Rodgers

“ Rodgers knows much of football and as Jim enthusiastically and with wonderfully keen recollection tells of the old games, a twelve-year-old boy listens, as only a boy can to his father, his great hero, and as Jim puts his hand on the boy's shoulders he tells him the ideal of his dreams is to have him make the Yale team some day, and an enthusiastic daughter who sits near hopes so too. ”

“ Craige followed Rodgers through the outer office, pausing only long enough to be assisted into his overcoat by an attentive office boy, and joined him at the elevator. “Don’t let Potter worry you, Rodgers; give him time to cool off. I imagine the news that Susan Baird was a wealthy woman, and that she never left him a red cent is responsible for his irritability. You know Ben is rather inclined to love money.” ”

“ Gunning’s legs are like—walking-sticks, dear major, emaciated walking-sticks. As for that Rodgers boy, he’s shaggy.
I saw Mrs. Lowe’s point. Jack Rodgers is a little unkempt. He also has an awkward way of walking. But the rector’s opinion weighed with me. I did not like the idea of subjecting a pretty girl to the passionate kisses—“passionate” is in the stage directions—of a strange young man for a long series of rehearsals. I decided in my own mind that Jack Rodgers must have the part. Unfortunately, Minnie herself preferred Gunning. ”

“ Miles and Rodgers would certainly not act on the same stage with Gunning. Their feelings were too bitter to be concealed, and Gunning himself could scarcely appear with a black eye. I was quite sure that his eye would be black after the way Rodgers hit him. Besides, no man with any self-respect could be expected to fling his arms around the neck of a girl who had smacked his face twice in public. Mrs. Lowe was over- sanguine. ”

“ It's the very best pick-me-up there is. You trust me, Rodgers. I never take no other and I don't advise you to. See?"
And when pressed for further particulars, he said again he had been "fair all round the town, with a Nactor chap" he knew. ”

“ Out in the bay the American fleet was preparing to depart.
Commodore Rodgers had just heard of the declaration of war, and he was afraid that the order to detain him in the harbor would be signed and delivered to him before he could start.
He called Captains Bainbridge and Stewart and Porter to the flagship and asked abruptly:
"How long before you can sail?"
"Ready now, sir," was Stewart's answer.
Rodgers was blunt and always spared himself words.
"Do you want to fight on the high seas or skulk like old hulks in the harbor?" he asked, and added quickly: "You need not answer. I know you well. ”

“ His machine was broken and repaired so many times that only the vertical rudder and the drip pan of the original outfit remained when he reached the Pacific coast. Although Rodgers lived much of the time here, his home was in Havre de Grace, Maryland. He leaves a mother, whose enthusiasm over the fame which her son won has always been tempered with her fear that eventually he would meet some such death as came to him today. ”

“ Matrimony doesn’t appear to agree with him.” He stepped back to his desk and picked up his brief case. When he turned again [Pg 134] to Rodgers, who stood waiting by the door, the gravity of his manner struck the younger man. “There is no use blinding ourselves to the situation, Rodgers,” he said. “It is up to us to solve the mystery of Susan Baird’s death. If we don’t,” he paused, “Kitty may find herself in a most unpleasant predicament.”
“The mystery is going to be solved—and quickly,” Rodgers checked his hasty speech. “Are you on your way to the Court House, Mr. Craige?” ”

“ Rodgers ordered him to send him his signal books. He obeyed, and soon followed them in person. He saw the marines of the President in British uniform, and mistook them for his own countrymen.
"The President," said the unsuspecting Hutchinson, "has spread alarm in British waters, and the main object of the Admiral is to catch her."
"What kind of a man is Rodgers?" asked the Commodore.
"I have never seen him," said Hutchinson, "but have been told that he is an odd fish, and hard to catch." ”

“ O, my dear brethren and fellow-sojourners in Vanity Fair, which among you does not know and suffer under such benevolent despots? It is in vain you say to them, "Dear Madam, I took Podgers' specific at your orders last year, and believe in it. Why, why am I to recant and accept the Rodgers' articles now?" There is no help for it; the faithful proselytizer, if she cannot convince by argument, bursts into tears, and the refusant finds himself, at the end of the contest, taking down the bolus, and saying, "Well, well, Rodgers' be it." ”

“ It is only in novels that the heaven-born detective (in the confidence of the author) displays wonderful cleverness in finding clues where none exist. But a flesh and blood worker like Rodgers had to puzzle out the matter in real life as best he could. He was not at all sanguine that he would run down the assassin of Miss Wharf. On the face of it, Rupert Ainsleigh appeared to be guilty, and Rodgers doubted his guilt for this very reason. "I believe one of these Chinaman did it," said Rodgers as he rang Forge's bell. ”

“ Daniel Rodgers made a very affecting prayer, and openly declared, that, under God, he owed his conversion to that dear man of God whose precious remains now lay before them. Then he cried out, 'O my father, my father!' then stopped and wept as though his heart would break; the people weeping all through the place. Then he [443] recovered, and finished his prayer, and sat down and wept. Then one of the deacons gave out the hymn,
"'Why do we mourn departing friends?'
some of the people weeping, some singing, and so on alternately. ”

“ THE GHOST APPEARS
The mysterious disappearance of Red Rodgers, or the Red Rover, as every one knew him, caused a great commotion. Had a President been assassinated it could not have caused a greater stir.
Not an hour had passed after he vanished before the newspapers came out with an extra with a story telling in detail all that was known about the affair.
“Red Rover,” the story ran, “has never cared for crowds. Being the star of the team, he has often of late been all but mobbed by impetuous youths, foolish old women and infatuated girls. ”

“ After the battle the first lieutenant of the "Constellation," John Rodgers, was sent on board the prize, with Porter and eleven men, to see to the removal of the prisoners. A fresh [Pg 96] breeze blowing at the time delayed the work, and soon the night closed in, the wind increased to a gale, and the ships were separated. There were still one hundred and seventy of the Frenchmen on board the "Insurgente," with no one but Lieutenant Rodgers and his handful of men to guard them. Rodgers was a young man of muscular frame, which is a good thing at such times as these ”

“ This, of course, as the teacher should have known, stung them to the quick; and Robert, with a flushed face, resolved to “speak up” to the master. I find no fault with his reply, which was this; that both he and Willie rather thought that he (the master) would be pleased, instead of displeased, at this effort to improve their minds. At this, Hugh Rodgers laughed contemptuously, and said he should be glad to know what these mighty nonsensical discussions might be about. Willie replied that they had a new subject every day ”

“ Mrs. Parsons paused in indecision; then with an air of perfect candor addressed the impatient inspector.
“Of course you will respect my confidence,” she began. Mitchell nodded. “There is a certain man in Washington who has gained a welcome in the most exclusive homes,” she paused. “I believe him to be an adventurer.”
“Come, Mrs. Parsons, that is not being very explicit,” remonstrated Mitchell. “To whom are you alluding?”
“A man calling himself Edward Rodgers.” ”

“ At Gryon the steep part finished, and the cars went on with the assistance of overhead wires.
“You play and sing, I suppose?”
“I perform no parlour tricks of any description,” said Miss Rodgers definitely. “I leave these accomplishments to others.”
p. 134“Really?” Rather taken back, and the movement of his forehead slightly lifting his cap. “I had an idea—I’d got the notion that every girl did. My sisters—”
“I am the exception,” with pride. “Outdoor sports constitute my strong point. I could live for ever in the open air.”
“What about the bad weather?” inquired Masterson. ”

“ Kitty did not sit down at once. Her thoughts were in a turmoil as she paced up and down the room. Was Mandy right? Had she dreamed overhearing an unknown woman offer Oscar a bribe to steal papers which had belonged to her aunt? Her aimless footsteps carried her into the library and to the Dutch door. The small panel stood open. Kitty’s eyes strayed from it to the telephone. On impulse she crossed to the instrument and took up the telephone directory. It took her but a moment to find the number she wished, then she paused. Should she call Edward Rodgers or her cousin, Ben Potter? ”

“ During those months I didn’t worry much about poor Roddy. I told myself the advertisements would surely get him—I knew his habit of reading newspapers. There are times when one’s vitality is too high to be clouded, too elastic to stay down. Hurrying from my cabin in the morning to the spot in the Cliff City where I studied under a cedar, I used to be frightened at my own heartlessness. But the feel of the narrow moccasin-worn trail in the flat rock made my feet glad, like a good taste in the mouth, and I’d forget all about Blake without knowing it. ”

“ For trouble comes full fleet.
I hold the babe close in my arm;
The fairy in the street.
But the wind that blew from the hill-side carried the keening of the little bride past the village, and blew it about the windows of the castle wherein Black Roderick dwelt. And as the cry keened and called, so did the sleepers turn in their beds and moan uneasily in their dreaming. ”

“ I can’t be just; I can only be generous. I love the poor fellow and I can’t give him up. As for understanding him, that ‘s another matter; nowadays I don’t believe even you would. One’s wits are sadly pestered over here, I assure you, and I ‘m in the way of seeing more than one puzzling specimen of human nature. Roderick and Miss Light, between them!... Have n’t I already told you about Miss Light? Last winter everything was perfection. Roderick struck out bravely, did really great things, and proved himself, as I supposed, thoroughly solid. ”

“ So stern was Black Earl Roderick
Upon his wedding-day,
To none he spake a single word
Who met him on his way.
And of those that passed him as he went there were none who dared to bid him Godspeed, and only one whispered at all; she was Mora of the Knowledge, who was picking herbs in a lonely place and saw him ride.
‘There goeth the hunter,’ said she; ‘'tis a white doe that thou wouldst kill. High hanging to thee, my lord, upon a windy day!’
And of all the flying things he met in his going, one only dared to put pain upon him, and she was a honey-bee who stabbed his cheek with her sword. ”

“ After his marriage in 1806 he lived in Bridgeton, then a suburb of Glasgow, where he prosecuted his trade, and also composed and taught music. Forsaking his loom in 1819, he joined the staff of a Glasgow weekly newspaper, ‘The Spirit of the Union.’ The seditious temper of the publication soon involved it in ruin, and the editor was transported for life. Returning to his trade, Rodger was shortly afterwards imprisoned as a suspected person; during his confinement he continued to compose and sing revolutionary lyrics. ”

“ Roderick and I had been at Caius College, Cambridge, together, friends drawn the closer in affection because our conditions in kith and kin, in possession and in purpose, in ambition and in idleness, were so very like. Roderick was an orphan twenty-four years of age, young, rich, desiring to know life before he measured strength with her, caring for no man, not vital enough to realise danger, an Englishman in tenacity of will, a good fellow, a gentleman. ”

“ Then she closed the flaming gates, and took her place behind them. But the soul of Black Roderick crouched outside, as a dog lieth on the threshold of his master. For seven long years he let no one approach the flaming gates, so that not once were they opened during the last seven years of her trial. And when the day came for her to go forth, the little bride flung the gates apart with a loud cry of joy. She knew the evil one could but grant the promise she had extorted, for she had served him well. ”

“ Must he draw his revolver and simply sell his life as dearly as possible?
It may be sweet to die for one's country, but most men much prefer to live, especially when health and wealth and honor are their inheritance by right of birth.
Roderic never felt less like giving up the ghost in all his life than he did just then.
He had been far down below zero up to the moment when he discovered that it was not Georgia who accompanied Julio, and then of a sudden his spirits took a bound that sent them away above fever heat; life assumed a rosy hue, and happiness came again within his grasp. ”

“ Then the bolts and the bars fell from the door with a great noise, and the evil thing entered the castle.
Now, as Black Roderick lay upon his death-bed tossing and turning in his fever, there rushed unto him one of the serving-men in a great terror and fear.
And of what they spoke together shall I sing thee, lest thou grow weary of my prose:
There is one at the door, O my master,
At the door, who is bidding you come!
Who is he that wakes me in the darkness,
Calling when all the world's dumb?
Six horses has he to his carriage,
Six horses blacker than the night ”