Horatio Gates Greene

“ The guy that’s tearing things wide open in that dump isn’t going to stop just because we take his dinky thirty-two away from him, or grab his poison.—After Chester or Rex was shot we could’ve arrested all the rest of the family and put ’em through a third degree. But there’s too much noise in the papers now every time we give anybody the works; and it ain’t exactly healthy for us to grill a family like the Greenes. They’ve got too much money and pull ”

“ Greene’s will makes the five children equal beneficiaries. In event of death of any of them the survivors share alike; and if all should die the estate goes to their families, if any.
7. The sleeping-rooms of the Greenes are arranged thus: Julia’s and Rex’s face each other at the front of the house; Chester’s and Ada’s face each other in the centre of the house; and Sibella’s and Mrs. Greene’s face each other at the rear. No two rooms intercommunicate, with the exception of Ada’s and Mrs. Greene’s; and these two rooms also give on the same balcony.
8. The library of Tobias Greene, which Mrs. ”

“ No one not utterly callous to the pathos of human life, or warped by some ethical twist beyond the semblance of a man, has ever been able to pass unmoved by the figure of Robert Greene. We see him, the poet of all that is truest and tenderest in human affection, abandoning his young wife and child, drawn by the power of some fatal fascination into the whirlpool of low life in London, and then, as if inspired by a sudden revelation of objective vision, penning the throbbing lines of the forsaken mother's song ”

“ Greene,” interposed Vance, “was your sister Julia in the habit of leaving her door unlocked at night?”
Greene’s jaw dropped a little, and his eyes opened wider.
“By Jove—no! Now that you mention it . . . she always locked herself in.”
Vance nodded absently, and we passed out into the hall. A thin, swinging baize door hid the servants’ stair-well at the rear, and Markham pushed it open.
“Nothing much here to deaden the sound,” he observed.
“No,” agreed Greene. “And old Sproot’s room is right at the head of the steps. He’s got good ears, too—too damned good sometimes.” ”

“ Dr. Harris then addressed Greene in his most impressive manner, telling him that he was glad to find he was made sensible of his [88] error; and was also happy to see him so full of contrition: adding, "that, as it is the sincere wish of Henry, to whom you ought to be for ever grateful, I am willing to think no more of this matter. But it is not to me, so much as to your school-fellows, you need look for forgiveness; and to them you ought to apply, as being the parties offended." ”

“ He was seeking free play for his gladiatorial instincts, and his claim to intervene solely as Greene's champion cannot be accepted quite literally. In the second edition of his ‘Pierce,’ issued within a month of Greene's death, he had himself denounced Greene's ‘Groatsworth of Wit,’ his friend's dying utterance, as ‘a scald trivial lying pamphlet.’ His new tract was entitled ‘Strange Newes of the Intercepting certaine Letters and a Conuoy of Verses as they were going priuilie to victuall the Low Countries,’ i.e. to be applied to very undignified purposes, London, by John Danter, 1593. ”

“ The galoshes that disappeared from the linen-closet on the night of Rex’s murder are found in the library.
84. Some one listens at the door while the library is being inspected.
85. Ada reports that she saw Mrs. Greene walking in the lower hall the night before.
86. Von Blon asserts that Mrs. Greene’s paralysis is of a nature that makes movement a physical impossibility.
87. Arrangements are made with Von Blon to have Doctor Oppenheimer examine Mrs. Greene. ”

“ Greene thinks, there is another explanation of last night’s crime, then it’s essential to acquaint ourselves with the conditions existing here. And it’s equally essential not to rouse the suspicions of the servants. Hence, my apparent irrelevancies. I’m trying to size up the various human factors we have to deal with; and I think I’ve done uncommonly well. Several rather interesting possibilities have developed.”
Before Markham could reply Sproot passed the archway and opened the front door to some one whom he greeted respectfully. Greene immediately went into the hall. ”

“ And then think of those six ill-sorted, restless, unhealthy beings compelled to live there in daily contact for a quarter of a century—such was old Tobias Greene’s perverted idealism. And they’ve lived there, day in and day out, in that mouldy miasma of antiquity—unfit to meet the conditions of any alternative, too weak or too cowardly to strike out alone; held by an undermining security and a corrupting ease; growing to hate the very sight of one another, becoming bitter, spiteful, jealous, vicious; wearing down each other’s nerves to the raw ”

“ The girl was genuinely frightened, and, after Sibella and Sproot had been consulted, she was paid her wages and told she could pack her things. In less than half an hour she had turned in her key and departed with her luggage. Such information as she left behind her was largely a substantiation of Hemming’s outpourings. She, though, did not regard the two murders as the acts of an outraged God. Hers was a more practical and mundane view.
“There’s something awful funny going on here,” she had said, forgetting for the moment the urge of her coquettish spirits. “The Greenes are queer people. ”

“ On a sudden they found themselves on the highest pinnacle—the one of military fame—with Gates, Lee, Wayne, Greene and many other distinguished generals at their feet, the other of social prestige the observed of all observers! For a time Arnold's caprices had been looked upon as only the flash and outbreak of that fiery mind which had directed his military genius. He attacked religion; yet in religious circles his name was mentioned with fondness. He lampooned Congress; yet he was condoned by the Whigs.
Then came the reaction. Society flew into a rage with its idol. ”

“ I know old Tobias Greene has gone to his Maker.”
“Yes, old Tobias died about twelve years ago. But his wife is still living, though she’s a helpless paralytic. Then there are—or rather were—five children: the oldest, Julia; next, Chester; then another daughter, Sibella, a few years under thirty, I should say; then Rex, a sickly, bookish boy a year or so younger than Sibella; and Ada, the youngest—an adopted daughter twenty-two or three, perhaps.” ”

“ Geo. Tell me, sweet love, what good fortune brought thee hither?
For one it was that favour'd George-a-Greene.
Bet. Both love and fortune brought me to my George,
In whose sweet sight is all my heart's content.
Geo. Tell me, sweet love, how cam'st thou from thy father's?
Bet. A willing mind hath many slips in love:
It was not I, but Wily, thy sweet boy.
Geo. And where is Wily now?
Bet. In my apparel, in my chamber still.
Geo. Jenkin, come hither: go to Bradford,
And listen out your fellow Wily.—
Come, Bettris, let us in,
And in my cottage we will sit and talk. ”

“ To secure the provisions which grow upon the borders of the Santee and Congaree Rivers, and to keep a communication with the Indians on the frontier, the British had established military posts at several points, the most important of which was Fort Watson, upon Wright's Bluff, in the present Sumter District. These, with the more remote post of Ninety-Six, Greene resolved to attack almost simultaneously with his movement against Lord Rawdon, then at Camden. He dispatched Lieutenant-colonel Lee with his legion, to join Marion, then encamped in the swamps on Black River, in Williamsburg District. ”

“ Markham also has retired to private life; and Sergeant Ernest Heath, that doughty and honest officer of the Homicide Bureau who officially handled the Greene case for the Police Department, has, through an unexpected legacy, been able to gratify his life’s ambition to breed fancy wyandottes on a model farm in the Mohawk Valley. Thus circumstances have made it possible for me to publish my intimate records of the Greene tragedy. ”

“ He creates his best effects by the simplest means; and he is indisputably one of the most attractive of early English dramatic authors.
Greene’s dramatic works and poems were edited by Alexander Dyce in 1831 with a life of the author. This edition was reissued in one volume in 1858. His complete works were edited for the Huth Library by A. B. Grosart. This issue (1881–1886) contains a translation of Nicholas Storojhenko’s monograph on Greene (Moscow, 1878) . Greene’s plays and poems were edited with introductions and notes by J. Churton Collins in 2 vols. (Oxford, 1905) ”

“ Warren and Ermsby are Englishmen of a sturdy type, and Sir Cuthbert Anderson and Lady Anderson are studied as if in their Scotch castle. But Greene did something more than present the exteriors of men as types. He studied their psychology, and knew the warring forces within the individual soul, the power of circumstance, and ambition, and love to direct the forces of character into untoward paths. He knew that logic of human nature that counts consistency untrue, and constructs motives out of the syllogisms of perversity. ”

“ Much. How now! what, art thou down?—
Come, sir, I am next.
[They fight, and George-a-Greene beats him.
Rob. Come, sirrah, now to me: spare me not,
For I'll not spare thee.
Ge. Make no doubt I will be as liberal to thee.
[They fight; Robin Hood stays.
Rob. Stay, George, for here I do protest,
Thou art the stoutest champion that ever I
Laid hands upon.
Geo. Soft, you sir! by your leave, you lie;
You never yet laid hands on me.
Rob. George, wilt thou forsake Wakefield,
And go with me?
Two liveries will I give thee every year,
And forty crowns shall be thy fee. [316]
Geo. ”

“ The plucky young girl stood her ground and refused to return to the spindle unless paid at the same rate as the man whose place she was filling. She was promptly dismissed from the factory, to be recalled a few weeks later at increased wages. In 1840 she taught school near Portsmouth, N. H. There she formed the acquaintance of Jonas Greene, of Maine, becoming his wife in 1841. Mr. Greene subsequently became a prominent politician, representing his district in each branch of the State legislature for several successive terms. ”

“ K. Edw. Cuddy, what is it?
Cud. It is his will your grace would pardon them,
And let them live, although they have offended.
K. Edw. I think the man striveth to be glorious.
Well, George hath crav'd it, and it shall be granted,
Which none but he in England should have gotten.—
Live, Kendal, but as prisoner,
So shalt thou end thy days within the Tower.
Ken. Gracious is Edward to offending subjects.
K. James. My Lord of Kendal, you're welcome to the court.
K. Edw. Nay, but ill-come as it falls out now;
Ay, ill-come indeed, were't not for George-a-Greene. ”

“ Wily. Alas, sir, it is Hebrew unto me,
To tell me of George-a-Greene or any other!
Search me, good sir, and if you find a letter
About me, let me have the punishment that's due.
Grime. Why are you muffled? I like you the worse for that.
Wily. I am not, sir, asham'd to show my face;
Yet loth I am my cheeks should take the air:
Not that I'm chary of my beauty's hue,
But that I'm troubled with the toothache sore.
[Unmuffles.
Grime. [aside] . A pretty wench, of smiling countenance!
Old men can like, although they cannot love ”

“ Greene, who stood behind the other boys wiping his face, which was a little bruised by the blow he had received, then said, "that he should not be surprised if Master George himself had had something to do in it; for he [34] seemed very much offended by what he had said."
"You are a mean-spirited fellow," said George; "and——"
"Silence! silence, boys!" cried Dr. Harris. "How dare you make such accusations against each other! The money may have been mislaid, and will, no doubt, be found. I desire that a strict search may be made: until that is done, let me not hear another word about it. ”

“ Sproot reading books in foreign languages, and Hemming preaching about fire and brimstone, and cook going around in a sort of trance muttering to herself and never answering a civil question.—And such a family!” She rolled her eyes. “Mrs. Greene hasn’t got any heart. She’s a regular old witch, and she looks at you sometimes as though she’d like to strangle you. If I was Miss Ada I’d have gone crazy long ago. But then, Miss Ada’s no better than the rest. She acts nice and gentle-like, but I’ve seen her stamping up and down in her room looking like a very devil ”

“ Greene received reinforcements; though most of them were raw and untrained men, he knew that a battle must be risked while his ranks were full. He marched back to Guilford Court House, where a battle was fought, March, 1781. The raw troops were not able to withstand the attack of the British regulars, and the patriots were defeated. Though defeated, Greene remained in control of much of North Carolina; Cornwallis went northward, entered Virginia, and advanced to his fate at Yorktown. ”

“ Bend up your bows, and see your strings be tight,
The arrows keen, and everything be ready,
And each of you a good bat on his neck,
Able to lay a good man on the ground.
Scar. I will have Friar Tuck's.
Much. I will have Little John's.
Rob. I will have one made of an ashen plank,
Able to bear a bout or two.—
Then come on, Marian, let us go;
For before the sun doth show the morning day,
I will be at Wakefield to see this Pinner, George-a-Greene.
[Exeunt.
SCENE III.—At Bradford.
A Shoemaker discovered at work: enter Jenkin, carrying a staff. [313]
Jen. ”