven grandchildren, and a venerable granduncle, the ex-grand prior of Malta, with hair as white as snow, and his cross and his order worn as proudly as when he had issued forth at the head of his pious troops against the ‘paynim foe,’ or Christian enemy. ”

“ Fazil had not recognized the Fakeer of the King's Durbar, nor the Jogi of the temple; but there was a vague impression on his mind that he had seen the face under other circumstances.
[320]
"Pahar Singh, son; dost thou not know him?" he replied.
"A brave youth, the worthy son of a brave sire, may not object to receive the offering of an old soldier," said the chief, putting out his sword-hilt to Fazil, who touched it courteously; "and he shall have his share of the work if he may, Khan Sahib." ”

“ At a later period La Fayette wrote to the same friend to inform him of his son’s departure for Italy:—
“I heartily thank you, my dear Masclet, for your congratulations on the wished-for appointment. The new-made officer is hastening to the field, and hopes to embrace you to-morrow, before his and your departure. Sure it is, the standard of the rights of men is not on the side against which he is going to fight. May they be in France the reward of victory! ”

“ The beautiful Rainbow informed Fairer-than-a-Fairy that he was young, the son of a powerful king, and that the Fairy, Lagree, who owed his parents a grudge, had revenged herself by depriving him of his natural shape for some years; that she had imprisoned him in the palace, where he had found his confinement hard to bear for some time, but now, he owned, he no longer sighed for freedom since he had seen and learned to love Fairer-than-a-Fairy. ”

“ The King would certainly have found out his mistake the moment they stepped into the brilliantly lighted castle, but Turritella held her mantle more closely round her, and asked to see the Fairy by herself, and quickly told her all that had happened, and how she had succeeded in deceiving King Charming.
‘Oho! my daughter,’ said the Fairy, ‘I see we have no easy task before us. He loves Fiordelisa so much that he will not be easily pacified. ”

“ The Nagarchees, or kettle-drummers of each body, were beating the assembly vigorously, and single men were rapidly arriving from other quarters and joining their divisions. Fazil rode on with his companions, looking for somebody he knew, who might give him news of his father, when, from behind a mass of buildings which formed the corner of a street outside the town gate, a cavalcade approached, led by men of his own Paigah, and in the midst of which rode his father, the Peer, and Ibrahim Khan, the leader of the Abyssinians, accompanied by the tall, martial figure of Pahar Singh. ”

“ In that illustrious catalogue of names which she claims as of her children, and with honest pride holds up to the admiration of other nations, the name of La Fayette has already for centuries been enrolled. And it shall henceforth burnish into brighter fame; for if, in after days, a Frenchman shall be called to indicate the character of his nation by that of one individual during the age in which we live, the blood of lofty patriotism shall mantle in his cheek, the fire of conscious virtue shall sparkle in his eye, and he shall pronounce the name of La Fayette. ”

“ It must be confessed that Miss Mordaunt was hardly the woman to be intrusted with a girl’s education. She was a gentle, shallow creature, with narrow views of life, very prim and puritanical—orthodox, she would have called it—and she brought up Fay in the old-fashioned way in which she herself had been brought up. Fay never mixed with young people; she had no companions of her own age; but people were beginning to talk of her in the neighborhood. Fay’s youth, her prospective riches, her secluded nun-like life surrounded her with a certain mystery of attraction. ”

“ Say, Fay, Usk is real devoted, isn’t he? I’m glad you’ve taken him instead of the King now I’ve seen him, don’t you think! He’s solid good right through. He won’t ever have you find out anything new and unpleasant about him. Every day of his life he’ll come to meet you mornings with a flower, just as his father does to Lady Caerleon, and he’ll like nothing better evenings than sit alone with you and read the ‘Times’ out loud. ”

“ But Fay turned a deaf ear to all this.
“And the fair-haired girl with the pretty smile; if you marry her, Erle?”
“In that case, my uncle would refuse to have anything more to do with me. No doubt he would disinherit me as he did his own daughter; and Percy would be his heir. Ah, it is all very well talking, Fay,” and here Erle looked at her rather gloomily. “I have never learned to work, and I should make a pretty mess of my life; it would be poor Mrs. Trafford’s experience over again.” And he shook his head when Fay suggested that Hugh should let him have one of his farms. ”

“ La Fayette has sworn Flandre; he swears the remaining body-guards down in the Marble Court; the people clasp them in their arms: O my brothers, why would ye force us to slay you? Behold, there is joy over you, as over returning prodigal sons! The poor body-guards, now national and tricolor, exchange bonnets, exchange arms; there shall be peace and fraternity. And still, ‘Vive le roi!’ and also, ‘Le roi à Paris!’
THE KING COMES TO THE HÔTEL DE VILLE.
“Yes, the king to Paris; what else? Ministers may consult, and national deputies wag their heads ”

“ A chestnut pony was sent from Wyngate Priory; and Miss Mordaunt’s groom accompanied Fay in these long scrambling rides.
The young heiress was perfectly happy and content with her simple secluded life; Aunt Griselda would hear the girl warbling like a lark in her little room. Long before the inhabitants of the cottage would be stirring Fay’s little feet were accustomed to brush the dew from the grass; Nero and she would return from their rambles in the highest spirits; the basket of wild flowers that graced the breakfast-table had been all gathered and arranged by Fay’s pretty fingers. ”

“ Fay accepted all these things with the abstract air of one born lucky. He did not understand the meaning of it all. Discharged prisoners, or those released by order of the Home Secretary, were fitted with H.M.P. garments made of shoddy by piece-work convicts whose hearts were elsewhere when they worked.
“Hall ready, sir?” asked the red-faced guard with strange civility.
Fay lifted his slender shoulders slightly, adjusted his cuffs, touched his cravat and faced the light which streamed in through the Bertillon room. He did not answer the turnkey. ”

“ He sent for his horses presently, and drove Miss Mordaunt and her niece to all the beautiful spots in the neighborhood; and he joined Fay in her canters through the lanes, and found fault with Fairy, much to her little mistress’s dismay; but Fay blushed very prettily when one day a beautiful little chestnut mare, with a lady’s side-saddle, was brought to the cottage-door, where Fay was waiting in her habit.
“I want you to try Bonnie Bell,” he said, carelessly, as he put her on her saddle. “You ride perfectly, and Fairy is not half good enough for you;” ”

“ As childhood dawned upon young La Fayette he exhibited talents of unusual strength and vigor. Under the genial rays of science they rapidly burst from embryo—budded, blossomed and ripened into fruit of the most perfect kind. At the age of seven years he was placed in the college of Louis le Grand at Paris. His rapid progress in the elements of his education exceeded the fondest anticipations of his numerous friends. By his modesty, urbanity and innate goodness of heart he gained the esteem of all who knew him. ”

“ It was one of Foyle's ways always to attach as many people as he could to his object. He had an extensive acquaintance with waiters and hotel hall-porters.
"Yes, sir, I think I can arrange that," said the footman. "I can put you in her own sitting-room, and she'll most likely go straight there when she comes back."
"That's the ticket," said Foyle. "I like a man who's got brains." A sovereign changed hands. "Now, if you ever hear anything, perhaps you'll let me know. Drop into my office when you're by and have a chat and a cigar." ”

“ Fay heard MacKeenon rounding the corner of the table and fingering the locked boxes.
“We’ll grant it!” snapped Sir Richard testily. “We’ll grant your talents. It is because of them that we have brought you here tonight! As man to man, Fay, we’re in a knot. I’m sure you are the one rogue in all the known world who can help us out. ”

“ If there be one thing I hate, it is to outstay my welcome. I should be afraid of boring you both if I stayed much longer. Well, what now?” breaking off in some surprise.
“Ah, Erle!” exclaimed Fay, sorrowfully, the smiles and the dimples disappearing in a moment, “you are surely not going away yet. What shall I do without you?” continued the poor child. “Who will ride and drive and skate with me when you are gone?”
“Why, your husband, to be sure,” returned Erle, lightly; but he was watching her as he spoke. “You have not forgotten your husband, you naughty woman.” ”

“ M. Filleul smiled; he was accustomed to differences of opinion and sight in witnesses to one and the same fact:
"So we have to do, on the one hand, with a man, the one in the drawing room, who is, at the same time, tall and short, stout and thin, and, on the other, with two men, those in the park, who are accused of removing from that drawing room objects—which are still here!"
M. Filleul was a magistrate of the ironic school, as he himself would say. ”

“ The plan was made and executed.
“And so the royalty of France is actually fled? This precious night, the shortest of the year, it flies and drives! But in Paris, at six in the morning, when some patriot deputy, warned by a billet, awoke La Fayette and they went to the Tuileries? Imagination may paint, but words cannot, the surprise of La Fayette, or with what bewilderment helpless Gouvion rolled glassy Argus’ eyes, discerning now that his false chambermaid had told true!” ”

“ The event produced great commotion in the Faery circle and all looked to the Queen to see what was to be done. The Queen instantly called her bugler, the tame Musquito, and bade him call the scattered Faeries all about her. So they came every one about the dandelion throne, and the herald of the Queen—the Fly in his blue coat, made proclamation that a child had been born and that it was a rare thing, and an excellent fortune both to Faeries and to the child, that it would be born upon the first day of the year. ”

“ I answered to him as I drew nearer and laid my hand with timidity upon the sleeve of his coat.
“My God, boy, do they grow many like you in France?” was the answer that the great Gouverneur Faulkner made to me as he looked down into the adoration of my eyes raised to his, with a question that was of deep bewilderment.
“France has grown many young and fine men who—who die, my Gouverneur Faulkner for her in the trenches, where I must soon go,” I answered him with my head drawn to its entire height in the likeness of the old Marquis of Grez and Flanders. ”