Roberts

“ She had not seen Robert. She had just once heard his name, spoken casually, as that of one whose absence seemed a thing unusual, whose presence seemed a thing to be desired. She knew that she had made an impression. She knew, even, that she had made herself popular, at least with the men. With her accustomed candour she had proclaimed herself a rebel, in response to some jest at the expense of Boston, and had settled the score thrice over by her witty jibes at King George. But even in that royalist circle her audacity had done her no harm. ”

“ Roberts was not without some humanism, if such a word may be used; certainly he never gave away a penny, but as certainly he cheated no man. He was upright in conduct, and not unpleasant in manner. He could not have been utterly crabbed for this one labourer, Bill, to stay with him five and twenty years. This was the six and twentieth year they had dwelt there together in the gaunt, grey lonely house, with woods around them, isolated from the world, and without a hearth. A hearth is no hearth unless a woman sit by it. ”

“ There was a card on his desk marked MR. ROBERTS. Martin studied him with concentration, knowing that this man through whom he might be placed demanded understanding, subtle coyness and perhaps, beauty; for he saw a person hesitant in sex and yet requiring it; a man lurid of cheek, yet pale; a contradiction with a flush abnormal as its pallor. The look of Roberts was more theory than fact; although Martin thought, amusedly, that certainly this personage, most elegant, existed almost regally. ”

“ Lord Roberts, the greatest soldier of the Victorian era, a man wise in war, and of the most transcendent sincerity, was snubbed and almost insulted, inside and outside the House of Commons, by a parcel of upstarts who, in knowledge and experience of the world and of the subject, were not fit to black his boots. ”

“ ROBERTS. That's right, sir. We have another God down here; I doubt He is rather different to Mr. Wilder's. Ask Henry Thomas; he will tell you whether his God and Mr. Wilder's are the same.
[THOMAS lifts his hand, and cranes his head as though to prophesy.]
WANKLIN. For goodness' sake, let 's keep to the point, Roberts.
ROBERTS. I rather think it is the point, Mr. Wanklin. If you can get the God of Capital to walk through the streets of Labour, and pay attention to what he sees, you're a brighter man than I take you for, for all that you're a Radical.
ANTHONY. Attend to me, Roberts! ”

“ I am with all the great and wise of old, who have taught that patriotism is a man's highest duty. Yet what have you done, Robert? You vow you love me! Indeed! And you prefer a stupid, far-off, half-crazy tyrant, whom you call your king, and whom you have never seen, to your country, which has borne and cherished you—and to me!"
"Oh, Barbara!" cried Robert, desperately. "What are king or country, what are heaven and earth, to me, compared with you? But what would my love be worth to you if, for the sake of my own happiness, I could be a rebel and a traitor? ”

“ Roberts chuckled hoarsely. “My sinful innocent—never to have seen the colored lechery behind his muscles!... Rio—epitome of flesh—carnality in Mother Goose’s shoes—a bundle of white snow—quite terrified.... I’ve seen his bleak face, whipped by wind and wave, and so have you. But it takes death to bring me the knowledge of his simple, frightened passion. Oh!—he will never fail you, although he doesn’t know why.... Enough of him—enough of his cautious, boastful gallantry which makes one sick when one is well, and makes one laugh when one is sick.” Again the adviser hesitated. ”

“ However, it is my advice that while we are sober we pitch upon a man of courage and skilled in navigation, one who by his council and bravery seems best able to defend this commonwealth, and ward us from the dangers and tempests of an unstable element, and the fatal consequences of anarchy; and such a one I take Roberts to be—a fellow, I think, in all respects worthy your esteem and favour. ”

“ Take the chance I offer you. Hit the trail. Life is precious, man!... You've no chance here. And what's one girl more or less to you?”
“Kells, I may be a fool, but I'm a man,” passionately rejoined Roberts. “Why, you're somethin' inhuman! I knew that out in the gold-fields. But to think you can stand there—an' talk sweet an' pleasant—with no idee of manhood!... Let her come now—or—or I'm a-goin' for my gun!”
“Roberts, haven't you a wife—children?”
“Yes, I have,” shouted Roberts, huskily. “An' that wife would disown me if I left Joan Randle to you. An' I've got a grown girl. ”

“ Of course Roberts claimed the discovery. This angered his partner.
"The mules are the real discoverers," declared Smithson with spirit, "and one of them is mine. You knew very well that the quartz was there when you sent me after the animals so you could prospect the place."
"You're a liar, and you know it!" retorted Roberts, hotly. "There is none so suspicious of others as a rogue. If you understood mining laws you would know that by being my partner one half of all I find is yours without your raising a finger, and you could quit this howl before beginning. ”

“ Roberts hesitated, his face inscrutable as a book closed.
“If I knew what you wanted to know,” he said at last, “I’d tell you; but I don’t. It’s fabulous, if that answers your question. It’s like Aladdin’s lamp: there’s nothing material on the face of the earth it won’t give for the asking. It’s producing enough now daily to keep a sane man a year. It’s power infinite for good or evil, and creating more power day by day.” He halted, then unconsciously repeated himself. “Yes, power infinite, neither more nor less.” ”

“ Roberts: ‘I’m afraid so. I’ll have the chain mended, of course. But when I went out this evening I left my watch on my dressing-table, and when you struck against me in the Common I missed it, and supposed I had been robbed, and I ran after you and took yours—’
Willis: ‘Being a man of the most violent temper and the most desperate courage—’
Roberts: ‘But I hope, my dear sir, that I didn’t hurt you seriously?’
Bemis: ‘Not at all—not the least.’ Shaking him cordially by both hands: ‘I’m all right. Mrs. Roberts has healed all my wounds with her skilful needle ”

“ Roberts made his appearance at Rochester. From thence he went to Buffalo, where he was for some time concerned in the Newspaper Press, from which place he removed to Detroit, where he was similarly engaged. Was Police Justice of the city, and finally Clerk of the Senate of Michigan. Whether he is still a resident of that city or not, is more than I am able to say. Mr. Roberts is by no means deficient in talent, but he is wanting in that firmness and decision of character, which is so essential to success in life. ”

“ Corcoran moved over to a wicker table and Roberts helped him remove some magazines and books. Taking up his brief case, the former unlocked it, drew out a pad of blank paper, a pencil, and an official-looking document with an imposing seal. Without unfolding it, he put the document down in front of him and addressed Roberts.
“Paul was a queer character,” he admitted. “In many ways a lovable fellow, with a curious, suspicious streak running through his make-up. ”

“ Roberts' pleasure in the promise of future domesticity gave a painful shock, and raised in the minds of more than one of them a doubt—perhaps the first in days—whether a man so heavily weighted with a burden of unacknowledged guilt could show this pleasurable absorption in his new surroundings. ”

“ Literary psychologists cannot escape the feeling that Roberts deliberately ‘manufactured’ his first volume of verse—cannot help picturing the young poet diligently figuring away in his student’s cloister at the properties, forms and metres of his imitative idyllism and impressionism. It is all Artifice; all artificial. As yet in Roberts’ verse there is no ‘note’ of inspiration awakened by the magic and mystery of the great Dominion—no New World ‘note’ caught from Canadian Nature, or from Canadian romantic life and contemporary civilization. ”

“ Doctor Roberts and Alan Mason had eaten with relish Martha’s buckwheat cakes and country sausage, but Alexander Nash scarcely tasted a mouthful of the appetizing breakfast, contenting himself with several cups of black coffee.
“Must you return to Washington, Roberts?” he asked, pushing aside his plate.
“Yes; I must be at Garfield by noon for an important operation.” Roberts paused to light a cigar handed to him by Alan. “There is every reason to believe that Mrs. Nash will continue to improve.” ”

“ Roberts, who held many minor educational offices, showed exceptional skill and tact as an organiser, inspired others with his own enthusiasm, perseverance, and breadth of outlook, and devoted himself unsparingly to the improvement of the educational opportunities of all classes. While he was a fervent liberal in general politics, his wide sympathy made him equally at home among the Northumbrian miners and in Cambridge common-rooms. ”

“ Roberts, bringing all his mental cohorts to bear upon the possible relation between this queer derelict of the desert and his two companions, made no attempt to string on the conversation.
One hour before dawn the man tried to sit up, strangled in a fit of terrible coughing, and then fell sidewise.
“Can’t—can’t lie on my back,” he gasped. “Spine bowed. Hurts. How—how long have I got?”
“You’ll get well,” Roberts assured him. “I’ll take care of you. Here, try a little more whisky. I want to ask you a lot of questions when you’re able to stand the strain.” ”

“ We might answer, with a smile, to incite him to become as loyal an American as General Wallace or Mark Twain. Or we might repeat as an answer a statement made to us not long ago by an observant inhabitant of this part of the literary [301] world—"Professor Roberts is quite as good an American as Henry James." But, using American in its fullest sense, Roberts easily comes in under that head. The shadow of the Stars and Stripes falls near his birthplace. His public is largely a purely American public. His residence for the last four years has been New York City. ”

“ Robert felt a fierce hatred of the man George of England, who was so unworthy of his kingship! He was mad to throw himself at Barbara's feet, and tell her all his life was hers to do as she would with, to offer his faith, loyalty, honour, a living sacrifice to her love, and bid her send him to fight under whatever flag she called hers! But—he held the madness in leash. The tough fibre of his will gave a little, but would not break. The drops stood out on his forehead. But all he said was:
"Beloved, beloved, I worship you. You are all I can dream of womanhood. ”

“ Roberts is described as a tall dark man of about forty, of good natural parts, and of reckless courage. In a society devoted to drunkenness, he seems to have been comparatively temperate, and, though living by plunder, to have been comparatively humane. ”

“ Roberts, we believe, is extensively engaged in commerce and agriculture, and, though out of office, makes himself useful in the moral, social, and intellectual elevation of his brethren. No one is more respected, or stands higher, in Liberia than he. ”

“ Captain King had the honour of taking Lady Beresford down to dinner, and he sat between her and Miss Madge. It soon became apparent that there was going to be no lack of conversation. John Roberts, the soda-water manufacturer, was a man who had a large enjoyment of life, and liked to let people know it, though without the least ostentation or pretence on his part. ”

“ But slay the gallants, slay them, sweetheart! They be king's men, mostly,—and there'll be so many the less to fight, by and by, for the king!"
"I'll do what such a homely little brown thing can!" laughed Barbara, blithely, an excited thrill in her voice. But even at the moment her heart misgave her, at the thought that, more than likely, Robert was one of these same "king's men!" ”

“ Rich she was, too. Sugar--we had run short of sugar for our punch, and welcome it was--sugar, skins, tobacco, ninety thousand moidors, and this cross with the diamonds for the King of Portugal. Roberts himself said he had never seen stones like it, and he was a good judge of stones was Roberts. He was quick, too. Why, we had that cross on the dinghy and were well up the Sierra Leone River before daybreak, just the three of us--Roberts, me, and Adam Mayle--Kennedy he called himself then, being a gentleman born and with more sense than the rest of us. ”

“ Of these persons, only one fulfills all other necessary conditions with an exactness which excuses any special interest we may feel in him. It is he who is tabulated here as number 3."
It was said. Mr. Roberts was well acquainted with his own number. He did not have to follow with his eye the point of the District Attorney's finger to know upon whose name it had settled; and for a moment, surprise, shock,—the greatest which can befall a man,—struggled with countless other emotions in his usually impassive countenance. ”

“ Many of Roberts's illustrations were used by George Bush in his ‘Scripture Illustrations,’ Brattleboro, 1839. Roberts remained in England until the beginning of 1843, and in the meantime prepared a second edition (London, 1844, 8vo) . He was stationed successively at Canterbury, Bristol, Sheffield, and Manchester. In January 1843 he returned to India, and was appointed general superintendent of the Wesleyan Missionary Society's mission in the Madras Presidency. ”

“ Those Roberts swore at as Cowards, who meant to dishearten the Men, asking them if it were so, whether they were afraid to fight, or no? And hardly refrained from Blows. What his own Apprehensions were, till she hawled up her Ports, and hoisted their proper Colours, is uncertain; but then being perfectly convinced, he slipped his Cable, got under Sail, and ordered his Men to Arms, without any shew of Timidity, dropping a first Rate Oath, that it was a Bite, but, at the same Time, resolved, like a gallant Rogue, to get clear, or die. ”