Mr. Potter

“ Potter, with a smile. "You don't get a chance like that every day."
He filled Uncle Gussie's glass for him, and that gentleman at once raised it and proposed the health of the young couple. "If anything was to 'appen to break it off now," he said, with a swift glance at his sister, "they'd be miserable for life, I can see that."
"Miserable for ever," assented Mr. Potter, in a sepulchral voice, as he squeezed the hand of Miss Spriggs under the table.
"It's the only thing worth 'aving—love," continued Mr. Price, watching his brother-in-law out of the corner of his eye. "Money is nothing." ”

“ Potter in his deep, leisured tones, his placid gaze roving from face to face, “you arl do know as Potter be a peaceable man, so here’s Potter a-beggin’ an’ a-pleadin’ o’ ye to leave old Pen alone—or I’m afeard some on ye might get ’urted—bad, I reckon!” As he spoke, Mr. Potter’s powerful hands disappeared into the deep pockets of his frieze coat, and he took a leisurely pace forward. “Simpson, my lad,” quoth he, nodding kindly at the burly young man, “your mouth’s so oncommon large as you’ll swaller yourself, boots an’ arl, one of these days if ye open it s’wide! So run along, my lad! ”

“ Mr. Potter was touched, but a master of himself. As she came to, he said quietly: “I came upon you suddenly—as you stood entranced by this picture—just as I did when I first saw it. That's why I bought it. Are you any relative of the Miss Forrest who painted it?” he continued, quietly looking at her card, which he held in his hand.
Miss Forrest recovered herself sufficiently to reply, and stated her business with some dignity.
“Ah,” said Mr. Potter, “THAT is another question. You see, the picture has a special value to me, as I once saw an old-fashioned garden like that in England. ”

“ Potter hastened back to Downs. “Did those papers name Herman von Essen?” he asked.
“Yes.”
“He is dead.... I found him dead on his library floor. That girl was his daughter—she’s going to be my wife.”
“I understand. You’re entitled to some reward, Mr. Waite, and this is a small one. No one shall ever know. His record will be clean.”
“Thank you,” Potter said. “I’m tired.... Good night.”
“Good night,” said the Secret Service man, and he stood looking after Potter until the young man disappeared up the stairs. “That,” he said to himself, “is America....” ”

“ Potter replied. "You are an excellent shot, I suppose?"
"Wall, I mout not hit er pin-head, but I reckon I could hit er steer."
"Mr. Potter," said Alf, as he stood over the fire frying the turkey breast, "wush I had axed you ter fetch de ole man some fiddle strings."
"Well, if I didn't bring you some I [Pg 44] hope, as John's aunt would say, 'I may never stir agin.' Here they are."
"Wall, fo' greshus, ef you ain't de thoughtfules' white man I eber seed. Thankee, sah, thankee. Man mus' almos' be 'spired ter think erbout ever'thing diser way. ”

“ As I came up leading the horse toward the gate, where master and Miss Potter were standing, old man Potter came walking out. He was effusive in his welcome, swearing upon his life [Pg 213] that never was he gladder to see a man. "Ah," he said, looking at me, "and this here is the boy that we all have heard such a good report about. A likely young feller, Mr. Gradley, and I don't reckon you'd care to sell him."
"No, sir," said Bob, assuming to be gentle but looking his contempt for the coarse old fellow. But Mr. Potter could interpret no looks of contempt ”

“ When John introduced him to Potter, and when Potter had courteously taken his hand, Alf, removing his straw hat, made a profound bow and said:
"I'se mighty pleased ter meet you, sah, caze I sees de true genermen er shinin' on yo' face; but lemme tell you, white man, I wouldn't hab you hit me wid dat fist o' yo'n fur all de co'n dars gwine ter be raised in dis yere county fur two year. Er haw, haw! If dis man doan tote er maul 'roun' wid him I neber seed one. Look here, Mr. Potter, whar you frum, nohow?" ”

“ Mr. Potter: Well ... love my limbs! Kill—hist! But ... but you, sir? Axing your pardon, but you aren’t got the look of a killer.
Sir John: Thank you, Mr. Potter, I rejoice to hear it.
Mr. Potter: But—ki—hist! He be pretty big and pretty fierce, sir, an’ you, axing y’r pardon, ain’t exactly——
Sir John: An elephant or a tiger—and yet I feel [126] myself perfectly able to accomplish one or the other, Mr. Potter.
Mr. Potter: Well, love my eyes! He be a fightin’ man too, sir! Somebody stuck a sword into him lately, I hear, but it didn’t do no good; he be as well and ’earty as ever. ”

“ Potter played that the first time Charlie heard him play—‘Annie Laurie,’ I think it was—he [172] walked up to him and said very solemnly, ‘I like a violin better than a fiddle,’ and everybody laughed.
“Years before, Mr. Potter had had a thriving trade, but when I knew him he did not get much to do because store suits for men had become common. Mother always found some work for him, though, and in his spare time he gave violin lessons. ”

“ Oliver Potter's notice.
"Then you think we can, in your father's case, exclude any idea of a secret connection with some society, such as that I refer to? Take that useful word 'jar,' then, and remove the centre letter."
"Really, Mr. Potter, I fail to understand you. Is this professional jargon necessary? Personally, I am a plain-spoken person." Laurence had taken an almost immediate dislike to the man from Burton's, whom he perceived to be as full of the sense of his own importance as the proverbial egg is full of meat. ”

“ Potter passed on with his nose in the air, but when he had gone another two or three steps, turned round and said to Mr. Perry: "You have had a lucky escape, sir. Your method of life is bringing you down pretty low, and if you are wise you will give up all this nonsense, and return to the quite respectable class in which you were born." ”

“ Potter, not to bring it. One moment," as he saw Mrs. Potter's face assume a look of anger. "His disappearance has been reported to the police. They tried to keep it quiet, but it was impossible in the case of a man of Mr. Potter's standing. Our paper—the Leader—knows of it. In a short time it will be known to every paper in New York. I think it would be wise for you to meet the situation, and give me whatever information you can. We will only be too glad to help you locate your husband, and I believe there is no better way than by newspaper publicity, even the police will tell you that. ”

“ From 1754 to July 1757 Potter sat for the borough of Aylesbury. He very soon allied himself with the elder Pitt, who wrote to his nephew in October 1756, ‘Mr. Potter is one of the best friends I have in the world.’ His name was on the list of Pitt's candidates for high office, but the king ‘objected in the strongest manner to the promotion as a thing unheard of at the first step in his service’ (Chatham Corresp. i. 187–8) . But Pitt was not to be denied, and in December 1756 Potter was re-elected at Aylesbury after appointment as paymaster-general of the land forces. ”

“ You'd get on much quicker there, with pater to shove you.'
'Probably,' Johnny agreed.
'My papers,' said Mr. Potter dryly, 'are not quite up to Johnny's intellectual level. Nor Jane's. Neither do they accord with their political sympathies.'
'Oh, I forgot you two were silly old Socialists. Never mind, that'll pass when they grow up, won't it, Frank?'
Secretly, Mrs. Frank thought that the twins had the disease because the
Potter family, however respectable now, wasn't really 'top-drawer.'
Funny old pater had, every one knew, begun his career as a reporter on a provincial paper. ”

“ Either the man was naturally affable or he had set himself with purpose to make friends of those in whose company he found himself at that moment, Potter decided. As for Potter, he did not enter into the conversation, but sat back listening and thinking. Without setting himself deliberately to do so, he studied Mr. Cantor, and was compelled to the conclusion that the stranger was an exceptionally brilliant man; not only that, but a man of personality, dominating personality. ”

“ Below them, beyond the courtyard, lay the shadowy arcades of the bazaar and the great pile of the Mori gate. Beyond that again the bricks and sand-heaps of Hodinuggur, with the village creeping up to be crowned by the grass palisades where the potter sat at work.
'Talking of bribes, said Dan absently, after the pause, 'I've often wondered how a fellow feels when he has been informed that her gracious Majesty has no further need of his services. They seldom go beyond that nowadays, but that must be bad enough.'
'Very much so, if the bribe has been insufficient, assented Lewis,
'Mr. Gordon! ”

“ They went up to the major’s room, where they talked more technicalities until a late hour. Potter said good night, and with a feeling of warmth in his soul, a feeling that these men really considered him of value and that he was performing no mean service for his country, he descended to the first floor. The major’s parting words had been: “Stick to it, Mr. Waite. Work over it, study it, keep on as you’ve been going. You are doing a big thing, and your country will owe you its thanks.” ”

“ If you be ... set on a-doin’ of it ... very determined on ... the deed, sir, your best way is to—hist! A pistol ... no, a musket ... some good dark night. Hist—Potter’s mum!
Sir John: You don’t love him, I think?
Mr. Potter: Love him? Well, there be things ’as ’appened ’ereabouts as no one can’t swear agin nobody, d’ye see, an’ yet ... old Pen knows more than she dare speak, I rackon, an’ Potter ain’t blind nor yet deaf.
Sir John: What kind of things?
Mr. Potter: Well, theer was poor Dick Hobden as went a-walkin’ one evenin’ Windover way wi’ Lucy Price, a rare handsome lass. ”

“ For we were not regularly armed, and this monster—but he spoke, and thereby set my doubts at rest.
"It is only Potter," murmured the monster, with an apologetic shuffle. "There's some funny birds as stands abaht the corners yere be night, and Mulberry Street is rather a confusin' street to come at, and I thought per'aps as you would be alone, Doctor, and so I took the liberty. It is a cold night for the time o' the year: what? I was to tell you, Doctor, that the pains is comin' on most beautiful."
Mr. Potter committed other information to our confidence. He was a stevedore, he said ”

“ But they seem to be alike about that in England and America. They are never so happy as when they are killing something or in danger of being killed themselves. I can't imagine how it would feel to be like that; but I know if they were different we should hate them. And Potter looked so nice in his soldier clothes (which he got into while we were making ourselves pretty for lunch) that I couldn't help thinking it would be a pity for him to leave the army.
His friend was invited to lunch with us, to make up for sacrificing his house. He is nicer than Potter, or even Mr. Doremus ”

“ He then turned to Allie as if nothing had happened, and said, with gentle courtesy:
"Miss Ashton, this is no place for you; if you will leave, I will accompany Mr. Ashton and you home."
"Oh! is he dead?" she said, as she viewed with anxiety and alarm the prostrate form of the brutal ruffian.
"You need not be in the least alarmed about that, miss," said one who was bending over him; "Joe Porter ain't so easily killed as that; though I tell you, that young fellow's blow is like a kick from a boss. ”

“ Only what one bids t’other obeys.... And now Lord Sayle swears he’ll ruin all on us—every man an’ bye, ah, wumman, maid an’ babe, not forgettin’ wives an’ widders.
Sir John: How so?
Mr. Potter: He’s took an oath to put down “the trade,” d’ye see. Potter be a inoffensive creater’ as never drawed steel in his life—except mebbe now and then—I prefers a short bat ... and never fired a shot in all my days—except p’r’aps once or twice an’ then only when com-pelled.... Ah, a peaceable man be Potter, but.... ”

“ Potter; we shall be delighted to see you. Good afternoon."
On Mrs. Potter's return to the hotel, she stayed in the parlor for some time, and as Mr. Andrews came in soon after, they had a pleasant tete-a-tete before going to dinner.
The next morning Mr. Andrews went out to get a cabinet-maker to make a small book-case for his room, and the hotel clerk directed him to the shop of Mr. Breed. The latter said that he was very busy, indeed, but that he could get a young man who was boarding with him to do the job.
"Is he a good workman?" asked Mr. Andrews. ”

“ Such was the quiet demeanour of the unassuming Smithers, and such were the happy effects of Scotch whiskey and Havannahs on that interesting person! But Mr. Thomas Potter, whose great aim it was to be considered as a ‘knowing card,’ a ‘fast-goer,’ and so forth, conducted himself in a very different manner, and commenced going very fast indeed—rather too fast at last, for the patience of the audience to keep pace with him. ”

“ Mr. Tod likes nobody's leavings but his own.
He made his way up the hill; his temper was not improved by noticing unmistakable marks of badger. No one else grubs up the moss so wantonly as Tommy Brock.
Mr. Tod slapped his stick upon the earth and fumed; he guessed where Tommy Brock had gone to. He was further annoyed by the jay bird which followed him persistently. It flew from tree to tree and scolded, warning every rabbit within hearing that either a cat or a fox was coming up the plantation. Once when it flew screaming over his head Mr. Tod snapped at it, and barked. ”