Mr Wentworth

“ Wentworth filled the two glasses with champagne again and handed one of them to her. He raised his own glass.
"I shall give you a toast," he said. "To Mr. X, the cleverest criminal I have ever met. May we meet again very soon!"
"I hate him!" she exclaimed, glancing toward the hall a little fearfully.
"You need not be afraid," he said. "My boy is on guard outside and he can see into the hall through the open window."
"What do you want?" she asked flatly. Wentworth went to the little table without replying and took the remaining bottle of wine from the basket which Ram Singh had brought. ”

“ Wentworth.
“Well, we will say, then, that it is tiresome for others but delightful for one’s self. A woman’s husband, you know, is supposed to be her second self; so that, for Felix and Gertrude, gaiety will be a common property.”
“Gertrude was always very gay,” said Mr. Wentworth. He was trying to follow this argument.
Robert Acton took his hands out of his pockets and came a little nearer to the Baroness. “You say you gain by being known,” he said. “One certainly gains by knowing you.”
“What have you gained?” asked Eugenia. ”

“ He felt no provocation to say that these influences had been exerted for evil; but he was sometimes afraid that he should not be able to like his distinguished, delicate, lady-like niece. He was paralyzed and bewildered by her foreignness. She spoke, somehow, a different language. There was something strange in her words. He had a feeling that another man, in his place, would accommodate himself to her tone; would ask her questions and joke with her, reply to those pleasantries of her own which sometimes seemed startling as addressed to an uncle. But Mr. Wentworth could not do these things. ”

“ Wentworth; every hour she would open one of the windows leading to the street and look out, as if expecting [18] to see Mr. Awtry with a telegraphic dispatch in his hand, and each disappointment she met with on these visits would only add to her intense anxiety. The shades of evening had overshadowed the earth, and Mrs. Wentworth sat at the window of her dwelling waiting the arrival of the news, which would either remove her fears or plunge her in sorrow. ”

“ He had decided on the Wentworth Glass Company quite by accident—the name was engraved on the glassware of the big Broadway restaurant at which he had dined the evening before, and subsequent inquiries had convinced him it was just the sort of organization he wanted—and so he had planned to interview Robert G. Wentworth, its president, that morning. Yet now it seemed impossible for him to see Mr. Wentworth—the telephone girl seemed to think he was crazy to expect such a thing. ”

“ Richard Wentworth," she said.
"Mr. Wentworth is not at home, Miss," answered the butler.
The girl gave a little cry of alarm as a policeman came into the entrance hall. She turned and tried to escape through the door, but was easily stopped by the officer. ”

“ He did not expect to find his man. But when dealing with such an audacious person he felt that precautions were necessary. Undoubtedly Mr. X had escaped by the emergency stairs, there having been no time to call an elevator to the top of the building.
To follow him would have been difficult and Wentworth had something else in view.
Ram Singh was squatting on the floor when his master returned to the front room. In his hand the native held the great knife which he had drawn out of the floor. Mimi, restless and nervous, stood beside her mistress. Madame Pompé smoked with apparent indifference. ”

“ The room was empty. Madame Pompé was gone, and she had taken with her the wicker wine basket containing the incriminating evidence of her spoken words. It seemed as though Mr. X was striking back successfully at Wentworth, defeating him, driving him into a corner.
Almost desperate, Wentworth decided instantly that it was necessary for him to run away. For Nita's sake he could not remain to continue the fight any longer.
With Ram Singh he darted into the hall and found the electric switch. He turned it. There was no light. He came to the front door which opened upon the elevator. ”

“ Wentworth's brow cleared, and there was a look of grateful affection in his eye which Pauline had not seen for many a day.
Mr. and Mrs. Grey returned home better satisfied with their son-in-law than they had been almost since his marriage. So little often do the nearest friends know of what is going on in the hearts of those dearest to them.
We will not trace Mr. Wentworth's career more closely. It is a common one—that of a "wild" young man settling into a dissipated one. Mr. Grey heard occasionally who his associates were ”

“ Wentworth. “Do you refer to the Roman Catholic priesthood?”
“I mean an old ecclesiastic who should have led a very pure, abstinent life. Now I take it that has been the case with you, sir; one sees it in your face,” Felix proceeded. “You have been very—a very moderate. Don’t you think one always sees that in a man’s face?”
“You see more in a man’s face than I should think of looking for,” said Mr. Wentworth coldly.
The Baroness rattled her fan, and gave her brilliant laugh. “It is a risk to look so close!” she exclaimed. “My uncle has some peccadilloes on his conscience.” Mr. ”

“ A portrait of Wentworth belonged in 1779 to Thomas Noel, viscount Wentworth, and was engraved for the ‘Antiquarian Repository’ (1808, iii. 59) ; another belonged in 1866 to Mr. F. Vernon-Wentworth of Wentworth Castle (Cat. First Loan Exhib. No. 178) . Wentworth's first wife died without issue at Calais about 1554, and he married secondly, in 1555 or 1556, her cousin Anne or Agnes, daughter of Henry Wentworth of Mountnessing, Essex. She escaped from Calais in December 1557, and was imprisoned in the Fleet on 16 Aug. ”

“ Wentworth had been guilty of theft.
"De Lor!" she exclaimed, as soon as her informant had concluded his remarks. "Who would'a believe it? Poh people, dey is really bad off," and she hurried to Mrs. Wentworth's side.
Mrs. Wentworth had paid no attention to the colloquy between the old negro and the policeman; she was engaged in appealing to Mr. Swartz, not to remove her to jail that night.
[102]
"You must have some feelings of humanity within you," she was observing. "You must have some touch of pity in your heart for my condition. ”

“ I really don't know what we shall do to entertain them. Perhaps they might like to read," suggested Mr. Wentworth, looking with some doubt at his big bookcases filled with heavy, calf-bound volumes.
"Of course; and they can walk in the garden and sit on the piazza," murmured Mrs. Wentworth happily.
In the orphan asylum that same evening there was even greater excitement. Mrs. Wentworth's handwriting was not of the clearest, and her request for "two" children had been read as "ten" ”

“ The very idea of standing in such an awkward relation to a man would make me hate him.'
'That's why I think all such schemes better let alone,' returned Mrs Wentworth; 'but as your father desires that I will put you in possession of his wishes before you go into the world, I have no choice but to do it.'
'It does not appear, however, that this Mr Elliott is very anxious about the matter, since he has never taken the trouble of coming to see me. Perhaps he does not know of the scheme?'
'O yes, he does; but, in the first place, he is abroad with his regiment ”

“ Several guests were waiting for the elevator amid the twelve red fires. Commissioner Kirkpatrick stood in the middle of the room and regarded the hundreds of reflections, red fires and female forms, without showing any surprise or emotion. He turned directly toward the gilded woman and looked at her as he would have gazed at a statue. Strange female forms did not mean any more to him than they did to Richard Wentworth.
"Mr. Mack," he said dryly to the little man who was standing nervously beside him, "those women will die if they keep their pores covered with that stuff too long. ”

“ Long ago a Chantrey had married a wife from Norway with Elizabeth’s hair and Elizabeth’s dark grey eyes.
“Good-night, David,” said Elizabeth Chantrey. She would have passed on, but to her surprise David made no movement. He was looking at her.
“This is where I first saw you, Elizabeth,” he said in a remembering voice. “You had on a grey dress, like that one, but Mary was in blue, because Mr. Mottisfont wouldn’t let her wear mourning. Do you remember how shocked poor Miss Agatha was?—‘and their mother only dead a month!’ I can hear her now.” ”

“ She began to grow hopeless, and to fancy her bright dreams were like the mirage of the desert, only feeding vain desires, and leaving her thirsty as before.
Ellen and her father received an invitation to a grand ball, which the then Duke of Buccleuch was to give in honour of the election, which his son was disputing with Mr. Rushington, a dangerously popular Whig, a man of considerable fortune and address. The Duke and Lord Wentworth being both firm Tories had little doubt that between them they would carry the day in favour of the Earl of Dalkeith, and the time was busily spent in canvassing. ”

“ Wentworth did not reply to his candid remarks. She did not tell him that for weeks past her children and herself had scarcely been able to find bread to eat, much less to pay a doctor's bill. She did not tell him that she was friendless and unknown; that her husband had been taken prisoner while struggling for his country's rights; that [88] Mr. Elder had turned herself and her children from a shelter, because she had no money to pay him for the rent of the room; nor did she tell him that the fee he had received, was obtained by theft—was the fruit of a transgression of God's commandments. ”

“ Pugh said. “But I don't see how I could possibly get away. The stock market is doing tricks these days, what with the NRA and Mr. Roosevelt's so-called controlled inflation.”
Wentworth waved a hand negligently, tossing his cigarette into a smoking stand. “You business men,” he sighed. “I wish I could find something in life that was half so interesting. Sure you can't make it, Mac?”
Pugh shook his bald head regretfully, smiling up from beneath those white brows. “No can do. But if you're out at your estate over Sunday, and decide finally not to go fishing, you might drop over. Bring Nita along. ”

“ Edward might be suspected of a most dreadful thing. I’m sure you haven’t thought of that. He might even”—Mary’s eyes widened—“he might even be arrested—and tried—and I couldn’t bear it.” The hand that rested on the chair began to tremble very much. “I couldn’t bear it,” said Mary piteously.
“Mary, my dear,” said David, “this is a business matter, and you mustn’t interfere—I can’t possibly sign the certificate. Poor old Mr. Mottisfont did not die a natural death, and the matter will have to be inquired into. No innocent person need have anything to be afraid of.” ”

“ Edward was shockingly pale.
“You mean—what do you mean? That people will think—it’s impossible.”
David went towards the door. His face was like a flint.
“I mean this,” he said. “Mr. Mottisfont died of arsenic poisoning. The arsenic was in a cup of tea which he drank. You brought him the tea. You are undoubtedly in a very serious position. There will have to be an inquest.”
Edward had risen completely. He made a step towards David.
“But if you were to sign the certificate—there wouldn’t need to be an inquest—David——”
“But I’m damned if I’ll sign the certificate,” said David Blake. ”

“ Calder S. Wentworth became the only representative; and a rich young bachelor can rise lightly to heights inaccessible to the feet of less happily situated folk. It seemed part of Providence’s benevolence that when Lady Forteville asked how many “Stripes women” there were, the answer could be “None;” whereupon the countess at once invited Mr. Calder Wentworth to dinner. ”

“ Wentworth, at first only with a view to becoming his assistant in the dispensary, but after a time with the intention of becoming a doctor himself. Mr. Hewson, the curate, who had been a very distinguished man in college, gave him lessons in various branches of learning; in fact, Dr. Wentworth gave him every advantage that he would have given to his own son had he lived. ”

“ He said he didn't want me any more—his brother could have me, or any one—I was to go away. And Gerald said, 'No; come here to me, Lucy.' I saw that they were mad, a I ran right out of the house; and there was a policeman there, and I told him, and he fetched a doctor and they took them away. Every one was very kind. Lady Calcott came to see. She had known my mother and she had me taught typing and shorthand, so that I could earn my living. You see, there was very little money. They are still the asylum—at least, Mr. Ames is. His brother died last year.”
John Alden half turned his head. ”

“ Commissioner Kirkpatrick held the elevator door open and barred the entrance with his arm. His face was cold and stern. A man, unnoticed before and evidently a plainclothesman, came quickly to his side.
"Case of homicide," rapped out the Commissioner. "Another Spider killing. Telephone Headquarters and have the usual detail sent up." As the detective hurried away to obey the order, the Commissioner spoke again, still authoritatively. "Everybody will leave this room with the exception of Miss Van Sloan, Mr. Mack and Mr. Wentworth."
"Nita?" asked Wentworth. "You want her?" ”

“ X stated.
"Unless you can strike over the telephone, I am afraid that you have not the courage to strike at all," was Wentworth's quiet taunt.
"I shall have much pleasure in striking both over the telephone and in person," replied Mr. X. "I should advise you not to forget the other lady while you wait the few minutes that will be required for me to arrive."
The telephone connection was broken at the other end before Wentworth could reply. He looked at Madame Pompé. She was nervously smoking. A light breeze came through the open window, causing the candles on the mantelpiece to flicker. ”