Hornby

“ Hornby, in spite of really heroic efforts to control her emotion, was in a state of impending hysteria, while Juliet, though outwardly calm and composed, showed by the waxen pallor of her cheeks and a certain wildness of her eyes that all her terror was reviving; and I was glad that they were spared the unpleasantness of contact with the policemen who guarded the various entrances.
"We must be brave," said Thorndyke gently, as he took Mrs. Hornby's hand, "and show a cheerful face to our friend who has so much to bear and who bears it so patiently. ”

“ She heard the conversation between the prisoner and her master; heard Mr. Hornby agree to sign the paper—bill she ought to say—for two hundred and fifty pounds; saw him do it, and then deliver it folded up to Mr. Burton."
A shout of execration burst from the auditory as these words were uttered, and every eye was turned to the spot where Hornby had been seated. He had disappeared during the previous confusion.
"Silence!" exclaimed the judge sternly. "Why, woman," he added, "have you never spoken of this before?" ”

“ And, when I call Hornby an honourable man, I mean what I say, as you will see.
This was the state of things when the Derby crash came. At half-past five on that day, the Viscountess Welter dashed up to her elegant residence in St. John's Wood, in a splendid barouche, drawn by four horses, and, when "her people" came and opened the door and let down the steps, lazily descended, and followed by her footman bearing her fal-lals, lounged up the steps as if life were really too ennuyant to be borne any longer. ”

“ You must have ridden out with Lady Welter more than once, I take it."
"Are you going to say anything to Lord Welter, sir?"
"Not I. I like you too well to lose you. You will stick by me, won't you?"
"I will," said Charles, "to the death. But oh, Hornby, for any sake mind those d——d bones!"
"I will. But don't be an ass: I don't play half as much as you think."
"You are playing with Welter now, sir; are you not?"
"You are a pretty dutiful sort of a groom, I don't think," said Hornby, looking round and laughing good-naturedly. ”

“ But with regard to Walter Hornby, I should be sorry to apply the term 'mercenary' to him, and yet—well, I have never met a young man who showed a stronger appreciation of the value of money. He means to succeed in life and I have no doubt he will."
"And do I understand that you refused him?"
"Yes. My feelings towards him are quite friendly, but not of such a nature as to allow me to contemplate marrying him."
"And now, to return for a moment to Mr. Reuben. You have known him for some years?"
"I have known him intimately for six years," replied Miss Gibson. ”

“ Mr. Hornby.
[She goes out. Reginald Hornby is a good-looking young man, with a neat head on a long, elegant body. His dark, sleek hair is carefully brushed, his small moustache is trim and curled. His beautiful clothes suggest the fashionable tailors of Savile Row. His tie, his handkerchief protruding from the breast pocket, his boots, are the very latest thing. He is a nut.]
Hornby.
I say, I’m awfully sorry to blow in like this. But I didn’t know if you’d be staying on here, and I wanted to catch you. And I’m off in a day or two, myself.
Norah.
Won’t you sit down? Mr. Hornby—Miss Pringle. ”

“ If, in consequence of your devilish plotting, these men consign me to a felon's grave, I shall not be cold in it when you will be calling upon the mountains to fall and cover you from the vengeance of the Judge of heaven and earth! Speak, man—save me: save your own soul from mortal peril whilst there is yet time for mercy and repentance!"
Hornby's expression of surprise and confusion had gradually changed during this appeal to its usual character of dogged impassibility. He turned calmly and appealingly towards the bench. ”

“ Thorndyke told me. What do you think of Hornby's prospects? Is he going to be convicted, or will he get an acquittal?"
"He will be entirely passive," replied Anstey, "but we"—here he slapped his chest impressively—"are going to secure an acquittal. You will be highly entertained, my learned friend, and Mr. The Enemy will be excessively surprised." ”

“ Don't get all worked up as late as this."
"There won't be a soul you know except old Blake. The Hazelwoods, the Carters, and the McRays from town are coming. You see how important it is! I'm giving the dinner for Thomas Hornby. He was a classmate of Henry's, and since he has made such a name for himself down there in South America—and such a fortune, too—everybody's crazy to meet him. He's a great drawing-card. Probably you've heard of him."
Lucretia nodded. "Yes," she replied—the papers had been full of Thomas Hornby—"I've heard of him." ”

“ In these altered circumstances Hornby entered on his duties as headmaster of Eton early in 1868. The appointment of an oppidan, an Oxonian, and a gentleman of high breeding and aristocratic birth, who had not served his apprenticeship as an Eton master, marked the new era in the history of the school. In accordance with the spirit of the age and the new statutes many reforms were introduced by Hornby into the school curriculum. He was, however, a progressive rather than a radical reformer, with a tendency to become more conservative as years went on. ”

“ The coincidence was striking and even startling, though a moment's reflection convinced me that it was nothing more than a coincidence; for there must be hundreds of second-hand "Blicks" on the market, and, as to Walter Hornby, he certainly could have no quarrel with Thorndyke, but would rather be interested in his preservation on Reuben's account. ”

“ But why has Reggie Hornby come?"
"Oh, he's going back to England."
"Is he?"
"Yes, he got them to send his passage money [Pg 266] at last. His ship doesn't sail till next week, and he said he might just as well stop over here and say good-by to you."
"How has he been getting on?"
"How do you expect? He looks upon work as something that only damned fools do. Where's Frank?"
"Oh, he's out with Sid Sharp. Sid's our neighbor. He has the farm you passed on your way here."
"Getting on all right with him, Nora?"
"Why, of course," said Nora with just a suggestion of irritation in her voice. ”

“ J. J. Hornby, who succeeded the rigid Dr. Balston in the headmastership of Eton in 1868. It was a marvel that a man who loved leisure and quietude as he did, and who seemed always to desire to doff rather than to don the formalities of high office, should have deliberately sought preferment in a profession which could not have been very congenial to him. Not that he lacked the reputed qualities of a ruler: he had a stately presence, a most courteous manner, a charming sense of humour, and{20} the rare power of interesting an audience in any subject of which he spoke. ”

“ Reuben is an industrious worker at his business and, in his leisure, a student of ancient and medieval art; possibly a babbling fool and a cad or, on the other hand, a maligned and much-abused man.
"Walter Hornby is obviously a sneak and possibly a liar; a keen man of business, perhaps a flutterer round the financial candle that burns in Throgmorton Street; an expert photographer and a competent worker of the collotype process. You have done a very excellent day's work, Jervis. ”

“ Margaret, who espoused William Langton, of Manchester; and Alice, who died a spinster. Hugh Hornby, the only son, born in 1799, succeeded to the Hall and lands on the death of his father in 1832, and left issue at his own demise, in 1849, Hugh Hilton, Margaret Anne, and Mary Alice. Hugh Hilton Hornby, of Ribby Hall, esq., who married his relative, Georgina, the daughter of the Rev. Robert Hornby, M.A., J.P., in 1868, is the present representative of the family, and was born in 1836. ”

“ Accordingly, we find him loudly accused of having poisoned his brother-in-law, John Harrington, by the agency of a servant; and he is suspected also of having, through subornation of perjury, proved, or attempted to prove, himself tenant of the honour of Hornby. ”

“ Hornby and his affairs, and from our talk there had emerged certain facts of no little moment to the inquiry on which I was engaged.
"Misfortunes are proverbially sociable," Juliet had remarked, in reference to her adopted uncle. "As if this trouble about Reuben were not enough, there are worries in the city. ”

“ Christopher Swainson, B.A., incumbent of Copp, and Elizabeth, his wife; he was a Fellow of Worcester College, Oxford. The Rev. Charles Buck was the son of the Rev. Charles Buck, M.A., vicar of Kirkham; he was afterwards curate of Warton and Lund. The Rev. Hugh Hornby was the sixth son of Hugh Hornby, esq., of Kirkham, whose eldest son was Joseph Hornby, esq., D.L., of Ribby Hall. He married Ann, daughter and co-heiress of Joseph Starky, M.D., of Redvales, and had issue, one son, William, now the Venerable Archdeacon Hornby, who succeeded him in the living, and is the present vicar and patron. ”

“ The kindly admonition made a considerable impression upon the culprit’s mind. Nevertheless, he could not help being amused when [290] the next Sunday, in Chapel, he heard the Doctor take as his text, “All men are liars.”
In appearance Dr. Hornby was the absolutely perfect type of an Eton Headmaster. Immaculately dressed, and of fine presence, he possessed a natural dignity which even impressed boys totally lacking in reverence for all other institutions of the school. ”

“ I asked.
"He is making an enlarged facsimile of one of the thumb-prints on bromide paper and a negative of the same size in case we want the print repeated."
"You evidently have some expectation of being able to help poor Hornby," said I, "though I cannot imagine how you propose to go to work. To me his case seems as hopeless a one as it is possible to conceive. One doesn't like to condemn him, but yet his innocence seems almost unthinkable."
"It does certainly look like a hopeless case," Thorndyke agreed, "and I see no way out of it at present. ”

“ John Hornby, of Blackburn and Raikes Hall, married Alice Kendal, a widow, and the daughter of Daniel Backhouse, of Liverpool, by whom he had four sons—Daniel, born in 1800, who espoused Frances, daughter of John Birley, of Manchester, and dying in 1863, left issue, Fanny Backhouse and Margaret Alice Hornby; Robert, born in 1804, M.A., a clergyman and justice of the peace, who married Maria Leyland, daughter of Sir William Fielden, bart., and had issue, Robert Montagu, William St. ”

“ The engineer says there's something strained that we must get mended. But, by the way," he added, "why don't you dine with us on board to-night? Do. We can give you a few English things that may be a change to you."
This invitation I gladly accepted for two reasons. One was because the suspicions of the Captain of the Port had aroused my curiosity, and the other was because I had, honestly speaking, taken a great fancy to Hornby. ”

“ The fastened doors were at right angles on the landing which we filled between us. Lord Thornaby smiled grimly on the rest of us, when he had nodded and dismissed the author like a hound from the leash.
"It's a good thing we know something about our friend Parrington," said my lord. "He takes more kindly to all this than I do, I can tell you."
"It's grist to his mill," said Raffles charitably.
"Exactly! We shall have the whole thing in his next book."
"I hope to have it at the Old Bailey first," remarked Kingsmill, Q.C.
"Refreshing to find a man of letters such a man of action too!" ”

“ Lord Thornaby, however, was not to be amused by the elaboration of his own idea, and it was with some asperity that he called upon the butler, now solemnly superintending the removal of the cloth.
"Leggett! Just send up-stairs to see if all the doors are open and the rooms in proper order. That's an awful idea of yours, Kingsmill, or of mine!" added my lord, recovering the courtesy of his order by an effort that I could follow. "We should look fools. ”

“ Sikes," announced the barrister, like a man who had got his cue.
"But he was prehistoric," rejoined my lord. "A lot of blood has flowed under the razor since the days of Sweet William."
"True; we have had Peace," said Parrington, and launched out into such glowing details of that criminal's last moments that I began to hope the diversion might prove permanent. But Lord Thornaby was not to be denied.
"William and Charles are both dead monarchs," said he. "The reigning king in their department is the fellow who gutted poor Danby's place in Bond Street." ”

“ Lord Thornaby stared at me with inscrutable stolidity as we shook hands, and at once handed me over to a tall, ungainly man whom he addressed as Ernest, but whose surname I never learned. Ernest in turn introduced me, with a shy and clumsy courtesy, to the two remaining guests. They were the pair who had driven up in the hansom; one turned out to be Kingsmill, Q.C.; the other I knew at a glance from his photographs as Parrington, the backwoods novelist. ”

“ Kingsmill, Q.C., beaming tranquilly on Raffles, seemed the one least impressed, until he spoke.
"I am glad to hear that," he remarked in a high bland voice. "I thought that man would die game."
"Did you know anything about him, then?" inquired Lord Thornaby.
"I led for the Crown," replied the barrister, with a twinkle. "You might almost say that I measured the poor man's neck."
The point must have been quite unpremeditated; it was not the less effective for that. Lord Thornaby looked askance at the callous silk. It was some moments before Ernest tittered and Parrington felt for his pencil ”

“ Harry shook off the hand that had been laid upon his arm, and pulled out his watch.
"It's twenty to three," said he quietly. "I leave Waterloo by the five-forty, and my bag leaves with me. Let there be no misunderstanding about that, Mr. Lowndes. I must have it by five o'clock—not a minute later."
"Why must you? Surely they could fix you up for one night? I guarantee it won't be longer."
"They dress for dinner down at Guildford," said Harry; "it isn't the fixing up for the night."
"Well, why not lose your bag on the way? Nothing more natural in a young fellow of your age." ”