Pritchard

“ Pritchard said rather more brusquely: "I am very sorry, sir, you've made some mistake; I have never seen you in my life before."
Brown also stiffened. "Look here, Guy, are you tight or something? Don't be a silly ass. I want to thank you for all you did for Everett; you're really wonderful, the way you take trouble——"
Pritchard's sense of his own dignity began to suffer. He rose slowly from his chair and, looking Brown full in the face, said quite sternly: "You are wrong, sir; you are mistaking me for somebody else," and walked, with great dignity, away. ”

“ The sturdy Yorkshire independence of young Pritchard never degenerated into the roughness which sometimes characterizes Northerners. He was proud of his family in his way. The Pritchards had farmed their own land for over two hundred and fifty years, and their present homestead had been built in the days of Elizabeth. Lord Carthew had had to make the first advances toward friendship, but once he had succeeded in winning Hilary’s respect and liking, the latter was too sensible to withdraw proudly from his companionship because he was not his equal in social position. ”

“ I tell you that Pritchard was pumping him for all he was worth.”
“My dear father,” she whispered, coldly, “don't be melodramatic. You give yourself away the whole time. Go to bed if you can't behave like a man.”
The lights had been turned low, there was no one else in the room. The little old gentleman with the eyeglass leaned forward.
“Have you any notion, my dear Elizabeth,” he asked, “why our friend Pritchard is so much in evidence just at present?” ”

“ Tavernake smoked stolidly at his pipe. His eyes were out seaward, but his heart was beating to a new and splendid music. To start life again, a man's life, out in the solitudes, out in the great open spaces! It was gorgeous, this! He turned round and grasped Pritchard by the shoulder.
“I say,” he exclaimed, “why are you doing all this for me, Pritchard?”
Pritchard laughed.
“You did me a good turn,” he said, “and you're a man. You've the pluck—that's what I like. You knew nothing, you were as green and ignorant as a young man from behind the counter of a country shop, but, my God! ”

“ Tavernake asked.
“You are going to help me,” Pritchard answered. “Take my word for it, Tavernake, it's all right. I could tackle the job alone, but I'd rather not. Now drink this whiskey and soda and light a cigarette. I shall be ready in five minutes.”
“But where are we going?” Tavernake demanded.
“You are going,” Pritchard replied, “on an errand of chivalry. You are going to become once more a rescuer of woman in distress. You are going to save the life of your beautiful friend Elizabeth.” ”

“ Pritchard declared, slowly, “I can't talk. Still, you've got common sense, I take it. You've the ordinary powers of judging between right and wrong, and knowing when a man or a woman's honest. I want to save you—”
“Silence!” Tavernake exclaimed. “Look here, Pritchard,” he went on, breathing a little more naturally now, “you came here meaning to do the right thing—I know that. You're all right, only you don't understand. You don't understand the sort of person I am. I am twenty-four years old, I have worked for my own living up here in London since I was twelve. ”

“ Pritchard nodded thoughtfully.
“That's all right,” he agreed. “London's no place for a man, anyway. You don't want to learn the usual tricks of money-making. Money that's made in the cities is mostly made with stained fingers. I have a different sort of proposal to make.”
“Go ahead,” Tavernake said. “What is it?”
“A new country,” Pritchard declared, altering the angle of his cigar, “a virgin land, mountains and valleys, great rivers to be crossed, all sorts of cold and heat to be borne with, a land rich with minerals—some say gold, but never mind that. ”

“ For the rest, he was Sir Edwin Crathie, Cabinet Minister, and member of a proud, patrician family. She was Hal Pritchard, secretary, typist, and occasional journalist at the office of a leading London paper.
She grew restless, and commenced roaming round the room. Her knowledge of life, as it is lived near its teeming, throbbing, working centre, warned her that the new turn of their friendship held danger. If she was wise, she would shun the danger, and go back to her old life before he had come into it. ”

“ That you should have taken all that trouble about a man whom you scarcely know, simply because—well, because you've got a certain liking for me, I suppose—is flattering, to say the least." And then, as Pritchard tried to interrupt: "No, don't say anything about it. I know—I've heard from lots of people—it's the hardest thing in the world to get a job for anybody these days, and the trouble you must have taken about Lance is simply marvellous, and I'll never forget it." ”

“ The old man took a deep breath and grinned. "It's work for a younger man. Next time I'm going to let you do it. Or Sturgis."
"There won't be a next time," said Pritchard flatly.
The captain cocked a bright eye up at him. Pritchard gazed out a viewport. The horizon of Thisbe II lay like a worn hacksaw blade against the purple glow of Piramus, rising.
"Set watches," he said briefly. "The rest of the company can turn to for six hours. Then Sturgis, Greene, Kemp and I are going off in the jets."
"Fishing, I suppose?" said Savage with gentle irony.
Pritchard smiled coldly and shook his head. "No. ”

“ A slash and a cut and Pritchard was free. The professor stood wringing his hands. Elizabeth had risen to her feet. She was pale, but she was still more nearly composed than any other person in the room. Tavernake and Pritchard were masters of the situation. Pritchard leaned toward the mirror and straightened his tie.
“I am afraid,” he said looking down at Walter Crease's groaning figure, “that our hosts are scarcely in fit condition to take leave of us. Never mind, Mrs. Gardner, we excuse ourselves to you. ”

“ There is oil in parts, there's tin, there's coal, and there's thousands and thousands of miles of forest. You're a surveyor?”
“Passed all my exams,” Tavernake agreed tersely.
“You are the man for out yonder,” Pritchard insisted. “I've two years' vacation—dead sick of this city life I am—and I am going to put you on the track of it. You don't know much about prospecting yet, I reckon?”
“Nothing at all!”
“You soon shall,” Pritchard went on. “We'll start from Winnipeg. A few horses, some guides, and a couple of tents. We'll spend twenty weeks, my friend, without seeing a town. ”

“ Wounded man called Lord Carthew; friend called Mr. Pritchard. Staying here to be nursed. Have made discovery. Two men have exchanged names. Wounded man is Pritchard, friend Lord Carthew.
“Dakin.”
While this message was being dispatched to her lord and master in London, Lady Cranstoun was peacefully enjoying her favorite diversion of a game of chess with the doctor. Just after the successful accomplishment of a somewhat difficult move, she remembered that her daughter and Mr. Pritchard were being left altogether in tête-à-tête at the other end of the vast drawing-room. ”

“ Hilary Pritchard are settled in the Canadian homestead now, where they live in perfect happiness and ever-increasing worldly prosperity. The law has long since freed Lord Carthew from his unfortunate marriage, concerning which the world has forgotten to talk; but the money which he settled upon Lura only accelerated her end by enabling her to indulge in her passion for drinking. ”

“ And I guessed he was one o' the scholards in the big school; and so I just wanted to know if he had caught many fish."
"So," said Dudley, addressing the master, "I brought him right off to you, sir; for he says he can tell in a minute what boy he spoke to; and, sir, you know there is only one in the school has a mark, and that's Pritchard. And," said Dudley, unable to suppress his delight, "I knew it wasn't Macintosh—it could not have been."
The matter was soon settled; the moment Pritchard saw the lad enter the school-room, he broke down and confessed all. He was the guilty one ”

“ You see, I am playing with this doll. Sane men don't play with dolls. I hope they'll try me in New York, though. I am well-known in New York. I know all the lawyers and the jurymen. Oh, they're up to all sorts of tricks in New York! Say, you don't suppose they'll try me over here?” he broke off suddenly, turning to Pritchard. “I shouldn't feel so much at home here.”
“Take him away,” Elizabeth begged. “Take him away.” Pritchard nodded. ”

“ Pritchard replied. “Something like two months ago, the young married couple, with Miss Beatrice, started for a holiday tour somewhere down in the west of England. A few days after they started, Miss Beatrice comes back to London alone. She goes to a boarding-house, is practically penniless, but she has shaken her sister—has, I believe, never spoken with her since. A little later, Elizabeth alone turns up in London. She has plenty of money, more money than she has ever had the control of before in her life, but no husband.” ”

“ His beard was fullgrown, his clothes travel-stained and worn. He seemed like a breath of real life in the great New York depot, surrounded by streams of black-coated, pale-cheeked men.
Pritchard laughed softly as he passed his arm through his friend's.
“Come, my Briton,” he said, “my primitive man, I have rooms for you in a hotel close here. A bath and a mint julep, then I'll take you to a tailor's. What about the big country? It's better than your salt marshes, eh? Better than your little fishing village? Better than building boats?”
“You know it,” Tavernake answered. ”

“ Kemp and Sturgis could only stare at her. Pritchard couldn't warn her by asking them to take it away from her, and anyway this was no place for a wrestle.
"And why do you think we would want that?" he asked in as pleasant a tone as he could manage.
"So much better than a flamer or jumping," she replied. "Take my advice and—"
"I wish you would pull yourself together," said Pritchard. "You're frightening Kemp up there."
Startled, Kemp stared back down at his chief, and then he closed his mouth in a firm line. Pritchard congratulated himself that the remark was a stone that had slain two birds. ”

“ They passed backwards through the door, then they went down the silent hall and out into the street. Even as they did so, the clock struck a quarter to two.
“My friend Tavernake,” Pritchard declared, lighting a cigarette with steady fingers, “you are a man. Come into the club with me while I bathe my forehead. ”

“ They do; but listen, I have something more to add. Here comes a very queer feature in the affair. Lucy Ray, the girl who had caused the feud between Pritchard and Wynne, after hearing the news of Pritchard's death, completely lost her head, and ran frantically about the village declaring that Wynne was the man she really loved, and that she had only accepted Pritchard in a fit of rage with Wynne for not himself bringing matters to the point. The case looks very bad against Wynne, and yesterday the magistrate committed him for trial at the coming assizes. ”

“ Pritchard turned and caught his breath with a sharp intake. McManus slowly lifted his head to follow Pritchard's gaze. His chopper fell from his hand. All about them, men stood on tiptoe or stooped or craned sideways to look. Somebody said, "A woman!" Kemp panned the cam-rec about wildly until he caught her in its viewer. ”

“ I don't remember seeing any of them yesterday—except for that bad dream I tried to shoot away from McManus."
"Anyway, there's sure a mob of them," cut in Sturgis. "The water all around that island is alive with them."
"That kid was right about one thing," said Pritchard. "There's a much higher level of intelligence here than you'd find in Terran animals, for instance. But never mind that now. Listen, boys, this is a planned and directed attack. And we're going to buy ourselves a stack of chips and sit in on the game. ”

“ Pritchard looked down quickly and coughed. Fresh gurgles sounded behind him. The cam-rec whirred on. "But you are all right here? You can take care of yourself?"
"I am in no danger," she said icily. "In four years I have won most of the people over to my side. They protect me. In turn, and in my own way, I protect them. I've learned how to make synthetabs and I also feed them from the 'ponics gardens. ”

“ It was all very well to go out together on a basis of good-fellowship and mutual enjoyment, so long as neither cared anything beyond; but what if this unmistakable attraction he exercised over her deepened and widened? What if the commonplace, middle-class Hal Pritchard, secretary and typist, fell in love with Sir Edwin Crathie, the Cabinet Minister, and nephew of Lord St. ”

“ Pritchard
“But if he thought the woman was being murdered—”
“My dear Charles,” said the young man with the monocle, “it doesn’t do for people, especially doctors, to go about ‘thinking’ things. They may get into frightful trouble. In Pritchard’s case, I consider Dr. Paterson did all he reasonably could by refusing a certificate for Mrs. Taylor and sending that uncommonly disquieting letter to the Registrar. He couldn’t help the man’s being a fool. If there had only been an inquest on Mrs. ”

“ The unhappy Lucy Ray and the young man's parents are in a state bordering on distraction."
"What is your own opinion with regard to Wynne's guilt?" I asked.
"Before God, Mr. Bell, I believe the poor fellow is innocent, but the evidence against him is very strong. One of the favourite theories is that he went down to the tunnel and extinguished the light, knowing that this would bring Pritchard out of his box to see what was the matter, and that he then attacked him, striking the blow which fractured the skull." ”