Ormsby

“ Ormsby, from the moment he had learned that he had a daughter living, who was worthy, for her own sake, of the tenderness he was disposed to feel towards the representative of the woman he adored, he cherished the most flattering hopes of happiness with a lovely being, who would recall continually to his mind the hours of his early felicity, and gild the evening of his life. ”

“ Some a retreat advised; 'twas late; the winter drawing on;
The forage and provision, too,—so Ormsby said,—were gone.
Men could not feed on air and fight; whatever Pitt might say;
In praise or censure, still, they thought, 'twere wiser to delay.
Then up spoke iron-headed Forbes, and through his feeble frame
There ran the lightning of a will that put them all to shame!
"I'll hear no more," he roundly swore; "we'll storm the fort amain!
I'll sleep in hell to-morrow night, or sleep in Fort Duquesne!" ”

“ Besides, he did not expect May to leave both wife and child to the tender mercies of the dogged Piet; and in short, to Ormsby’s infinite disgust, he was told that haste was out of the question: they must make what way they could to Annerley, and there act upon the intelligence with such means as circumstances afforded. If fresh horses could be procured, a couple of armed guides would be sufficient, and the cavalcade of wagons and attendants could, for the present, remain behind; besides which difficulties, Ormsby’s foot was too much inflamed to permit him to ride. ”

“ Captain Ormsby, who commanded the detachment, was a man of feeling; he had particularly noticed the poor woman's distress.
"Be comforted," said he, "I will watch over the lad, for your sake, and will try and take him under my immediate charge, and if he behaves well, I may be able to serve him. I will see that he writes to you."
"Heaven bless and reward your honour," she exclaimed, "surely you are a parent yourself. Oh, yes, I knew it," said she, as she saw him wipe off the starting tear. "May God spare you such a trial as has this day been my lot." ”

“ Ormsby and his peculiarities I have heard her describe them so often that I can almost fancy I see him: a fine-looking man of medium size with a military air, rather haughty of manner but exceedingly kind and obliging to his neighbors and friends. ”

“ It seems that Mr. Ormsby’s publishers have insisted upon his turning over a new leaf and writing something about women, and, knowing nothing about our sex, Betty, he conceived the strictly original idea of employing a model. I came down to Rosemount in Billie’s motor car, and picked him—Mr. Ormsby—up and took him along with me. We had quite a romantic meeting. I found him eating his luncheon by the roadside, and insisted on his sharing it with me. I give him “sittings” every afternoon in an adorable bungalow that he’s fitted up as a workshop. ”

“ That’s right, my girl, play away. It’s good to hear the piano going again. And, between ourselves, I’m beginning to feel depressed by the stillness of the house. It’s difficult to believe that this is home since we took on hospital work. Between ourselves, I sha’n’t be sorry when Ormsby says good-bye. As a strong man and a soldier, I like him ”

“ Marsh at liberty."
"Then you are satisfied in your own mind," said Sir John, "that he is not really the criminal he seems so desirous of making himself out to be?"
"On that point I am fully satisfied."
"What, then, can be the fellow's motive for such an insane proceeding?" demanded Ormsby--reasonably enough. "Is he a madman, or merely a fool?"
"He is very far from being either one or the other."
"But this is such a terrible crime for any sane man to charge himself with?" interpolated Sir John.
"You say, Drelincourt, that one of our first steps must be to set him at liberty," resumed Ormsby. ”

“ Then I got her a fine big brass Crucifix from the Passionist Fathers at Mount Argus, and left her to her wonder-working and merciful Master. But she has impressed Ormsby profoundly. "The weak things of the world hast Thou chosen to confound the strong." ”

“ Ormsby, Rosalie had but too much reason to think the generous friendship of Walsingham towards her might endanger his life, she rallied her feeble and fainting spirits to consider how it was possible to avert the dreaded evil. She saw this could only by done by her putting into the hands of Lessington these proofs of Walsingham's disinterested friendship, and leaving him to act as she knew his own prudence and sense would dictate. ”

“ Ormsby; though the matter of the letter was cleared up, he saw, that the father of Rosalie regarded him as one who had been the cause of Montalbert's estrangement from her; that long and disagreeable explanations must take place, and that he could hardly hope to be received even as the friend of her to whom he felt such painful partiality.—Ormsby, while he anxiously hastened his departure, treated him with coolness, almost with incivility; but Lessington, with milder manners, was more ready to believe that no blame could attach to the conduct of Rosalie in regard to him. ”

“ Mrs. Vyvian had said, that she believed that though Mr. Ormsby still lived, he had forgotten her entirely; she added, that she most sincerely hoped he had; but, as she said this, her tears fell more abundantly, and her heart seemed to feel all the bitterness that attends the conviction of being forgotten by those we have fondly loved. ”

“ Ormsby was educated at Trinity College, Dublin, and won a silver medal for chemistry at the University of London. A member of the Middle Temple, Mr. Ormsby was never called to the Bar, for his literary tastes were developed early, and articles from his pen appeared in the Saturday Review, in Fraser's Magazine, in the Quarterly Review, the Cornhill, and Pall Mall Gazette. In 1862 Mr. Ormsby—then a prominent member of the Alpine Club—contributed to the second series of "Peaks, Passes, and Glaciers" an account of his ascent of the Pic de Grivola, in the Graian Alps. ”

“ One sentence let fall by Ormsby remained vividly in her memory. “Unless Mr. Herresford made that avowal with his own lips, no one would take the slightest notice of it.”
He should make the avowal; she would force it from him. The irony of the situation was fantastic in its horror.
She found her husband at home, looking whiter and more bloodless than ever.
“What news, Mary?” he asked awkwardly, avoiding her glance.
“The strangest, John—the strangest of all! My father is the biggest thief in America.” ”

“ He saw they did not; and, throwing himself into a chair, he said, "I suppose I speak to Mr. Ormsby and Mr. Lessington.....I imagine, Sir, (addressing himself to the former) —I imagine your daughter is here?"
Ormsby, alarmed and amazed, hesitated a moment, hardly knowing what to say. The stranger, without waiting for his answer, continued to speak——
"I known not whether you see before you the most injured, or the most guilty, of men——I only know that I am the most wretched!"
"It is Mr. Montalbert, I believe, to whom I speak! ”

“ If you remain under such circumstances, I can neither consider you as a man of honour nor an honourable man.”
Ormsby was selfish, as you know; but he had a great respect for Frankfort, who, without making a fuss about being a “man of honour,” was an honourable man. Ah, reader! there is a wide difference between the two, as perhaps you have found before now.
That evening Ormsby went to Mr Daveney, and solicited leave to pay his addresses to his daughter Marion. ”

“ He is safe, and not near the precipice. He has concealed himself in a sort of cavity in yon rock near the stairs, though the space is so small that I wonder how he got into it. He must have coiled himself up with some difficulty." "Do not let us go thither to seek him," whispered Mr. 21 Ormsby. "He shall not have the gratification of jumping up and laughing at us." Mrs. Ormsby and Madeline, finding that Frederick was really safe, endeavoured to calm their agitation; and Mr. Ormsby and Gustavus began to talk of other things. ”

“ I cannot discriminate the various emotions that agitated my mind during the absence of Helene, who, on her return in about an hour, found me still sitting at the window, as if I expected to see Ormsby pass, as he sometimes used to do under it of an evening, when he used to tell me he had peculiar delight in watching the light in my room, and seeing me pass across it, long before he dared to tell me he loved me. ”

“ It being now half past nine o'clock, they turned their steps downward; and after proceeding a little distance they missed Frederick. "Another of his tricks," said Mr. Ormsby, "this time we will take no notice."
As they proceeded they heard the most dismal groans. "Frederick again," said Mr. Ormsby. "Incorrigible boy! let us, however, walk on; when he finds that he has failed to frighten us, we shall soon see him running down the mountain. Twice in one day is rather too often to make us believe that he has fallen down the rocks. I wonder he cannot think of something new. ”

“ Ormsby belongs at present to a younger branch of the Mundys of Markeaton in Derbyshire, who have assumed the name of Massingberd.
See the Genealogy of this House, a MS. by Robert Dale, Suffolk Herald, compiled about the year 1718, and still at Ormsby; and Allen's History of the County, under Ormsby and Gunby.
Arms.—Azure, three quatrefoils (two and one,) and in chief a boar passant or, charged on the shoulder with a cross patée gules, with which the following coat is generally quartered, said to be the arms assumed by Sir Thomas Massingberd, Knight of St. ”

“ I thought too, that if by any strange means which I could not comprehend, nor hardly think possible, Ormsby yet lingered round Holmwood, he would be prevented by the presence of a third person from speaking to me. Life was now in my eyes of so little value, that to fear, unless it were fear of my father, I was insensible; and I believe that I should have met with indifferece, or rather torpor, the most terrific figures that imagination has ever dressed out to deter from crimes, or to enforce repentance. ”

“ Everything gave promise of establishing a thriving town; wagons were winding down the green slopes of the western hills, and fine herds of cattle and flocks of sheep and goats were passing through on their way to fresh pasture-lands.
A cumbrous and old-fashioned, but comfortable, English carriage with four fine horses stood at the gate of the Daveneys’ cottage. Ormsby, somewhat wasted by his wounds—happily the one on the temple, was but a cut from a passing assegai—led Lady Amabel to her equipage, and Mr Daveney followed, leading Eleanor in deep mourning. ”

“ Ormsby, "do you not see the laugh lurking in Frederick's eye? He only intends to frighten us. Can you suppose he has really any idea of leaping from the rock? No, no—though he delights in terrifying others, I am well convinced that he will never do any thing to hurt himself."
Gustavus then told of a soldier's wife, who, a few years since, (being, as was supposed, in a state of temporary derangement,) wandered in the night to these rocks, and falling over the precipice, her mangled body was discovered next morning, lying almost in the river. ”

“ There was a genuine ringing cheer when he walked down her deck; for every one knew what a splendid seaman he was, and it is exhilarating to see a strong man, self-reliant and confident, assume an authority and premiership by natural right, where weaklings are timid and irresolute. The clouds moved off from Father Letheby's face only to gather more deeply upon poor Bittra's. Campion saw it and came over to where she stood, leaning on Ormsby's arm. ”

“ She surveyed the room over her shoulder and was chilled afresh by its deserted air. “Can he have gone away without a word?” she wondered, and paled at the thought.
“It’s no use denying you’re in a very bad way about this Ormsby, Jane De Mille,” she reflected, pensively surveying the dancing flames. “You’re rapidly losing all your independence, and, what’s worse, your self-respect. And you haven’t the remotest reason for believing that he cares a scrap for you.” ”

“ Montalbert enjoyed, at a small but beautiful place on the coast of Dorsetshire, with which Ormsby had presented his wife, more happiness than usually falls to the lot of humanity. Rosalie passed her life in studying how to contribute to his felicity, and that of her father, and, by her sweetness and attention, she won them both from those little asperities and difference of temper which had once threatened to destroy their domestic comfort. ”

“ It seems that Dan W. Tarpley was on the most friendly terms with Merritt Ormsby, the son of the Forest Superintendent, and as has been shown frequently heretofore, found a great deal of profit as well as pleasure, in this acquaintanceship. One day in a burst of confidence, young Ormsby told Tarpley that his father was engineering a big forest reserve scheme somewhere in Eastern Oregon, but was not sufficiently on the inside to know exactly what territory it was proposed to include in the boundaries of the new reserve. ”

“ My heart is of your opinion; my head will slowly follow.'"
"And that, sir," said Ormsby, closing the book and putting it into his side pocket, "is just where I am. My heart is with you; if only my head would follow. Put Bittra for Gione, and you will understand my emotion."
"Even that won't do," I said; "the head might follow, and you might be as far from us as ever."
"I don't understand," he said in a bewildered way. "Surely all that's wanting now is a conviction of the truth of your teaching?"
"There's your grave mistake," I replied; "conviction is not faith. ”

“ "Yes, and look at the corpses. Place always reminds me of that old thing in 'Punch,' you know—'Waiter, take away Lord Whatsisname, he's been dead two days.' Look at Old Ormsby there, snoring like a hippopotamus. ”

“ I heard too, that though the name of Ormsby was never mentioned whenever the steward, my father's old servant, or the housekeeper were present; yet that the inferior servants were continually whispering strange things, and that the people in the neighbourhood talked of nothing else; some of them going so far as to say, that inquiry ought to be made by people authorised, for that Mr. Ormsby had certainly been spirited away; while others gave dark hints, that, considering the revengeful temper of Mr. ”