Phipps

“ On Sunday morning Captain Phipps betook himself to his brig, as she lay in mid-stream, to pother about by himself, while Adam dutifully escorted Goodwife Phipps to meeting, at South Church, which was nearer than the old church and more popular as well.
It was a solemn, black procession of Puritans that walked decorously to meeting in the sunlight. The day was one of almost unseemly beauty, for Nature was fairly barbarous in the colors which she wore like jewels. ”

“ He and the beef-eaters knocked over their heavy chairs and stools, as they arose from the table. Phipps looked at Randolph. The two men nodded, distantly and somewhat frowningly. Without so much as glancing at Randolph, Adam and his retinue walked to the door and so away, with the Captain.
Randolph needed no further intimation of Adam’s probable leanings, politically, than this obvious camaraderie with Phipps—who was a patriot as immovable and staunch as a rock fortress. He clenched his fists and ground his molars savagely.
“Curse the young fool!” he said. ”

“ There was no house in Westbourne that gave her abilities half such scope as that of Mrs Captain Phipps—so the lady continued to style herself. Miss Jenny's father had advised there till he departed; after which event, the widow and her son confided in his heiress. Master Harry Phipps was not what would be called a successful young man. He was not either wild or remarkably stupid, as the world goes; his mother knew him to be a dear domestic fellow, who would play the flute or dominos for weeks of evenings in her back-parlour. ”

“ Miss Phipps looked at her and made a little signal, but Mademoiselle only shook her head, and held out her hands with a helpless gesture, and then Miss Phipps began to speak herself, in such a gentle voice—a voice quite different from her usual brisk, decided accents.
“Pixie dear, I have something to tell you. God has been very kind to the dear father whom you love so much. ”

“ Meanwhile Phipps acted as secretary to his brother, Constantine Henry, first marquis of Normanby [q. v.] , when governor of Jamaica, 1832-4, and in that capacity went from plantation to plantation, announcing to the slaves that they were to be free. When his brother went to Ireland as lord lieutenant in 1835, Phipps became steward of the viceregal household, and held the office until 1839. For a short time he was secretary to the master-general of the ordnance. On 1 Aug. 1846 he became equerry to the queen, and on 1 Jan. 1847 private secretary to the prince consort. ”

“ But the king replied, that he knew Phipps to be an honest man, and that he and his friends should divide the whole treasure amongst them, even though he had returned with double the value. Phipps’s share was about £20,000, and the king, to show his approval of his energy and honesty in conducting the enterprise, conferred upon him the honour of knighthood. ”

“ Josephine, who had been standing up for the last few moments, touched the bell.
“You will keep your rivalry for the City, I trust,” she said.
It was just then that Phipps surprised a little glance flashed from Josephine to Wingate. He seemed suddenly to increase in size, to become more menacing, portentous. There was thunder upon his forehead. At that moment, the butler opened the door and Josephine held out her hand.
“It was very kind of you to call, Mr. Phipps. I will think over all that you have said, and discuss it—with my husband.” ”

“ Peter Phipps, who knew men through and through, and had also a profound acquaintance with women of a certain class, was face to face, for once, with a type of which he knew little. The woman who could refuse his millions, offered in such a manner, could have no real existence for him. ”

“ Slate emptied a glass of wine.
“John,” he said, relapsing once more into the familiarity of their early college-days, “you couldn't have set me a job more to my heart than to have me help in brewing mischief for Peter Phipps. I'm your man, body and soul—you know that. But you've been a good friend to me—almost the only one I ever had—and I've got to put this up to you: Peter Phipps is as clever as the devil. So I only want to say this: Go warily. Always remember that he has something up his sleeve.”
Wingate nodded. ”

“ But Sir William Phipps had not always worn a gold-embroidered coat, nor always sat so much at his ease as he did in Grandfather's chair. He was a poor man's son, and was born in the province of Maine, where he used to tend sheep upon the hills in his boyhood and youth. Until he had grown to be a man he did not even know how to read and write. Tired of tending sheep, he next apprenticed himself to a ship-carpenter, and spent about four years in hewing the crooked limbs of oak trees into knees for vessels. ”

“ She now met Sir William Phipps, Governor-elect of New England, who had finally arrived and who was scanning the gathering company for a sight of Adam Rust.
“Oh, how well you are looking, Sir William,” she cried to Phipps, delightedly.
377“I am looking for a friend,” said the captain, with his customary bluntness. “But thank you, Lady Margaret, thank you, heartily.”
“If you are looking for a friend, why, look over my head?” she said to him, prettily. “Oh, you dear Colonial Governors are such delightfully honest people. We all have to like you, really.” ”

“ I hope to be stabbed with a gridiron," said Phipps, "if there ain't more niggers—look at 'em—more niggers than would patch and grade the infernal regions eleven miles! Guess I've enough niggers for a spell," continued Phipps, "so I'll just pop in here, and see how this feller sells his notions." And so Abner, having reached Dock square, saunters into a gun, pistol, bowie, jack-knife, dog-collar, shot-bag, and notion-shop in general. Unlucky step.
The stiff-dickied, frizzle-headed, polished and perfumed shop-keeper was on hand, and particularly predisposed to sell the stranger something. ”

“ Phipps had sprung from a poor apprentice boy, to be the richest and most powerful man in New England. He had won title and wealth from the mother government, by his indomitable energies, while Samuel Parris had dreamed his life away, under the roof where the embryo great man had taken his first charity lesson. But though one was a man of thought, and the other of progress, no distance of time nor station could separate them.
Governor Phipps was in the prime of life, a man of noble presence, strong in intellect and in power. Parris was old and bowed to the earth with trouble ”

“ Behind his cynical exterior, his evil brain had begun to work.
"Look here, Phipps," he said, "I don't care about this conversation. If a man happens to admire another man's wife, her husband is scarcely the proper confidant."
"Oh, yes, I know your theory!" Phipps scoffed. "You're willing enough to hide your head in the sand and take the goods the gods send you. That doesn't suit me. I happen to need your help."
"My help?" Dredlinton repeated. "The poor little spider to help the mighty Phipps! You're not finding difficulties in the way of your suit, are you?" ”

“ There was a look of fear in his eyes. “Tell me what it is you want, Phipps? I am ready to do anything. You know that.”
“Your wife's friendship with this fellow Wingate must be nipped in the bud,” Phipps declared.
“Yes; but how?” Dredlinton demanded. “Josephine and I aren't anything to one another any more. You know that. She goes her own way.”
“She lives in your house,” Phipps said. “You remain her husband nominally, and you have, therefore, a certain amount of authority. You must forbid her to receive Wingate.” ”

“ Phipps became renowned for his presence of mind and courage. On this occasion he promptly knocked down three or four of the ruffians, and then with a loaded revolver and a handy marlin spike, he awed the others into submission before the alarm had even time to spread. The malefactors being summarily placed in irons and thrown into the hold, the insurrection below decks retired into the dark corners, to knit itself anew into shape.
The sailors now recognized the necessity for uniting their forces. ”

“ Peter Phipps was a man whose life had been spent in facing and overcoming difficulties, but, as he took the chair to which Josephine had somewhat ungraciously pointed, he was compelled to admit to himself that he was confronted with a task which might well tax his astuteness to the utmost. ”

“ Dredlinton sank a little wearily into an easy-chair, after a glance of disappointment at the retreating figure.
"Can't think why you always have such damned ugly girls about you,
Phipps," he yawned. "Gives me the creeps to look at them."
Peter Phipps smiled as he drew a box of cigars from his desk.
"Then I will tell you the reason, my friend," he said. "For pleasure there is no one who appreciates beauty more than I do. ”

“ Fuzzy was there on his back, his legs crossed, his tail twitching.
"I don't see anything," Phipps said.
"You mean you can't see Fuzzy here?" I pointed to him, the end of my finger an inch from his head. "Ouch!" I drew my hand away. "The little devil bit me."
"You're fired, Mr. Weaver," Phipps said in a tired voice. "Fired as of right now. I'll arrange for two weeks' severance pay. And my advice to you is to stay off the bottle or see a psychiatrist—or both. Not that it'll do you any good. You never amounted to anything and you never will." ”

“ Galusha did not tell Miss Phipps of his business deal with the light keeper. In the first place, his telling her would involve more deception and, also, might lead to more possibilities of discovery. The average, well-meaning person, having been driven by relentless fate to the committing of murder, could scarcely have felt more conscience-stricken and depraved than did little Galusha Bangs at having lied to Martha Phipps. ”

“ Phipps' hands were tied together. A gag in the form of a respirator covered his mouth. Cords which had apparently only just been unknotted were around each leg. He had the expression, of a man completely dazed. After him came another of the footmen leading Stanley Rees, who was in similar straits. The latter, however, perhaps by reason of his longer detention, showed none of the passivity of his companion. ”

“ He is, as you know, the mildest person on earth, but I'm not at all sure he wouldn't shoot me if he knew what I came to say to you. Miss Phipps, if you possibly can do so I earnestly hope you will reconsider your answer to Galusha Bangs. He is very fond of you, he would make you a kind, generous husband, and, honestly, I think you are just the sort of wife he needs. ”

“ Phipps.
“I never counseled you to apprentice yourself to the devil,” said Phipps. “You were first to learn navigation, of some——”
“Oh, of that I neglected to speak,” interrupted the rover. “William, you will never make an anchor out of sea foam, nor a solid ship’s master out of me, else my first or my last preceptor would have finished me off roundly.”
“Who was your latest chief?” the Captain inquired.
“Captain William Kidd,” said Adam, “a generous friend, a fearless and skilful seaman, and as bold a fighting man as ever clutched a hilt. ”

“ The pictures upon the wall were almost all of the sea, paintings of schooners, and one of the “Barkentine Hawkeye, of Boston. Captain James Phipps, leaving Surinam, August 12, 1872.” The only variations from the sea pictures were a “crayon-enlarged” portrait of a sturdy man with an abundance of unruly gray hair and a chin beard, and a chromo labeled “Sunset at Niagara Falls.” The portrait bore sufficient resemblance to Miss Martha Phipps to warrant Galusha's guess that it was intended to portray her father, the “Cap'n Jim” of whom the doctor had spoken. ”

“ Cotton Mather in like manner speaks of "an evident hand of Heaven, sending one unavoidable disaster after another." He also reports a saying of Phipps, that, though he had been accustomed to diving in his time, he "would say that the things which had befallen him in this expedition were too deep to be dived into." ”

“ Phipps growled.
“I admit nothing of the sort. I am simply speculating as to the possible cause of his disappearance. If I had anything to do with it, those would be my terms. To-morrow they might be the same: perhaps the next day. But,” he went on, “the day after would probably be too late. There are a great many hungry people in the North. There is one in London who is beginning to feel the pangs.”
“You are ill-treating him!” Phipps cried passionately. “I shall go to Scotland Yard——”
“My dear fellow,” Wingate scoffed. “you have done that already. ”

“ He had to pass the table at which Wingate was presiding, and it chanced that Josephine, looking up, met his eyes. There was a moment's hesitation in her mind. Women are always merciful when happy. Josephine was very happy, and Peter Phipps showed signs in his bearing and in the lines upon his face that he was not the man of six months ago. She smiled very slightly and bowed, a greeting which Phipps returned with a smile which was almost of gratitude. The Cabinet minister, who had met Phipps and remembered little of his history, followed Josephine's lead ”

“ They left their respective abodes for here in a secrecy which they themselves encouraged, for Rees imagined that your husband had urgent need of him, and Phipps was ass enough to believe that your summons meant what he wished it to mean. There has been no leakage of information anywhere.—Honestly, Josephine, I think that you may banish your fears."
"A woman's fears only, dear," she admitted, as she gave him her hands. "Why did nature make my sex pessimists and yours optimists, I wonder? I would so much rather look towards the sun." ”

“ In parliament Phipps continued to represent Huntingdon till 1784, when he was returned for Newark-upon-Trent. In April 1784 he was appointed joint paymaster-general of the forces, and on 18 May a commissioner for the affairs of India, and one of the lords of ‘Trade and Plantations.’ In 1791 ill-health compelled him to resign. On 16 June 1790 he was created a peer of Great Britain as Baron Mulgrave. ”