John Ruffin

“ At the roar the Esmeralda turned, but the Honorable John Ruffin's arm went round her, and he drew her quickly across the Square.
Hilary Vance with long strides bore Señor Perez, struggling violently and expostulating in shrieks of the most idiomatic Montevidean, to the basin of the fountain. Then it would have been both more fitting and more decorous that he should have dropped him into it without falling into it himself; but that was not how it happened. They both fell into the basin together with a magnificent splash—so glorious a splash that Pollyooly shrieked with joy. ”

“ Now and again, of course, in spite of the faithfulness with which she followed the instructions of the Honorable John Ruffin to let other people do the talking, she did make a slip, displaying an ignorance of some familiar fact which should have astounded those about her. It was fortunate, indeed, that she had to do with unobservant persons. The servants were her chief danger ”

“ Ruffin’s elevation, is that he studied law while he was at his barber’s chair, and dependent upon it for a living.
As a member of the Massachusetts Legislature, Mr. Ruffin exhibited scholarly attainments in his speeches that placed him at once amongst the foremost men of that body. As a speaker, he is interesting, for his addresses show that he gives his subjects a thorough canvassing before he delivers them. Mr. Ruffin is a good [Pg 542] student, and is destined, we think, to rise still higher in his profession. ”

“ They were going to Lynch me!
The significant interrogatory, on account of the manner in which it was put, was hailed by the boys with a shout of laughter. Ruffin continued—
“No; I guess you han’t heerd ov that ar justice, since yur a stranger in these parts, an’ a Britisher. You han’t got sich a one among yur bigwigs, I reckin. He’s the fellar that ain’t a-goin’ to keep you long in Chancery. No, by God! he’ll do yur business in double-quick time. ”

“ Aastrid spoke even lower. “There is one I must not name who would guide thee to destruction. O Olaf, my King! beware of thy false friend, false to thee now, as false to thee in the past.”
“Dear Lady Aastrid, and thou, my Thorgills’ honored lady, have too deeply thought on this matter. Women true and devoted are prone to be ever fearful of danger. There is no one false to me now, for I have won back my lost friend.”
Lady Aastrid wrung her hands despairingly, and Maidoch clasped her hands in pleading. “Beware! my King!” they murmured. “Trust not too far! Beware!” ”

“ Ruff,” he said, “are easily manifest in you. Now hear our decision. Your wife shall be restored to you on the day when you take up this position to which you have become entitled. Sit down and listen.”
Peter Ruff was a rebel at heart, but he felt the grip of iron.
“During these four years when you, my friend, have been growing turnips and shooting your game, events in the great world have marched, new powers have come into being, a new page of history has been opened. ”

“ I would learn further of this wife of Brynjulf. What name has she, Kark?”
“She is called Aasa, my Jarl, and there is no other so beautiful in thy kingdom. All the best of the land is thine, and why yield this fairest of women to a low born hind, whom thou canst pay for his wife with a handful of gold?”
“My father, listen, and thou, hound of a Kark, keep silent.”
“Erlend, boy! I will have none of thy preaching. Thou art fit to mate with an Irish bishop. But I am a Norseman. Odin and Thor, and the woman for every year that they gave our fathers is religion enough for me. ”

“ Rufus? What you talkin' about!"
"Rufus. And the girl he is engaged to marry."
Rufus's father wheeled about, to the imminent danger of his eyes and the points of the open scissors. "What in the name of common sense— Why, Elviry, what you mean?"
"I mean w'at I say, father."
"Rufus? Why, you can't! It's—it's redic'lous. He ain't growed up. He's—he's—"
"Now, father, 'tain't no use to sputter this way. You set still! How can I cut 'ith you dancin' round like a teetotum? Rufus is a man—"
"A man! He ain't never hed a freedom suit." ”

“ The encounter with Ruffin had ruined all our prospects. Whether the hunter were yet dead or alive, his presence would guide the pursuit. The way we had got off would easily be conjectured, and our hiding-place could not long remain undiscovered.
What had passed would be likely to aggravate our pursuers, and strengthen their determination to capture us. Before Ruffin came up, there was yet a chance of safety. Most of those engaged in the pursuit would regard it as the mere ordinary affair of a chase after a runaway negro—a sport of which they might get tired whenever they should lose the track. ”

“ His eyes were sunk, his features deadly pale and gathered into an expression of despair. "Water!" he stretched his arms to Hans, and cried feebly, "Water! I am dying."
"I have none," replied Hans; "thou hast had thy share of life." He strode over the prostrate body and darted on. And a flash of blue lightning rose out of the East, shaped like a sword; it shook thrice over the whole heaven and left it dark with one heavy, impenetrable shade. The sun was setting; it plunged towards the horizon like a redhot ball. The roar of the Golden River rose on Hans's ear. ”

“ Lee. "I just can't stand these ranting fire-eating politicians. They make me ill. I'll go to my room."
She hurried up the stairway and left the frail mistress of the house to meet her formidable guest.
Ruffin was the product of the fierce Abolition Crusade. Hot-tempered, impulsive, intemperate in his emotions and their expression, he was the perfect counterpart of the men who were working night and day in the North to create a condition of mob feeling out of which a civil conflict might grow. Uncle Tom's Cabin had set him on fire with new hatreds. ”

“ But no one failing in his first can succeed in a second attempt, and if anyone shall cast unholy water into the river, it will overwhelm him and he will become a black stone." So saying, the King of the Golden River turned away and deliberately walked into the center of the hottest flame of the furnace. His figure became red, white, transparent, dazzling,--a blaze of intense light,--rose, trembled, and disappeared. The King of the Golden River had evaporated.
"Oh!" cried poor Gluck, running to look up the chimney after him, "O dear, dear, dear me! My mug! my mug! my mug!" ”

“ It was a home, this, in which a man could well lead a peaceful life, could dream away his days to the music of the west wind, the gurgling stream, the song of birds, and the low murmuring of insects. Peter Ruff stood like a man turned to stone, for, even as he looked, these things passed away from before his eyes, the roar of the world beat in his ears—the world of intrigue, of crime, the world where the strong man hewed his way to power, and the weaklings fell like corn before the sickle. ”

“ After feasting and renewed promises of friendship, Olaf left Wendland. As the “Long Serpent” and her attendant vessels were sailing away, they met, coming towards them, a small fleet. In the leading ship stood Earl Sigvalde; and when within hailing distance, he called out to Olaf:
“My King! I have ventured out to offer my poor help to thy noble ships. The coast of Wendland is is full of danger; and if thou wilt accept my escort, I will gladly be thy pilot. My wife, thy kinswoman, the Lady Aastrid, with the wife of thy faithful scald, Lord Thorgills, is following me, in my lady’s own galley.” ”

“ Maidoch rested her head upon Lady Aastrid’s shoulder and whispered: “He hath gone. My lord hath left me in thy care. He goes to seek King Olaf. Dear lady, he spoke of death and said I would be free; but oh! I will never be free in this world, be he living or dead, for my poor heart is bound up in his love. I did not know—I was sinful in my great longing for my own land—I did not know until he bade me farewell how desolate, how dark my life could be. Not Lord Thorgills himself, nor his life, nor his death can ever make me free again.” ”

“ King Olaf gave his hand to the kneeling man. “Rise! I give thee the word of Olaf Tryggevesson, and that is the strongest word among men to-day, that thou and the little maid shall suffer no harm.” He turned and pointed to the stern of the vessel. “Thore, keep that portion of the deck for this old man and his maid, and see that none molest them.”
Thorgills, however, was ahead of Thore, and had already spread out the cushions for the new-comers to rest upon. He led the old man to a seat. The tired eyes looked gratefully into the scald’s face. ”

“ A movement of Vagn’s ship caused Erik to look closer after the battle, and as he turned away, Earl Haakon, taking Erling’s hand, sprang with the boy into a small boat and rowed swiftly for the shore. As they passed beyond the rain of spears and arrows, the little lad turned and laid his head upon his father’s breast. “I am weary and I would sleep.”
Earl Haakon pushed the golden curls away. “And so thou shalt, my son, a good long sleep. The day is done, Erling, but the darkness comes not. Yon sun sits high through all the hours that the moon should claim. ”

“ How long may I stay?"
"Only till the mutton's done, sir," replied Gluck, "and it's very brown."
Then the old gentleman walked into the kitchen and sat himself down on the hob, with the top of his cap accommodated up the chimney, for it was a great deal too high for the roof.
"You'll soon dry there, sir," said Gluck, and sat down again to turn the mutton. But the old gentleman did NOT dry there, but went on drip, drip, dripping among the cinders, and the fire fizzed and sputtered and began to look very black and uncomfortable. Never was such a cloak; every fold in it ran like a gutter. ”

“ Peter Ruff answered. “Please take a chair.”
Sir Richard took the easy-chair, and discovering a box of cigarettes upon the table, helped himself. Then his eyes fell upon Miss Brown.
“Can’t do without your secretary?” he remarked.
“Impossible!” Peter Ruff answered. “As I told you before, I am her guarantee that what you say to me, or before her, is spoken as though to the dead.”
Sir Richard nodded.
“Just as well,” he remarked, “for I am going to talk about a man who I wish were dead!”
“There are few of us,” Peter Ruff said, “who have not our enemies.” ”

“ Peter Ruff shook his head.
“More than that,” he said. “You are a brave man in your way, Sir Richard Dyson, but you are going about now shivering under a load of fear. It sits like a devil incarnate upon your shoulders. It poisons the air wherever you go. Write your cheque, Sir Richard, and you can leave that little black devil in my wastebasket. You are under my protection. Nothing will happen to you.”
Sir Richard sat like a man mesmerised. The little man with the amiable expression and the badly fitting suit was leaning back in his chair, his finger tips pressed together, waiting. ”

“ For every hopelessly corrupt man who is induced to quit this life there is a more deserving one, somewhere or other, for whom the world is a better place.”
“So that, after all, you are a philanthropist, Mr. Ruff,” Sir Richard said, with a forced smile.
Peter Ruff shook his head.
“A philosopher,” he answered, buttoning up his notes.
CHAPTER IX. THE PERFIDY OF MISS BROWN
Peter Ruff came down to his office with a single letter in his hand, bearing a French postmark. He returned his secretary’s morning greeting a little absently, and seated himself at his desk. ”

“ The man bowed in silence, and took the visitor’s hat and overcoat. He passed along a spacious hall and into a delightfully furnished reception room, where an old lady with gray hair sat in the midst of a little circle of men. Peter Ruff stood, for a moment, upon the threshold, looking around him. She held out her hands.
“It is Monsieur Peter Ruff, is it not? At last, then, I am gratified. I have wished for so long to see one who has become so famous.” ”

“ The ruffs are small, but there is character about them. See two approach each other from opposite directions—looking, perhaps, for something to eat. They meet, stop, straddle wide their legs, and blow up their neck-feathers. Regarding each other fixedly, they rock solemnly to and fro. Then they let fall their collars and go off, each on his way, as though nothing had happened. It is a rude courtesy—a sort of ruff etiquette, in fact. Sometimes, however, this putting on of frills—as the same thing will do in other places—leads to fights. ”

“ Peter Ruff shrugged his shoulders.
“One must hold the candle,” he remarked.
“I decline to flirt with him,” she declared. “Nothing would induce me to be pleasant to such an odious creature.”
“He will be too busy to attempt anything of the sort. Of course he may not be there. It may be the merest fancy on my part. At any rate, you may rely upon it that he will not make any overtures in a public place like the Milan. Mr. Vincent Cawdor may be a curious sort of person, but I do not fancy that he is a fool!”
“Very well,” Miss Brown said, “I will go.” ”

“ I must follow Phre beyond Atlas; shall I build your pyramid for you before he goes down?" And Pthah answered, "Yea, sister, if thou canst put thy winged shoulders to such work." And Neith drew herself to her height; and I heard a clashing pass through the plumes of her wings, and the asp stood up on her helmet, and fire gathered in her eyes. And she took one of the flaming arrows out of the sheaf in her left hand, and stretched it out over the heaps of clay. And they rose up like flights of locusts, and spread themselves in the air, so that it grew dark in a moment. ”