Hackett

“ An adventurer, surely, but down on his luck now, with a frayed and threadbare overcoat, a shabby hat, and deep lines about his gray eyes.
“Sit down, man!” Wickham Hackett repeated impatiently. “Here, have a [Pg 546] smoke. I have some news for you, Charley.”
“Can’t refuse!” said Charles Hackett, and he sat down, with one long leg over the arm of the chair. “That’s good!” he added, at the first puff of the cigar.
Wickham Hackett looked down at the papers on his desk, because the sight of this battered rover stirred him almost intolerably. ”

“ And she sang, as the birds sing, from sheer happiness.
"He's in the offing now," sang a full, rich, manly voice, joining hers in the last line of her song, and with a little inarticulate cry of surprise and joy she sprang to her feet, to be the next moment enfolded in the strong arms of her sailor lover, back from the sea.
Dorn Hackett was a fine-looking young fellow, of a size worthy of a woman's liking, with a handsome, expressive face, hazel eyes, brown hair, broad and well-balanced head, square shoulders, deep chest, and such powerful arms as might have served for the model of a Hercules. ”

“ Hackett to invite Mr. Halleck, Mr. Verplanck, and one or two other old friends to meet together, and have a good old-fashioned dinner. Halleck used to say, “Pretty much all my old friends are gone—except Bryant, Verplanck, and myself,—we are the last of the cocked hats.” But the projected dinner was unhappily interrupted by the decease of the poet, in whose honor it was intended to be given. I met Mr. Hackett and Mr. Verplanck, and agreed upon the day when I was to notify Halleck—and an hour after that meeting, I heard the sad news of his death. ”

“ The skipper stormed, and tore his hair,
Thrust on his boots, and roared to Marden,
"Nantucket's sunk, and here we are
Right over old Marm Hackett's garden!" ”

“ And now Justin suspected why Hackett had called.
"Space?"
"Space," affirmed Hackett. "They're waitin', like we all are, for the time we can start movin' people upstairs."
Justin said nothing, and Hackett stared out the window. Then, a bit too casually:
"I hear Austin's goin' before Congress with some fool announcement?"
Justin thought: Damn Austin! If ever he needed grass roots support which only the Bosses could give, it was now. Yet the idiot had failed even to consult the most powerful man in the East! ”

“ Gervase told him briefly what had happened, explaining how he owed his life to the kindness of De Laprade, and how Hackett had been left behind, with the prospect of a violent death before him.
Macpherson interrupted him with many interjaculations, and when he had finished exclaimed dejectedly:
“My fault, my fault! that comes of sending a boy to do a man ́s errand. The lad fell asleep and the villains stole a march on us. There is no use crying over milk that is spilt, but I would that I had arranged it otherwise. And old Hackett--I saw he was made of the right stuff ”

“ Stamped as a London success—and the stamp is genuine—it will be curious to watch the fate of “The Walls of Jericho” in New York. Possibly Mr. Hackett may do more for it than Mr. Bourchier, for he has played so many inane heroes that one more cannot hurt him; but he will have to work very hard, and I do not envy him his job. ”

“ Hackett, address as per above.
"Dear Treevor, dear Treevor, do come to me. You remember the wood?
"I am yours not sold yet,
"SUZEE." I read this through with a feeling of amaze. Suzee had for so long been a forgotten quantity to me, something left in the past of the Alaskan trip, like the stars of the North, that her memory, thrown back suddenly on me like this, startled me.
I handed the letter to Viola in silence. She read it through, and then pushed it away from her.
"I told you so. There is no peace in this world!"
"But it needn't affect us, dearest," I said. "Suzee is nothing to me now. ”

“ Coppinger, the merciful prophet, declared that Hackett was the sole monarch of Europe; and at length they proclaimed him, July 16, 1592. On the 28th of the same month, however, the monarch of the whole earth, who had also personated divinity, was hanged and quartered. Coppinger famished himself in prison, and Arthington was pardoned. Fitz Simon relates, that in a quarrel Hackett had at Oundle, "He threw down his adversary, and bit off his nose; and, instead of returning it to the surgeon, who pretended to set it on again, while the wound was fresh, ate it." ”

“ The other bowed. “Well, within an hour we'll be there also,” continued the old man; and Hackett retired without adding a syllable.
“We 've about five miles to ride, Captain Forester,” said Daly, as they issued forth beneath the deeply arched gate of the abbey; “but the road is a mountain one, and will not admit of fast riding. A fine old place it is,” said he, as, halting his horse, he bestowed a gaze of admiration on the venerable building, now dimly visible in the gray of the breaking dawn. “The pious founders little dreamt of men leaving its portals on such an errand as ours.” ”

“ I'll get out of it all right. All I want is a good lawyer. It might happen to any feller to get into a hole. Fellers get into 'em all the time and get out of 'em again. This morning everybody thought Dorn Hackett was in the worst kind of a hole, but to-night the jailor tells me everybody says he's bound to get out of it."
"Dorn Hackett was innocent. Are you?"
Silas hesitated a moment before he replied:
"Course I am! Every fellow's innocent until he's proved guilty."
"Where did you get that seal?" ”

“ Hackett corrected. “Ideally, a pusher is an inconspicuous type. The kind of person whose face you'd never remember. It's never a teenage girl who's blowing money.”
It was time to stare now, and Larry Woolford obliged. “A teenager!”
“We've had four descriptions of her, one of them excellent. Fredrick, the maître d' over at La Calvados, is the one that counts, but the others jibe. She's bought perfume and gloves at Michel Swiss, the swankiest shop in town, a dress at Chez Marie—she passed three fifties there—and a hat at Paulette's over on Monroe Street. ”

“ Hackett hastily turned, and began to scramble upward.
As he did so, a gray form shot out from amidst its fellows and made a dash straight for him.
CHAPTER XXI SUSPICIONS
"Whar' can the cap'n an' his mate hev got to?" cried Yardsley.
For a moment he forgot all about the thieves, in his great anxiety regarding the young hunters.
"Powerful—powerful bad," he went on. "Wouldn't hev had this happen fur no money."
He raised his gun and fired in the air, Dick Travers following his example.
Shielding themselves as best they could against the violent wind and blinding snow, they awaited a response. ”

“ There was never a thought in Master Hackett's mind that the commander of the Phœbe might not count on giving us fair play; but the fact was soon made known to us.
"How many men can we muster?" Phil asked.
"What with prize crews, an' them as have been drafted to the Junior, I'm told that there are only two hundred an' twenty-five aboard this 'ere ship, countin' officers, cooks, boys, and sich-like useless raffle." ”

“ I knew Hackett was getting down grade pretty fast but I never thought he’d be so desperate as to try and kidnap a fellow, to hold him for ransom. He must be pretty near the end of his rope.”
Dolph laughed, as though amused.
“What, is that their little dodge?” he exclaimed. “Well, they sure have gone and barked up the wrong tree, that time. Why, Amos hasn’t got a relative in the wide world that he knows about, you told me. It’s your good dad that’s going to send him to school, [151] and give him the chance to study for being a doctor later on. ”

“ But what amused Hector was their anxiety to know just why he was going home and their unshakable conviction—in spite of all he could say—that his was a mission of love.
"Of course you're going home to get married, Mr. Adair!" pretty little Miss Sinclair—Mrs. Jim Hackett now—declared, a roguish look in her eyes. "Now, listen to me—don't deny it, because I know better. I can see it in your face. And is it any wonder? What else should a man go East for, I'd like to know? ”

“ After some time the curtain rose, and Hackett appeared in hunting costume, bowed to the audience, and then to Colonel Crockett. The compliment was reciprocated by the Colonel, to the no small amusement and gratification of the spectators, and the play then went on. ”

“ Hugh was still with us—he had been gambling rather heavily and for a time was in the hands of the money-lenders.”
“Certain of this?”
“Quite.”
“And I trusted that boy, Grant. I would have trusted him with anything”—his eyes turned to the pictured face over the fireplace—“anything”—and his hand playing with the jade paper-weight trembled.
“I know.” And Grant did know. Had not he trusted him too—and loved him—and for the same woman’s sake?
The hand on the little jade god grew steady and still. The man gripped it calmly; he had regained his grip of self. ”

“ As she told in the slow lilting accent of Kerry the pregnant story of the downfall of the center pier, she would cast those eyes to the inanimate bulk of concrete, half submerged in the water, as if to contemn it for lying there in flat helplessness. But she was not excited or obsequious. A woman of forty, her expression bespoke the sternness and gravity of her fight for existence, yet she was a quiet and valiant fighter. ”

“ Justin went on. "When I took them from various welfare bureaus, their average age was eighteen months. The girls' average height was thirty-one inches, the boys a trifle more. Well, that's still their height, but they are now twenty years old. Their bodies are of perfect proportion, and their health and I.Q. are far above the national average.
"Are you trying to tell me—" Hackett began in horror.
"No, let me finish. Really, there isn't much new. The old Romans practiced a crude form of artificial dwarfing, but for their own sadistic amusement. ”

“ MacDonough on terms of equality before, I 'd have advised Captain Forester not to mind him. My maxim is, there are always low fellows enough to shoot one another, and never come trespassing among the manors of their betters.”
“I must confess myself unprepared, sir, to hear language like this,” said Hackett, sternly.
“Not a whit more than I feel at seeing myself negotiating a meeting with a man turned out of the army with disgrace,” said Daly, as his face grew purple with anger. ”

“ Dear me, this war has been a great inconvenience,” she sighed as she went from the room—taking Hugh, none too willing, with her.
Caroline Leavitt was not an unpatriotic woman. Simply, to her home and house were country and universe too—her horizon enclosed nothing beyond them. She loved England, because her home and her housekeeping, this house and her vocation, were in it; and not her home, as some do, because it was in England. England was a frame, a background. Her emotions began at Deep Dale’s front door, and ended in its kitchen garden. ”

“ Remembering the ability of Teddy especially as a woodsman, Amos believed [140] they would experience little difficulty in following his trail up to the place of his encounter with the poachers.
From that point Hackett had made sure that the job would be easy. He meant to “toll” the other boys into a trap, just as a little barking dog is used by gunners along the Chesapeake Bay, to gambol on the sand, and so excite the curiosity of beds of ducks that they keep pushing in a little further to observe, until within reach of the death dealing guns. ”

“ It was a beautiful day, and the bay was dotted with many kinds of craft.
"Somers, does your ultimatum still hold good?" asked Nat.
"We don't want you to keep on Clair Bay unless you feel like it," returned Bob.
"Then come back to the place where Hacky lammed the pussy cat."
"What's the use of that?" spoke up Dick. "I think we could have more fun by keeping on the bay."
"So do I," added Ted Pollock.
"Wish I could go on the trip," ventured Douglass, wistfully; "it must be fine."
"There's one thing we have to do," interrupted John Hackett; "that is, get some grub. ”

“ Don’t go out again, please don’t? Let Big Gabe alone; he’ll only get you into trouble. Stay here with your little Sallie, won’t you, daddy?”
The man seemed to hesitate. He looked doubtfully in the face of the child, whereupon Hackett broke out in harsh language. He also made a suggestive motion with the [176] Marlin repeating shot gun, which he had taken possession of; and whatever the spasm of better feeling that had dominated Crawley lately, it was speedily vanquished by his love of gain. ”

“ In the hope of striking big game, they pushed on, sometimes being compelled to fairly force their way through dense masses of underbrush or interlacing branches. The chattering red squirrels and rabbits which occasionally darted for cover were unmolested.
Wild flowers grew on grassy banks, bright bits of moss gleamed in the sunlight, while cool and grateful shadows afforded relief from Old Sol's rays.
"I only wish we could see a wildcat or a wolf," said John Hackett, boastfully. "My little friend, would you run?" he asked, turning to Tom Clifton. ”

“ Steve looked down at the school pass in his hands. He said to Larry, “I'd better make a phone call.”
He left.
Larry said, “Don't worry about him, Zusanette. Now then, this movement. That's kind of a funny name, isn't it? What does it mean?”
She was evidently glad that the less than handsome Steve Hackett had left the room. Her words flowed more freely. “Well, Daddy says that they [pg 017] call it the Movement rather than a revolution....”
An ice cube manifested itself in the stomach of Lawrence Woolford.
“... Because people get conditioned, like, to words. Like revolution. ”