Leatherhead

“ South-Western Railway has its terminus in the Waterloo Road, which has been placed in connection with the London Bridge Station. The main lines of the company extend to Portsmouth in one direction, Dorchester in another, and Exeter in a third; while there is a multitude of branches—from Wimbledon to Croydon, from Wimbledon to Epsom and Leatherhead, from Wandsworth to Richmond and Windsor, from Barnes to Hounslow, from Staines to Reading, &c. There is no good hotel whatever near the Waterloo or Vauxhall Stations—a defect which seems to need a remedy. ”

“ I didn't mean to use that word; we've heard enough concerning 'propositions'—but really, Hephzy, 'Leatherhead' is very appropriate for us. If we weren't leather-headed and deserving of leather medals we should not be hunting houses at all. We should have left Little Frank and her affairs in a lawyer's hands and be enjoying ourselves as we intended. Leatherhead for the leather-heads; it's another dispensation of Providence.”
“Ash Dump”—“Clump,” I mean—was owned by a person named Cripps, Solomon Cripps. Mr. ”

“ In the absence of the Prince of Orange we have chosen him as our leader; if the Duke of Alva refuses the proposals which we are going to put before him, Mark will lead us to fight or to death."
"The proposal! What proposal?"
"That Leatherface be given up to the tyrant as the price of the safety of the city."
"And you--his brother--agreed to this infamous suggestion?" murmured Clémence hoarsely.
"We must not leave a stone unturned or a man alive to save the women and children," replied Laurence sombrely. ”

“ No man could be more watchful, no man more brave or more resourceful. Countless times did he save me from the assassin's dagger and the poisoner's cup. If my life is necessary for the cause of freedom and justice, then have freedom and justice in Leatherface their truest and most efficient champion."
"Amen to that," rejoined Clémence van Rycke with fervour. "I only wish I knew who he was, that I might pray more personally for him."
"Ah! we none of us know who he is, Madonna," said William of Orange more lightly. "He is Leatherface, and that is enough for us. ”

“ The deadly danger which threatens the city has already brought over three thousand new recruits to the standard.
Suddenly with a resolute gesture Leatherface draws his mask away and rises to his feet in full view of all the crowd.
"Mark van Rycke!" comes as one cry from several hundred throats. ”

“ I know a hoodoo.”
“Well?”
“His name’s Leatherbee—Jonah K. Leatherbee. He’s done more failing and messed up more businesses than any living man. As a false alarm, he’s sublime.”
“How does this apply to Geneva and me?”
“I’ll make it apply,” promised Boardman. “Thing is, do you give me the go-ahead signal?”
“Rather—just so I get the girl.”
“You’re on,” smiled the broker. “Carbury Can-cutters, Incorporated, is as good as dead already. I’ll interview Leatherbee tomorrow.” ”

“ There were many wealthy people in the neighbourhood, and the poor-box generally yielded a plentiful harvest for the destitute.
'The key of the box was always kept in the rector's study, and occupied the same hook with the key of the church. The windows of this room were directly opposite to the church. No person had access to this apartment but Dr. Leatrim, his wife and son, and old Ralph. The latter kept it in order, for fear the women folk should disarrange his master's papers. He performed all the dusting and cleaning, and never was there a room kept more scrupulously neat. ”

“ More than that--the world would now know the awful secret of his life.
The earl bowed his head in the bitterness of his sorrow, for he came of a proud stock. About him hung the portraits of his ancestors. Here on the right an Oxhead who had broken his lance at Crecy, or immediately before it. There McWhinnie Oxhead who had ridden madly from the stricken field of Flodden to bring to the affrighted burghers of Edinburgh all the tidings that he had been able to gather in passing the battlefield. ”

“ Leather-Twigg, on the other hand, looked on him with undisguised apprehension, as one in authority who would give him lines the first time he came into contact with him, and cane him if he ever did it again. ”

“ As the sounds were heard by the assembled crowds, the speaker lifted his hand and raised his face skyward, as if in supplication, the heads were all uncovered by one spontaneous impulse, and, caught in the same wave of feeling, Leacraft sought the invocation of his own blessing on the King and all he stood for.
The interrupted speaker began his address. The man was a strong type. ”

“ Luckily, news was received from Lord Listerdale himself from East Africa. He invested his cousin, Colonel Carfax, with power of attorney. It is the latter who conducts all Lord Listerdale's affairs. Yes, rather eccentric, I fear. He has always been a great traveller in the wilds-it is quite on the cards that he may not return for years to England, though he is getting on in years."
"Surely he is not so very old," said Mrs St Vincent, with a sudden memory of a bluff, bearded face, rather like an Elizabethan sailor, which she had once noticed in an illustrated magazine. ”

“ A man who chooses to wrap himself up in a mantle of mystery; a spy of Orange--a rebel and traitor to the King. There is such a man, sirrah! He hath several times thwarted my projects with regard to Orange. If, as you say, Orange is not in Ghent then hath that man had a hand in helping him to get away. Well! what of that man, sirrah? I want him. He is called Leatherface by my soldiers. ”

“ In the new novel Leatherstocking was first introduced as the philosopher of nature, ignorant of books, but wise in the lore that is taught by the voices of Nature. It is a story of the primitive life of the frontiersmen of that day, and their occupations, interests, and ambitions form the background to the picture of the hero, Leatherstocking, who embodies the author's idea of chivalrous manhood, and whose creation is one of the noblest achievements of fiction. ”

“ The information he obtained from this quarter did not lessen the difficulty.
'The Earl told him at once that he had given five sovereigns in gold, and that he believed the Duke of A——, who was a guest at the castle, had done the same; that a maiden aunt of the Earl's, who was very rich, had put in ten; and all the members of his household, not excluding the servants, who were constant attendants upon Dr. Leatrim's ministry, had given liberally; that the box must have been robbed, and that to a considerable amount. My uncle returned home a miserable man. ”

“ I want you to give me some clue by which the real culprit could be brought to justice."
'The old man cast a hasty glance at his master, as if he could do so if he pleased, but remained silent.
'The look did not escape Doctor Leatrim's keen eye. "Speak, Ralph!
Speak out like a man. I feel certain that you know something about it."
'"And suppose I do,"—he came a step nearer to his master, and spoke in low, mysterious tones,—"that something had better remain unsaid. You are a rich man; twenty or thirty pounds are nothing to you. ”

“ I have borne an honest character all my life. It is not a beardless boy that can rob me of it in my old age."
'"It may be possible, Ralph, that you were mistaken," said Dr. Leatrim, after a long and painful silence, in which he had been summing up the evidence on both sides. "The boy's account of himself is very clear. George, I will give you one trial more. If I find that crown piece in the box, I will believe that Ralph is in error, that some villain unknown to us has been the robber." ”

“ They were red brick buildings covering a wide area, and from their doors at noon and night hundreds of workmen with lunch-boxes and newspaper bundles poured out into the streets. Peter never spoke of the tanneries. Even when, on the highway, he encountered the heavy carts laden with hides and marked “H. M. Coddington, Leather,” he always looked the other way and hurried past as fast as he could. ”

“ Enough that, supporting upon my arm the half-fainting form of one woman, but with my attention, and interest devoted to another, I descended the stairs of the Leavenworth mansion, and re-entered the dreaded presence of those inquisitors of the law who had been so impatiently awaiting us.
As I once more crossed that threshold, and faced the eager countenances of those I had left so short a time before, I felt as if ages had elapsed in the interval; so much can be experienced by the human soul in the short space of a few over-weighted moments. ”

“ Leacraft did feel an earnest admiration for the American people, and yielded a genial acquiescence to the claims of popular suffrage. His connexion with America had been fortunate, and he had come in contact with men and women whose natures by endowment, and whose manners and habits, conversation and tastes, by inheritance and cultivation, were elevating and engaging—men and women whose nobility of sympathy with all things human was reflected in an art of living not only always decorous and refined, but guided, too, by the principles of urbanity and justice. ”

“ God and immortality are not matters of faith to me now, Mr. Lethbridge; they are matters of consciousness; that is why I am so certain about Hugh. He is not dead. A lad who could do what he did had Eternal Life in him. God is here all the while; it is only our blindness that keeps us from seeing Him. Hugh is still your son. There are only two eternal things, Mr. Lethbridge. ”

“ Alexander Leacraft was an Englishman, inheriting an English temperament without English prejudices; he was fortunately free from the worst faults of that insular hesitancy which imparts the curious impression of timidity, and had advanced far enough in cosmopolitan observation to get rid of the queerness of provincial ignorance. He was indeed a sane and attractive man, and provided by nature with a forcible physique, a good face, and a really fascinating proclivity to make the best of things, admire his companions, and bend unremittingly to the pressure of his environment. ”

“ Innocence is stronger than guilt. I never took the money. I know nothing about it, so help me God!"
'Dr. Leatrim's heart was touched. His eyes were full of tears. He made a motion to Ralph Wilson to speak.
'"Master George," said the old man, coming close up to the agitated youth, and laying his hand upon his shoulder. The lad shuddered, and shrank from his touch as if he had suddenly come in contact with a viper. "How can you speak in that hardened manner to your father? Are not you ashamed of what you have done? Will you add falsehood to theft?" ”

“ It is scarcely possible for a human being to be happier than was Lord Leaton at this time. In the prime of his manly life, blessed with a fair wife in the maturity of her matronly beauty, and a lovely daughter, just budding into womanhood, endowed with an ancient title, an immense fortune, and a wide popularity, Lord Leaton was the most contented man in England.
It was not even a drawback to his happiness that there was no male heir to his titles and estates, for in Malcolm 28Montrose, the betrothed of his daughter, he had found a son after his own heart. ”

“ Oh yes, she is perfectly aware that Lord Letterkenney had the screen of Purcell House pulled down and an open Italian façade erected in its place, the picture of which was in the illustrated papers, but as Lady Letterkenney until her marriage had lived in Ireland, and had probably never seen anything human except priests and pigs, the sight of civilised beings was doubtless an agreeable novelty to her. The same circumstances did not exist in her, Lady Hetherington's, case, and she decidedly liked the screen. ”

“ Lethbridge, whom we already know, affectionately called Aunt Leth, not only by Phœbe, but by a great many young people who were on terms of friendship with her. And to be on such terms with such a woman was worth while, for she was not only a magnet that attracted love, she was a sun that bestowed it. There was Mr. Lethbridge, for the same reason called Uncle Leth by his young friends, and delighted in being so called. There was Fanny Lethbridge, their only daughter, between whom and Phœbe passed, under the seal of sacred secrecy, the most delicious confidences. ”

“ Leicester’s face took on a hard, cruel look. “We cannot fight among the ladies,” he said quietly. Lempriere followed his glance, and saw the Duke’s Daughter and another in the trees near by.
He hastily put up his sword. “When, my lord?” he asked.
“You will hear from me to-night,” was the answer, and Leicester went forward hastily to meet the ladies—they had news no doubt.
Lempriere turned on his heel and walked quickly away among the trees towards the quarters where Buonespoir was in durance, which was little more severe than to keep him within the palace yard. ”

“ You do your office rarely.”
As the Seigneur left Elizabeth’s apartments, he met the Earl of Leicester hurrying thither, preceded by the Queen’s messenger. Leicester stopped and said, with a slow malicious smile: “Farming is good, then—you have fine crops this year on your holding?”
The point escaped Lempriere at first, for the favourite’s look was all innocence, and he replied: “You are mistook, my lord. You will remember I was in the presence-chamber an hour ago, my lord. I am Lempriere, Seigneur of Rozel, butler to her Majesty.” ”

“ I know,”—with a laugh,—“that you Englishmen hate crowds, unless they are turned to good account in celebrating the Lord Mayor’s day, or the jubilee of a king, or something swell and uninteresting, but it won’t hurt you to see the meaning of a great land’s reverence for its fallen dead,” and the big fellow full of enthusiasm, his handsome countenance dilated with pride, shook Leacraft’s hand, who was quite as delighted to greet his friend, whom he appreciated on his own account, without considering his influential relations to the desirable Sally. ”