Rafe

“ Gillian [rising] . Anon, my lady! [To children.] Think of it, bairns—that fine brave gentleman and that beautiful lady, stepping across the floors in the moonlight—— [Exit, hand lifted as if holding a partner's, taking stately dancing steps.]
Cicely. Oh, Rafe, think'st that Gillian speaketh true?
Rafe. Yes, I do believe her. Christmas is such a marvelous fair time, Cicely, that I do think anything wonderful might happen.
Allison. I would I could see Sir Philip and Lady Geraldine at their dancing.
Cicely. Oh, so do I! Rafe, dost think—— [Hesitates, afraid to speak her thought.] ”

“ Rafe was his nephue, as sonne to his sister Goda by hir first husband Gualter de Maunt. But although they were knowne to be sufficient men for the ordering of such businesse, yet he thought the necessitie to be such, as his person could not be presentlie spared. Therefore he was diligent in foreséeing of things by good aduise, although age would not giue him leaue to execute the same by his owne hand and force of bodie. ”

“ What, a paltry pennon, saidst thou, Sir Seneschal? May thy tongue be blistered for the word! Depardieux, were it not unwise to stir up evil blood among us at such a time, I would make him eat it, old as he is, and difficult as he might find the digestion of it. Oh, is’t not bitter penance, brother Rafe, for falcons such as we are to be mewed up with such a set of grey geese? By Heaven, it is enough to brutify the noble spirit we do inherit from our sires. ”

“ Rafe, by way of reply, took another drink. When he set the bottle down, the district attorney picked it up, held it against the daylight, then looked reproachfully at his friend and put the bottle away in the cupboard.
"Tell you what we can do," said Rafe. "We can have Simon do it."
"Simon Reelfoot?"
"Who else. Sure. Why not?"
"You're crazy. Simon may be a fool, but he has more sense than that."
"Simon drinks a skinful sometimes. Ever see him when he gets that way? He acts very rowdy. Yeah. ”

“ Then Meg skimmed the cream for the blue jug, and they were ready to start. Rafe, in his white cap and apron, bore the precious pie, while Meg walked along at his side. A merry, handsome couple they were.
When they came to the market-place they found a great crowd assembled. "Ho, Rafe! Rafe!" people shouted to him, for every one knew and loved him. "Come here! Come with us!"
But Rafe answered: "Nay. I am going to walk in the procession with the other cooks. I have a pie for the King."
"A pie! A pie!" they cried good-naturedly. "Look at Rafe's pasty! Of what is it made, Rafe? ”

“ Allison. So did I, sister! Let's run!
Cicely. Mother! Mother! I'm frightened!
Allison. Oh, Gillian, come get us!
[Both rush screaming out of door (L.) . Rafe
comes quickly and silently back. Goes to
window and stands peering out.
Rafe. That was brother Rufus. I wonder how he came hither.... And there is someone ... away out-196- there in the snow ... men ... coming this way. [Leaves window and stands directly in front of portraits, with his back to them, and a little way off. Stares anxiously straight before him, and speaks low and quietly.] Perhaps they are soldiers ... ”

“ So one night, late, this hairy man, this Cal, he steals him a firkin of wine from the ship’s stores and three of us—me and him and old frosty gaffer, Trink—we three slipped over the side of the ship into a boat and rowed us to the shore.”
“’Twas fair venturesome,” Rafe commented.
“Venturesome. You’d say venturesome, indeed, knew ye all. But list! Over the island we went, stopping to gaze at all about us and drinking as we gazed. ’Twas passing fair, that scene; flowers like jewels and sweet-smelling shrubs ”

“ Rafe attempted to excuse himself and his cowboy. "It was a long-ear."
"Branding it on the Walton range?"
"Yes."
"With its mammy?"
"Yes."
"Serve the boy right." Tip gave judgment. "You and your outfit are getting too reckless for any use, Rafe. The territory is not a Sunday-school. You can't pick a man's pocket openly any more. It isn't safe. And you know it isn't safe. Who was the boy and what time of day was it?"
"Ben Shanklin ”

“ Here's work for us all, my pets. We must e'en make our fingers fly an we would finish our task.
Cicely [full of importance] . Oh, good Gillian, Rafe doth say——
Rafe [trying to repress her] . It's no use to ask Gillian, Cicely. Didst not hear my Father tell her she mustn't talk of it?
Gillian. That's best, Master Rafe. Let Gillian tell you a tale whilst we work.
Allison. A fairy-tale, Gillian? [Whispers full of awe.] Are the fairies about to-night, dear Gillian?
Rafe. Not on Christmas Eve, Allison. They aren't,-185- are they, Gillian? Midsummer Eve is the fairies' night. ”

“ Rafe seized her wrist and jerked her sidewise.
"None of that!" he snarled. "Gonna get your clothes or not?"
"I'll get them," she said calmly. "Let go of my wrist."
If she could win into the next room where the six-shooter was hanging on the wall, it might be possible to—but he did not release her wrist.
"I'll go with you," he told her with a leer. "You're too slippery a customer to trust alone."
As he turned with her, the lamplight fell full on his face, and she saw that his eyes were bloodshot! He also saw something that had hitherto escaped his notice. ”

“ Rafe could tell that Dr. Malekrinova's mind was trying to reject the alien ideas that were coming into her mind. She wasn't consciously trying to pick up Rafe's thoughts. But the rejection was ineffective because of its fascination. The old business about the horse's tail. If you see a white horse, you'll soon get rich if you can keep from thinking about the horse's tail until it's out of sight. The first thought that comes to mind is: "I mustn't think about the horse's tail." A self-defeating proposition. ”

“ Rafe. I warrant you Mistress, if I do it not, for the honor of the City, and the credit of my Master, let me never hope for freedome.
Wife. 'Tis well spoken i'faith; go thy waies, thou art a spark indeed.
Cit. Ralph, double your files bravely Ralph.
Ralph. I warrant you Sir. [Exit Ralph.
Cit. Let him look narrowly to his service, I shall take him else; I was there my self a Pike-man once, in the hottest of the day, wench, had my feather shot sh [eere] away, the fringe [Pg 224] of my pike burnt off with powder, my pate broken with a scouring-stick, and yet I thank God I am here. ”

“ But Robert's brain was excited, and he could not sleep. The events of the day had been enough to shake a stronger man. There had been the revelation of the morning, the strange sights which he had witnessed in the laboratory, and the immense secret which had been confided to his keeping. Then there had been his conversation with his father in the afternoon, their disagreement, and the sudden intrusion of Raffles Haw. ”

“ Rafael would think it enough! On my soul, I am glad you are so human—though I have no love myself for heretics!"
"Human!" mused Raquel. "Is it human to remember, when one should forget and cannot?"
She did not say it aloud, and refused to discuss the matter further.
"He is dead," she said; "Rafael cannot be jealous of a man I saw but once; it was only the dream of a girl—like a picture in a book—and the page is closed. I shall marry Rafael, and work in the world instead of in the convent. It is for Mother Church and—it is right!" ”

“ It is bad for one when the dreams go, and the clear vision begins."
[299] "But Rafael—"
"Rafael, beloved, is contented with the life of the plaza. He will always be; and—the inner court is forever this side of the aliso tree. Come! The stars are thick now, and if we have far to ride—"
Doña Ana untied the mule and the mustang.
"I think they will follow; but it is best, perhaps, to keep a rope on the mustang. I will lead him, and I have a bell I will tie later to his neck; it may help in the dark if we should go wide of the trail." ”

“ There is where Rafael needs guarding more than from heretics."
"From Capitan? He—he—would not kill—"
"No," said Ana, slowly; "I never think he wants Rafael to die; he only wants him not to be happy; always he wants Rafael to remember he is not so far away but he can do him harm. Rafael hates the lonely Mission valley on account of that. In a town Capitan never can make him afraid so much."
"Rafael is not a coward, I think," returned Raquel.
"No, but he knows Capitan does not forget—there was a girl between them once. Rafael is the handsomer, so he got her. ”

“ Raf ran along the corridor, trying to subdue the clatter of his space boots, coming to a downward ramp. There he paused, unable to decide whether to go down—until he caught sight of a party of aliens below, walking swiftly enough to suggest that they too were in a hurry. ”

“ The passage began to slope upward once more, and Raf saw a half-moon of light ahead, brilliant light which could only come from the sun. The alien was outlined there as he went out; then he himself was scuffing through sand close upon another death scene. [104] The dead monster had had its counterparts, and here they were, sprawled out, mangled, and torn. Raf remained by the archway, for even the open air and the morning winds could not destroy the reek which seemed as deadly as a gas attack. ”

“ Rafael decided to call for help, even at the risk of bringing back his enemy, but his shouts, though he did his best, seemed shut into that granite cleft with him. He attacked the great rock again, and the stones, but without any other result than to tire himself out. At last the creeping fear, against which he had been half unconsciously fighting all the time, was getting the better of his fortitude. ”

“ There, not twenty yards away, stood William Raften, spectator of the whole affair—an expression not of anger but of infinite sorrow and disappointment on his face—not because they had quarrelled—no—he knew boy nature well enough not to give that a thought—but that his son, older and stronger than the other and backed by another boy, should be licked in fair fight by a thin, half-invalid. ”

“ Nature has her own kindnesses in store for us all, and when Rafael, having rigged his signal, lost his slight footing and tumbled, bumping his head, in falling, on a projecting stone, she promptly put him to sleep, so that he lay untroubled and unafraid on the rocky floor of his prison. He did not hear the excited barking of dogs, as a tall, grave shepherd, his sheepskin garments fragrant with thyme, met a rescue party of mingled muleteers and pilgrims searching the mountainside and guided them to the neighborhood of the cleft rock. ”

“ Raffles glanced at the four small windows in turn and then at me.
"Is there any way out at all?" he whispered, as no other being would or could have whispered to the man who had led him into such a trap. "We've no rope-ladder, you know."
"Thanks to me," I groaned. "The whole thing's my fault!"
"Nonsense, Bunny; there was no other way to run. But what about these windows?"
His magnanimity took me by the throat; without a word I led him to the one window looking inward upon sloping slates and level leads. ”

“ Puzzled and a little sulky, I pushed open the door of the deserted nursery, where the raft that had rocked beneath so many hopes and fears still occupied the ocean-floor. To the dull eye, that merely tarries upon the outsides of things, it might have appeared unromantic and even unraftlike, consisting only as it did of a round sponge-bath on a bald deal towel-horse placed flat on the floor. Even to myself much of the recent raft-glamour seemed to have departed as I half-mechanically stepped inside and curled myself up in it for a solitary voyage. ”

“ Raffles was dead—killed as you may remember at the battle of Spion Kop—and I, his companion, who had never known want while his deft fingers were able to carry out the plans of that insinuating and marvellous mind of his, was now, in the vernacular of the American, up against it. ”

“ One evening Raphael had fallen asleep on a sofa, after creeping about on the floor till sleep overcame him. His pretty mouth, like a blooming rose-bud, was half open, showing two new teeth, and his long white robe swept along the sofa as he lay;—as I sat near him, listening to his gentle breathing, I heard a light step on the carpet, and turning, saw the count. He sat down on the sofa, at the feet of Raphael, and looking at him, said:
“How sweetly he slumbers; how innocent is the sleep of a child.”
“Yes, their unsuspicious innocence is a charming attribute which they soon lose.” ”

“ Thus we still use ‘riff-raff’ in regard to the off-scouring 356of the people. A raff-merchant was a dealer in lumber of any kind. In the Guild of Saint George, Norwich, 1385, we find not merely the name of ‘John Raffman,’ but such entries as ‘Robert Smith, raffman,’ or ‘John Smith, rafman.’ The term ‘raff’ for a low fellow is not yet obsolete, and Tennyson, when he says
Let raffs be rife in prose or rhyme, is only using a sobriquet which, until recently, was a very familiar one in the mouths of our peasantry. ”

“ It is not drama or anecdote or sentiment or symbolism that this would bring back to the plastic arts, but rather that mysterious yet recognizable quality in which the art of Raffael excels—a calm, disinterested, and professional concern with the significance of life as revealed directly in form, a faint desire, perhaps, to touch by a picture, a building, or a simple object of use some curious over-tone of our aesthetic sense. ”