Mr. Neville

“ Miss Neville was now obliged to act as doctor as well as purser. She washed my wound, and bound it up as well as she was able. We neither of us spoke; but fearful were the thoughts that passed through my mind. The boat lay becalmed upon the water; my strength, wounded as it was, could do little towards forcing her onwards. Unless a breeze sprung up, we must lie in utter helplessness, and die a lingering death by starvation! Miss Neville read my thoughts, and, stifling her own fears, exerted herself to inspire me with confidence.
"Fear not, Mr. Musgrave," said she ”

“ Neville. You see what they are. They're ladies, if there is a lady living in the Queen's dominions. That young thing is as beautiful as Habe, as innocent as a sleeping child, as soft as wax to take impression. What armour has she got against such a one as you?"
"She shall not need armour."
"If you're a gentleman, Mr. Neville,—as I know you are,—you will not give her occasion to find out her own wakeness. Well, if it isn't past one I'm a sinner. It's Friday morning and I mus'n't ate a morsel myself, poor papist that I am ”

“ But they were as serviceable as they were precious to Neville Landless.
When they had got through such studies as they had in hand, they stood leaning on the window-sill, and looking down upon the patch of garden. "Next week," said Mr. Crisparkle, "you will cease to be alone, and will have a devoted companion."
"And yet," returned Neville, "this seems an uncongenial place to bring my sister to!"
"I don't think so," said the Minor Canon. "There is duty to be done here; and there are womanly feeling, sense, and courage wanted here." ”

“ But, here a startling right hand is laid on Edwin’s shoulder, and Jasper stands between them. For, it would seem that he, too, has strolled round by the Nuns’ House, and has come up behind them on the shadowy side of the road.
“Ned, Ned, Ned!” he says; “we must have no more of this. I don’t like this. I have overheard high words between you two. Remember, my dear boy, you are almost in the position of host to-night. You belong, as it were, to the place, and in a manner represent it towards a stranger. Mr. Neville is a stranger, and you should respect the obligations of hospitality. ”

“ The theatre-going public knows the trick. The days of such barn-storming are passing away.
Mr. Fogg, who was the Armand, did not make a profound impression. The part suited him like an ill-fitted garment, and he felt it. The realization of that fact took all the vim out of him. If the real truth was known, he, no doubt, wished himself back in his little second-story back in the big city, gossiping of what he might, but could not, do if he had the chance. Handy was cast for the part of the Count de Varville. ”

“ Subsequently, Frances' arrival on the scene, and evident anger and scorn, astonished her still more.
That Miss Neville was a flirt had crossed her mind ever since the day she had caught her coming home with Mr. Vavasour; but here she was apparently hand and glove with Charles. She did not see cause for any such display of temper as Frances had made; still, she thought it a shame Miss Neville should take all the men to herself, when there were lots of other girls in the house [34] ready to be made love to, now, of necessity, left to their own devices, and dull enough in consequence. ”

“ You came up after something. What's the little game? Want to buy land?"
"No. I'll tell you. Our friend here, Mr. Handy, at my suggestion, made this visit with me to see you on a little speculation of our own. Mr. Handy a week—not quite a week ago—came out to my town with a theatrical troupe to show for a week. The company played one night, when the staress grew tired and quit after the first heat and went home to mother. This brought the season to a premature close."
"Nothing particularly new in that," answered McGowan; "but continue." ”

“ As a Gladstonian Liberal he contested the Exchange Division of Liverpool against Mr. Goschen—afterwards Lord Goschen—and was returned b seven votes. Fiver later he retained the seat with an increased majority against Mr. Bigham—the present Lord Mersey—who stood as a Liberal Unionist. Neville's services to his party were thus considerable, and it was natural that he should be chosen, not only because of them, but because of his eminence at the Bar, to succeed Mr. Justice Farwell on his promotion to the Court of Appeal in 1906.
As a Judge, Neville was successful, particularly in witness actions. ”

“ Neville was by instinct a clever advocate; by experience he became a sound, but not a brilliant lawyer. From the outset of his career he showed great ability in the handling of his cases, but it was only when his powers began to be recognized that he turned to a sufficiently close study of the law. It seemed as if the pleader by nature turned lawyer with reluctance. But if they were reluctance it yielded to a passion for hard work. ”

“ But Neville throws him off, and pauses for an instant, in a raging passion, with the goblet yet in his uplifted hand. Then, he dashes it down under the grate, with such force that the broken splinters fly out again in a shower; and he leaves the house.
When he first emerges into the night air, nothing around him is still or steady; nothing around him shows like what it is; he only knows that he stands with a bare head in the midst of a blood-red whirl, waiting to be struggled with, and to struggle to the death. ”

“ You don’t know how hard it is to me to feel that every hand is turned against Neville, every heart hardened toward him. You see, all of us love Neville better, I think, than anything in the world; he was Aunt Sophia’s and Uncle Tremaine’s favorite son, though they always denied they had a favorite, but Richard and Archie knew it and all of us, and there never was any jealousy of Neville. ”

“ No man possessed more fully the gift of divining quickly the temperament of a witness, of framing his questions in terse and homely language, and of coaxing a vital admission, as if he were merely seeking the disclosure of a harmless fact. ”

“ She rose from her bed quickly and, going to the dressing table on which she kept a daguerreotype of Neville, she clasped her hands and hung her head as if overwhelmed with guilt. She was a wife, and she had dared not only to think of another man, but to touch his hand with hers! If Neville were there it would be so easy, she thought, to confess it to him. She would even write him a letter and tell him about it. But some instinct of common sense restrained her. It occurred to her that the singular change in all her other relations of life affected her with regard to Neville himself. ”

“ Neville lighted his candles, and the visitor sat down. A handsome gentleman, with a young face, but an older figure in its robustness and its breadth of shoulder; say a man of eight-and-twenty, or at the utmost thirty: so extremely sunburnt that the contrast between his brown visage and the white forehead shaded out of doors by his hat, and the glimpses of white throat below the neckerchief, would have been almost ludicrous but for his broad temples, bright blue eyes, clustering brown hair, and laughing teeth. ”

“ She watched Neville, who had begun to prowl about in the disorder of the place, stepping over trailing velvets, avoiding manikins armed cap-a-pie, moving restlessly, aimlessly. And her eyes followed his indecision with a smile that gradually became perplexed and then a little troubled.
For even in the uncertain firelight she was aware of the change in his face—of features once boyish and familiar that seemed now to have settled into a sterner, darker mould—a visage that was too lean for his age—a face already haunted of shadows; a mature face—the face of a man who had known unhappiness. ”

“ Even the shifting shades of the color organ were no more than a faint ambience. Anne, laughing, helped her second mate to his feet.
"I'll give you one more chance," Miss Bestris said. "The next man that comes in...."
"No! I just couldn't! Not tonight!"
A few more customers drifted in. Then even the stragglers stopped coming. It was very late.
"He's deserted you; you see that now?" Madame Bestris sneered.
Mary stood up. There were tears in her eyes. "You can't—you don't—know—how I feel," she choked. "You don't care!" She turned and ran up the stairs, crying. ”

“ Whether there was that in the manner of the sick man that inspired hope, or something in the aspect of the doctor that suggested distrust, or a mixture of the two together, but certainly Neville rapidly rallied from the fears which had beset him on entering, and in a voice of a more cheery tone, said,—
“Come, come, Sir Horace, you 'll throw off this as you have done other such attacks. You have never been wanting either to your friends or yourself when the hour of emergency called. We are in a moment of such difficulty now, and you alone can rescue us.” ”

“ If ever I’ve had a disagreeable job, this one of Lord Neville’s was one. Most of ’em treat one like dirt, and give a lot of trouble into the bargain. I’ve met with rough usage sometimes, my lady; but Lord Neville, though he’s young and full of go, so to speak, has behaved like a gentleman, and treated me as if I had the feelings of a man. Yes, he’s a nobleman, every inch of him, and—I hope you won’t laugh, my lady!—but, I declare, if I’d had the money, I’d have lent it him myself rather than taken him off. ”

“ It will not fade. Neville's mother thinks that is a very strange and wonderful thing. And so it is. Since that day, when Neville goes to the top of the bald hill to watch a sunset, he is almost sure that, just as the golden light is fading, he can see a little yellow man by the gateway; and it seems to him that the little yellow man waves a cheery greeting. But, whether this is so or not, Neville always waves back; and he feels very happy to think that he has a good friend inside the sunset.
THE TRAM-MAN
I'd like to be a Tram-man, and ride about all day, Calling out, "Fares, please!" ”

“ But at last Miss Trevor turned to her again.
"Neville, you said, my dear Mrs. Rush,—your niece—yes, Neville, indeed, Neville. Such a favorite with me—me, indeed, yes, favorite. I know a boy, yes, boy—indeed, youth—such a fine youth—such a hero—ro, indeed, ro—does not fear geese—hissing creatures, my dears—yes, creatures, indeed creatures, my dears, yes, creatures, indeed. Neville he is, yes, Neville—chevalier sans peur et sans reproche, 'proche, indeed, 'proche."
Now, as may be supposed, Lena was far from regarding her brother Percy as a "chevalier sans peur et sans reproche." ”

“ The blow from the bowsprit or the shock of the water or both together, falling on nerves so terribly overwrought, had unseated reason and dethroned memory, at least made a gap which the wandering mind was powerless to fill.
Neville dwelt much in the world of his childhood, fancied himself riding along English lanes, and pulling briar and eglantine in the valleys of [294] Surrey and Somerset with Peggy by his side. Then his imagination led to a beautiful golden-haired girl who went robed in green holding herself like some stately palm. ”

“ Are you comfortable, Captain?"
"Of course I am."
"Good. I have a question to ask you, Captain."
"I say?"
Nestir rubbed his bald head. "Sir," he said by way of preamble, "I know you have the greatest sensibility in questions of duty."
"That's quite so, y'know. I pride myself upon it, if I do say so."
"Exactly. Argot y calpex. No sacrifice is too great."
"True; true."
"Well, then, say the first day of Wenslaus, that would be—ah, a Zentahday—I may depend upon you to wed Wanda Miller, the bosun's daughter, yes?"
"No," said the captain. ”

“ Do you catch on?"
"Business," answered Handy. "Anything in it, or is it a thank-you job?"
"Why, my boy, there's a cold five hundred plunks in it. Society ladies on the committee. They will dispose of the tickets. One of them wants to act. I've promised to let her try and give her the opening. 'The Lady of Lyons' will be the play, and I will be the Claude."
"Well, Fogg, may the Lord have mercy on the audience—as well as on Melnotte."
"Oh, hold up, old chap. Don't be rough on a fellow. You know very well I have played much more difficult roles. ”

“ Never will any romancer truly tell the story of a man's inner life till he takes cognizance of the many trains of thought, gay and sombre, that can slide on side by side, neither wholly filling nor dominating the mind.
The tingling air, the slant sunshine, and the sense of unknown adventure awaiting him raised Neville's spirits, so that as a turn of the path brought the ketch in sight he found himself humming [205] the refrain of a song,—a song he had first heard rippling from the lips of Elinor Calvert, oh, how many years ago, among the green fields of Somerset ”

“ Neville crossed glances with the priest as men cross swords. "Or confidence through love—
"Cecil," he continued, "beg thy mother to heed the petition of a guest and let thee sit here by me for ten little minutes; I will bid thee eat nuts,—so shalt thou practise Father Mohl's precepts of obedience."
Elinor smiled, Neville put out his hand, a strong, nervous hand, and Cecil knew his cause was won.
"Lonely upstairs," he confided to Neville as he helped himself to nuts; "makes me think of bears."
"Bears come not into houses." ”

“ Neville called loudly to him, but the man did not even look up. Now he was far beyond that farm-house and above an orchard, where he saw the fruit-trees standing in straight rows; and a few seconds later the mountain range was beneath him, and Neville knew that the cloud that looked like a horse was making straight for the golden gateway, which was now glowing dully in a grey sky. He was riding into the sunset. Swiftly as the wind that drove it, the Cloud Horse drifted over the mountain range. ”