Purvis

“ That matters not to us. It is my positive conviction that the box is a jewel-case and contained more than the one brooch. Purvis asked her whether she were your wife. She answered him: 'I am she that came to Shrewsbury as such.' Then he turned to me and asked me if this was the truth, and I assented. ”

“ Purvis said and did while Strode was in her amazing employ. His duties appeared to consist of rising at any hour that seemed good to him, mealing with his employer and her daughter Joyce—a taciturn but otherwise attractive girl of about twenty-five—and occasionally rolling the drive, supervising the vegetable garden, or posting letters. Of an evening he was expected, and usually contrived, to make himself pleasant to the family and any chance visitors, and on the last day of each month Mrs. Purvis handed him, almost apologetically, a very clean envelope containing thirty dollars. ”

“ Mark my words, Emily Purvis! It may take the form of decaying corpses, with their brains dashed out, and their throats all cut, and their bones all broken, in which case they’ll haunt us while we slumber, pointing at us spectral fingers as we lie on our unquiet beds——”
“Pollie!”
“What’s the matter, my dear? They’ll be quite as cheerful anyhow as rats, and they won’t take bites at us. At least, it’s to be hoped they won’t. Ugh! Fancy murdered spectres making their teeth meet in your flesh!”
“Pollie, if you talk like that I shall be ill; I know I shall. It isn’t fair of you. ”

“ Dr. Purvis is a son of Robert Purvis, the well-known philanthropist, and co-worker with William Lloyd Garrison, Wendell Phillips, and Lucretia Mott. When a boy, “Burleigh” often met us at the steamer or the cars, a number of miles away, took us to the homestead at Bybery, listened to our lecture in the [Pg 551] “old hall,” and then returned us to the train or boat the next morning, and always did it cheerfully, and with a smile.
The subject of our sketch was born in Philadelphia, in 1841, received a collegiate education, graduating A. M. ”

“ In this case the barmaid might well stare; for deeply convinced as our young man might be that he was the son of Lord Frederick Purvis, there was really no end to the oddity of his being preferred—and by a princess—to Captain Sholto. ”

“ The thin lips of Purvis curled.
"You're quite a man, ain't you?"
"Man enough to handle any woman that ever walked."
Purvis broke into loud laughter.
"That's what a lot of us thought," he said at last, "but she breaks all the rules. She's got her heart set on another man, an' she's that funny sort that don't never love twice. Maybe you'll guess who the man is?"
Buck frowned thoughtfully to cover his growing excitement.
"Give it up, Buck," advised Purvis. "The feller she loves is Whistlin' Dan Barry. You wouldn't think no woman would look without shiverin' at that hell-raiser. ”

“ Evidently, you believe that I do know something. But—you are not the owner of the diamond! Which of these gentlemen is?"
Levendale made a half impatient gesture towards Stephen Purvis, who nodded at Yada but remained silent.
"He is!" said Levendale, testily. "But you—can do your talking to me. Again—how much do you know in this matter?"
"Enough to make it worth your while to negotiate with me," answered Yada. "Is that as plain as your question!"
"It's what I expected," said Levendale. "You want to sell your knowledge."
"Well?" assented Yada, "I am very sure you are willing to purchase." ”

“ The police officials, as with one consent, glanced at Mr. Killick, and by their looks seemed to invite his assistance. The old gentleman nodded and turned to the caller.
"Now, Mr. Purvis," he said, "just let me ask you a few questions. Did your brother tell you that this diamond was his own, sole property?"
"He did, sir!" answered the farmer. "He said it was all his own."
"Did he tell you where it was—what he had done with it?"
"Yes! He said that for some years he'd traded in small parcels of such things with two men here in London—Multenius and Levendale—he knew both of them. ”

“ Within ten minutes of leaving them, Purdie was back with Lauriston and Melky Rubinstein, and motioning them away from Sussex Square.
"That's more extraordinary than the rest!" he said. as they all moved off. "Levendale's there, in his own house, right enough! And he's shaved off his beard and mustache, and he's wearing tramp's clothes and he and Stephen Purvis have been looking night and day, for that confounded diamond, and for eighty thousand pounds! And—what's more, Levendale does not know who killed Daniel Multenius or that he was murdered! ”

“ When Peace was fitted with a hat he strode out of the shop with all the airs and graces of a man of fashion.
CHAPTER LXXIII. LAURA STANBRIDGE AT HOME—​A CONFERENCE AND A SCENE. The reader will remember the young scapegrace, Alf Purvis, who was driven from Stoke Ferry Farm with the hare round his neck. He had now grown up to a slim, handsome young man, with an almost feminine cast of features. ”

“ That diamond is at the bottom of everything! Daniel Multenius was throttled for that diamond—Parslett's death arose out of that diamond—everything's arisen from that diamond! And, now that you police folks know all this—you know what to do. You want the man, or men, who were in Daniel Multenius's shop about five o'clock on that particular day, and who carried off that diamond. Mr. Purvis!—are you staying in town? ”

“ Levendale," said the Inspector, a little sourly. "You'd have saved a lot of trouble—to yourselves as well as to us. But that's neither here nor there—I suppose you've something to tell us, Sir?"
"Before I tell you anything," replied Levendale, "I want to know something." He pointed to the morning papers which he had brought in. "These people," he said, "seem to have got hold of a lot of information—all got from you, of course. Now, we know what we're after—let's put it in a nutshell. A diamond—an orange-yellow diamond—worth eighty thousand pounds, the property of Mr. Stephen Purvis there. ”

“ Somewhere in the cool of the dewy treetops a squirrel barked. Here and there, the birds saluted the sparkle and freshness of June. Inside, at the middle of the store, Jesse Purvy shifted his head against his daughter's knee, and said, as one stating an expected event:
"Well, they've got me."
An ordinary mountaineer would have been carried home to die in the darkness of a dirty and windowless shack. The long-suffering star of Jesse Purvy ordained otherwise. He might go under or he might once more beat his way back and out of the quicksands of death. ”

“ There are men who are great in the pulpit, but who find the obligations of the pulpit are such that they leave them no time for pastoral visitation. There are men who are great in other spheres who give their best efforts to the reviews and journals, and give what time is left to the pulpit. Dr. Purves gave his best to his congregation—heart and soul and spirit he gave to them. ”

“ PURDIE (saying good-bye to an old friend) . John Purdie, John Purdie, the fine fellow I used to think you! (When he is able to look them in the face again.) The wood has taught me one thing, at any rate.
MABEL (dismally) . What, Jack?
PURDIE. That it isn't accident that shapes our lives.
JOANNA. No, it's Fate.
PURDIE (the truth running through him, seeking for a permanent home in him, willing to give him still another chance, loth to desert him) . It's not Fate, Joanna. Fate is something outside us. What really plays the dickens with us is some thing in ourselves. ”

“ I saw my Prue comfortably engaged in seating the trowsers of Adoniram, our eldest boy—an economical care to which my darling Prue is not unequal, even in these days and in this town—and then hurried toward the avenue. It is never much thronged at that hour. The moment is sacred to dinner. As I paused at the corner of Twelfth Street, by the church, you remember, I saw an apple-woman, from whose stores I determined to finish my dessert, which had been imperfect at home. ”

“ With these words, the hermit Nárada cheered up Purúravas, and then went with him into the presence of the king of the gods.
Then he communicated the order of Vishṇu to Indra, who received it with reverent mind, and so the hermit caused Urvaśí to be given to Purúravas. That gift of Urvaśí deprived the inhabitants of heaven of life, but it was to Urvaśí herself an elixir to restore her to life. Then Purúravas returned with her to the earth, exhibiting to the eyes of mortals the wonderful spectacle of a heavenly bride. ”

“ OUR COUSIN THE CURATE. “Why, let the stricken deer go weep, The heart ungalled play; For some must watch while some must sleep; Thus runs the world away.”
Prue and I have very few relations: Prue, especially, says that she never had any but her parents, and that she has none now but her children. She often wishes she had some large aunt in the country, who might come in unexpectedly with bags and bundles, and encamp in our little house for a whole winter. ”

“ The advent of the light-hearted Cavaliers in England, flinging colour and warmth and gaiety over the land, was a sharp recoil from the drab severity of Puritan rule. The Puritans were men of strong personality: half soldiers and half preachers. They were honest without charm; strong-minded without pose ”

“ These are my companions male and female. This serpent guards the town, even when we are all asleep. Luckily hast thou come here. I shall try with all my companions to bring to thee all objects of desire. Be thou the lord of this Puri for one hundred years. And accept all enjoyments brought by me." Puranjana entered the Puri and lived in enjoyment there for one hundred years.
Of the nine gateways, seven were upper and two lower — five on the east (Purva, which also means front) , one on the south (Dakshinâ) , one on the north (Uttara) and two on the west (Paśchima) . ”

“ Purdy.
I had been afraid at first that something was the matter!
"Some are like that," he said. "Some call their calves to run. Others won't let you come near 'em at all; and I've even known of a case where a cow gored its calf to death rather than let anyone touch it."
I looked at Mr. Purdy not without a feeling of admiration. This was a thing he knew: a language not taught in the universities. How well it became him to know it; how simply he expressed it! I thought to myself: There are not many men in this world, after all, that it will not pay us to go to school to—for something or other. ”

“ Fulvia: 'Tis the Greek
In you avows it, no true voice.
Hæmon: Then 'tis
My father murdered whose last moan I hear
Driven about me in this castle's gray
Cold spaces. And the dead speak not to lie.
Fulvia: No, no. You cannot brave your action with
The spur of that belief.
Hæmon: What want you of me?
Fulvia: This: ache and restlessness are on you.
Hæmon (impatiently) : No.
Fulvia: And doubt begins in you that as a wolf
Will scent the wounded quarry of your conscience. ”

“ But soon the big hurt will come. Oh, Prue—Prue, girl!—can’t you think what it will mean to me? Don’t you know how I shall sicken for the sight of you, and my ears will listen for you! Prudence, Prue, darling—yet I must not be womanish! I have a big work to do. I have known it with a new clearness since that radiance rested above my head last night. The truth burns in me like a fire. ”

“ Time passed on its course even in those times, when the sun did not shine upon the earth, and when the season came round when it was usual for the animals of the earth to add to their several kinds, the Kurwie had nearly forgotten that she had ever been other than a terrestrial bird, and the scene of her transformation had almost faded from her memory. ”

“ How should I explain or understand, I who am only an old book-keeper in a white cravat?
Yet in all history, in the splendid triumphs of emperors and kings, in the dreams of poets, the speculations of philosophers, the sacrifices of heroes, and the extacies of saints, I find no exclusive secret of success. Prue says she knows that nobody ever did more good than our cousin the curate, for every smile and word of his is a good deed ”

“ His hands, hanging at the seams of his jeans breeches, clenched, and his voice came in a slow utterance through which throbbed the tensity of a soul-absorbing bitterness.
"I knowed all 'bout Jesse Purvy's bein' shot.... When my pap lay a-dyin' over thar at his house, I was a little shaver ten years old ... Jesse Purvy hired somebody ter kill him ... an' I promised my pap that I'd find out who thet man was, an' thet I'd git 'em both—some day. So help me, God Almighty, I'm a-goin' ter git 'em both—some day!" The boy paused and lifted one hand as though taking an oath. ”

“ And New England was the first home of the Puritans—the focus from which have radiated the myriad beams of the light of which they were the repositories to the remotest corners of the land. Let no one be alarmed at the mention of the word Puritan. There are some people who have no other notion of a Puritan than that of a close-cropped, saturnine personage, having a nasal twang, who is forevermore indulging an [245] insane propensity to sing psalms, quote Scripture, or burn witches. ”

“ By that time Prudy had got rid of the toad, and could speak.
"O, dear, dear, dear," cried she, "I didn't know it was a toad till it hopped right up!"
"A toad here in the house!" cried Miss Parker.
"No, ma'am," said Prudy, trembling and sobbing. "It wasn't in the house,—it was in my mouth,—right here on my tongue." [33]
Prudy showed Miss Parker her tongue. Miss Parker laughed, thinking her a very funny child.
"I've heard, before now, of little folks having frogs in their throats," said she. "Is that what you mean?"
"I guess so," sobbed Prudy. "And it was alive—just as alive as could be! ”

“ Prudy dropped upon the sofa and covered her face with her handkerchief, while Dotty, strange to relate, actually slid the rings off her fingers and thumbs, and began to put away the crackers.
"O, dear," thought Prudy, blushing under the cap-border, spectacles, and handkerchief; "what did possess me to talk so? I had been holding in all day; why did I let go? If I ever do let go, I can't stop; and O, how shameful it is!"
It seemed as easy for Prudy to be good as for a bird to sing; but it was not so. She had a great deal of human nature, after all. ”