Scarsdale

“ Thought you'd like to see Harold again, hey? By the way he is Sir Harold now, Governor of somewhere or other. The world's treated him decently, yes decently, eh Harold? And quite right too, I like to see a man work his way up in the world."
"I am glad to hear it," Kathleen said. "I am sure that any fortune that has come to Mr. Scar—to Sir Harold Scarsdale, has been fairly and honestly won—and thoroughly deserved."
"Ha, ha, nicely put, very simply and nicely put, eh Scarsdale?" said his lordship. "Give me your arm, my dear, I'm confoundedly cramped, getting to be an old fellow now. ”

“ Scarsdale was down, he lay face downward on the stone paving and with his last strength, his last effort was seeking to unlock those fingers from his throat, but his movements were weakening, the man was done, as near to death as a man can be and yet still live, and on his back there crouched a figure, the figure of a small mean man, whose wondrous strength was all contained in those hooked fingers that were choking the life out of the jerking, labouring body. ”

“ As Jack employed a valet only on state occasions, he was, after a hurried dinner, deep in his preparations for immediate departure, when, about half-past eight, Mrs. Allingford's telegram from Winchester arrived, which it is hardly necessary to say startled him considerably. The news that Scarsdale was under arrest for the crime of another person, and the fact that it lay in his power to free him, seemed to prove without doubt that his first duty was to go to Winchester; but he had promised Lady Scarsdale to go to Melton Court, and it was impossible to do both that night. ”

“ Scarsdale, née Vernon, was an excellent hand at light and amusing conversation; and so pleasantly did she receive the Consul, and so amusingly rally him on the events of the day, that he scarcely seemed to have been with her a minute, when a slight jolt caused him to look up and out, only to perceive the Basingstoke Station sliding rapidly past the windows. Allingford's first impulse was to dash from the carriage, a dangerous experiment when one remembers the rapidity with which a light English train gets under way. ”

“ Now you've had your say, are you coming along peaceable, or are you not?"
"Certainly I am," replied the prisoner, and they started up the street, followed by a small crowd, which had already collected.
"I must warn you," continued Scarsdale, when they were fairly under way, "that you are making a mistake. I am not the man you take me for."
"I suppose you'll deny your name is Richard Allingford next," said the detective, laughing. ”

“ Scarsdale stipulating that they head towards Southampton, taking the least travelled roads, and in any event giving Salisbury a wide berth. This was agreed to; and thereupon commenced one of the most extraordinary progresses that had ever stirred up a staid and conventional countryside: Scarsdale and Mrs. Allingford leading off in the landau, since it was necessary to keep the horse well in front of the elephant, and Tom and his charge plodding on in their wake. ”

“ I don't understand it!"
"I saw you getting down from the wagon," remarked Scarsdale meaningly.
"Say, do you really believe—?" began Orlando without agitation, but with a sudden sense of his own false position.
"It ain't a matter of belief," the other declared. "If there's an inquest, I've got to tell what I've seen. You know that, don't you?"
"That's all right," replied Orlando. "You've got to tell what you've seen, and so have I. I guess the truth will out. Come, let's move him on to Tralee. We'll lay him down in the bottom of the wagon, and I'll lead his horses with a halter. . . . ”

“ Scarsdale, the Vicar of Cheriton and Testwick, adjoining parishes; “the crime and the motive of the crime are alike inscrutable. If one could imagine a reason for the act it might be easier to get upon the track of the murderer; but there is no reason that I can conceive for such a deed. It has been suggested to me that Sir Godfrey might have had a secret enemy—that his life might not have been as spotless as we think——”
“I will answer for it that he was never guilty of a dishonourable action, that he provoked no man’s hatred by any unworthy act,” interrupted the Vicar warmly. ”

“ Once astride the beast's neck, with Scarsdale's cane as an improvised ankus, he poured out a flood of cockney-Indian jargon which no Hindoo could ever have recognised as his native tongue, but which evidently had a familiar sound to the elephant, who proceeded to rise, first with his fore feet and then with his hind feet; after which his novel mahout, who throughout these manœuvres had retained a precarious hold by one ear, hastened to seat himself more firmly upon him. ”

“ Scarsdale had a fairly busy practice, and received his people at home from ten to twelve, so that I got quite used to seeing Cullingworth fly out of his chair, and rush raving to the window. He would diagnose the cases, too, and estimate their money value until he was hardly articulate.
"There you are!" he would suddenly yell; "see that man with a limp! Every morning he goes. Displaced semilunar cartilage, and a three months' job. The man's worth thirty-five shillings a week. And there! I'm hanged if the woman with the rheumatic arthritis isn't round in her bath-chair again. ”

“ A remark which caused Scarsdale to be thankful that he had said nothing to her about that scene at the club when the Consul heard of Dick's arrival. "He must be very wicked. I'm so sorry. But we won't talk about him now; we will talk about you. What can I do to retrieve myself?" she continued.
"Let us consider your own affairs first," he replied. "I wasn't able to send a telegram to Basingstoke last night ”

“ When it was almost night, and time for the Sun to come home, the Moon hid Scarface under a pile of robes. As soon as the Sun got to the doorway he said, "A strange person is here."
"Yes, father," said Morning Star, "a young man has come to see you. He is a good young man, for he found some of my things in the trail and did not touch them."
Scarface came out from under the robes and the Sun entered the lodge and sat down. He spoke to Scarface and said, "I am glad you have come to our lodge. Stay with us as long as you like. Sometimes my son is lonely. Be his friend." ”

“ The joy of this meeting was enhanced to Mrs. Gordon by the uneasiness which she had felt since a few lines from Lady Marchdale had mentioned Zorilda's departure, and made rather a haughty demand, whether she had not directed her flight towards Aberdeenshire. Mrs. Gordon had answered her sister's letter; and in much earnestness had begged for farther particulars of an event so unaccountable; but Lady Marchdale was too selfishly absorbed by her own cares to think of distant friends, and not a line from Henbury, though repeatedly solicited, had thrown light upon any thing which was passing there. ”

“ If you go bail for Scarlett and he runs away, you’ll lose it. If he stands his trial, then you’ll get it all back and have the knowledge, I believe, that you helped an innocent man. Which will you do?”
“I couldn’t hesitate,” replied Rose. “I’m sure Mr. Scarlett wouldn’t commit such a dreadful crime as that he’s charged with. I—I—feel,” her breath caught in her throat, and she gave vent to something very like a sob, “I should be glad to do anything to get him out of prison.”
“Quite right, quite right!” thundered the old Pilot. “There speaks my gal, Sartoris; there speaks my dar’ter, Rosebud!” ”

“ To look for Rachel in the metropolis would have been like searching for a grain of mustard seed in the sands of the sea.
In vain Lord Marchdale represented to his son the folly of his conduct, and the necessity of remaining at home to meet several persons who were appointed to assemble at Henbury on legal business. It was in vain that Lady Marchdale alternately stormed and beseeched. Arguments, threats, and caresses were alike ineffectual. Post horses were ordered; and before the morning's dawn, on the following day, Lord Hautonville and his valet were on the high road to London. ”

“ Reginald Scarlett, K.C., would see his son off at the station; there was a special breakfast. Young John had more money in his pocket than he had ever dreamed that he would possess. Moreover, the day was glittering after a night of rain; a blue haze was over the Square, the fountain in the garden kicked the air with ecstasy, and its falling waters hummed in the heart of the garden trees. ”

“ The last Lord Scarlett, your elder brother, went to Australia because that actress he was madly in love with had a husband who popped up and made himself disagreeable. Oh, I can prove everything against you! And I know where the true Lady Scarlett is at this minute. You can prove nothing against me. You don't know where your son is, and you won't know until you hand that poor child from Australia over to Captain Burns and me. ”

“ Whilst Scarlett impatiently waited the good pleasure of Master Carfax the maids were busy carrying many things to and fro; fresh rushes to strew my lord's rooms, candles and tapers, silks and cloths, and brown ewers of water. All the rubbish and sweepings of the floors were borne out in great baskets to the courtyard.
One of the maids, a plump, roguish, lazy wench, would only carry her basket so far as the hearth of the hall. A fire was there, why not use it? Also she could ogle and throw sidelong looks at Master Scarlett, who, for his beard and thirty-five grave years, was none so bad a man. ”

“ Listen to me, Scarlett. I tell you that a man shipwrecked on the world’s outer rocks—if he does not perish—makes the better pilot afterwards.”
“But ... I perished, Speed.”
“It is not true,” he said, violently; “but you will if you don’t steer a truer course than you have. Scarlett, answer me!”
“Answer you? What?”
“Are you in love?”
“Yes,” I said.
He waited, looked up at me, then dropped his hands in his pockets and turned away toward the interior of the tent where Jacqueline, having descended from the rigging, stood, drawing her slim fingers across the surface of the water in the tank. ”

“ Even John's father, Mr. Reginald Scarlett, a K.C., and a man of a most decisive and emphatic bearing, felt John's difference.
John's appearance was unengaging rather than handsome—a snub nose, grey eyes, rather large ears, a square, stocky body and short, stout legs. He was certainly the most independent small boy in England, and very obstinate; when any proposal that seemed on the face of it absurd was made to him, he shut up like a box. ”

“ Jim Courtenaye was at the other end, talking from the abbey.
“Lord and Lady Scarlett are living at Dun Moat,” he said, “with their venomous little brute of a boy. They must be dashed hard up, because they have only one servant in their enormous house and not a single gardener on a place that needs a dozen. But it seems that Scarlett has refused several big offers both to sell and let. Heaven knows why! Perhaps the man's mad. Anyhow, that's all I have to tell at present. They say it's no good hoping he'll part. He sticks to the place closer than a leech. ”

“ How dreary looked the forest-track that led backward to the settlement, where Hester Prynne must take up again the burden of her ignominy and the minister the hollow mockery of his good name! So they lingered an instant longer. No golden light had ever been so precious as the gloom of this dark forest. Here seen only by his eyes, the scarlet letter need not burn into the bosom of the fallen woman! Here seen only by her eyes, Arthur Dimmesdale, false to God and man, might be, for one moment true! ”

“ Mr. Denver expanded his countenance into a broad look of astonishment, and said, “Bless me, Mr. Markham, why how very scrupulous you are! I cannot see how any body can blame you for taking the legacy. It was not your doing that Mr. Martindale was ignorant of the full value of his property. Though between ourselves, and I hope you will not let it go any farther, I dare say that Mr. Price used no little pains to keep Mr. Martindale in the dark with a view of coming into a handsome fortune as residuary-legatee.” ”

“ In fact, Captain Scarthe had never in his life felt more powerless, to rid himself of a rival who had so rudely crossed his path.
To challenge his late antagonist, and fight him again, was not to be thought of—after such a termination to the first combat. The life of Scarthe had been conceded to him; and the laws of honour would have precluded him from seeking a second affair—had he been so inclined. But the touch of the cavalier’s steel had taught him its sharp quality; and he had not the slightest inclination to tempt it again. ”

“ Yorkshire men are canny, and good at a bargain and no better judges of horseflesh are found anywhere. The only drawback connected with Scarborough is its distance from London, but that is really only a drawback to Londoners. The Scarborough man is rather proud of the fact. He looks with pity upon the benighted south of England man, and has no words to express his contempt for the finnicky foreigner, who comes to Scarborough and drinks sour red wine, instead of quaffing huge draughts of the glorious old Yorkshire ale. ”

“ Very properly resenting this insult, he speedily left the house; and being guided by his own knowledge as well as by the reports of others, he hastened to bestow his patronage on another of the same profession. But the Hon. Philip [244] Martindale of Brigland Abbey was not, it appeared, at that time a name in high repute with that class of gentry who observe the strictest honor and secrecy in their transactions; and he had the mortification to find that his journey to London had been of no avail, and was not likely to be productive of any thing beneficial. ”