Jessop

“ You are to go to my rooms at Jessop's farm at once. They will be fast asleep, so that you need not be afraid. Jessop's people have the slumber that comes of a tired body and an easy conscience. But there are foes about and it is not well to trust to anybody. ”

“ But beneath her passing moods lay her real self that she revealed to no one except Bastien whom she loved, and to him only in flashes—fierce caresses, violent fits of weeping that made him uneasy. She looked sometimes as though she were capable of running a knife into a man.
Mrs. Jessop had independent means. She occupied the position of housekeeper because her abundant vitality would not be dammed into the sluggish pool of a lonely life. She needed other women to domineer over, to be dependent on her for favours; men, with whom to be alternately jovial and sullen. ”

“ Jessop's voice was compelling. "You men love this girl. Have any of you got the spunk to marry her and take the responsibility of her? Have you? Because if you have—and she'll agree—I'll pronounce her innocent this minute, and she can set on the bank while you fools make it up between you which it's to be. Will anybody marry this Delight Mainprize?" Her big voice shook with sardonic laughter. "A handsome filly—sound in wind and limb—will not shy at anything—guaranteed to be fond of gentlemen." ”

“ The children had indeed vied with one another as to which could produce the most horrible looking turnip head, and part of the sport was to hide in dark alleys and suddenly to exhibit the lanterns to unwary passers-by, to try to raise a scream. The small imps careered round and round, prancing and giving an occasional yell of "Nicky Nan". The girls laughed in much amusement, and Jessop, who had witnessed the custom from her youth up, felt in her pocket for some pennies, and threw them into the road to be scrambled for. ”

“ When she had got it, her voice came with a cooing note across the lagoon.
"She says she'll marry anyone."
"Take her out of the water," shouted the men.
Mrs. Jessop helped Delight to the bank. She herself was soaked to the thighs, but she felt neither chilled nor stiff. Delight was drenched, through and through. Her heavy hair, in long wet strands, half hid her marble face as she sank to the ground, her head resting on her hand—her strong right hand that now felt so weak. . . .
The tailor, now resuscitated, had heard Mrs. Jessop's question and Kirke's answer. ”

“ He hurried on, in the hope that after all he might be able to save a human life. What a feeling of exultation comes over a man when he snatches a fellow-creature from the jaws of death! Wal Jessop had saved men’s lives before this time, but he was anxious to save someone from this fearful wreck if possible.
As he struggled on over the uneven rocks, he saw that the ledge upon which the white object lay was out of the reach of the waves. His practised eyes saw at a glance that, if a man had been cast up on to this ledge, he would not be washed back by the receding waves. ”

“ Having finished this dismal letter, he packed up one or two of his things in a small handbag and descended to the parlour. There he found an ample supper provided for him by the tender-hearted Mrs Jessop, who had a pretty shrewd guess as to the nature of the “journey” that her master’s ward was about to take. But Jeffreys was not hungry, and the announcement that the meal was there by the “master’s orders” turned him against it.
“I can’t eat anything, thank you,” he said to Mrs Jessop, “you gave me such a good tea only a little while ago.”
“But you’ve a long journey, Master John. ”

“ Jessop to herself, "if I haven't forgot to give it to her after all!"
"It" was the only thing which had been found upon Alexia Boucheafen, the tiny roll of paper, covered with its grotesque red characters and tied with its piece of faded silk. Rather ashamed of her forgetfulness and neglect, the housekeeper took it and went up-stairs at once to the new governess's room.
Alexia was sitting by the fire, almost as Doctor Brudenell had left her, her chin drooping upon her hands, her face almost hidden by her hair. She started at Mrs. Jessop's entrance, flung back the black tresses, and looked up. ”

“ When Saturday came round again they begged to be allowed to go to Chagmouth as usual.
"We wouldn't be a scrap of bother to Mrs. Penruddock," said Mavis. "If Jessop may give us some lunch we could eat it on the cliffs or in the woods."
"That's a great idea," declared Uncle David. "I'll do the same to-day. Jessop shall make us up a lunch basket, and we'll all have a picnic meal together somewhere before I go up to the Sanatorium. It will certainly save them trouble at the farm. Mrs. Penruddock won't want to do any cooking for us, I'm sure, when she's so busy nursing." ”

“ Jessop, and she glared around the twilit room, as though she half expected to find Bastien hidden there.
Delight took her coat and hat from the peg and put them on, avoiding Mrs. Jessop's eyes.
"What about my box and basket?" she asked.
"You take one end of the trunk. It ain't very heavy, and I'll take the other. You can carry the basket in your other hand. You're big enough, ain't you?"
Together they carried the trunk down the steep black stairway. Delight was in front, the basket bumping against her leg, the trunk weighing on her cruelly. "Oh," she thought, "what a fix I'm in! ”

“ I'm afraid it will get trodden on. And, oh, look, it has put its wretched little paw into the inkpot! If you dare to smudge my beautiful clean papers——" She held it gingerly by the body while Mr. Jessop dabbed its foot with blotting-paper.
"You'll be kind to him?" he asked wistfully.
"Of course I shall, and I'll call him Arnold, after you. Because," she added hastily, in dread of misunderstanding, "because it was so good of you to give him to me." She smiled vividly, with her unfailing wish to please. ”

“ All I have heard or read gave me a very faint idea of the reality, which is far beyond any expectation I had formed.’
‘I’m glad to hear that,’ replied Wal Jessop. ‘People at times are apt to consider we “blow” too much about our harbour.’
‘Too much praise cannot be bestowed upon a scene like this,’ said Edgar.
When they arrived at Circular Quay, Wal Jessop took his companion to the Marine Board offices, where he left him, and went to send a cablegram to Edgar’s father.
Edgar gave his account of the wreck in a manner that at once won the respect of Captain Fife and the members of the Board. ”

“ Geoffrey rose instantly from the table upon which he had been seated.
He saw a tall woman who might have been anything between thirty and fifty years of age, a woman of great beauty. It was the hard, commanding style of beauty that men call regal. She might have been a queen, but for the faint suggestion of the adventuress about her. To Geoffrey's bow she made the slightest possible haughty recognition.
"I'm going out, Mrs. Jessop," she said. "I shall be back to luncheon. If a telegram should happen to come for me, I shall be along the cliffs between here and Beauhaven." ”

“ Jessop'll no like ye mounting the front with them, at this hour, with the commaircial gentlemen about.
As they ascended the stairway, the shorter of the two girls said: "I'm sure we're much obliged to you, sir, for your trouble. We're a bit dazed after the long journey, and with the strange plice and all."
"Ay, it's a long way to come for two young geerls," said Kirke. "I wonder sometimes how you get the pluck. But you will do it. I suppose there are motives to bring ye, eh?" He gave a short laugh like a bark and grinned down at her.
"Well, a girl 'as to live, 'asn't she?" ”

“ Jessop! He may win Million's fortune for his aeroplane invention. But good-bye to his chances of the heiress herself if the Hon. Jim does turn up to-morrow.
The Hon. Jim Burke did turn up. But not at the picnic, exactly.... Let me tell you about it from the beginning. The picnic was to take place on the cliffs near Rottingdean. Some of the "Refugettes" walked, looking like a band of brightly dressed, buoyant-spirited schoolgirls on a holiday. Two of the party, namely, Mr. Jessop and his cousin, my mistress, motored in the little two-seater car that he had kept on to stay with him in Lewes. ”

“ You will see therein a portrait of a certain young fellow who is styled “The Distant Shore Hero,” which is no more than he deserves. Give little Eva a lot of kisses from me. I long to see the child you saved so splendidly. I am sure Wal Jessop must be a grand man, and his wife a dear, good woman. ”

“ Jessop. She found a little sandy knoll overgrown with coarse grass, just big enough to sit on. Here she dropped with the canes arching over her head. A light breeze stirred them and the reddish leaves whispered together. A tiny goldfinch sprang on to a spray beside her and burst into the sweet medley of his autumn song. The spray swayed beneath him but he clutched it, all on a slant, and still sang on. A bit of milkweed fluff sailed shining between the canes. It caught in her hair and clung. This country scene seemed to enfold her, to make her one with it. Oh, if Jimmy were only here! ”

“ Delight swallowed the last of her tea and set down the cup.
With a fierce gesture, Mrs. Jessop snatched it up, and, with rigid arm, held it before the eyes of the girl.
"You see that cup?"
"Yes."
Mrs. Jessop hurled it to the floor, smashing it to fragments. A ferocious smile lighted her face.
"Well, I don't run no risk of ever putting my mouth to that cup, see? All us women hate you. Go!"
3. Henry was already trundling the wheelbarrow up the street when Delight crossed the stable-yard. She hurried after him, carrying her basket of dishes, feeling pursued by Mrs. Jessop's hatred. ”

“ Jessop, got rid of your charges for to-night—eh?" he said, good-humoredly.
"That I haven't, sir, for to go to bed they wouldn't! I've seen a good many children, but never did I see children so set upon their own way as them children!" declared Mrs. Jessop, emphatically.
The Doctor felt that this was correct; his opinion being that any children in the least degree resembling Laura's luckily did not exist anywhere.
"Oh, spoilt, Mrs. Jessop," he remarked, judicially—"spoilt—that's it! They'll be better, you'll find, when we get a good strict governess for them ”

“ The door was closed, so he just got out of the window. I rather admire the spirit; there is something Napoleonic about him. Don't you think so?"
Lewes shrugged his shoulders. Heathcote's expression was quite non-committal.
"You'd better send Jessop up to Pym, Heathcote," [167] said Challis. "Let him find out whether the child is safe at home."
Jessop reported an hour afterwards that Master Stott had arrived home quite safely, and Mrs. Stott was much obliged. ”

“ Jessop, if you please. She is still very weak."
But, when he went up-stairs half an hour later, he found that Mrs. Jessop had not yet succeeded in getting the "young torments" out of Miss Boucheafen's room. Miss Boucheafen was sitting in a great chair by the fire, her dark hair streaming over her shoulders, and with the children grouped about her—Floss on her knee, Maggie perched on the arm of her chair, and Tom kneeling at her feet, all three listening intently to what she was telling them. What it was the Doctor did not hear, for the group broke up at his entrance ”

“ Are you gone on him, Delight? I tell you, he'll never marry you, if that's what you're looking for. All he cares for you is to use you as a tool to spite me. I care more for your little finger than he does for your whole body. Look here, I could have shot old Jessop when she fired you. I'll get even with her for it, too."
"Here comes Mr. Kirke with the lemonade," breathed Delight. She feared trouble between the two men. The air seemed charged with danger, full of a sinister tension.
Bastien pressed her arm. "All right. I'll get out. ”

“ How cunning it all is, how beautifully worked out! And nothing, however small, is left to chance. Well, I came home in the nick of time, and I have found an ally I can depend upon. Only it was just as well not to let Geoffrey know that I knew of Jessop's lodger before to-day. I wonder if my lady guesses how carefully she is being watched."
Half an hour later Ralph was in the castle again, wandering about in his restless way and appearing to be interested in nothing, as usual. Presently the great bell began to clang in the turret, and the family partly gathered in the dining room before dinner. ”

“ Jessop's machines, a positive bomb!
The unexpected happened once more. The unexpected took the form, this time, of an unobtrusive-looking man on a bicycle.
When we met him, slipping along on the road coming [Pg 304] from the direction of Miss Vi Vassity's "Refuge," I really hardly noticed that we had passed a cyclist.
Miss Million, apparently, had noticed; she straightened her back with a funny little jerky gesture that she has when she means to be very dignified. She turned to me and said: "Well! He'll know us next time he sees us, that's one thing! ”

“ Another little buzz of comment greeted the name of the lady whom I had always called "the cobra-woman."
And then Mr. Jessop turned from this surprising theme to something that seemed nearer still to his heart. "Well, and, Cousin Nellie, here's a bit of good news. I guess that bomb-dropper of mine is a cinch. Your authorities over here are taking it up all right. They're going to use it all right!"
"Oh, are they, Hiram?" said my young mistress in the indulgent tone of a grown-up person discussing its [Pg 383] toys with some child. She always adopts this tone towards her cousin's invention. ”