John Marsh

“ He had been in Paris only two weeks, and he had already secured the American agency of two of the most important French automobile makers, and on top of this unlooked-for success had come the surprising news from home that John Marsh was dead at last. The event so long waited for had actually happened. Too much good fortune is bad for anyone, and for the last few hours Tod had been celebrating not wisely, but too well. ”

“ Despite Marsh's boldness as a critical theologian he was elected in 1807 to the Lady Margaret professorship at Cambridge, in succession to John Mainwaring, and retained the appointment till his death. After his election he married the daughter of his Leipzig protector, Marianne Emilie Charlotte Lecarriere. The wedding took place by special license at Harwich, 1 July, immediately on the lady's landing. Marsh had already by his writings introduced into theological study at Cambridge a more scientific and liberal form of biblical criticism. ”

“ The other cousins, William and Henry had died, each leaving a son. William's son, Peter Marsh, feeling within the spiritual call, became a Presbyterian minister at Rahway, and taking to himself a wife, succeeded in raising a numerous progeny on a very slender income. Henry's son, Thomas Marsh, followed his father's trade as haberdasher and barely managed to keep body and soul together. To these poor relatives, also, the dollars of "uncle" John proved an irresistible attraction. ”

“ I fought him three times as we were crossing. I licked each time. He must be younger."
"And the young gentleman whose name you don't happen to remember?"
"He's older. He bangs me easy. Just picks me up and knocks me down. I reckon John G. William will find him pretty tough."
While Mr. Harland had been talking to John P. Arthur he had been paying no attention to his letters. When he turned to them he found that among them there were two which threw some light upon the proceedings of the missing Masters Bindon. Here is the first:
"The Barracks, Liverpool. ”

“ Marsh.
"Whatever is right," he echoed; "that shall be to them——"
When they had disappeared, Paula said quickly:
"No, I will not— I refuse." [Pg 341]
"You must!" insisted the lawyer, unwilling to be balked of his prey now in his hour of triumph.
"No," she said firmly, "it's only revenge you want—revenge—on——"
"Revenge on whom?" he demanded.
"You hated him from the very first," she cried.
"Hated whom?"
"Tod——"
"Always that man!" cried the lawyer impatiently. "You think of no one else. Ah, you love him! Tell me the truth, Paula, I can bear it now. You love him!" ”

“ Slowly the young girl descended the winding staircase, carefully assisted round the turns by the Examiner. She seemed weak and looked very pale. But her face brightened as soon as she caught sight of friends.
"Good news, Miss Paula!" exclaimed Tod breathlessly. "You will scarcely believe it."
Mrs. Marsh, who had hastily dried her eyes, rose and went towards her niece with arms outstretched. [Pg 331] "Paula!" she cried. "How we have wronged you!"
"I thought she would be more comfortable with you," smiled Dr. McMutrie. "I'm afraid the presence of we men of science rather disconcerts her." ”

“ You'll not only be a grass widow, but a grass mother. I want to see Miss Marsh because—well, I want to see her——"
"She owes me three weeks' board," repeated Mrs. Parkes doggedly.
"What of it?" he laughed. "I don't want to see her about that."
"I don't trust a girl who owes me three weeks' lodging——"
"You do trust her, or she wouldn't owe you. You trust her because she's a lady, because you like [Pg 88] her—yes, you do! She's in trouble, mother—and you're never hard on anyone that's in trouble, you dear old bundle of inconsistencies!" ”

“ The examiner bowed and returned to his seat.
"You'd better go home, Todhunter," said Jimmy, severely.
"No, James," retorted his stepson calmly. "I think I'll stay here."
"But this is a private commission, sir!" roared Mr. Cooley angrily.
"Well, let's make it public," retorted Tod quickly. Turning to Paula, he said: "Would you like me to stay here, Miss Marsh?"
"Oh—please—please!" she said imploringly.
"It's impossible!" shouted the lawyer angrily. "I object."
"Nothing is impossible when a lady requests it," [Pg 239] rejoined Tod determinedly. "Go on with the examination! ”

“ Taking up the telephone to communicate with the ward, he said:
"Well, I'll see, but I'm afraid——"
"If he succeeds," laughed Tod, "it will be the first time your relationship to Jimmy has been of the slightest advantage."
"Won't you help us, Dr. McMutrie?" pleaded Mrs. Marsh. "We're so anxious to see her! That will be the second time you've come to our rescue. Don't say no. Let us see her, there's a dear man! If you insist, they can't refuse——"
The examiner turned to the superintendent.
"I don't see why Mrs. Marsh should not see her niece. Send for her, Mr. Spencer." ”

“ He's dead now. Why can't you let him alone?"
Rising and flinging down his newspaper with a gesture of impatience, the young man crossed the room, and, pausing at a door near the window, he leaned his head forward and listened. His mother watched him in silence. Disapproval at his behavior was plainly written on her face.
"What are you doing at that door, sir?" she demanded sharply.
Harry grinned. He knew his mother's weakness too well to be much impressed with her affected tone of severity.
"Is Miss Marsh in?" he asked, in a low tone.
A new suspicion crossed Mrs. Parkes' mind. ”

“ Marsh, averting her face. "You did not deserve to suffer. I do."
"Dr. McMutrie has been very kind," went on Paula; "he seemed to realize instinctively that Dr. Zacharie was against me. That fact alone enlisted his sympathy."
"Yes, my dear," said Mrs. Marsh, who had [Pg 334] somewhat recovered from her agitation, "Dr. McMutrie is an exceptionally nice man. One doesn't often meet such men nowadays." With a mischievous glance at Tod, she added: "He's almost as nice as my son, don't you think so, Paula?" ”

“ Hold the rein loose. Treat women and horses alike. Women and horses—the noblest creatures in God's creation. Leave her to me, I said—you see I wanted to get well acquainted with you—I'm interested—really I am." [Pg 125]
"Indeed!" laughed Paula satirically. "I ought to feel quite complimented."
Tod broke out into a hearty laugh. Pointing gleefully at his hostess, he cried:
"Ha! ha! The ice is cracking. Miss Marsh—I warn you—you're warming up!"
Paula was about to make retort when the door opened and Harry Parkes appeared. He nodded stiffly to Tod and approached the lawyer. ”

“ McMutrie, leaving his seat, placed a chair for her so she might face them. [Pg 230]
"Now, Miss Marsh," he said, not unkindly, "please don't be alarmed. There is nothing to be afraid of. We are here only for your own good. Won't you please answer the few questions we shall ask you? It is merely a matter of form. Please take a seat, and above all, don't be nervous."
Paula sat down, and he returned to his place. Mr. Cooley made a sign to Mrs. Parkes to withdraw, and the landlady was about to obey when Paula stopped her. ”

“ Marsh asked drily.
"He works from eight in the mornin' till eight at night, an' it's later on Saturdays, but he has a half-day a week til himself, an' he has all day Sunday. They don't drink on Sunday in Glasgow!"
Marsh smiled. "Don't they?" he said.
"It's long hours," Jamesey admitted, "but he has great diversion. D'ye know this, Mr. Marsh!" he continued, rolling over on his side and speaking more quickly, "he can go to a music-hall twice on the one night an' hear all the latest songs for tuppence. That's all it costs him. ”

“ Her uncle and Bascom Cooley gave no sign of life, yet still she worried. She tried to centre all her attention on her work, but always the silent question arose in her mind: "What is being plotted in the dark?" The uncertainty of suspense unnerved her so much that she was soon rendered unfit for work of any kind.
One evening about two weeks after the ignominious retreat of Messrs. Marsh and Cooley, she was sitting alone with Mr. Ricaby in Mrs. Parkes' parlor. ”

“ He appears to us as a gigantic figure looming, indistinctly, out of the mists of the past, impressive yet lacking vitality, and seemingly without any of those qualities that make historic personages intelligible to a living world of living men. Yet no man in our history was more intensely human than John Marshall and few had careers so full of movement and color. ”

“ McMutrie, he said:
"Ah! That establishes irresponsibility."
"Quite so—quite so," chimed in Professor Bodley, trying to look alert by peering over his spectacles.
But the lawyer's interference only earned for him a well-merited rebuke from the head of the commission. Frigidly the examiner said:
"I prefer to draw my own conclusions, Mr. Cooley." Turning again to Paula, he went on: "You left your church a year ago—why?"
"Because Mr. James Marsh is one of its chief pillars," she replied spiritedly. "He prays the loudest and receives the most homage——" [Pg 241]
Tod laughed outright. ”

“ Not more was John Marshall the chief of the accomplished and able men who sat with him on the Supreme Bench at Washington than, even in his advancing years, he was the leader of the convivial spirits who gathered to pitch quoits, drink julep and punch, tell stories, sing songs, make speeches, and play pranks under the trees of Richmond. ”

“ The only members of the Marsh family present were Peter, the Presbyterian minister and his wife, from Rahway, and Thomas Marsh, the haberdasher and his wife, from Newark, while the genial Tod, a broad grin on his face, stood up for his mother.
The newly married pair took a showy house in West Seventy-second Street, and while the money lasted they lived in magnificent style. When it was gone they lived no less luxuriously, thanks [Pg 17] to the unwilling coöperation of overconfident tradespeople. Mrs. ”

“ The dreams he had dreamed, the visions he had seen back in his Virginia mountains were clad in glories as enchanting as the splendors of their tree-clad summits at break of day—dreams and visions for which strong men should be glad of the privilege of dying if thereby they might be won as realities for all the people. And indeed at this time, and in the even deadlier days that followed, young John Marshall found strong men by his side willing to die and to go through worse than death to make their great dream come true. ”

“ Above all other influences upon his associates on the bench, and, indeed, upon everybody who knew him, was the sense of trustworthiness, honor, and uprightness he inspired. [249] Perhaps no public man ever stood higher in the esteem of his contemporaries for noble personal qualities than did John Marshall. ”

“ Every contemporary student of Marshall's method and equipment notes the meagerness of his learning in the law. "Everyone has heard of the gigantick abilities of John Marshall; as a most able and profound reasoner he deserves all the praise which has been lavished upon him," writes Francis Walker Gilmer, in his keen and brilliant contemporary analysis of Marshall. ”

“ With good-natured contempt for the maneuvers of the politicians and the rage of the public, yet carefully and coolly weighing every element of the situation, John Marshall, when the appointed day of May came around, was ready to take his seat upon the bench and to conduct the historic trial of Aaron Burr with that kindly forbearance which never deserted him, that canny understanding of men and motives which served him better than learning, and that placid fortitude that could not be shaken. ”

“ Horse-racing, runaway slaves, politics, and other picturesque matters were the subjects discussed. [619] Outsiders stood in no awe of these lawgivers of the people and voiced their contempt, ridicule, or dislike quite as freely as their approval or admiration. [620]
Into this assembly came John Marshall in the fall of 1782. Undoubtedly his father had much to do with his son's election as one of Fauquier County's representatives. His predominant influence, which had made Thomas Marshall Burgess, Sheriff, and Vestryman before the Revolution, had been increased by his admirable war record ”

“ If they don't hit a tree and break their necks he ought to be back in half an hour." Surprised to find his mother still sitting there, he demanded: "Haven't you seen Paula yet?"
"No," she answered. "I was waiting until the gentleman at the desk had time to attend to me."
But Tod was not of the kind who waits for the convenience of others. Striding boldly to the desk, he said, in a tone of authority:
"Mr. Spencer, will you please send for Miss Marsh? My mother wishes to see her at once."
The superintendent, who was busy going over some papers with Dr. ”

“ With this experience of what war meant, John Marshall could have returned to the safety of Oak Hill and have spent, at that pleasant fireside, the red years that were to follow, as indeed so many in the colonies who then and after merely prated of liberty, actually did. But it was not in the Marshall nature to support a cause with lip service only. Father and son chose the sterner part; and John Marshall was now about to be schooled for four years by grim instructors in the knowledge that strong and orderly government is necessary to effective liberty. ”

“ John Marshall has been heretofore recognized as a man of great ability, and now he takes a position which he holds for life, and where his influence is paramount. On one occasion a young house-keeper was swearing lustily because he could find no one to carry his turkey home for him. ”