Lyttleton

“ Look! who are those people? there in the corner? standing?" The Colonel directing Lyttleton's attention to a spectacular group of silent men. Just inside the room, beneath the canopy, he beheld an Oriental tableau the like of which his American eyes had never rested upon. The central figure—he would have been a central figure anywhere—was a powerfully built man, scarcely brown, near to that sandy-reddish color of the desert. His elevated brow, incisive eyes, clear-cut nose and thin lips, marked him as a man of distinction in any land. ”

“ Brannon said with an impatient gesture and a volley of oaths, as Lyttleton came to a pause and looked hesitatingly at him. "I ain't no fancy for this 'ere beating about the bush. Is it his life you want, or not?"
"No, no; I'm no murderer!" Lyttleton exclaimed with a shudder and a fearful glance from side to side. "But patience, man, and I'll explain in a few words. We'll call this doctor a mad fellow, perhaps it isn't so very far from the truth, ha, ha, and we'll take him prisoner, and keep him such somewhere in these woods until I can make arrangements to remove him to a mad house." ”

“ Two candles were burning on the table, and beside them a piece of delicate embroidery which Nell took up on her return to the room.
Lyttleton drew a chair to her side and exerted his conversational powers to the utmost for her entertainment; evidently not without success; her low musical laugh rang out again and again, she gave him many a bright glance from her liquid eyes, and many a quick word of repartee.
He grew more and more interested in her and congratulated himself on his good fortune in having come upon such a gem "here in the wilderness." ”

“ Sir Lyttleton is undoubtedly in earnest, since he appears ashamed of the condition to which you have reduced him; and I really believe if he could get the better of those vulgar chimerical apprehensions, of being what is vulgarly called a cuckold, the good man would marry you, and you would be his representative in his little government, where you might merrily pass your days in casting up the weekly bills of housekeeping, and in darning old napkins. ”

“ But alas, alas, how ill she had chosen, a man devoid of principle and utterly selfish; for so far had Kenneth succeeded in reading Lyttleton's true character.
But these were vain regrets; he must school himself to bear bravely his grief and disappointment; trouble did not spring out of the ground, and the loving Father above never sent to His children one unneeded pang. ”

“ The moment Brannon was out of earshot, Lyttleton turned to his valet.
"What say you, Hans, are those fellows to be trusted not to turn on us, if it happens to suit their fancy, after they have finished with the other party?"
"Mynheer, I dinks dey is von bad lot."
259 "Then we won't put ourselves in their power. Listen; we will not join them, but will hide in some place where we can watch their proceedings unknown to them; and if events don't turn out as we could wish, we will slip away through the woods and continue our journey, and so escape their hands. ”

“ Lyttleton narrowed his eyes and squinted at the rigid band of Nigerines. "The Expected One?" he muttered. "I don't fancy the sound of that." When an old campaigner in that fanatical country of the sun hears of an Expected One having announced himself, he gives a quick gasp in the throat, then buckles on his fighting toggery. ”

“ It was Lyttleton, who had followed Kenneth into this neighborhood and was prowling about with no very settled purpose, but with a vague idea of finding some means of removing him from his path. It might be that with the assistance of his valet alone he could, if circumstances should favor the design, carry out even yet the plan which had so signally failed under the auspices of Bill Shark and Brannon. ”

“ But recovering himself instantly, he repeated substantially, and under the same promise of secrecy, what he had been saying to Brannon.
"I'm your man, if we can agree on the terms," was the rejoinder. "I'll want a pretty stiff price, mind ye, stranger, for it's like to be a risky business, more so than if ye wanted him put clean out o' the way; for 'dead men tell no tales,' you know."
Lyttleton shook his head. ”

“ Lord Lyttleton, to render this bargain effectual, and an easy source of emolument to his protégé, solicited the assistance of such men as are not often found willing to contribute the labours of the pen, men of high rank in the state, and men of fame and fashion, who cheerfully undertook to supply the paper, while Moore reaped the emolument, and perhaps for a time enjoyed the reputation of the whole. ”

“ Lord Lyttleton and a number of his friends were joined during the chase by a stranger. He was excellently mounted, and displayed such courage, or, rather so much desperate rashness, that no other person in the hunt could follow him. The gentlemen, when the chase was concluded, invited the stranger to dine with them. ”

“ Zack loved to see those yellow negroes work, but sniffed in contempt at their uniforms.
He had long ceased to consider General Durham, who was taking counsel with his officers, "Lyttleton, what do you think? Shall we let this negro stay in the Sudan, and take a chance? Or had we better ask Colonel Spottiswoode to send him home?"
If Lyttleton had been a Roman he would have fought as Fabius—cautiously. So he answered, "You know, General, I always advise the safer course—take no chances with these people. This black man seems to get them excited." ”

“ He ate heartily, then wrapping his blanket about him, stretched himself upon the kitchen floor with his feet to the fire.
"Pray do not deem me a coward," Lyttleton said in a low aside to Nell on her return to the parlor. ”

“ But an enemy lay in wait to rob him of it.
Lyttleton, closely watching Clendenin, had noticed that he tarried behind in the Indian camp while others were leaving it; but carefully abstaining from any allusion to the fact, he conducted the young lady whose escort he was to her home, then leaving the town by the opposite side, made a circuit through the woods that brought him back to a hill overlooking the trail to Old Town, ascending which he waited and watched for Kenneth's return. ”

“ Lysander Lyttleton, his guest for some weeks, whom he had persuaded to accompany him on a visit to this new state, of whose beauty and fertility they had heard the most flattering accounts.
The major gave them a hearty welcome, and proffered the hospitalities of his house, a larger and more commodious dwelling than the one he had occupied at the beginning of our story. Tig was summoned to take charge of the servants and horses, and the major himself conducted his guests to the parlor and introduced them to his wife and sister. ”

“ Lyttleton, the experienced Dervish fighter, had noticed something else and he smiled grimly, "Did you observe how briskly those Shilluks moved? They have just learned how their king punished the native who tried to burn our gin." ”

“ Had it not been for this defect, he could have been made professor of Greek in the University of Aberdeen.
Your scheme of publishing his poems by subscription, I hope will turn to account. I think it impossible he could want, were his case more generally known. I hope it will be so by your means. Sir George Lyttleton, who has so fine a taste, and so much benevolence of temper, would certainly, were the case laid before him in a just light, lend his assistance, or rather indeed quite overcome all difficulties. I know not, whether you have the happiness of that gentleman's acquaintance. ”

“ Hedda, the daughter, and her mother had driven over to sell two young pigs at the Finnish place.
“Oh, golly,” laughed Jean, “let’s go home. I feel as if I had been riding like Peer Gynt, all over the world, just touching at countries here and there. Let’s go right straight home, so I can talk to Mother and get a perspective on it all.”
“Better ask the Mill girls over while you’re about it,” Sally suggested, so they made one last stop at the red sawmill in the valley below Woodhow. “They’re Americans. My friend lives here, Lucy Peckham. ”

“ That the country is all very nice—
But I’d much rather mix with my kind.
Yes; to-day—if I meet with a train—
I will fly from these hills and these dells;
And to-night I will sleep once again
(Happy thought!) within sound of Bow Bells.
From Carols of Cockayne, by Henry S. Leigh. London, Chatto and Windus, 1874.
LORD LYTTLETON. A Burlesque Ode by Tobias Smollett.
Lord Lyttleton was not only the patron of poets, but was also a minor poet himself. He married, in 1741, Miss Lucy Fortescue, whose death five years afterwards gave him a theme for a monody which contained the following lines ”

“ Jean pulled off the ribbon that tied her hair back and started pulling at a lock thoughtfully. “What’s Elmhurst then? Isn’t that a town?”
“No, it isn’t. It’s a village. Nearest town seven miles away, post office five. There used to be a post office there when the mail truck made the trip over, but they needed the building to keep the hearse in, so it’s gone.”
“You’re making that up, Kit,” put in Doris.
54
“I’m not,” protested Kit. “You can ask Becky. Nobody ever dies up there. They just fade away, and the hearse is seldom needed and was in the way. ”

“ It was empty.
“Becky,” called Jean loudly. “Becky, are you here?”
From somewhere upstairs there came an answer.
“For pity’s sakes, child!” exclaimed Becky, appearing at the top of the stairs with her arms full of carpet rags. “What are you doing down here? Cynthy and I are just sorting out some things she wanted to take over to my place.”
“Haven’t you seen the smoke? All the woods are on fire up around the Ames place. The Judge was worried, and telephoned for us to warn you.”
“Land!” laughed Mrs. Ellis. “Won’t he ever learn that I’m big enough and old enough to take care of myself. ”

“ Ralph took Buzzy’s tanned, supple hand in his, and held it fast, looking down at his cheery, freckled face.
“I think we’re going to be pals, Buzzy,” he said, and Buzzy’s heart warmed to him. Nobody had ever called him that before.
When Sally arrived with the other girls, she too was introduced, but she proved less pliable than Buzzy. Straight and tall, she faced her new cousin, every flash of her eyes telling him that she resented his having all while they had nothing, and Ralph could make no headway with her.
At five they were ready to start. Lucy could not go, nor Anne, Charlotte, or Tony. ”

“ They've got off safe and sound, and we not a penny the richer; but there's that Britisher, with a pocket full of tin that'll come as good to us as the other fellers'. Let's hunt him up and help ourselves. Easy work it'll be, six agin two."
Hans and his master exchanged glances. Lyttleton held up a finger in token of silence, and again they strained their ears to hear the talk going on below.
The ruffians seemed to be of one mind in regard to robbing him, impelled to it by their cupidity and their 261 indignation at his failure to join them according to promise. ”

“ A farm truck coming the opposite way held Mr. Rudemeir and his son August. An array of mops, axes, and shovels hung out over the rear of the truck. Mr. Rudemeir was smoking his clay pipe placidly, and merely waved one hand at the girls in salutation, but August called, “It has broken out on the other side of the road, farther down.”
“It must be going toward the Allan place, then,” said Jean anxiously. She hesitated. The smoke was thickening in the air, but they penetrated farther into the woods. Up on the hill185 to one side, she saw the Ames place, half obscured already by the blue haze. ”

“ Aldo said quietly when she had finished. “I am just myself, and it’s so monotonous. I wish I could meet your family and know them all.”
“They are a wonderful family, although I rather envy you in a way. Sometimes it seems as if one loses individuality in a large family.”
“You shouldn’t feel that way,” replied Aldo. “Why, look, here you are in New York about to start studying again. Isn’t that proof enough that there is room for individuality even in a big family?”
Jean thought of this later when she was getting ready for the next day at school and decided that Aldo was probably right. ”

“ There was a fascination in seeing that battle from afar, and realizing how the little puny efforts of a handful of men could hold in check such a devastating force. Only country dwellers could appreciate the peril of having all one owned in the world, all that was dear and precious, and comprised the word “home,” swept away in the path of the flames.
“Poor old Cynthy,” said Jean. “I’m so glad she has her cats. I shall never forget her face when she looked back. Just think of losing all the little keepsakes of a lifetime.”
It was nearly five o’clock when Tommy returned. ”

“ I got your letter about the wedding and I cried even if I wasn’t there. Frank met me at the station, and I’m going to have dinner with him tonight. I wonder if it would be okay if he came back to Elmhurst with me? I mean, we haven’t decided definitely, or anything. I just mentioned it.” She waited for her mother’s answer.
“That’s swell,” she cried. “Give my love to everyone. I’ll see you all Thursday.”
She set the receiver back on the hook and turned to her roommates.
“Is the man who met you at the station your beau?” Bernice asked.
Kit hesitated. “Well, sort of,” she admitted. ”

“ The music started again, and Ralph set down his cup. “May I borrow your fiancee for a dance, doctor?”
Gerald smiled and nodded. “Take care of her. She’s all I have.” He held out his arms to Jean and whisked her away.
“Happy?” he asked her.
“Oh, yes!” she cried. “I can’t really believe that we’re actually going to be married!”
Gerald smiled wistfully. “He’s a very nice fellow,” he said. “Even now I have a little twinge of conscience when I think about trying to cut in on him.” [208] He laughed. “Guys like me are always the worst. If anyone tried to date Eileen, now, I’d really be sore.” ”