Mr. Deane

“ Deane's carriage drove up. She had been watching the antics of the horse attached to the buggy, but as soon as she saw Mr. Deane going to the assistance of those in danger, she let her eyes stray back to the ladies whom he had left behind him in the carriage.
"She did not know these ladies, but their looks and gestures interested her, and she watched them quite intently as they leaped [Pg 105] to the ground and made their way toward the porch. ”

“ Presently Grant came out with a note, which Deane silently opened. It was dated from The Cottage, Rakney.
Dear Mr. Deane,
My niece knows, and she insists upon going to London at once. We are all very much disturbed. If it is not troubling you too much when you are passing this way, we should be so grateful if you would call in for a minute.
Deane looked thoughtfully seaward, and his face hardened as he crumpled the note up in his hand. Then he rose to his feet. "I am going in to see about the trains for you," he said. ”

“ Jack had expected to find a somewhat rough, and perhaps ill-favoured, dame the wife of Master Pearson. Greatly surprised was he, therefore, when, on opening the door, he was received by a remarkably attractive, neatly-dressed woman, with a pleasant smile on her countenance, and agreeable manners, superior even to those of many ladies he had met.
“You are welcome here, Mr Deane, as a friend of my husband!” she said. “We live a secluded life, but shall be glad to see you as long as you can remain. And perhaps you will find some amusement in the sports of our fen-country. ”

“ The American Express Company have no packet in their charge consigned by him. Therefore I have come to the conclusion that he has placed it in the care of some friend in whom he has unlimited confidence. Foolish thing that to have, Mr. Deane," Phineas Duge continued slowly, with his eyes fixed upon his companion. "One is likely to be deceived even by the most unlikely people."
"Your business career," Mr. Deane replied courteously, "no doubt has taught you that caution is next to genius." ”

“ When they get cool they will think better of it, before they will wish to encounter me. I only hope Miss Harwood’s palfrey has not suffered, or her habit either; I am sure the poor animal did not wish to do her harm.”
“Oh, no! thanks to you, Mr Deane, both my horse and I have escaped harm,” said Alethea, looking at the young man with a kind smile.
On reaching the door of Mr Deane’s house, Jack held the young lady’s bridle while she dismounted, and then insisted on taking her horse and her father’s round to the stables while they entered the house. ”

“ Mr Strelley’s offer was duly placed before Mr Deane.
“If Jack remains much longer idle at home, he will be getting into mischief, if he has not got into it already,” he thought to himself. “I have no reason to be ashamed of my boy, and perhaps it will be my own fault if I have cause to be at any future time. Cousin Nat is a man of judgment, and he asserts always that there is more in Jack than any of us suppose; and that if we allow him to follow the bent of his own inclinations, he will be sure to work his way up in the world, even though we let him begin at the bottom of the ladder. ”

“ Mr. Sarsby was sitting in an easy-chair, reading the Times. Directly he recognized his visitor he showed signs of nervousness.
"Ah, Mr. Deane!" he said, rising. "How do you do, Mr. Deane?"
Deane shook hands. His host did not ask him to sit down, nor did he himself resume his seat.
"I looked in," Deane explained, "to know what your niece had decided to do."
"She has decided to go to London at once," Mr. Sarsby answered,—"at once. It is very inconvenient for all of us. ”

“ His proposal met with every encouragement from his family.
“If any body can civilise our boy Jack, Miss Harwood can,” observed Mrs Deane to her husband.
“I doubt whether she will think it worth while to make the attempt,” observed Mr Deane. “Jack is in no way suited to her, whatever he may flatter himself is the case. However, let the lad go; he can come to no harm, at all events; and Mistress Alethea may give him a taste for better society than he seems to have a fancy for.”
Chapter Five. Jack’s Visit to Harwood Grange—Is urged to assist in the Jacobite Plot. ”

“ There are too many men like Jack who are not content unless they can mount a helmet and jackboots, and go about the world slaughtering their fellow-creatures without rhyme or reason, should they not find a good cause to fight for. So, Jack, here’s to your health, my boy, and success to you in whatever honest calling you determine to follow!”
Dr Nathaniel’s word was law in Mr Deane’s family, as it was in several others in the town, and he therefore quickly succeeded in smoothing down the somewhat ruffled temper of different members of the family. ”

“ I shall have time to do that and give a few of the apprentices a drubbing before dinner-time.”
Saying this, Jack Deane, putting his arms again into the sleeves of his coat, adjusted his dress, which had been somewhat disordered by the scuffle; then placing his hand on the reins of Miss Harwood’s palfrey, he walked by her side towards the house at which he had pointed.
“Well, well! I must leave you to keep order in the town, Master Deane,” said Mr Harwood, laughing; “when there is so good a guardian of the peace as you appear to be, it would be useless for me to interfere ”

“ Yet I was glad to see her weep, for only first offenders weep, and first offenders are amenable to influence, especially if they [Pg 121] have been led into wrong by impulse and are weak rather than wicked.
Anxious to make no blunder, I resolved, before proceeding further, to learn what I could of the character and antecedents of the suspected one, and this from the only source which offered—Mr. Deane's affianced.
This young lady was a delicate girl, with a face like a flower. Recognizing her sensitive nature, I approached her with the utmost gentleness. ”

“ Mr Deane’s lips had become considerably compressed while his son was speaking, and there was an hysterical cry from Aunt Bethia, whose great wish had always been to see her favourite Jack figure in what she called good society.
“You may quit the society of your equals, for which you have so little respect, Jack,” said his father in somewhat stern accents; “those you do not value will take little pains to keep you among them ”

“ Sarsby?" Deane asked.
"I read the Times for an hour every afternoon between five and six," Mr. Sarsby admitted. "I have a special arrangement with Mr. Foulds—the vicar—which enables me to do this,—a special arrangement!" he concluded, with a little gurgle of satisfaction. "Our vicar, by the bye, Mr. Deane, is a highly intelligent man. He will doubtless be coming across to see you."
"I am here for so short a time," Deane said. "It is very kind of people, but really it is scarcely worth their while to trouble to come to see me. I am going on to Scotland in a few days. ”

“ Mr Sanderson seems a fair-spoken man, but there’s one thing I would have you remember, that he is not Jock McKillock himself. Jock I have known well-nigh a score of years, and an honest and fair dealer, as I doubt not thou wilt find, if he is afoot and well again when you get to the north. And now, fare-thee-well, John Deane, an old man’s blessing go with thee! Thou hast shown thyself to be ready-witted and brave, and if thou rememberest always that it is better to please God than man, thou wilt not fail to succeed in thy undertakings. ”

“ He then turning round, and allowing Jack to go on out of ear-shot, the two rode alongside each other. In the course of ten minutes or so they again overtook Jack.
“Mr Deane,” said Pearson, “I have fortunately met a friend who knows the country well, and will prove a good guide to you. He is willing to return south, that I may ride to the north and make the arrangements which you were to have done with our friend Jock McKillock, for the purchase of the cattle. There is no time to be lost, and I assure you that you may trust my friend as you would me.” ”

“ The family at Webberly House was the only one in the neighbourhood of Deane, which lived in a style of ostentatious expense; its members vainly endeavouring to purchase respect by extravagance, and to transfer the ideas and hours of the beau monde to a place totally unfit for their reception. The only families within a distance often miles of their residence were—Sir Henry Seymour's, at Deane Hall—Squire Thornbull's, at Hunting Field, and Mr. Temple's, at the parsonage of Deane; all of whom lived in the most quiet manner. ”

“ The sun was now sinking over the distant hills, and as the mist began to rise from the river below, the parties on the terrace gradually dispersed, the Deane family and their friends returning to their mansion, where they assembled once more round their well-spread board, at eight o’clock precisely, the fashionable hour for supper. Jack, in better spirits than he had been in the afternoon, joined the family party. Songs were sung, and numerous stories told by Dr Nathaniel, Mr Pinkstone, and other acknowledged wits of the party. ”

“ Mr. Sam Deane helped me, because I think he wanted to say something that he couldn’t say; anyway, we stood for quite a few minutes before his door, and then suddenly he said, “I am a dolt; I intend to see you around the block, of course; it’s much too late for you to walk alone.”
“You are just what you said you were,” I interrupted. “I’ve spent an hour getting you here; it would be too silly for you to try that! I’m going to take you up to your room, too—”
“No,” he answered, “really, Little Miss Jane Jones, you’re not. ”

“ Deane’s power is that which forms the subject of Figure 30. The extra in the ectoplasmic cloud is Mr. Barlow, senior, the father of [64] the Secretary of the S.S.S.P. Beside him is a picture of how he looked twelve years before his death. No one can deny that it is the same man with the years added on. Mrs. Deane never knew Mr. Barlow’s father in life. How, then, was this result obtained? These are the cases which the Magic Circle report avoids, while it talks much of any negative results which it can collect or imagine. ”

“ Just then the omnibus was announced, and with a hurried good-by, she followed her baggage down the stairs, and amid a cloud of dust was driven rapidly away, while Uncle Nat, from his chamber window, sent after her a not very complimentary or affectionate adieu. Arrived at the hotel in Rochester, where Eugenia had once waited in vain for Mr. Hastings, Stephen Grey managed to hear from her again, that she had well founded hopes of being one of the heirs of Nathaniel Deane, who, she said, sent them annually a sum of money varying from five to fifteen hundred dollars. ”

“ There is plenty of work for gentlemen in these days, if not in Old England, at all events out of it. There are many wrongs to be righted, and many good causes to be sustained. There are many I could tell you of who would willingly accept the offer of your sword.”
Mrs Deane looked highly pleased at the compliment Mr Harwood was paying her son, and thanked him with one of her beaming smiles, although Cousin Nat screwed up his lips in a peculiar manner and gave a significant look at Jack. ”

“ Capital!”
“I think it will do,” said Lady Deane complacently.
“Er—what was he transformed into, Lady Deane?”
“A man,” replied the lady emphatically.
“Of course. I see,” murmured Laing apologetically, stifling a desire to ask what Giles had been before.
A moment later the author enlightened him.
“Yes,” said she, “into a man, from a useless, mischievous, contemptible idler, a parasite, Mr. Laing, a creature to whom——”
“What did it, Lady Deane?” interrupted Laing hastily. He felt somehow as if he were being catalogued.
“Just a woman’s influence.”
Laing’s face displayed relief ”

“ I wish you could see Eugenia Deane. She's perfectly magnificent—wears a diamond ring, Valenciennes lace, and all that. Her mother is very wealthy, isn't she?"
"I have never supposed so—if you mean the widow Deane, who lives at the place called 'Locust Grove,'" answered Mr. Hastings; and Ella continued, "Yes, she is, I am sure, from the way Eugenia talked. They keep servants, I know, for she spoke of a waiting-maid. Then, too, they have an old bachelor uncle in India, with a million or more, and these two young ladies will undoubtedly inherit it all at his death." ”

“ A great deal of good that will do, I imagine, when both of us together have but twenty-five dollars in the world!"
A curious smile flitted over Eugenia's face, as she thought of the draft, but she merely replied, "And suppose we haven't any money, can't I make believe, and by looking at expensive instruments induce Mr. Hastings to think we are richer than we are? I don't accuse him of being at all mercenary, but I do think he would have proposed ere this, if he hadn't thought us so wretchedly poor."
Mrs. Deane could not understand how merely looking at a costly piano indicated wealth ”

“ He visited Manchester, shortly after the event just related, to be present at a Wesleyan Conference; and while there, with much hesitancy and trepidation, ventured to knock at the door of Mr. Roby's house and request an interview with that gentleman. He was shown into the parlour, and the man whom he had been hoping, yet dreaded, to see, quickly made his appearance. "He received me with great kindness," said Moffat, "listened to my simple tale, took me by the hand, and told me to be of good courage." ”