Sibley

“ Carruth, when she had explained that fact and told that anecdote to Sibley, wondered if there was already in his head some glimmering of an idea that he would work over and study and learn all about, and at last—What might not Sibley do some day? Mothers like to think that their sons will become useful citizens!
Now Sibley was taking part in the control of the flood that was sweeping down the Mississippi. He was going down the river with the engineer whose knowledge of the river was superior to that of any other man. ”

“ In the fascinating numbers of 'Trilby,' as they appeared in Harper's Magazine, I read with delight of one Joe Sibley, idle apprentice, king of Bohemia, roi des truands, always in debt, vain, witty, exquisite and original in art, eccentric in dress, genial, caressing, scrupulously clean, sympathetic, charming; an irresistible but unreliable friend, a jester of infinite humor, a man now perched upon a pinnacle of fame (and notoriety) , a worshipper of himself; a white-haired, tall, slim, graceful person with pretty manners and an unimpeachable moral tone. ”

“ Watch me now, he talks like a testimonial in a frame," said Malachi Deely on the day this tale opens, to John Sibley, the gambling young farmer who, strange to say, did well out of both gambling and farming.
"Words to him are like nuts to a monkey. He's an artist, that man is. Been in the circles where the band plays good and soft, where the music smells—fairly smells like parfumery," responded Sibley. ”

“ Sibley, standing on the cabin roof, watched the current ahead. The three in the motor boats listened keenly for his quick orders, and obeyed on the instant. Drifting astern in a skiff, with a big coil of inch-line in it, one end of which was fast to a timber-head on the stern deck, were the sheriff and another man, ready to rush to a tree and make fast, if need be to snub up the house-boat and keep it from crashing into the trees down the steady, powerful current. ”

“ The whole thing suggested poverty and the meager condition of a steerage passenger. But this squalor, which in most circumstances would have caused Sibley to fling down the stuff in fastidious disgust, sent a thrill through him. No ordinary man with ordinary things to say could have had the courage to struggle through such difficulties, to any desired end. The longing to tell this story, whatever it was, must have been strong in the man’s soul as the urge of travail in the body of a woman. ”

“ If you can't exist without Sibley—why, marry him; but see to it that there is a plenty of priest, altar, and service; for you know, or you ought to, that he's a man who can't be trusted a hair's breadth. ”

“ Sibley, I request that you never mention that lady's name to me again in any circumstances. I request that you never mention her name to any one else except in tones and words of the utmost respect. I make these requests politely, as is befitting the day and my own self-respect; but if you disregard them the consequences to you will be very serious."
"Good Lord, Stanton! has she treated you so badly! But don't take it to heart. It's all Yankee thrift, designed to enhance her value. We are all men of the world here, and know what women are. ”

“ He paid no heed therefore to her coldness of manner; and when at last meeting her face to face on the piazza Sunday evening, he lifted his hat as politely as possible.
Sibley did not appear until the arrival of the dinner hour. He was under the impression that he had gone a little too far the night before, and tried to make amends by an immaculate toilet and an urbane yet dignified courtesy towards all whom he knew. Society very readily winks at the indiscretions of wealthy young men. ”

“ Sibley smiled generously; but even if he had wished to do so, he couldn’t have patronized the fellow. “You mustn’t be too impatient. I’m a busy man, you know. I’ll have a go at your manuscript as soon as I can, but you mustn’t be disappointed if you don’t hear for a week or ten days. By the way, you’d better give me a card with your name and address.”
Denin laughed again, a singularly pleasant laugh, Sibley thought it. “I haven’t such a thing as a card! My name is—John Sanbourne. And if I may have a scrap of paper, I’ll write down my address. I forgot to put it on the manuscript. ”

“ Sibley hesitated, but only for a minute. He had helped to navigate a raft down a narrow creek, and he had managed a small shanty-boat many times. He had often assumed responsibility when the need demanded. He had never been in command of men before, but working with the boys, and, especially driving into the crevasse flood, he had learned self-confidence.
"All right, Sheriff, if you say so!" he said, with the skin tightening around his lips. "Let go the stern-line, please! Start the motors!" ”

“ As Sibley talked about these things with his mother, his face would light up at the wonder of some one man’s idea going out to hundreds and thousands of other people, resulting at last in holding a river bend against the encroachments of the sawing current, or in converting the whole current of the upper Mississippi into a force to furnish power for machinery, to run cars, to supply cities with light—as at Keokuk. ”

“ As a matter of fact, we got Jack Williams into his clothes, wrapped him as before in his fur coat, put on his goggles, and led him past the unsuspecting Sibley to the car.
"Your man, if he is your man, which I deny," said Smith, "will be coming out soon, Sibley. Good night." ”

“ Du Maurier represented a character in Sibley with the defects of his qualities, to the greater emphasis of the qualities. To attribute to a man the genius to be king of Bohemia, and to receive from everyone forgiveness for everything, à cause de ses gentillesses to make him witty also, and a most exquisite and original artist—this would have been enough for most men, though it was not enough for Whistler. Joe Sibley, not Little Billee, is the real creation of "an artist" that is in the book. ”

“ Those who pretended to be Sibley's friends at dinner, are now trying to win a little respectability by turning against him, and the story of his behavior is circulating through the house. All will soon know that he shot at Van Berg, and that he made insulting remarks about Miss Burton. It will appear to every one as if Ida were sulking in her room on Sibley's account; and people are usually thought to be no better than their friends. ”

“ If his mind was full of suspicion when he met her, it became conviction before he left; and, bearing that fact in your mind, watch how he henceforth conducted himself. He does not come to Sibley; [455] the woman he fears to encounter is there. He hears of Mr. Hildreth's arrest, reads of the discoveries which led to it, and keeps silent. So would any other man have done in his place, at least till he saw whether this arrest was likely to end in trial. But he cannot forget he had been in Sibley on the fatal day, or that there may be some one who saw his interview with Miss Dare. ”

“ The bulls of Castlegarry was famous in the south of Ireland.”
“I’ve a warm spot for him. I was right, you see. Backing horses ruined him,” said Sibley in reply; and he looked at Crozier admiringly.
There is the communion of saints, but nearer and dearer is the communion of sinners; for a common danger is their bond, and that is even more than a common hope. ”

“ Pet Sibley was a girl slightly younger than her companions, who lived near the Percivals in Boston. When the invitation came from uncle Will Percival in June for them to spend their summer vacation, or a part of it, with him and aunt Puss—as the children called his wife—at The Pines, [11] the girls begged permission, which was heartily granted, to bring their friend Pet with them. She was a frank, good-hearted girl, with light, rippling hair, blue eyes, and a sunny disposition which always looked on the bright side of everything and perhaps was a bit too forgetful of the earnest in life. ”

“ Sibley's mouth opened in amazement. Crozier was speaking with the look of the man who hypnotises himself, who "sees things," who dreams as only the gambler and the plunger on the turf do dream, not even excepting the latter-day Irish poets. ”

“ Burlingame goes in for lookin’ like a picture in a frame—gold seals hangin’ beyant his vestpocket, broad silk cord to his eye-glass, loose flowin’ tie, and long hair-makes him look pretentuous and showy. But your ‘Mr. Kerry, sir,’ he don’t have any tricks to make him look like a doge from Veenis and all the eyes of the females battin’ where’er he goes. Jealousy, John Sibley, me boy, is a cruil thing.”
“Why is it you ain’t jealous of him? There’s plenty of women that watch you go down-town—you got a name for it, anyway,” remarked Sibley maliciously. ”

“ Sibley, no doubt, IS the occasion of her trouble in part, for she seems fairly to writhe under the false position in which he has placed her by leading every one to associate her name with his; but I now believe that she loathes and detests him more than you or I can. Certainly no woman could speak of a man in harsher or more scathing terms than she spoke of him to-night. ”

“ It was past guessing but he saw clearly that Penhallow was glad of any excuse to get into the field.
"Glad to see you, Ainseley," said Penhallow. "Good morning, Sibley. You will find things moving. Many casting moulds will be ready by this day week."
"Last night," said Sibley, the richer member of the firm, "I had a telegram from Austin, the iron-man. He asks what we would take to transfer our contract. ”

“ Come—he come like that!"—Deely made a motion like a swoop of an aeroplane to earth—"and here he is buckin' about like a rough-neck same as you and me; but yet a gent, a swell, a cream della cream, that's turned his back on a lady—a lady not his own wife, that's my sure and sacred belief."
"You certainly have got women on the brain," retorted Sibley. "I ain't ever seen such a man as you. There never was a woman crossing the street on a muddy day that you didn't sprint to get a look at her ankles. ”

“ When he came to Men [Pg 45] dota and reported the facts to the "Great Trader," Sibley said, "Little Crow, why did you give your best gun and fine blankets and all that your tribe prize so highly to the Chippewas. Your son was dead; why leave his body to his enemies." Little Crow replied, "He was killed in the enemies' country and according to the custom of Indian warfare his enemies were entitled to his scalp; therefore I left his body. I left the gun and blankets that they might know they had killed a man of distinction." ”

“ Our partnership ends this July 1st. Wire Austin that I will sell him my share and go out. You may ask him what bonus you please—I mean, I will sell to you at one hundred and fifty thousand dollars—the rental will go on, of course."
"My heavens!" cried Sibley, "what do you mean? It is throwing away a fortune, man—a fortune."
Penhallow laughed. "And yet I mean to do it. The work is ready to go on.
You will have ordnance officers here—you won't miss me." ”

“ Sibley suggested.
"Mound nothin’!" Blawall exclaimed. "That man’s rich, and he’s got a two-story house, onto a good cane ridge. When the water comes in downstairs, he just moves upstairs, same’s you see him now. And if it raises four feet where I am, it won’t go more’n six-seven inches higher here. That’s on account o’ the strong set to the current down here. Where the water runs faster, it won’t get so high. But this house is in an eddy, and over there’s Little River, and on that side is Bayou Crane, and he’s got three hundred acres o’ good cotton land here, as good’s ever you see. ”

“ Yet just because he was young for his “job,” and knew that he was a man of moods and temperament, he forced himself to be bound by certain rules. One of these rules was, even if he chose to linger a few minutes after four-thirty, that no caller need hope to be admitted. That was a favorite regulation of Sibley’s. It made him feel that, after all, he was very methodical. 64One afternoon, however, he did a worse thing than break this rule. He went back from the elevator, the whole length of the corridor to the outer office, simply to enquire about a man he had met at the lift door. ”

“ But he give her ten dollars to buy a hat on condition she behaved like a lady in the future—smilin’ at her, the divil! And Belle, with temper like dinnemite, took it kneelin’ as it were, and smiled back at him—her! Drink, women—nothin’ seems to have a hold on him. What’s his vice? Sure, then, that’s what I say, what’s his vice? He’s got to have one; any man as is a man has to have one vice.”
“Bosh! Look at me,” rejoined Sibley. “Drink women—nit! Not for me! I’ve got no vice. I don’t even smoke.” ”

“ Sibley exclaimed angrily. "As soon as they found out that—who we were looking for, they sicked a lot of detectives and deputy sheriffs on us, to find out what we knew about Jep getting away with the baby. They’re hunting all over the city, now. You see, Memphis is about the only place anybody could run a baby-carriage, so we thought he might be here. If he is—There!"
He turned and glared at two keen-eyed, intensely preoccupied men who had drawn near and were straining their ears to hear what Sibley was saying. Mr. Carruth looked at the two. ”

“ The note was found, and answered by Little Crow in a manner rather irrelevant to the subject most desired by Colonel Sibley. It was dated at Yellow Medicine, September 7th, and delivered by two half-breeds.
Colonel Sibley returned the following answer by the bearers:
"Little Crow, you have murdered many of our people without any sufficient cause. ”