Fletcher

“ Fletcher is as light as Soda water. Browne and Burton are too strong potions for an Invalid. And don't thumb or dirt the books. Take care of the bindings. Lay a leaf of silver paper under 'em, as you read them. And don't smoke tobacco over 'em, the leaves will fall in and burn or dirty their namesakes. If you find any dusty atoms of the Indian Weed crumbled up in the Beaum't and Fletcher, they are mine. But then, you know, so is the Folio also. A pipe and a comedy of Fletcher's the last thing of a night is the best recipe for light dreams and to scatter away Nightmares. ”

“ Fletcher, needing peace, a habit to plunge head and shoulders into a bush and there remain—showing nothing against the sky-line. Long practice had freed the posture from irksomeness. As a young man Mr. Fletcher had been employed in a public tennis-court, and there had learned the little mannerism to which he now had constant resort. In those days the necessity of freeing himself from the constant annoyance of nets to be tightened, or of disputes between rival claims to courts to be settled, had driven him to devise some means of escape. ”

“ Once there was a faint splash from somewhere below and behind us.
"There goes a rat," said Fletcher vaguely, and without taking his gaze from the darkness under the distant shore. "It's gone into the cutting at the back of John Ki's."
He ceased speaking and flashed the lamp again several times. Then, all at once out of the murky darkness into which we were peering, looked a little eye of light—once, twice, thrice it winked at us from low down upon the oily water; then was gone.
"It's Weymouth with the cutter," said Fletcher; "they are ready ... now for Jon Ki's." ”

“ Fletcher sent you this bunch of flowers.
Con. The race is not to the swift. You have discovered nothing. Fletcher did not send me those flowers.
Bel. I beg your pardon; this bouquet was purchased in Regent-street this morning at 10.45 A.M. The man who bought it was old, and dressed in a drab hat and black coat. They gave me an exact description of him, and I recognised him immediately—the copyist who is always at Fletcher’s elbow, and who is literally his right hand. ”

“ Fletcher, I want a long talk with you to-night before you go.
Fletcher. Very well, sir. [Dawson sighs heavily and exits. Servant leaves door open. The two, Marion and Fletcher, hear the door shut behind them, and make a movement; they realize they are alone. A heavy front door slams. Lights out. There is silence. Taking Marion in his arms.] My poor little girl!—My poor little girl!—Cry, for God's sake, cry!
Marion. [With an outburst.] Oh, it is so horrible! [She sobs loud and hysterically in Fletcher's arms, her own arms about his neck.] —so—horrible—
Curtain.
ACT II.
Scene. ”

“ Fletcher, after having been toasted and roasted, and baked, and grilled, and eaten by all sorts of creeping things, begins to philosophise, is grown a refined as well as a resigned character, and promises at his return to become an ornament to his own parish, and a very prominent person in the future family pedigree of the Fletchers, who I take to be Goths by their accomplishments, Greeks by their acuteness, and ancient Saxons by their appetite. ”

“ When I woke again, just as suddenly, there was no sign of Getch. The morning sun was shining through the leadless window-places high up in the eastern wall, and I heard the crying of sea-birds and chatter of choughs, hovering around the parapet of the tower. Pepita was still fast asleep in her corner; her face, rosy-pink, half-buried in the crook of her arm; her breath coming softly and regularly. And over in his corner, half-buried in rugs and wrappings, his big bulk propped up against the angle of the wall, Uncle Joseph was asleep, too—asleep and snoring gently. ”

“ I believe if Fletcher really has a deep down affection for anyone, it is for you—I mean for any man. He is devoted to all of us, and he is the only man we chum with. But we wouldn’t have him at the meeting to-day. ”

“ Be you quiet, and pick that leg of a chicken; that is better than the knowledge that kills. There is not one of the magistrates would dare to touch a hair on Mr. Fletcher's head, no, for all that lies in the power of Brahma."
"But why do you keep the secret? 'The steps of a good woman are ordered by the Lord;' but does He order you to step to the Cradle?"
"I do it for good," said she, "because I can soften griefs that are unbearable; and cooks have something in their power. But if I were to say a word to Fletcher, I would be turned away, and another might treat the prisoner worse." ”

“ He had never liked Fletcher.
"I accept your congratulations, Fletcher," he said, "and condole with you on your own disappointment. We can't all be leaders."
"I hope to enjoy your favor, as I did that of Captain Stockton," continued Fletcher smoothly.
"That will depend on yourself," said Ring shortly.
"I would like to suggest that the two boys"—here Fletcher turned in the direction where Harry and Jack had been standing, and ejaculated in dismay, "I don't see them. What has become of them?" ”

“ I continued. “We may succeed—and we mayn’t. But we can try. Listen!—somewhere or other that Hindu chap must have a boat. Probably it’s at the west end of the island—he doubtless landed there, because I believe there’s a deepish channel runs past the spit of land at that end, and he’d most likely come along that channel. Now we know where he is just now!”
“But do we?” she asked, sceptically.
“Dead certain! He’s after Uncle Joseph, on the other side. Bet your boots he’ll not take his eyes off him, once he’s spotted him! ”

“ Nor even in Fletcher’s Ordella, worthy as the part is throughout even of the precious and exquisite praise of Lamb, is there any such cunning touch of tenderness or delicate perfume of pathos as in the parts of Bellario and Aspatia. These have in them a bitter sweetness, a subtle pungency of mortal sorrow and tears of divine delight, beyond the reach of Fletcher. His highest studies of female character have dignity, energy, devotion of the heroic type; but they never touch us to the quick, never waken in us any finer and more profound sense than that of applause and admiration. ”

“ If I can keep Fletcher from dabbling in stocks, I shall make a good thing of this. I shall keep a close watch on him. To manage men, there is nothing like knowing how to go to work at them. All the fools are jack-a-dandies, and one has only to find where the strings hang to make them dance as he will. I have Fletcher fast. I heard a fellow talking about taming a man, Rarey-fashion, by holding out a pole to him with a bunch of flowers. ”

“ Fletcher stroked his drooping mustache, seemed thoughtful, but lost something of that piercing scrutiny.
“Wal, Ord's the jumpin'-off place,” he said, presently. “Sure you've heerd of the Big Bend country?”
“I sure have, an' was makin' tracks fer it,” replied the stranger.
Fletcher turned toward a man in the outer edge of the group. “Knell, come in heah.” ”

“ Fletcher ambled on her nag into Easingwold, she invariably halted at the White House, when the hostler, one Mark Dunn, a beetle-browed, uncouth fellow from Huby, received and held her horse as she dismounted and entered the inn. Ralph, the host, was always there, and received Mrs. Fletcher with an affection which dissatisfied his sister, a woman of sense, who saw that this cherishing of an old passion could lead to no good. ”

“ It was something in the twine and cordage way. There were everywhere great coils of ropes and bales of twine, and the dark rooms had a tarry smell. Mr. Fletcher was in his office, a little space partitioned off in the rear, with half a dozen clerks working by gaslight, and a little sanctum where the senior partner was commonly found at his desk.
Mr. Fletcher was a little, round-headed man, with a shrewd face, vigorous and cheerful, thoroughly a man of business, never speculating, and who had been slowly gaining wealth by careful industry and cautious extension of his trade. ”

“ So sure as the old man caught you at it, he'd give you a bucketful of water, slap over you, and then follow it up with the bucket at your head. Fletcher, the second mate, and I, got so we could tell the moment he put foot on the companion-way, and, no matter how sound we were, we'd be on our feet before he could get on deck. But Fletcher got tired of his vagaries, and left us at Pernambuco, to ship aboard a homeward-bound whaler, and in his place we got a fellow named Tubbs, a regular duff-head,—couldn't keep his eyes open in the daytime, hardly. ”

“ The Sub, swinging his mighty shoulders, stalked down to his cabin, and presently there was a knock outside, and Fletcher peered in. "Yes, sir?"
"I've just heard, Fletcher," the Sub said, holding out his hand. "We are all very sorry; you'd like to be by yourself for a while. Stay here till 'pipe down'; no one shall come near you."
He pushed the old man down in the chair, drew the door across, and went into the gun-room. ”

“ The captain of the steamboat kindly attended her to a boarding-house, and there she was left, without a single clue in her mind as to the means of finding her husband. Inquiries were made of all in the boarding-house, but no one had heard even the name of Joseph Fletcher. As soon as she could make arrangements to get out, Mrs. Fletcher visited all the dry-goods stores in the city, for in some one of these she supposed her husband to be employed, although he had never stated particularly the kind of business in which he was engaged. ”

“ I guess that’s what you’re most fit for.”
“Do you want me to kill you?” said Fletcher, touching his hip pocket. “It isn’t safe for you to insult me.”
“Just so! You have a right to be brave with all them men at your side.”
“What are you doing there, Dick Fletcher? Why don’t you proceed to business?” demanded the leader impatiently.
“Empty your pockets, Stackpole!” said Fletcher, in a peremptory tone.
“All right.”
The Yankee plunged his hands into his pockets, and produced in succession a jack-knife, a plug of tobacco, a bunch of keys, and a couple of buttons. ”

“ Very well, young man—that there person came to this house one afternoon about a fortnight ago!”
“Alone?” asked Cherry.
“No! He’d another man with him,” replied the landlady. “I see ’em come—I happened to be at the front, buying some fish. They come along the road from Kingshaven—walking. The other man was a big, broadly built, clean-shaven fellow, well-dressed in a blue suit—they both wore blue suits—serge, you know, young man, like sea-going men affects for their best: I took particular notice of both of ’em. ”

“ In appearance he was “a low, thin man, of a brown complexion; full of fire; with a stern, sour look.” Fletcher was a fine scholar and a graceful writer, and both his writings and speeches afford bright glimpses of the manners and state of the country in his time. His chief works are: A Discourse of Government relating to Militias (1698) ; Two Discourses concerning the Affairs of Scotland (1698) ”

“ On the next day, Fletcher left for Cincinnati. He arrived there in the night. On the following morning, he left the hotel at which he had stopped, and, going into Main street, entered the first merchant-tailor's shop that came in his way.
"Have you any work?" he asked.
"We have room for a journeyman, and are in want of one. Can you do the best work?" ”

“ She glanced at Fletcher, who at once slackened his hold. "Don't you give the fellow anything," he said, with a touch of peremptoriness, "I will."
She yielded, considering the matter too trivial for argument, and watched his rupee fall with a tinkle upon the tin plate which the snake-charmer extended at the length of his sinewy arm.
Fletcher speedily made a way for her through the now shifting crowd; and after a little they found the saice, waiting with the mare under a tree. The animal was tormented by flies and restless. Certainly in this valley district it was very hot. ”

“ Of the Kings second comming to his Court,
The Bookes creepe from the Presse to Life, not Action,
Crying unto the World, that no protraction
May hinder Sacred Majesty to give
Fletcher, in them, leave on the Stage to live.
Others may more in lofty Verses move;
I onely, thus, expresse my Truth and Love.
RIC. BROME. Upon the Printing of Mr. JOHN FLETCHERS workes.
What meanes this numerous Guard? or do we come
To file our Names or Verse upon the Tombe
Of Fletcher, and by boldly making knowne
His Wit, betray the Nothing of our Owne? ”

“ Fletcher approached Oscar Vincent, and said, "I can't see, Oscar, why you are trying to get that printer's devil into our Society."
"Because he's a good fellow, and smart enough to do us credit."
"If there were any bootblacks in Centreville I suppose you'd be proposing them?" said Fletcher with a sneer.
"I might, if they were as smart as my friend Walton."
"You are not very particular about your friends," said Fletcher in the same tone.
"I don't ask them to open their pocket-books, and show me how much money they have."
"I prefer to associate with gentlemen." ”

“ But I know no one at sea. Oh, sir, what is it you would tell me?”
“Let me come in,” I said; and she turned and led the way into the parlor, and set down the candle and looked steadily at me. And then she suddenly knew me, and in another instant I had her in my arms, and her face was upon my breast, and all the woes and sorrows of my captivity were forgotten.
“Humphrey!” she cried. “O, thank God—thank God! My dear, my dear, it is you, is it not? Am I dreaming—shall I wake presently to find you gone?”
“Never again, sweetheart, never again! ”

“ Fletcher, confused as might be supposed, slightly shoved it back to me:—his conduct on the trial having been known, a sensation became visible amongst the company, which I would almost have given up the box to have avoided exciting. His countenance, however, though not usually subject to be much impressed by kind feelings, clearly acquitted me of any intentional insult: in truth, I really felt as much as he did when I perceived my error, and wished to pocket the prize without its creating further notice. ”