Poughkeepsie

“ If I had talent, perhaps I would go. I think it a far better life for an American woman than to prate triumphantly about marrying her daughter to a titled English fool!"
Mrs. Poughkeepsie uttered a cry, at this point. She passed from the room, and Pauline, overcome with the excess of her disclaimer, soon afterward sank upon a chair....
An almost hysterical fit of weeping at once followed.... It must have been a half-hour later when she felt Kindelon's face lowered to her own. He had nearly always come, since their engagement, at more or less unexpected hours. ”

“ Take my Aunt Cynthia Poughkeepsie, for example, and compare her with Mrs. Dares! A whole continent seems to lie between them, and yet they are continually living at scarcely a stone's-throw apart."
Kindelon gave a brisk, acquiescent nod.
"True enough," he said. "Travel shows us only the outsides of men and women. We go abroad to discover better what profits of observation lie at home...."
The carriage at length stopped.
"Is my surprise all ready to burst upon me?" asked Pauline, at this point. ”

“ Nevertheless he had offered her a home under his own roof, which Lavinia accepted with the alacrity of a woman who had spent the ten years of her married life in the town of Poughkeepsie. ”

“ There's no use pounding against stone walls. The reading public will have what it wants, and if I don't give it to them, somebody else will be only too glad to take my place.... By the way, Mrs. Varick, do you think that Miss Poughkeepsie is going to marry that Scotch earl—Lord Glenartney?"
"I can't tell you, really," said Pauline. She had made up her mind to dislike Miss Cragge very much indeed. At the same time she felt a certain pity for her.
Kindelon began to press quietly forward, and Pauline, who still had his arm, by no means resisted this measure. ”

“ Pau-Puk-Keewis rose and stood amid the guests. He wore a white shirt of doeskin, fringed with ermine and covered with beads of wampum. He wore deerskin leggings, also fringed with ermine and with quills of Kagh, the hedgehog. On his feet were buck-skin moccasins, richly embroidered, and red foxes' tails to flourish while he danced were fastened to the heels. A snowy plume of swan's down floated over his head, and he carried a gay fan in one hand and a pipe with tassels in the other.
All the warriors disliked Pau-Puk-Keewis, and called him coward and idler ”

“ Sable and Kuloskap go away to the camp. This one, Pukjinskwes, has a stone hatchet and with great difficulty she cuts herself loose so that she can escape. Pogumk hears her pounding all night.
In the morning she comes to where they are; when they see her, she is carrying a piece of tree on her back; they scorn her and they sing at her: "This one leaves the chief on an island; now the chief sticks her fast to a tree."
Then Pukjinskwes the witch is mad (with shame) and insult; she departs forever from mankind; running wild like a vile wolf. ”

“ To call him an imposter to his face, would have been to expose myself to destruction, and to utter what I had been prepared to say at the first outburst of indignation in sight of the gallows, and in the presence of the multitude, would have amounted to vain bragging. I hesitated. Pougatcheff awaited my reply in stern silence. At last (and I think of that moment with self-satisfaction to this day) , a sense of duty triumphed over human weakness. I said to Pougatcheff—
"Listen! Shall I tell thee the whole truth? ”

“ Pukjinskwes is angry. Then she pursues him, as a wolf which is starving chases a rabbit.
Sable, very frightened, cries out: "My elder brother; my brother." Pukjinskwes then screams out: "You must go as far as the island where Pogumk is, in order to save yourself." When this was said, Pogumk steps out to her from hiding; she sees him; then at once she is frightened. Then she loudly laughs; she says: "I was only chasing him in jest, because I like Sable."
But Pogumk answers her; he says: "I know you, and we know your devices, you evil demon." Then as his magic comes to him ”

“ Pougatcheff drank a glass and said, pointing to me: “Offer a glass to his lordship.” Alexis approached me, and again I turned my back upon him. Pougatcheff asked him a few questions about the condition of the fortress, and then, in an unpremeditated manner, said: “Tell me, who is this young girl that you have under guard?”
Alexis became pale as death. “Czar,” said he, a tremor in his voice, “she is in her own room; she is not locked up.”
“Take me to her room,” said the usurper, rising.
Hesitation was impossible. Alexis led the way to Marie’s room. I followed. ”

“ Pougatcheff was struck by my sincerity.
"Be it so," he said, slapping me on the shoulder; "one must either execute or fully pardon. Go—the four quarters are open to thee, and do as seemeth thee best. Come and bid me good-bye to-morrow, and now get thee to bed, for sleep also oppresses me."
I left Pougatcheff and emerged into the street. The night was still and frosty. The moon and stars shone brightly, illuminating the square and the gallows. All was quiet and dark within the fortress. In the public-house only were there lights, whence issued the shouts of lingering idlers. ”

“ Pougatcheff ordered the driver to stop.
“Little father, Peter Andreitch!” cried my servant; “do not leave me in my old age among these scoun——”
“Ah, old greybeard!” said Pougatcheff to him. “It is God’s will that we should meet again. Well, spring up behind.”
“Thanks, Czar, thanks, my own father!” replied Savelitch, taking his seat. “May God give you a hundred years of life and good health for deigning to cast your eyes upon and console an old man. I will pray to God for you all the days of my life, and I will never again speak about the hareskin pelisse.” ”

“ If you wish to hang Alexis, hang on the same gibbet this young fellow, that they may be equal.”
These words seemed to shake the chief. Happily the other wretch opposed this view.
“Silence,” said this powerful fellow. “You think of nothing but hanging and strangling. It becomes you to play the hero. To look at you, no one knows where your soul is.”
“And which of the saints are you?” replied the old man.
“Generals,” said Pougatcheff, with dignity, “an end to your quarrels. It would be no great loss if all the mangy dogs from Orenbourg were dangling their legs under the same cross-beam ”

“ A pleasant journey to you.” The principal followers of Pougatcheff surrounded him, Alexis amongst others. The usurper turned to the people, and pointing to Alexis, said: “Behold your new Commandant; obey him in every thing; he is responsible for you and for the fortress.”
The words made me shudder. What would become of Marie? Pougatcheff descended the steps and vaulted quickly into his saddle without the aid of his attendant Cossacks. At that moment Saveliitch came out of the crowd, approached the usurper, and presented him a sheet of paper. ”

“ Whoo?” said the voice, seeming to retreat, and urged to follow it by some mysterious influence, Mr. Pogson staggered forward a few paces. But he had hardly left his tree for more than half a minute, when something caught him on the shins and tripped him up; at the same moment he received a violent blow on the head which, added to the effects of the brandy, stretched him quite unconscious on the ground. There he lay in the darkness, with the bottle slipping out of his pocket, while the mysterious voice continued to question him in vain from the old oak-tree overhead. ”

“ Pougatcheff threw a quick glance at me.
"Then thou dost not believe," said he, "that I am the Emperor Piotr Feodorovitch? Very well! But is there no success for the daring? Did not Grishka Otrepieff [4] reign in days gone by? Think what thou pleasest of me, but do not leave me. What does it matter to thee? Who is not a priest is a father. Serve me 'in faith and in truth' and I shall make thee a field-marshal and prince. ”

“ What will become of us?”
“My dear lady,” said Ignatius, “the Lord is merciful; we have soldiers and plenty of powder; I have cleaned the cannon. We may repulse this Pougatcheff. If the Lord is with us, the wolf will eat no one here.”
“Who is Pougatcheff?” asked the Commandant’s wife.
Ignatius saw that he had gone too far, and he bit his tongue. But it was too late. Basilia constrained him to tell her all, having given her word to keep the secret. She kept her word, and indeed told no one except Accoulina, whose cow was still on the steppe and might be carried off by the brigands. ”

“ Pog, it must be premised, is a City man, who travels in drugs for a couple of the best London houses, blows the flute, has an album, drives his own gig, and is considered, both on the road and in the metropolis, a remarkably nice, intelligent, thriving young man. Pogson’s only fault is too great an attachment to the fair:—‘The sex,’ as he says often, ‘will be his ruin;’ the fact is, that Pog never travels without a Don Juan under his driving-cushion, and is a pretty-looking young fellow enough. ”

“ This wonderful hero did not dread his opponents, however numerous, and like the panther which drives before him the herd of buffaloes, so he drove with his small body Pugasceff's tremendous army. The rebel felt that this man had a magic power over him, and that he was in league with fate. Finally, he found a convenient place outside Sarepta, and here he awaited his opponent. It is a height which a steep mountain footpath divides, and this path is intersected by another. Pugasceff placed a portion of his best troops on the ascending path, whilst to the riff-raff he entrusted his two wings. ”

“ Having dined myself I rose to go to a Committee of Tangier, and did come thither time enough to meet Povy and Creed and none else. The Court being empty, the King being gone to Tunbridge, and the Duke of Yorke a-hunting. I had some discourse with Povy, who is mightily discontented, I find, about his disappointments at Court; and says, of all places, if there be hell, it is here. No faith, no truth, no love, nor any agreement between man and wife, nor friends. ”

“ All of a sudden some fresh bodies of mounted men made their appearance from behind an elevation situated about half a mile from the fortress, and soon the steppe was covered with crowds of persons armed with lances and quivers. Among them, upon a white horse, was a man in a red caftan [2] , holding a naked sword in his hand; this was Pougatcheff himself. He stopped his horse, and the others gathered round him, and, in obedience to his order as it seemed, four men detached themselves from the crowd and galloped at full speed towards the fortress. ”

“ In truth, the resemblance of Pougatcheff to my guide was very striking. I felt convinced that Pougatcheff and he were one and the same person, and then I understood why he had spared my life. I could not but feel surprised at the strange connection of events—a child’s pelisse, given to a roving vagrant, had saved me from the hangman’s noose, and a drunkard, who had passed his life in wandering from one inn to another, was now besieging fortresses and shaking the empire!
“Will you not eat something?” asked Savelitch, still faithful to his old habits. “There is nothing in the house ”

“ Pugsy instantly ceased to be the student and became the man of action. He sprang from his seat and wriggled in between the man and the door.
"Youse can't butt in dere," he said authoritatively. "Chase yerself."
The man eyed him with displeasure.
"Fresh kid!" he observed disapprovingly.
"Fade away," urged Master Maloney.
The visitor's reply was to extend a hand and grasp Pugsy's left ear between a long finger and thumb. Since time began, small boys in every country have had but one answer for this action. ”

“ The young man called Pogson, a clerk in Government employ, approached, taking a cigar from his mouth to return the greeting of the doctor.
“Pogson, you went home in the Argus with Coldstream?” said Pinfold, almost as soon as the two met.
“Yes, we went home together; but I had to return earlier than he did,” was Pogson’s reply.
“Had Coldstream any illness, anything like sunstroke on the voyage?” asked the doctor.
“Not he; no one had better health,” replied Pogson. ”

“ Pougatcheff occupied the seat of honour, his elbows resting on the table, and his broad fist propped under his black beard. His features, regular and sufficiently agreeable, had nothing fierce about them. He frequently turned to speak to a man of about fifty years of age, addressing him sometimes as Count, sometimes as Timofeitch, sometimes as uncle. All those present treated each other as comrades, and did not show any particular respect for their leader. The conversation was upon the subject of the assault of the morning, of the success of the revolt, and of their future operations. ”

“ Thence to White Hall with him, and so walked to the old Exchange and back to Povy's to dinner, where great and good company; among others Sir John Skeffington, whom I knew at Magdalen College, a fellow-commoner, my fellow-pupil, but one with whom I had no great acquaintance, he being then, God knows, much above me. Here I was afresh delighted with Mr. Povy's house and pictures of perspective, being strange things to think how they do delude one's eye, that methinks it would make a man doubtful of swearing that ever he saw any thing. ”

“ The commissary observing my chagrin, told me that my Captain and eight or ten of our people were in the country, about twenty miles off, where they were undergoing the operation of the small pox. The next day I went out to them and remained with them two or three days; but that would not do for me; I told the Captain that I would go after the men; he said I might act my pleasure as it respected that, but that he should advise me to stay with him till he had got through with the small pox, and the other men that were with him had recovered, and then they should all go together ”