Ryder

“ Ryder herself saw the wisdom of this. She bade him stay quiet, and she went to look after Griffith.
She found him in the drawing-room, with his head on the table, in deep dejection.
She assumed authority, and said he must go to bed.
He rose humbly, and followed her like a submissive dog.
She took him to his room. There was no fire.
"That is where you are to sleep," said she, spitefully.
"It is better than I deserve," said he, humbly.
The absurd rule about not hitting a man when he is down has never obtained a place in the great female soul; so Ryder lashed him without mercy. ”

“ Upon Ryder's helpless body a cold sweat of incredulous horror broke softly out.
At his feet he heard the black beginning to fit his bricks and smooth his mortar.
"You do well to save your breath," said Hamdi Bey at last, as Ryder still stood silent. "You will need it in this chamber I am providing.... But it may be," he said thoughtfully, "that your breath will last your need. Thirst may be the more impatient for her victim; they tell me thirst is an obtrusive visitor. As you were, this evening.... Still, why do you not cry out a little? It will amuse my black." ”

“ Father Algarcife, looking at the box across from him, saw Mariana start suddenly and rise with an impulsive welcome as Mrs. Ryder entered. He could see the light on her face, and the frank pleasure of her greeting. Then, as the two women stood together, he saw Ryder glance from one to the other with his pleasant smile and turn to speak to Miss Ramsey. He heard Nevins breathing behind him, and he was conscious of a strange feeling of irritation against him. Why should he, who was at enmity with no man, cherish that curious dislike for one who was his friend? ”

“ Nevins looked up with quick gratitude, and Ryder grew radiant. He smiled on his wife in affectionate admiration.
"Of course I will," he answered, and as they left the box he added: "You are magnificent. There is not a woman in town with your neck and arms." ”

“ Ryder!” ejaculated Miss Alice, in scornful astonishment.
“Alice,” said Mrs. Rightbody, with a suspicious assumption of sudden defence, “you injure yourself, you injure me, by this exclusive attitude. Mr. Ryder is a friend of your father's, an exceedingly well-informed gentleman. I have not, of course, imparted to him the extent of my suspicions. But he can help me to what I must and will know. You might treat him a little more civilly—or, at least, a little better than you do his servant, your guide. Mr. Ryder is a gentleman, and not a paid courier.” ”

“ With sudden confidence she turned to Ryder.
"Thank you.... My education, monsieur, has proceeded to the Ts," she told him with a nervous little laugh over her chagrin, drowned in a burst of louder laughter from the discomfited Harlequin, who turned on his heel and then bounded after fresh prey.
"Shall we dance or promenade?" asked Ryder.
Hesitatingly her gaze met his. Red and gold and green and blue flecks of confetti were glimmering like fishscales over her black wrap and were even entangled drolly in the absurd lengths of her eye-lashes. ”

“ Ryder had returned from the play and gone to bed, serenely oblivious of the drama in real life that had been enacted at home, the servants locked the house up for the night and still John Burkett Ryder walked the floor of his sanctum, and late into the small hours of the morning the watchman going his lonely rounds, saw a light in the library and the restless figure of his employer sharply silhouetted against the white blinds.
For the first time in his life John Ryder realized that there was something in the world beyond Self. ”

“ Ryder laughed scornfully.
“No,” cried Shirley. “Do you think I'd marry a man whose father is as deep a discredit to the human race as your father is? No, I wouldn't marry the son of such a merciless tyrant! He refuses to lift his voice to save my father. I refuse to marry his son!”
She turned on Ryder with all the fury of a tiger:
“You think if you lived in the olden days you'd be a Cæsar or an Alexander. But you wouldn't! You'd be a Nero—a Nero! Sink my self-respect to the extent of marrying into your family!” she exclaimed contemptuously. “Never! I am going to Washington without your aid. ”

“ Seeing that his words had made no effect, Ryder thumped his desk with his fist and cried:
“You see my weakness. You see that I want you with me, and now you take advantage—you take advantage—”
“No, father, I don't,” protested Jefferson; “but I want to go away. Although I have my studio and am practically independent, I want to go where I shall be perfectly free—where my every move will not be watched—where I can meet my fellow-man heart to heart on an equal basis, where I shall not be pointed out as the son of Ready Money Ryder. I want to make a reputation of my own as an artist.” ”

“ Ryder then laid her down on the bed with her head low, and was just about to leave her on that errand, when hurried steps were heard outside the door; and one of the female servants knocked; and, not waiting to be invited, put her head in, and cried, "O, Dame, the Master is come home. He is in the kitchen."
CHAPTER XXXIV.
Mrs. Ryder made an agitated motion with her hand, and gave the girl such a look withal, that she retired precipitately.
But Mrs. Gaunt had caught the words, and they literally transformed her. ”

“ Our dame says some woman is at the bottom of it, and she'll put a knife into you if you come a-nigh her."
This threat did not appall Griffith, as Ryder expected. Indeed, he seemed rather flattered.
"Poor Kate!" said he; "she is just the woman to do it. But I am afraid she does not love me enough for that. But indeed how should she?"
"Well, sir," replied Ryder, "oblige me by keeping clear of her for a little while. I have got orders to make your bed here. Now, dress, like a good soul, and then go down and show respect to the company that is in your house; for they know you are here." ”

“ Will you let me have Clement or Fulbert, on the terms I proposed for Felix?'
'No, Ryder; with many, many thanks, much feeling of your generous kindness—it cannot be.'
'You do not trust me.' This was said with as much indignation as could be shown to a man in Mr. Underwood's condition.
'No. Your very kindness would make the tone I regret in you more perilous. Do not think Felix ungrateful, Ryder; the desire is mine—and remember, it is that of a man who is dying, and who really loves and values you greatly. ”

“ Lord Waldegrave sums up Ryder's character as that of ‘an honest man and a good lawyer, but not considerable in any other capacity.’ Horace Walpole was of much the same opinion, declaring that he ‘talked himself out of all consideration in parliament by laying too great stress on every part of his diffusive knowledge.’ In private life Ryder was amiable but somewhat uxorious. He corresponded daily with his wife, a cultivated woman, who managed all his money matters as well as his household affairs. ”

“ He had been unwilling to believe it when his friend ex-judge Stott had pointed to Ryder as the author of all his misfortunes, but this unsympathetic letter with its falsehoods, its lies plainly written all over its face, was proof enough. Yes, there was now no doubt possible. John Burkett Ryder was his enemy and what an enemy! Many a man had committed suicide when he had incurred the enmity of the Colossus. Judge Rossmore, completely discouraged, bowed his head to the inevitable. ”

“ After the failure of Sheridan, Ryder remained under his successor, Brown, supporting Mrs. Abington as Sir Harry in ‘High Life below Stairs’ and in other parts. Under Henry Mossop [q. v.] he played at the same house in 1764 Tressel in ‘King Richard III,’ Scapin, Lord Aimworth in ‘Maid of the Mill,’ and Rimenes in the opera of ‘Artaxerxes.’ During five years Ryder then conducted a company through Kilkenny, Waterford, Sligo, Galway, Derry, and Belfast, reopening at Smock Alley Theatre as Sir John Restless in ‘All in the Wrong,’ and temporarily bringing back prosperity to the management. ”

“ These thoughts all went through him like one thought, in some clear, remote background of his mind, while he was swiftly drawing on the military cloak she gave him and wrapping her in the black mantle. There was a veil on the mantle's hood that she could fling across her face when she wished, but Ryder had no fez to complete the deceptive outline of his masquerade. He must trust to the dark and to the concealment of the high, military collar of the cloak. ”

“ Ryder was a diligent and versatile actor, seen at his best in low comedy, in which, however, he had in England to sustain formidable rivalry. Two daughters were for a short time on the stage at Covent Garden, appearing respectively, Miss Ryder as Estifania and Miss R. Ryder as Leonora to their father's Leon in ‘Rule a Wife and have a Wife,’ on 16 April 1790. Ryder's son, who was in the army, was killed in 1796 in a duel. Ryder was responsible for two plays: ‘Like Master Like Man,’ a farce, 12mo, Dublin, 1770 ”

“ In due course this advertisement was read by the servants at Hernshaw; and shown, by Ryder, to Mrs. Gaunt.
She made no comment whatever; and contrived to render her pale face impenetrable.
Ryder became as silent and thoughtful as herself, and often sat bending her black judicial brows.
By-and-by dark mysterious words began to be thrown out in Hernshaw village.
"He will never come back at all."
"He will never come into that fortune."
"'Tis no use advertising for a man that is past reading." ”

“ But people with brains are never quite inhuman: a drop of lukewarm pity entered even Ryder's heart as she assisted her victim. She called no one to help her; for she saw something very serious had happened, and she felt sure Mrs. Gaunt would say something imprudent in that dangerous period when the patient recovers consciousness but has not all her wits about her. Now Ryder was equally determined to know her mistress's secrets, and not to share the knowledge with any other person. ”

“ So then added, sweetly, "To be sure I have all the more reason to be grateful to you."
"You are very welcome, reverend sir," said Ryder, graciously. "Religion is religion: and 'tis a barbarous thing that violence should be done to men of your cloth."
Having thus won his heart, the artful woman began at one and the same time to please and to probe him. "Sir," said she, "be of good heart; they have done you no harm, and themselves no good: my mistress will hate them for it, and love you all the more."
Father Leonard's pale cheek coloured all over at these words, though he said nothing. ”

“ Even while he announced his purpose the sweat poured out on his forehead. He rose and paced noiselessly up and down the bare room, his black robe catching around the long, bony legs. Father Anthony drew a great breath. At last Jean Paul Victor could speak again.
"In all the history of our order, there is hardly one man who will go out armed like Pierre Ryder. He is young, he is strong, he is fearless, he is pure of heart and single of mind. He has never tasted wine; he has never looked wrongly on a woman." ”

“ This set me thinking.
"What," says I to myself, "is amiss with this game cock that he will not venture his spurs?" and I looked sharply on him.
"Captain Ryder," says he, very deliberate, [5] "there is on our bodies, as I assure you as a gentleman, but ten poor guineas, scant alms for this great office of yours, as I will admit."
"Deliver," said I. "'Twill serve me for some madam in town as well as you."
"That is very true, Ryder," said he, bending his golden eyebrows at me. "Yet consider this. Behind these fine apparels no doubt you will say there is a stout purse somewhere. Ay, so it is. ”

“ That mantle, he thought, might yet be useful, and he stole forward and recovered it, but, as he straightened, another shadow darted out from the boudoir door and silhouetted for an instant against the lighted, room he saw a figure in a long, swinging military cloak.
Discovery was inevitable and Ryder made a swift plunge to take the cloaked figure by surprise, but even as one hand shot out and gripped the throat while the other held his threatening iron aloft, his clutch relaxed, his arm fell nervelessly at his side. ”

“ This mysterious hint showed Ryder he had a secret burning his bosom. The sly hussy said nothing just then, but plied him with ale and flattery; and, when he whispered a request for a private meeting out of doors, she cast her eyes down, and assented.
And in that meeting she carried herself so adroitly, that he renewed his offer of marriage, and told her not to waste her fancy on a man who cared neither for her nor any other she in Cumberland. ”

“ Shirley was silent for a moment. She looked first at Ryder and then at his son, and from them her glance went to the little drawer on the left-hand side of the desk. Then she said quietly:
“As you think best, Mr. Ryder. I am quite willing to do the work here.”
Ryder, Sr., escorted her to the top of the landing and watched her as she passed down the grand staircase, ushered by the gorgeously uniformed flunkies, to the front door and the street. ”

“ Have pity on me, woman, and think again, and unsay your words; for, if 'tis so, there will be murder in this house."
Ryder was alarmed. "Don't talk so," said she, hastily; "no woman born is worth that: besides, as you say, what do we know against her? She is a gentlewoman, and well brought up. Now, dear master, you have got one friend in this house, and that is me: I know women better than you do. Will you be ruled by me?" ”

“ Ryder was the man who had most to lose by your father's honesty on the bench. Ryder was the man he hit the hardest when he enjoined his Transcontinental Railroad. Ryder, I am convinced, is the chief conspirator."
"But can such things be in a civilized community?" cried Shirley indignantly. "Cannot he be exposed, won't the press take the matter up, cannot we show conspiracy?"
"It sounds easy, but it isn't," replied Stott. "I have had a heap of experience with the law, my child, and I know what I'm talking about. They're too clever to be caught tripping. ”