Reggie

“ When she did that the American used to laugh, at nothing apparently, and say, “Oh, I guess Reggie loves you well enough.”
“But do I love Reggie?” she would ask sadly, with her tea-cup held poised in air.
“I am sure I hope not,” the lodger would reply, and she would put down the veil quickly, as one would drop a curtain over a beautiful picture, and rise with great dignity and say, “if you talk like that I shall not come again.”
She was sure that if she could only get some work to do her head would be filled with more important matters than whether Reggie loved her or not. ”

“ The faint music of the piano now tinkled out into the night, and numerous simple harmonies and full closes fell melodiously upon their hearing.
"Lord Reggie is certainly very unlike his anthem," said Lady Locke, listening a little sadly.
"Reggie is unlike everything except himself. He is completely wonderful, and, wonderfully complete. He lives for sensations, while other people live for faiths, or for convictions, or for prejudices. He would make any woman unhappy. How beautiful!"
"Is it always a sign of intelligence to be what others are not?" ”

“ By the light of a match Reggie looked at it, and he shuddered. It bore, as Bill implied, the proof of death.
He was silent too awhile; the first hot-blooded one is more rattling to the nerves than a stranger three hundred yards away. ”

“ With a firm and friendly hand she assisted him to recover his balance. She was in all respects made to sustain shocks. Her grey eyes smiled at him.
A man—an oldish, solemn man who was horrified—confronted Reggie. “You cannot come here, monsieur,” he cried in French.
“I dare to assure you of the contrary,” says Reggie in the same language.
“This is a private launch.” ”

“ Just as he was putting on his coat, Sam arrived with a photograph of Sir Albert, and Reggie sat down to it. A plump man of middle height, rather loudly dressed; a long, heavy face, rather like a horse’s, but with protruding eyes—commonplace enough. It was only the expression which made Reggie examine the fellow more closely. Under the photographic smirk was a look of insolence and conceit of singular force. The man who owned that would never allow any creature a right against him. ”

“ The result of these cogitations was that many a time when Reggie confidently looked for a letter, none came, and when the dulness of a week's work did happen to be enlivened by one of Gertrude's epistles, somehow the letters were short and unsatisfactory and spoke only of the most casual on-the-top-of-things topics. Reggie wondered over it in silence. ”

“ On the door hung a cloak made of many coloured bird skins and a necklace of human teeth with the green image of a demon as pendant. A golden dragon with crystal eyes gaped on the sideboard over the whisky decanter.
Reggie showed no surprise. He slid into a chair by the table and looked at the old woman. “I don’t know what you want that you can’t say,” she grumbled, unlocked a desk and put before him one sheet of paper, one envelope, pen and ink.
“Well, it’s about a curio,” Reggie smiled upon her.
“The good Lord knows we’ve enough of them,” she cried. “That’s what took him away now.” ”

“ I promised Reggie."
"Who's Reggie?"
"Reggie? Reggie Davenport. He's a friend of mine. I'm very fond of him. Haven't you ever seen him. He falls in love about once a fortnight. He's very amusing."
"He must be rather a fool," said Eva.
[Pg 20]
"Oh, but he's a nice fool. Really, he is very nice. He's so dreadfully young."
"Well, you're not very old, my lord," said Eva.
"But Reggie is much the youngest person I ever saw. He'll never grow old."
"Ah! well," said Eva. "I expect he's very happy." ”

“ Reggie Byng was friendly, and would not wilfully betray him; but Reggie was also a babbler, who could not be trusted to keep things to himself. It was necessary, he perceived, to take a strong line from the start, and convince Reggie that any likeness which the latter might suppose that he detected between his companion of that afternoon and the waiter of tonight existed only in his heated imagination.
As George turned, Reggie's pleasant face, pink with healthful exercise and Lord Marshmoreton's finest Bollinger, lost most of its colour. His eyes and mouth opened wider. ”

“ And then Reggie Byng arrived in his grey racing car, more cheerful than any of them.
Fate could not have mocked George more subtly. A sorrow's crown of sorrow is remembering happier things, and the sight of Reggie in that room reminded him that on the last occasion when they had talked together across this same table it was he who had been in a Fool's Paradise and Reggie who had borne a weight of care. Reggie this morning was brighter than the shining sun and gayer than the carolling birds. ”

“ Fortune,” said the Prince feebly. “Oh! If you could do something to stop this neuralgic pain in my arm——”
In fact, Reggie had a difficult time with him, which you may think was only fair. It was very late before His Highness (who took a morbid interest in his limbs) could be got to sleep; very late—or early—before Reggie went to bed, but all the while the Giulia was steaming back to Tormouth, and when Reggie came on deck again “pink and beautiful”, as he remarked to his mirror, thanks to a razor and linen of Spoleto’s, the brown Tormouth headlands loomed through the morning haze. ”

“ Reggie was a dissolute rip before ever he met Grace Castillyon, and the only woman who ruined him is—yourself! You were very angry when I told you once that the greatest misfortune which could befall a man was to have a really affectionate mother, but I assure you, except for your bad influence, Reggie would have been no worse a boy than any other. ”

“ With a push like the kick of an elephant's hind leg he propelled the wretched Reggie in the required direction. Puzzled and surprised, but feeling very ashamed of himself, he moved cautiously towards the low mound that stood up dimly outlined against the night sky. Once on the short journey he crouched motionless while a flare burnt itself out twenty yards away, only to move forward immediately the darkness settled again with quickened step. There is no time so good to movement as the few seconds after the eyes of possible watchers have been dazzled. ”

“ Reggie had asked him to give up strong drink!
"Reggie!" he said hoarsely, passing by all else that had been said, "you don't know what you are asking!"
"Yes, I do!" said Reggie firmly, "and you'll want outside help."
"Ah!" said the manager sadly, "I have thought sometimes, that if we'd had a child, Elaine and I, it would have made it easier. I might have done it for the child's sake."
"Suppose that God did not dare to risk the child in your hands," said Reggie solemnly, "suppose, if He sent a child, then you had not the strength to give up the drink?" ”

“ George found himself speculating upon Reggie. He was unable to place him. That he was a friend of Maud he knew, and guessed that he was also a resident of the castle. He would have liked to question Reggie, to probe him, to collect from him inside information as to the progress of events within the castle walls; but it is a peculiarity of golf, as of love, that it temporarily changes the natures of its victims; and Reggie, a confirmed babbler off the links, became while in action a stern, silent, intent person, his whole being centred on the game. ”

“ Reggie stared at him in unaffected amazement.
"Have to what?" he repeated.
"Work," repeated Tony. "I believe it's very difficult and unpleasant, but I don't see any other prospect."
A mingled look of horror and admiration crept across Reggie's face.
"What could you do?" he asked breathlessly.
"I might drive a car," answered Tony hopefully. "I can't think of anything else at the moment."
Reggie took a deep breath,
"You're splendid, Tony," he said. "You remind me of Roosevelt. But of course it's absurd. You must marry some woman with money. ”

“ Reggie pointed dramatically at the dark little man.
"At the bar. He took the stool I left. He's right between that fat old man and that young girl with the red hair."
The tweed-clad young man stared in the direction of Reggie's pointing finger, then he frowned and glanced down at Reggie.
"Any pink elephants, yet?"
"I'm not drunk," Reggie said indignantly. "That man has been following me like a conga partner all afternoon."
The tall young man patted Reggie patiently on the shoulder.
"Sleep and rest will make a new man of you," he said. "Go home. Go to bed. You've got hallucinations." ”

“ But then Reggie," she caught her breath at the remembered ecstasy, "Reggie used to think that the sun rose and set for me. He was different from all other men. You advise me to reserve myself for the best. How can I do that, Lord Taborley, when the best is in the past?"
She was very beautiful in the simplicity of her pathos—one of the most beautiful women he had ever [Pg 178] met. She had become a little child for the moment and her littleness was baffling. He felt extraordinarily near to her and alone with her. There was no longer any danger in their aloneness. ”

“ If I am always the same like an English doll wife, he won't get many tunes to play. Reggie is like a girl."
"Reggie is too good for you," said the Englishman, roughly.
"I don't think so," said Yaé, "I don't want Reggie, but Reggie wants me."
"What do you want then?"
"I want a great big man with arms and legs like a wrestler. A man who hunts lions. He will pick me up like you did at Kamakura, big captain, and throw me in the air and catch me again. And I will take him away from the woman he loves, so that he will hate me and beat me for it. ”

“ Reggie's mother must have understood, for she gave Dan a good supper, and he slept right soundly till morning.
Mary Boyle.
Bringing home the holly.
With hearts as light as snow-flakes fall, With cheeks like sunset glow, And ringing shouts of joy and fun, Away the children go.
Away! to where the holly-tree, With berries gleaming bright, Stands like a shivering giant in Its glistening cloak of white.
There's Roy, to take the sledge in hand And pilot through the snow. "The girls don't understand," he says. (Just like a boy, you know!) ”

“ Reggie descended descended upon the Prince and Princess. She was sitting upon his bed. She was smiling. She kissed her hand to His Highness as she went out.
All which Reggie observed with a face of stone.
"I am infinitely your debtor, Mr. Fortune," His Highness beamed. "You are not married, no?"
"It becomes every day less probable," said Reggie grimly.
"One never knows the beauty of a woman's nature till one is suffering," said His Highness.
The X-rays were put to work on the arm, and the operator and Reggie went off to the yacht's dark room. ”

“ Arrayed in Elizabethan doublet and hose for Lady Campion's dance, Reggie stood before his looking-glass and grinned at himself sardonically.
"Ugly devil," he called himself, and then wondered how Mary would look as Phyllida the ideal milkmaid. ”

“ The reply, which was also in the form of a question, fairly staggered him, "Is that you, Reggie? It's me, Enid. Yes, you old silly—Enid Mallory at Ottermouth. The most awful thing has happened, and I want your help. You are the only person in the [Pg 265] whole world who can help. Are you listening? Are you ready to attend to every word I say?"
"Go ahead!" was Reggie's laconic reply, the flippant gibe that rose to the tip of his tongue checked by the reflection that the Ottermouth exchange was not ordinarily open at that time of night. ”

“ Reggie's eyes followed his dejected, retreating figure.
"How quaint!" he said. "But he's a smart chap, anyway. And, mind you, he's right about that war."
I said (Heaven knows why, except that I think I must have wanted Reggie's opinion of Jevons) : "D'you think he's right about his own cowardice?"
Reggie said, "Ask me another. You can't tell. I only know I've seen men look like that and talk like that before an engagement."
Viola raised her head. Her voice came with the clear tremor of a bell:
"And did they funk?" ”

“ Reggie (with a fortunate inspiration) . Thank you ever so much, Auntie! And I like this train better than a tin one—because all the doors open really—it's exactly what I wanted!
Mrs. S. That's so like Reggie—he never says anything to hurt people's feelings if he can possibly help it.
Mrs. B. (with meek ambiguity) . Ah, dear Sophia, you set him such an example, you see! (Reggie wonders why she squeezes his hand so.)
A Vague Man (to Saleswoman) . Er—I want a toy of some sort—for a child, don't you know. (As if he might require it for an elderly person.) ”

“ Reggie said earnestly.
His blue eyes looked strangely poetic under the frosty gleam of the electric light, and his straight pale yellow hair shone like an aureole round the head of some modern saint. He was eating strawberries rather petulantly, as a child eats pills, and his cheeks were now violently flushed. He looked younger than ever, and it was difficult to believe that he was nearly twenty-five.
"I have no intention of being a good one. It is only people without brains who make good husbands. Virtue is generally merely a form of deficiency, just as vice is an assertion of intellect. ”

“ You have such terrible vanity, Pauline——”
“Did you ever know a woman yet who had not? I really like Reggie immensely, but he has entirely got out of the way of paying compliments, and making himself agreeable; and, really, it is quite necessary to go into [Pg 88] the world to hear that one is pretty. Before I have been shut up three days with my husband at Teignmouth I feel like an unmitigated fright.” ”