Nels

“ Nels can't pick up a pin. He can't hardly button his shirt or untie a knot in his rope. He looks sixty years—an old man. Wal, Nels 'ain't seen forty. He's a young man, but he's seen a lifetime fer every year. Miss Majesty, it was Arizona thet made Nels what he is, the Arizona desert an' the work of a cowman. He's seen ridin' at Canyon Diablo an' the Verdi an' Tonto Basin. He knows every mile of Aravaipa Valley an' the Pinaleno country. He's ranged from Tombstone to Douglas. He hed shot bad white men an' bad Greasers before he was twenty-one. He's seen some life, Nels has. ”

“ Then Nels turned into the grove and took the horse from the shafts and tied him some distance away, while G. B. Stiles took writing materials from his valise, and, sitting in the buggy, made a show of drawing up a legal paper.
“I’m going to draw you up a paper as you asked me to. Now how do you know you have the man?”
“It iss ten t’ousand tallers. You make me out dot paper you gif me half yet.” ”

“ She fought the wild beast in Nelse's father, hand to hand, all his life, and he died a better man than when she married him. Undaunted, she fought it in Nelse as a boy, and now as a man; and in the flowering of his physical forces when the wind of his youth blows most wildly through the hateful thicket of inherited weaknesses she generally wins the battle. ”

“ When Nelse appeared at Loringwood in his finest it was a sort of state affair in the cook house. He was an honored guest with the grown folks, because the grandeurs he had witnessed and could tell of, and he was a cause of dread to the pickaninnies who were often threatened with banishment to the Unc. Nelse glade, and they firmly believed he immediately sold all the little darkies who put foot in his domain.
“Isn’t he delightfully quaint?” asked the girl, rejoining Delaven. “Gertrude never does seem to find him interesting; but I do. ”

“ As soon as I can dash up the landin' steps, I beckons the second mate to follow me aft.
"Call your bunch back here, too," says I, "So there'll be no bonehead plays made."
Then, when I gets 'em together, I tips Nelse the knowin' wink.
"You ain't supposed to know a thing about what's been goin' on to-night, eh?" I asks.
Nelse, he shrugs his shoulders.
"Aye yust know about work," says he, lyin' free and easy.
"That's a swell motto to pin on the wall," says I. "But listen, Nelse, while I put a case to you. ”

“ Admiral Nelson, also, on a capstan of gun-metal, stands his mast-head in Trafalgar Square; and ever when most obscured by that London smoke, token is yet given that a hidden hero is there; for where there is smoke, must be fire. ”

“ But my guess is that 'Gene is making a fool of himself for nothing. Nelly doesn't strike me as being the sort of woman to . . ."
"But Frank is awfully good-looking and dashing, and lots younger than 'Gene. And Nelly is young too and perfectly stunning to look at. And she's not one of our native valley girls, you know. It may seem very dull and cooped-up here, so far from town, and shops. She may envy her sisters, still living back in West Adams with city life around them."
"Oh, it's possible enough, I suppose," admitted Neale. ”

“ It is very hard for thee.”
“Nay, I am rich,” murmured Nello; and in his innocence he thought so; rich with the imperishable powers that are mightier than the might of kings. And he went and stood by the door of the hut in the quiet autumn night, and watched the stars troop by and the tall poplars bend and shiver in the wind. All the casements of the mill-house were lighted, and every now and then the notes of the flute came to him. ”

“ Nelly heard the sharp, clear sound of an old woman's voice above the hum of a spinning-wheel, and then the glad burst of joy as the mother recognized her son. Unwilling to interrupt their happiness, Nelly moved away out of hearing, when Hanserl came running out, followed by the old woman.
“This is the Fräulein, mother,” cried he, with a burst of delight; and the old woman, taking Nelly's hand, kissed it with deep respect.
With native courtesy she welcomed Nelly, and, as she entered her house, pointed with pride to a Madonna of Nelly's own carving, which stood on a bracket against the wall. ”

“ Rob could not appreciate Nelly's feeling.
"Well, what makes you steal 'em, then?" he asked, in a satirical tone.
"God likes to have us pick them: I know he does," said Nelly, earnestly. "He gives them all to us for every summer as long as we live."
"Oh, pshaw, Nell!" said Rob. "He don't do any such thing. They just grow: that's all."
"Well, papa says that God makes them grow on purpose for us to see how pretty they are. They aren't of any other use: they aren't the same as potatoes. And don't you know the little verse,—
I'm always thinking of that. ”

“ All this while the little panel of pine wood remained over the chimney in the mill kitchen with the cuckoo clock and the waxen Calvary; and sometimes it seemed to Nello a little hard that while his gift was accepted, he himself should be denied.
But he did not complain; it was his habit to be quiet. Old Jehan Daas had said ever to him, “We are poor; we must take what God sends—the ill with the good; the poor cannot choose.” ”

“ Willard stood in silence for some moments after Nelly had finished her story; then he lifted her upon his arm, and said:
"You are a good kind girl, little Nelly, and I thank you. Do you know that a man values his life more than anything else he possesses, and that you have saved mine? Now, Nelly, ask me for something you would like to have for yourself. No matter what it is, you shall have it. Remember, I am a very rich man." ”

“ Nello, cold and hungry, with stockingless feet in wooden shoes, and the winter winds blowing among his curls and lifting his poor thin garments, was in a rapture of meditation, wherein all that he saw was the beautiful fair face of the Mary of the Assumption, with the waves of her golden hair lying upon her shoulders, and the light of an eternal sun shining down upon her brow. Nello, reared in poverty, and buffeted by fortune, and untaught in letters and unheeded by men, had the compensation of the curse which is called Genius. ”

“ The same leaven was working in him that in other times begat Rubens, and Jordaens and the Van Eycks, and all their wondrous tribe, and in times more recent begat—in the green country of the Ardennes, where the Meuse washes the old walls of Dijon—the great artist of the Patroclus, whose genius is too near us for us aright to measure its divinity.
Nello dreamed of other things in the future than of tilling the little rood of earth, and living under the wattle roof, and being called Baas by neighbours a little poorer or a little less poor than himself. ”

“ Cook likes Nelly best, and Mr. Cook likes Rob."
"Why, Sarah!" exclaimed Mr. March, "what do you mean? We love the children just alike."
"Yes, perhaps we love them equally," replied Mrs. March; "but we don't like them equally. I like Rob's ways best, and you like Nelly's. It's always been so, ever since they were born. You'll see Nelly will make a good, loving, lovable woman; but Rob will make a splendid man. Rob will do something in the world: you see if he does not!" ”

“ It almost seemed to Nell as if it were not he himself who stood before her, but just a vision of her imagination, called up by the intensity of her thoughts of him. The color came and went in her face, leaving it, at last, pale and startled. And he, too, stood, as incapable of speech as any of the shy and bashful young fishermen on the quay; he, the man of the world, who had faced so many "situations" with women—women of the world armed with the weapons of experience, and the "higher culture." ”

“ Nell, on this spot I again impart to you my choice. I will become a great statesman. I have money to start me—most fellows [Pg 47] have to spend the best part of their lives in getting money enough to give them a start. I shall be the Leader of the House. Mind, to anyone but you this ambition would seem presumptuous. It is my secret which I trust with you, Nell." He caught her hands, drew her gently, and kissed her on the forehead. "Dear Nell," he said, "long before my ambition is realized, you will be by my side, encouraging, and advising, and consoling." ”

“ I have no doubt much as Nelly desired to see the dear home friends, that long ere this she has wished herself back for one more frolic with her little namesake. When I say to the darling, "Baby want to see Aunt Nelly?" she crows and screams with delight. We all think her very like sister; the same deep blue eyes, and fair complexion, so different from her beautiful brother who looked far more like a Lenox. ”

“ This troubled his mother, and made Nelly wonder why he found lying in a pleasant room so much harder than fighting battles or making weary marches. Any thing that interested and amused him was very welcome, and when Nelly, climbing on the arm of his sofa, told her plans, mishaps, and successes, he laughed out more heartily than he had done for many a day, and his thin face began to twinkle with fun as it used to do so long ago. That pleased Nelly, and she chatted like any affectionate little magpie, till Will was really interested; for when one is ill, small things amuse. ”

“ Johnny looked around without answering. He saw that there was no help for it; they must return the way they came, long as it was, or stay in the woods all night.
“Come, Nelly,” he said, “we must go back on the same path, if we can.”
It was getting quite dusky. They took each other by the hand and trudged along. One by one the flowers dropped from Nelly’s full apron, to the ground, and at length her weary fingers unclasped, and the apron itself resumed its proper position. Everybody knows how easy it is to lose one’s way, and what a difficult thing it is to find it again. ”

“ She's wilder than any antelope out there on the desert. Nell's nearly twenty now, and so far as we know she's never cared a rap for any fellow. And she's just as gay and full of the devil as she was at fourteen. Nell's as good and lovable as she is pretty, but I'm afraid she'll never grow into a woman while we live out in this lonely land. ”

“ Nell looked at her with a hint of envy. “It’s all right for you,” she said. “You’re not under any man’s heel.”
“I have been,” said Frances, with a sudden memory of the Bishop. “But I never shall be again.”
“You will be if you marry,” said Nell.
“Oh, I don’t think so,” smiled Frances. “But as I am not going to marry, that is beside the point.”
“How nice to be sure you don’t want to!” said the girl with a sigh.
Whereat Frances laughed with a curious lightheartedness. “I didn’t say that, did I? But women of my age think twice before they sign away their liberty.”
“Your age!” Nell stared. ”

“ Do you know Nell, Tomos?”
“Nell Blaenffos?”
“You are as stupid as a frog, man. Blaenffos. Near Henllan. Nell the daughter of Sam.”
“Is she a tidy wench?”
“For why you make me savage, Tomos? Nell is Sam’s only child. She is here with her old father paying off the last of the mortgage.”
Job shouted across the yard into the inn : “Is Nell Blaenffos there?”
“Dammo!” came the reply. “She was here this one minute. Nell Blaenffos! Nell Blaenffos!”
Many voices repeated the call. They cried: “Nell Blaenffos! Nell Blaenffos! Job of the Stallion wants you.” ”

“ One night, the third after Nelly's interview with Mrs Quilp, the old man, who had been weak and ill all day, said he should not leave home. The child's eyes sparkled at the intelligence, but her joy subsided when they reverted to his worn and sickly face.
'Two days,' he said, 'two whole, clear, days have passed, and there is no reply. What did he tell thee, Nell?'
'Exactly what I told you, dear grandfather, indeed.'
'True,' said the old man, faintly. 'Yes. But tell me again, Nell. My head fails me. What was it that he told thee? Nothing more than that he would see me to-morrow or next day? ”

“ Cleverly with hat and shawl, door L. She looks over Nelly’s shoulder at picture.)
A girl might be happy with such a man. I’ve no doubt I shall blush when we meet. (To photograph.) You dear fellow, you are good-looking and smart—
Mrs. C. Indeed he is, Nelly.
Nelly (jumping up) . O, good gracious! you here?
Mrs. C. Have I disturbed your devotions? Who is he? When will it be?
Nelly (puts photograph in her bosom) . Nonsense; it’s only a slight acquaintance.
Mrs. C. You do not slight his picture. I should say he was a bosom-friend. Where’s Charley?
Nelly. Out on the farm, hilling corn, I believe. ”

“ This was the strongest form of pledge which Rob and Nelly ever gave. It was like a sort of oath among the children in Mayfield. If a child broke his promise after he had said "Honest Indian," there was nothing too bad for him.
"Well," said Rob, coming very close to Nelly, and speaking in a low whisper, "it was those people's string of onions!"
"Why, Rob!" cried Nelly, in a horrified tone, "why, Rob! that's stealing. How could you?"
"'Tain't stealing either, Nell March," said Rob, stoutly; "I haven't got 'em. Stealing is taking things. I haven't got them. ”

“ What’s that, Johnny, flopping about in the grass?”
She pointed to the rock-side, where, as Johnny soon saw, a decided “flopping” was indeed going on.
“A fish! a fish!” cried the boy, catching it and holding it up in both hands, so that Nell could look at it; “I’ll take it to Martin to put on the string with the rest. It must have floundered off.”
“Oh, let us put it back,” cried Nelly; “poor Mr. Fish! I think you would really like to try your hand at swimming again.”
“Fin, you mean,” laughed John; “fishes don’t have hands that ever I heard tell. Shall I let it go?” ”