Kestner

“ Lambert was the bulkier man of the two, Kestner remembered, and in some ways much the stronger man. But Kestner had the advantage of youth. And there were certain things the lighter-bodied man had learned in his earliest days in the Service. He had long since mastered the rudimentary jiu-jitsu tricks of a vocation where, in contests, manual force was invariably the final arbiter. ”

“ For at that moment the silence was broken by another and a quite unexpected sound. It came in the form of a sudden knock on the door, a peremptory and authoritative knock which caused Kestner's figure to stiffen in its chair, and the next moment brought him, alert and tingling, to his feet. ”

“ The two men eyed each other for a moment or two in silence. They might have been two gladiators about to engage in a deadly struggle, each of whom was measuring the other’s strength. “This man is my enemy,” was the thought that flashed through Kester’s brain; and for the moment his heart sank within him. The dark, stern, resolute-looking man before him would be a very different sort of person to cope with, from good-tempered, easy-going Lionel.
“Kester, this is my nephew, Richard, from India,” said the General. “Dick, this is your cousin, Kester St. George. ”

“ The cue dropped from Kester’s fingers and rattled on the floor. “What was that?” he said, suddenly, looking round with a shiver. “I could have sworn that somebody touched me on the shoulder.”
“There is no one here but ourselves,” said Lionel, languidly. The pain was almost more than he could bear up against.
Kester recovered his equanimity after an impatient “Pish” at his folly, and the two men went slowly out of the billiard-room together. Outside the door Kester whispered in his cousin’s ear, “I will go and fetch the mixture, and be back again in two minutes.” ”

“ Franz gently interposed.
Margaret's head half rested on the chair-back, half upon his shoulder. Her eyes were closed and the hands he held within his own burned feverishly. At last she whispered:
“Take me with you. It is best we go together. I am sick—sick—and he is killing me. If you would have me, you must take me now....”
The next day as Philip was at work, Franz entered his room unannounced. Seeing who it was, Philip put down his pen, turning from the pile of manuscript over which he had been toiling.
“Are you busy, Philip?” Franz asked. ”

“ But North shook his head.
"No, no, I have only myself to blame," he said.
"What do you hear of his wife? How's the marriage turning out?" and he shot the young fellow a shrewd questioning glance.
"I know nothing about it," replied North, coloring slightly.
"She'll hardly be publishing to the world that she's married a drunken profligate—"
This did not seem to North to call for an answer, and he attempted none. He turned and moved toward the front of the store, followed by the old merchant. At the door he paused.
"Thank you for your kindness, Mr. McBride!" ”

“ Bunny softly, in admiration.
“Look here!” said Johnny, wheeling on him. “You cut that out!”
“It's the climate, pardner. These here high altitudes braces a man up most amazin'——”
“The climate's all right, but you can get just as rank here as anywhere else,” warned Johnny. Mr. Bunny gave him a sidelong glance. Johnny completed his toilet in silence.
“Going in to supper now, Mr. Severance?” asked Mr. Bunny affably.
Johnny nodded, led the way around the building, in through the office, and on into the diningroom where sat Miss Mollie, inoffensive Mr. Brown and Mollie at supper. ”

“ Keston had regained the air of quiet power he had once possessed. Quietly he spoke to our enemy.
"Listen to me, Abud. Up there on the ice, you played the bully, relying on your brute strength. Here, however, we're up against the machines, and your intelligence is of too low an order to compete with them. You need my brains now. If you expect to escape from them, and live, you'll have to do exactly as I say. I'm boss, do you understand?" ”

“ You know you haven't hurt yourself," said Gilmore insolently.
"Well, then, why do you come here?" demanded Langham.
"Same old business, Marsh." He lounged across the room and dropped, yawning, into a chair near the window.
There was silence between them for a little space. Langham fussed with the papers on his desk, while Gilmore squinted at him over the end of his cigar.
"Same old business, Marsh!" Gilmore repeated lazily. "What's the enemy up to, anyhow? Are the good people of Mount Hope worrying Moxlow? Is their sleepless activity going to interfere with my sleepless profession, eh? ”

“ Yet I confess that, except by way of a brief change now and again, life to me anywhere else would soon become unendurable.”
“You look prematurely old, sir—prematurely old,” said the General, severely. His spectacles were across his nose again by this time, and he was again looking Kester steadily in the face. And now he spoke in a voice that was low, stern, and impressive. “You look as if you had a burden on your mind: you look as if you had some secret care that was eating away your very life. Kester St. George, you are an unhappy man!” ”

“ Ketch in his impromptu evening visit! He shuffled along at the very top of his speed, his mouth watering, while the delicious odour of tripe and onions appeared to be borne on the air to his olfactory nerves: so strong is the force of fancy. Arrived at his destination, he found the shop closed. It was Mrs. Jenkins’s custom to close at seven from October to April; and the shutters had now just been put up. Mr. Ketch seized the knocker on the shop-door—there was no other entrance to the house—and brought it down with a force that shook the first-floor sitting-room, and startled Mr. ”

“ The memory of her manner toward him rankled and hurt his pride; then he recalled Anna's soft farewells, and clapped his tall beaver on his head with an air that was almost jaunty, while his dark eyes flashed with triumph.
“So that is Dr. Stillman?” said Virginia, when the door had closed on the missionary; and as this did not seem to call for a reply, Anna was silent. “I have been hearing a good deal about him.” She shot Anna a swift searching glance.
“Yes,” said Anna airily, “he is very much before the public.” ”

“ He took an opportunity one day, when Kester seemed in a more confidential mood than usual, of again hinting at the pleasure it would give him if his cousin would only accept that three thousand a-year out of the estate which it had been his grandfather’s manifest wish should be Kester’s share of the property. But Kester froze the moment the subject was broached, and Lionel saw plainly how utterly useless any further persistence in it would be. ”

“ Shrimplin ironically. "Well, they usually die when I begin to throw lead!" He tugged fiercely at the ends of his drooping flaxen mustache and gazed into the wide and candid eyes of his son.
"Like I should give you the particulars, Custer?" he inquired.
Custer nodded eagerly, and Mr. Shrimplin cleared his throat.
"He was called one-eye Murphy because he had only one eye—he'd lost the other in a rough-and-tumble fight; it had been gouged out by a feller's thumb. Murphy got the feller's ear, chewed it off as they was rolling over and over on the floor, so you might say they swapped even." ”

“ I saw you looking at Kester this afternoon, but you are aware it was all my fault.'
'But it was only an accident,' she returned gently. 'I hope that you are not morbid on the subject, Mr. Blake. Boys are terribly venturesome. I wonder more of them are not hurt. I am quite sure Kester does not blame you.'
'No, you are right there; but somehow it is difficult for me to forget that my unlucky slip has spoiled the poor fellow's life. He is very good and patient, and we do all we can for him; but one dare not glance at the future. ”

“ Kester St. George and his uncle breakfasted tête-à-tête that morning. The meal was rather a late one. Messrs. Drayton and Whiffins had been up for hours, and were out exploring the beauties of the neighbourhood. “And as for Richard,” explained the General to Kester, “he’s one of the strangest fellows in existence. He takes his meals anyhow and at any time, and one never knows where to look for him, whether indoors or out. ”

“ Shrimplin, and paused to clear his throat. He was walking beside wild Bill's head while Custer in the cart tried to support Langham, for the latter had not regained consciousness. "Custer, I'm mighty well satisfied with you; I may say that while I always been proud of you, I am prouder this moment than I ever hoped to be! How many boys in Mount Hope, do you think, would have the nerve to do what you just done? I love nerve," concluded Mr. Shrimplin with generous enthusiasm. ”

“ What a pity the finer things of life were so often the impractical! He pushed past the deputy and entered the office.
Elizabeth came toward him with hands extended. Her cheeks were quite colorless but the smile that parted her lips was infinitely tender and compassionate.
"You should not have come here!" North said, almost reproachfully, as his hands closed about hers.
General Herbert stood gravely regarding the two, and his glance when it rested on North was troubled and uncertain. The difficulties which beset this luckless fellow were only beginning, and what would the end be? ”

“ Perhaps he had already committed himself by going to see Haviland! He revolved the matter in his mind. What could Haviland do—would he dare accuse him? He could run no risks—he owed it to Alice and the children to take every precaution. But how was he to protect himself?
John turned sharply, with a new idea. Above all other claims, above the consideration of self, he owed a duty to the stockholders. They had a right to know what he knew; he could not shield Haviland with his silence. He must see one of the directors. He paused uncertainly on a street corner. To whom should he go? ”

“ That will make the sixth of them, man or maid, that has left me since I came here; and I hear that the rest, old and new, are all likely to follow suit before long.”
“You astonish me,” said Kester. “You have always seemed to me the most indulgent of masters. If anything, too lenient—excuse me, sir, for saying so—and I can’t understand at all why these idiots should want to leave you.”
“Oh, it’s not me they want to leave: it’s the house that doesn’t suit them.” ”

“ But Custer, his reasonable curiosity satisfied, was already on his way back to the road. "If only pa has not driven off!" But the senior Shrimplin had not moved from the spot where Custer had left him five minutes before.
"Is that you, son?" he asked, as Custer appeared at the fence.
"Come here, quick!" commanded the boy.
"For what?" inquired Mr. Shrimplin.
"You needn't be afraid, it's only a man who's fallen off the iron bridge. He's down in the bed of the slaughter-house run. I can't get him out alone!" ”

“ Geoffrey Ballard,—won't it?” And he hopped around gleefully, proving there can be two good and sufficient reasons for a man's acts, namely—to please himself, and to annoy his fellow: and who shall determine which is sweeter?
Franz had felt his heart leap at the suggestion, but what would Margaret say?
Perkins plunged ahead vigorously: “What will you do; will you wait for Geoff to come and spoil it all?”
Before Franz could answer Margaret herself entered the room, accompanied by Mrs. Perkins. Instinctively they turned to her. Never had she looked so slight and fragile. ”

“ Such a good chap, too,” he added.
“Well, I am glad she has Franz to look after her, and he will have the means to go on with his studies,” continued Perkins.
“He is fortunate,” Philip replied. “We so seldom get what we want—generally it's what we don't want that comes to us.”
Perkins looked at him curiously, his head well to one side and his chubby hands buried in the depths of his trousers pockets.
“I say—what's up? Aren't you happy?”
“I am blue, and not so decent as I should be. I am always and everlastingly thinking of myself. ”

“ The epic of William Shrimplin was taking to itself its old high noble strain, and Custer was aware of a sneaking sense of shame that he could have doubted even for an instant; then swiftly the happy consciousness stole in on him that he had been weighed in the balance by this specialist in human courage and had not been found wanting. And his heart waxed large in his thin little body.
They were jogging along Mount Hope's deserted streets when Marshall Langham roused from his stupor. ”

“ He rather dreaded the old merchant when his love of gossip got the better of his usual reserve.
"I hadn't seen the fellow in months to speak to until to-day. He's a clever talker and has a taking way with him, but if the half I hear is true, he's going the devil's own gait. He's a pretty good friend to Andy Gilmore, ain't he—that horse-racing, card-playing neighbor of yours?" He pushed the bills toward North. ”

“ Franz made a savage gesture that fully expressed a large disgust.
“Do you know, Franz,” Philip continued, “we haven't originated much over here except the Declaration of Independence and a beastly bargain-counter spirit in relation to the arts.” He paused a moment, then added laughingly: “One knows so much at twenty-four. I am frequently astonished at the scope of my critical capacity. It must be hereditary with me,—you know my father was a minister. They are the only class of men who enjoy the delightful privilege of unrestricted judgment. ”

“ That ought to fetch a change of luck.”
Then one morning Johnny's song failed to rouse Mr. Brown, but its very absence at the accustomed hour brought him wide awake. He heard Johnny's step on the path, and looking from his window saw Johnny go by, his curly head bowed and his shoulders rounded.
Mr. Brown sat in his cabin door and considered the situation over his morning pipe. Subsequently he sought out Mr. Bunny, peacefully ditching, gun on hip. Not that Mr. Bunny was actually ditching; truth compels the statement that he was seated on a flat rock with his spade within easy reach. Mr. ”