Quinn

“ Stepping in front of the steel door, I toyed menacingly with the revolver and surveyed the plutocrats with a grim humor I made no attempt to conceal.
At that period of my life, inspired by the sophistry to which I have already adverted, I was a cool and dangerous man.
"Pardon me for entering unannounced," said I blindly. "You have listened to Professor Quinn's theory and witnessed its demonstration. I am but an humble philosopher, yet I have a theory of my own which I should also like to expound and to demonstrate." ”

“ Quinn said to his son on the evening before Marsh arrived, "an' a lot more nor you'll learn at Rumpell's, or, for that matter, at Trinity."
"Then why do you want me to go to Trinity?" Henry asked, still unable to conceal his disappointment at not being sent to Cambridge with his friends.
"I've told you that already," Mr. Quinn replied firmly, closing his lips down tightly. "I want you to have Irish friends as well as English friends, and I've learned this much from livin', that a man seldom makes friends ... friends, mind you ... after he's twenty-five. ”

“ Quinn said, gripping the young man's hand and wringing it heartily. "I like him," he added, turning to Ernest Harper, "an' he'll be good for Henry, an' I daresay I'll be good for him. You've an awful lot of slummage in your skull," he continued, addressing Marsh again, "but begod I'll clear that out!" ”

“ Third, Professor Quinn, ever since he erected his steel house and moved into it, has been regarded as mildly insane. Like Abou-ben-Adhem, he desired to be entered on the angelic scroll as one who loved his fellow-men.
Last summer he read before the Astronomical Society a paper entitled "The Mutability of Newtonian Law," and was laughed out of that honorable body for his inconsistencies. ”

“ From what I saw and heard, I must say that it is a pleasure for me to turn my back on Professor Quinn's property and to give my entire attention to you four."
"Mr. Munn," said Quinn, "how long have you been engaged in this business?"
"For some years now, sir," I answered.
"You were honest—once?"
"Every man is born honest, if it comes to that. I used to work in an iron foundry, but the works were taken over by a combination and a lot of us were thrown out of employment. There was nothing for me to do but beg—and I'm above that. This came handiest, and I went into it. I like the business. ”

“ Marsh asked, putting his exercises together.
"I want you to try an' put some big wish into his heart," Mr. Quinn replied. "Try an' make him as eager about Irelan' as you are. I want him to spend himself for something that's bigger than he is, instead of spendin' himself on something that's smaller than he is."
"But why not do that yourself, Mr. Quinn?"
Mr. Quinn got up from his chair and walked about the room. "It's very hard for a man to talk to his son in the way that a stranger can," he said. "An' besides I ... I love Henry, John Marsh, an' my love for him upsets my balance!" ”

“ Quinn said later on. "The British people are the best people in the world, an' the Irish people are the best people in the British Empire, an' the Ulster people are the best people in Ireland!" He glanced about him for a few moments as if he were cogitating, and then he gave a chuckle and winked at his son. "An' begod," he said, "I sometimes think I'm the best man in Ulster!" He burst out laughing when he had finished. "Ah," he said, half to himself, as he stroked his fine beard, "I'm the quare oul' cod, so I am!" ”

“ My mind was running in its old groove despite its novel environment.
"That query was inspired by an unworthy motive, Mr. Munn," said Quinn severely.
I bowed humbly. "Every man his own way," said I. "I cannot help trying to adjust myself along the line of the principles I know best. Nevertheless I am of an intensely curious disposition, and those talk-boxes fill me with wonder."
"The Mercurials are dumb, it seems," answered the professor, "and they have to resort to purely mechanical means for an exchange of ideas. Language appears to flow readily enough from the little boxes." ”

“ Quinn, and might, had he been a smaller man than he was, have made him angry with the boy, contemptuous of him; but when Mr. Quinn came across some part of Henry's nature which was incomprehensible to him, he tried first, to understand and then, failing that, to be tolerant. "We all have our natures," he used to say to himself, "an' it's no use complainin' because people are different. Sure, that's what makes them interestin' anyway!" [Pg 22]
2
But Henry's affection for Gilbert Farlow and Ninian Graham and Roger Carey was a new affection, a thing that came spontaneously to him. ”

“ Her face was pale, colorless and fine-textured as a magnolia petal, but her lips were brilliant crimson. There was something reminiscent of those ladies you see pictured in Directoire prints about her; small, regular features, straight, white, high-waisted gown tied with a wide girdle underneath her bosom, low, round-cut neck and tiny, ball-puff sleeves that left her lovely arms uncovered to the shoulder. She was like Rose Beauharnais or Madame de Fontenay, except for her fair hair, and her eyes. Her eyes were like an Eastern slave's, languishing and passionate, even when she laughed. ”

“ Mr. Quinn interrupted. "I want to talk to you about Henry. It's a big thing for a lad of his age to fall in love!"
"I suppose it is."
"There's no supposin' about it. It is! He's just at the age when women begin to matter to a man, an' I don't want him to go an' get into any bother over the head of them!"
"Bother?" [Pg 125]
"Aye. Do you never think about women, John Marsh?"
"Oh, yes. Sometimes. One can't help it now and then!..."
"No, begod, one can't!" Mr. Quinn exclaimed. "Do you know this, John Marsh, I never can make out whether God did a good day's work the day He made women! ”

“ Quin's jaw was set as firmly as hers, and their eyes measured each other's with equal determination.
"Well, then I'll give you a job," she announced with sudden decision. "I'll send you to China."
"To China?"
"Yes. Bartlett " Bangs has just opened a branch house in Shanghai. They are looking for a man to take charge of it. Your knowledge of the language would make up for your lack of experience. Besides, the sea voyage will do you good."
"Do you mean it?" cried Quinn eagerly. "Would Mr. Bangs agree?"
"Geoffrey Bangs would take you back at the factory to-morrow. ”

“ His heart beat with a hurrying, frenzied rhythm, like a madman on a drum, then seemed to stop entirely.
She moved across the room so lightly, so effortlessly and so silently it seemed that she was wafted by an unfelt breeze. She flowed toward him until he felt her breath upon his cheeks and the perfume of her silver-glowing hair in his nostrils. Then swiftly, hungrily, she kissed him. The flame of her raced in his blood like wildfire in a pine wood and crashed against his brain like an explosion. He swayed drunkenly, reaching out unsteady hands. ”

“ How many of our people will the house contain comfortably?"
"I should say that fifty or more could dwell in it without much inconvenience."
"Then select fifty soldiers, the flower of the Gaddbaizets. Among your stores be sure you have a good supply of black kaka. I want some one who is away up in ideographs to accompany the expedition as historian."
"It will be attended to, your highness."
The king turned and aimed his word-box at the professor.
"Is that tub of white pigment essential to the proper equipment of the metal house?" he asked.
"Very essential," replied Quinn. ”

“ He winked heavily at Henry as he turned away.
"You're not worth the food you eat," Mr. Quinn said.
"Aw, now, sir, you never know what anybody's worth 'til you have need of them," Matier replied. "A man [Pg 179] mightn't be worth a damn to you one day, an' he'd mebbe be worth millions to you the next!"
"There's little fear of you bein' worth millions to any one. Run on now an' do your work if you've any work to do!" Mr. Quinn turned to Henry as the gardener went off. "I suppose you'll be wantin' to live in London for the rest of your life?" ”

“ Quinn—And mine's made up too, the strike must be won.
(Quinn goes to wail rack, and takes down hat and coat.)
What are ye doin' with yer coat?
Quinn—I'll go and have a talk with the boys. I've some power with them. Violence must stop. I'll try to make them listen to reason, and if they won't, I guess I'm good for a job at Newton's.
(As he leaves room he is heard muttering.) Violence must stop!
Molly—I never knew father so set against a fight. What's he want to work in a coal yard for?
Mrs. Quinn—Never fear, he won't work in a coal yard. ”

“ He spoke as if he were not himself an old man, and it did not seem strange to Henry that he should speak in that fashion, for Mr. Quinn's spirit had always been a young spirit.
"An' these wee bitches with their white feathers," he went on, "ought to be well skelped. If I had a daughter, an' she did a thing like that, by God, I'd break her skull for her!"
"I suppose they think they're doing their duty, father, and they're young!..."
"There's women at it, too. I read in the paper yesterday mornin' that there was grown women doin' it. ”

“ Quinn's private school in Harcourt Street Kane passed to Queen's College, Cork, whence he graduated M.A. in 1862, and received in 1882 the honorary degree of LL.D. Becoming a member of Lincoln's Inn, he studied law in London in the chambers of an eminent conveyancing lawyer, W. H. G. Bagshawe, and in 1865 he graduated LL.B. with honours in London University. ”

“ The girl had dropped down to her knees, staring at the door which let into the house, and as I looked I saw a shadow writhe across the little pool of moonlight which lay upon the sill. Three feet or so in length it was, thick through as a man's wrist, the faint light shining dully on its scaly armor and disclosing the forked lightning of its darting tongue. It was a cottonmouth—a water moccasin—deadly as a rattlesnake, but more dangerous, for it sounds no warning before striking, and can strike when only half coiled. ”

“ Quinn went on, "that it'd be silly to break up every machine in the world. Of course, it would! You must have thought I was daft talkin' like that. What I mean is, I'd smash up all the machines that make a mess of men an' women. That's all. I'm sorry I disturbed you, Henry, but I couldn't bear to think of you lyin' here mebbe thinkin' I was talkin' out of the back of my neck. I'm not very clever, son ... I've a moidhered sort of a mind ... an' I say things sometimes that aren't what I mean at all. You must be tired out, Henry. ”

“ She turned her great eyes on him sadly, reproachfully. He'd seen a dying deer look so at the hunter.
"Wretched man," she whispered, and now her voice had all its old-time vibrance, "what have you done? Hear me before the end comes, Edward Harrigan. My shadow is upon you. Never shall you free yourself from it; it shall come between you and every woman whom you look on; you shall see me in the sunshine and the moonlight, hear my voice in wind and flowing water——"
A roaring like the thunder of Niagara filled his ears. ”

“ When you stepped forward with your offer of help, I thought you were the fiend accosting me for a fourth time, and I must have fainted, for I know nothing more until I found myself here."
"And how did the Devil appear, Mademoiselle?" asked de Grandin, edging slightly forward on his chair, his slender hands twitching with excitement.
"Very like a man, mein Herr. His body was like that of a man in evening dress, but his face was the face of the foul fiend and the horns which grew from his brows and the beard and mustache on his face were all aglow with the fires of hell. ”

“ As the shot went whistling and crashing through the brilliant red and green leaves, the big dog turned and trotted around the corner of the house, moving, for all its size, with cat-like quietness.
Crumpacker glared at Harrigan. Bitter, rageful hatred smoldered in his eyes, making the brown pupils glow like tarnished garnets. "Damme, sir, men have been shot for less impertinence!" he burst out. Then, seeming to cool as suddenly as he had blazed, "Never mind; perhaps you're right, lad. My quarrel's with the old woman, not her dog. I reckon anger made me childish for a moment." ”

“ Every neck seemed suddenly to crane, every eye to look in one direction, and as we turned our glances toward the right side of the cellar we saw a woman entering through a curtained doorway. She wore a long, loose scarlet cape which she held together with one hand, her hair was very black, her eyes were large and luminously dark, seeming to have a glance of overbearing sensuousness and sweet humility at once. Her white, set face was an imponderable mask; her full red lips were fixed in an uneven, bitter line. ”

“ The broker looked at me with something like contempt.
"I blame him for placing an incompetent and irresponsible person at such an important post as the switch board," said Meigs. "He should have known that a man who holds your distorted views on the subject of personal property is not to be trusted."
"That's right," added Popham, lifting himself to the divan.
"Gilhooly made an attack on me," said I. "He bore me down and came within one of strangling me."
"Quinn is the cause of Gilhooly's abnormal condition," persisted Meigs, who was bound to have Quinn at fault for every evil that overtook us. ”

“ The little Frenchman bowed with continental courtesy. "Madame," he explained, "we have learned this unfortunate young lady's plight and have determined to aid her. The sum of two thousand dollars is required in order to save her the pain and humiliation of a most terrifying ordeal, and this sum we are prepared to advance, provided, of course, you can offer proper guaranty——"
"Thy money perish with thee!" rejoined the Seeress furiously, half rising from her tripod; then, as though relenting: "Stay, power over the spirits have I none, but I can direct thee to one whose power is infinite. ”