Ladywell

“ Not till you were quite an old boy did you ever find out what became of that gull. Sacred Bruno-Clarice ate him. Ladykin, it seems, knew always what had happened to him, but she never dreamed of telling you till you were old enough to bear it. To Ladykin, Truth out of season was sourer than strawberries at Christmas time.
Sam would have told you anything the very first second that he found it out. Sam was perfectly great for Truth. He could tell more Great Black [106] Truths in one day than there were thunder-clouds in the whole hot summer sky. ”

“ So, now if you wanted to break the cruel spell, save Ladykin's life, marry Ladykin, and live in a solid turquoise palace—where all the walls were papered with foreign postage-stamps, and no duplicates—you, not Sam, but you, you, chosen of all the world, must go down to the little harbor between the two highest, reariest rocks and stick a spiked stick through every wave that came in. ”

“ The air was all heavy with goingawayness. To escape the strangle of it, you fled to the beach with Bruno-Clarice tagging in mournful excitement at your heels, his smutty nose all a-sniff with the foreboding leathery smell of trunks and bags. There on the beach in a scoopy hollow of sand backed up against the old gray rock were Sam and Ladykin. Sam's round, fat face was fretted like a pug-dog's, and Ladykin's eyes were blinky-wet with tears. ”

“ Out of these proven facts you evolved a beautiful theory that if Thinky-Girls could only be taught to do things, they would make the most perfect play mates in all the wide, wide world. Yet somehow you never made a theory to improve Sam, though Sam's inability to think invariably filled you with a very cross, unholy contempt for him, while Ladykin's inability to do only served to thrill you with the most delicious, sweet, puffy pride in yourself. ”

“ Springs, summers, autumns, winters, went hurtling over one another, till all of a sudden, without the slightest effort on your part, you were fifteen years old, Bruno-Clarice had grown to be a sober, industrious, middle-aged dog, Sam was idolatrously addicted to geometry, and Ladykin subscribed to a fashion magazine for the benefit of her paper dolls. ”

“ Ladykin declared that she wasn't afraid of anything in the world except of Being Homely. Wasn't that a silly fear? Then you got a little more intimate and asked, "What is your Father's business?" Sam and Ladykin's Father kept a huge candy store. It was mortifying to have to confess that your Father was only an Artist, but you laid great stress on his large eyes and his long fingers.
Then you three went off to the sandy beach and climbed up on a great huddly gray rock to watch the huge yellow sun go down all shiny and important, like a twenty-dollar gold piece in a wad of pink cotton batting. ”

“ Oh, it is very comforting to have a playmate who can say curly things.
Sometimes, too, when Sam's and Ladykin's Mother had been rude to them about brushing their teeth or tracking perfectly good mud into the parlor, and Sam had gone off to ease his sorrow, scating hens or stoning cats, you and Ladykin would steal down to the gray rock on the beach to watch the white, soft, pleasant sea-gulls. There were times, you think, when Ladykin wished that her Mother was a sea-gull. ”

“ It all came about in a great hurry, and Rafe and Alix have never since returned to the country house where, for most of the years of their life, they had been so happy. And all this time their home has been a long way off.
They often speak of Ladywood, and declare that when they come back to England they must go there and try to find the old caretaker again. But I almost hope they will not do so; for, I am sorry to say, Ladywood has been bought and all changed. A new house has been built at last on the site of the old one, and the foundations all opened out. ”

“ Ladykin was saucy about it. "That may be true," Ladykin acknowledged, "but t'aint so!" Then you went and found Sam and asked him if he knew what Love was. Sam knew at once. Sam said that Love was the feeling that one had for mathematics. Now that was all bosh, for the feeling that you and Ladykin had for Mathematics would not have made a Happy-Day for a cow.
But even if there were a great many things that you could not find out, it was a good deal of fun to grow up. Apart from a few stomach-aches and two or three gnawing pains in the calves of your legs, aging was a most alluring process. ”

“ For an instant he was almost impelled, in a rush of emotion, to leap and grip the little fairy figure in his arms; to lavish upon it the heat of passion which he felt to be its due; to kiss the honest eyes, and breathe into the pink ears the tale of his penitence, of his remorse, and of his assurance that he valued Dolly for herself, and not merely because her youth and beauty were at once a salve to his wounds and an inspiration to his art. But the moment passed, and for ever.
"Well, Laurence," she said; "here we are. Are you going to ring up the curtain at last? ”

“ Delancy's library played a not insignificant part in the fortunes of Dolly Copley. As we shall see. She studied, till a ship became a romance to her; till rigging and spars and decks and guns were like the furniture of a new and strange life, which hardly belonged to the earth, being upon the sea; and the men who lived that life, and especially the men who ruled in it, grew to be invested with characteristics of power and skill and energy which gave them fabulous interest in Dolly's eyes. ”

“ But are you so doubtful of yourself that you fear to perform one duty lest you should fail in another duty? Now we are commanded by that queen whom you swore to serve to search you out and to find you and to tell you that it is her command unto you that you return to the court of the Great King and make your peace with her. Are you then so doubtful of your truth to the Lady Elaine that you fear to obey the command of the Queen?"
Then Sir Launcelot cried out, "Say no more to me of this!" and so Sir Ector said no more. ”

“ When he got to Dalilah, I could not forbear saying, "How hard you are upon Women, Father!"
"Hard?" repeated he; "I think I am anything but that. Do you call me hard on Eve, and the Lady in Comus?"
"No, indeed," I returned. "The Lady, like Una, makes Sunshine in a shady Place; and, in fact, how should it be otherwise? For Truth and Purity, like Diamonds, shine in the Dark." ”

“ There he had lain ever since the night before: he had been returning to tell the master that he had safely posted the letter, and the first words he said, when they recovered him from the exhausted state he was in, were” (Miss Galindo tried hard not to whimper, as she said it) , “‘It was in time, sir. I see’d it put in the bag with my own eyes.’”
“But where is he?” asked I. “How did Mr. Gray get him out?”
“Ay! there it is, you see. Why the old gentleman (I daren’t say Devil in Lady Ludlow’s house) is not so black as he is painted ”

“ Dolly put the kitten down on the floor with quite a bump. I took my hat.
"Your story," said I, as I brushed my hat, "hasn't come to much, Lady Mickleham."
Dolly was not put out; nay, she picked up the kitten again and started rubbing its fur the wrong way.
"When yon were a child, Mr. Carter——" she began.
"Dear, dear!" I murmured, stroking the crown of my head.
"Did you use to tell the truth?"
I put my hat back on the table. The conversation began to interest me.
"You may have noticed," said I, "that I am a man of method!"
"You do call regularly," Dolly agreed. ”

“ He seemed a bit flustered for a moment, but then he saw there was no use beating about the bush, so he answered straight:
“Until you go back to Australia,” he said.
“Don’t you know,” I said, “that I have served the government and got a free pardon?”
He grinned all over his ugly face when I said this.
“We know all about you, Maloney,” he answered. “If you want a quiet life, just you go back where you came from. If you stay here, you’re a marked man; and when you are found tripping it’ll be a lifer for you, at the least. ”

“ In 1717 or 1718 she was unhappily married to Alexander Pendarves, a rich old Cornish landowner, who died in 1724. During a visit to Ireland she met Dean Swift and his intimate friend, the Irish divine, Patrick Delany, whose second wife she became in 1743. After his death in 1768 she passed all her summers with her bosom friend the dowager duchess of Portland—Prior’s “Peggy”—and when the latter died George III. and Queen Charlotte, whose affection for their “dearest Mrs Delany” seems to have been most genuine, gave her a small house at Windsor and a pension of £300 a year. ”

“ Rhadamanthus seemed very uncomfortable.
“Don’t do that,” he said, quite sharply, fidgeting with the blotting paper.
Dolly began to move slowly round the table. Rhadamanthus sat still. When she was standing close by him, she put her hand lightly on his arm and said:
“Please do, Mr. Rhadamanthus.”
“It’s as much as my place is worth,” he grumbled.
Dolly’s eyes shone still, but the faintest little smile began to play about her mouth. ”

“ For every movement he is helpless as a log. Four of us hoisted him into the cart, and then we drove round to see his old battery, where the greetings of his mates were brief, emphatic, and devoid of all romance. We then went up to the tin camp, and round the main positions, which he regarded with silent equanimity. I thought he was bored by the familiar scene, but at the end he told me he had enjoyed it immensely, never having seen Ladysmith by daylight before! The man is now in magnificent health, rosy as a rose, and no doubt has a great career before him as a wonder from the war. ”

“ I walked towards the door. Dolly stood by the table fingering the album. I had almost reached the door; then I happened to look round.
'Mr. Carter!' said Dolly, as though a new idea had struck her.
'What is it, Lady Mickleham?'
'Well, you know, Mr. Carter, I—I shall try to forget that mistake of yours.'
'You're very kind, Lady Mickleham.'
'But,' said Dolly, with a troubled smile, 'I—I'm quite afraid I shan't succeed, Mr. Carter.'
After all, the smoking-room is meant for smoking. ”

“ Putting both her hands into mine, she said how glad she was to see me in London, and held out the child to be kissed. I explained my errand, and my unwillingness to come; saying I could venture to tell her all about it better than I could tell Sir Robert.
She laughed merrily. “He is not any more formidable than I am, Johnny; he is not the least bit so in the world. You shall see whether he is”—opening the door of the next room. “Robert,” she called out in glee, “Johnny Ludlow is here, and is saying you are an ogre. He wants to tell you something, and can’t pluck up courage to do it.” ”

“ Their Majesties of England still stood for something in Whitehall, and so did reason and commonsense, and Dolly's own good name. I began to perceive that matters were not so simple.
I do not think I reasoned at all as to her dangers there; but I was as one who sees a flower on a dunghill. One does not argue about the matter, or question whether it be smirched or not, nor how it got there. Neither did I consider at all how my cousin came to be at Court, nor whether any evil had yet come to her. ”

“ George became red, and began to stammer an apology.
'Oh, I don't believe him,' said Dolly, kindly; 'he always makes people uncomfortable if he can. What were you telling him, Mr. George?'
'It's no use telling him anything. He can't understand,' said George.
'Is she very——?' asked Dolly, fixing doubtfully grave eyes on my young cousin.
'Sam's seen her,' said he, in an excess of shyness. ”

“ Lennox be thinking of to bring those Dale girls into society?
But Landor did not go back to her. Man fashion, he pleased himself by becoming Hester’s shadow during the remainder of the evening, though he was not allowed to monopolize her—far from it. He had to content himself with scraps of conversation, for every man in the room wanted to be presented and each found her so diverting and original that there was constantly a little crowd about her, while in the intervals of the music peals of merry laughter came from her corner of the room. ”

“ Dolly's smile was almost a laugh as she asked,—
'How much lower, please, Mr. Carter?'
'Just by the depth of your dimples,' said I thoughtlessly.
Dolly became immensely grave.
'I thought,' said she, 'that we never mentioned them now, Mr. Carter.'
'Did we ever?' I asked innocently.
'I seemed to remember once: do you recollect being in very low spirits one evening at Monte?'
'I remember being in very low water more than one evening there.'
'Yes: you told me you were terribly hard up. ”

“ Pretty Mistress Timewell glanced up with a half startled look at this remark, as though shocked at the want of faith implied in it. Her thoughts might have taken the form of words had not her father entered the room at the moment, the whole company rising and bowing to him as he advanced to his seat.
'Be seated, friends,' said he, with a wave of his hand; 'we are a homely folk, Colonel Saxon, and the old-time virtue of respect for our elders has not entirely forsaken us. ”

“ Edward attended the one, while George was present at the other.
An interesting anecdote is told of Thomas Bewick in reference to Ebenezer Landells. When it was proposed to place him as a pupil with that eminent wood engraver, the father of the lad said, "Well, Mr. Bewick, I hope you will make my son a clever fellow." "Mr. Landells," replied the veteran, "I'll do my best to teach him what I know, but if God Almighty hasn't put brains into your son's head, it's impossible for me to put them there!"
[Pg 9]
Edward Dalziel. ”