Sir Maurice

“ GENEVIÈVE.
A quarter of an hour elapsed, which seemed a century to Maurice. Nothing more natural; young, handsome, vigorous, supported in his strength by a hundred devoted friends, in combination with whom he sometimes dreamed of the accomplishment of great achievements, he found himself all at once without the least preparation in peril of losing his life in an ignominious den of assassins. ”

“ Yet Sir Maurice’s eyes were curiously kind. Perhaps that was why she had suddenly wilted. She hated him so, and his eyes were curiously kind. That was a clever man, Sir Maurice. Then, in a second, with an effort she superbly hid from our eyes, she was calm again. Always she must meet a man on his own ground.
“Iris,” Sir Maurice said quietly, his hand on her shoulder, “I am sorry I caused you unhappiness when you were a child. I admit I wanted a different alliance for Napier. And you must admit, child, that the March blood is not a very encouraging prospect for a father. ”

“ I said, my heart beating so that I could scarcely speak. “What is the matter?”
“May the devil make broth of my bones, if I know!” said my father, tugging savagely at his moustache.
“But there is something!”
He nodded, grimly.
“Monsieur Maurice, it seems, is not to have so much liberty,” he said, after a moment. “He is not to walk in the grounds oftener than twice a week; and then only with a soldier at his heels. And he is not to go beyond half a mile from the Château in any direction. ”

“ But at last, and just before his death in 1625, Maurice, in the bitterness of disappointment, said, “As long as the old rascal was alive, we had counsels and money; now we can find neither one nor the other.” Maurice had irreconcilably injured those who alone could supply him with both. ”

“ Well, the lady with the green hair kept on coaxing Maurice with soft speeches, till at last she over-persuaded him to promise to marry her, and be king over the fishes, great and small. Maurice was well fitted to be their king, if they wanted one that could make them dance; and he surely would drink, barring the salt water, with any fish of them all. ”

“ Maurice was an intimate friend of Henry Wharton, a fellow-chaplain at Lambeth, whom he assisted in the composition of the ‘Defence of Pluralities,’ 1692. In 1688 Maurice was bitterly attacked by an anonymous Roman catholic writer in ‘Some Reasons tender'd to impartial People why Dr. Henry Maurice ought not to be traduc'd as the Licenser of the Pamphlet entituled “A plain Answer to a Popish Priest, questioning the Orders of the Church of England,”’ appended to ‘Twenty-one Conclusions further demonstrating the Schism of the Church of England,’ 4to, Oxford. ”

“ Standing just within the door, smiling and rubbing the gray bristles on his lip, was the Colonel. In the center of the room stood a woman dressed in gray. Maurice recognized the dress; it belonged to Mademoiselle of the Veil, who was now sans veil, sans hat. A marvelous face was revealed to Maurice, a face of that peculiar beauty which poets and artists are often minded to deny, but for the love of which men die, become great or terrible, overturn empires and change the map of the world. ”

“ The King stooped down and kissed me on the brow.
“That, my little Mädchen, is the answer of a true friend,” he said, gravely and kindly. “If your Monsieur Maurice deserves to go free, he shall have his liberty. You have our royal word for it. Colonel Bernhard, we will investigate this matter without the delay of an hour.”
Saying thus, he turned from me to my father, and, followed by his officers, passed on in the direction of the Château. ”

“ Indeed Maurice was no insignificant fellow at any rate. The noise of the men who carried me along, soon brought him out. I spoke first: "Maurice, my dear cousin, I am glad to find you; but before we can shake hands, you must first certify my—loyalty," I was about to say, but bit my tongue, and got out "civisme." "My friends," said Maurice, "this is my cousin Louis Herbois, once a valiant soldier, now a brave and incorruptible citoyen. He is trustworthy; [Pg 239] he comes to visit me; I vouch for him." This was so satisfactory, that we were greeted with huzzas, and then I went in with Maurice. ”

“ They stopped just under the corridor window. The torchlight fell full upon their faces. Monsieur Maurice looked pale and composed; perhaps just a shade haughtier than usual. My father had his drawn sword in his hand.
“Corporal Fritz,” he said, turning to a soldier near him, “conduct the prisoner to his room, and post two sentries at his door, and one under his windows.” Then turning to Monsieur Maurice, “I thank God, Sir,” he said gravely, “that you have not paid for your imprudence with your life. I have the honour to wish you good night.” ”

“ Maurice, who turned, and grasping his hand, said, with a meaning look, "Sir, you are a soldier and a gentleman--our confidence, I am sure, is safe?"
"Upon my honour," replied the officer; laying his hand upon his heart, and St. Maurice was satisfied. He was soon after put on horseback, and conducted with several others to Fontainbleau, from whence he was immediately carried to Paris, and lodged in the Bastile. But it may be now time to turn to him whose weak ambition had brought ruin on his own head. ”

“ I exclaim, seizing her by the hand, and dragging her across the courtyard. “Quick! quick! Oh, Monsieur Maurice! Monsieur Maurice!”
The night is very dark. There is no moon, and the stars, glimmering through a veil of haze, give little light. But we run as recklessly as if it were bright day, past the barracks, past the parade-ground, and round to the great gates on the garden side of the Château. These, however, are closed, and the sentry, standing watchful and motionless, with his musket made ready, refuses to let us through. ”

“ The King must make a gaoler of me, if it so pleases him; but not a spy. I shall seal up the papers and send them to Berlin.”
“And I shall never see my manuscript again!” said Monsieur Maurice, with a sigh. “Well—it was my first attempt at authorship—perhaps, my last—and there is an end to it!”
My father ground some new and tremendous oath between his teeth.
“I hate to take it, Monsieur Maurice,” he said. “'Tis an odious office.”
“The office alone is yours, Colonel Bernhard,” said the prisoner, with all a Frenchman's grace. “The odium rests with those who impose it on you.” ”

“ Iris whispered. “Love, Maurice! You daren’t look into my eyes and say you doubt my love for Napier. You daren’t say that my love is not the only thing in this room that is made in the image of God. You talk to me of your England. I despise your England, I despise the us that is us. We are shams with patrician faces and peasant minds. We are built of lies, Maurice, and we toil for the rewards of worms. You would have Napier toil for a worm’s reward, you are sorry I have broken Napier’s career in the Foreign Office. Maurice, I am glad. ”

“ The siege of this town was, however, delayed by Maurice's illness, of the nature of ‘a slow fever with great dejection of strength,’ which kept him inactive at Milton from the middle of October for about one month (Warburton, ii. 307, 326) . On his recovery Maurice continued his attack on Plymouth, but without real success, and the design was abandoned. He was directed to march through the southern counties on London, and in February 1644 was commissioned to act as lieutenant-general in all the counties south of the Thames except Hampshire (Black, Oxford Docquets, p. 140) . ”

“ We are residing in it now, Albert Edward, Maurice and I. We have called it "Mon Repos," and stuck up a notice saying we are inside, otherwise visitors would walk over it and miss us.
The chief drawback to "Mon Repos" is Maurice. Maurice is the proprietor by priority, a mole by nature. Our advent has more or less driven him into the hinterland of his home and he is most unpleasant about it. He sits in the basement and sulks by day, issuing at night to scrabble about among our boots, falling over things and keeping us awake. If we say "Boo! ”

“ When together at the siege of Breda, Maurice, waking in the night, heard a noise for which he could not account, so he roused Rupert, and they crept out together in the dark, and were 77just in time to save the garrison from a surprise. In 1638 Prince Maurice prosecuted his studies at a French University, and in 1642 gained permission to accompany Rupert, who had been appointed to a high command in the army of their uncle, Charles the First. This gallant pair vied with each other in loyalty and devotion to the English King. ”

“ And he painted a horrible picture of himself; he described himself as breathing hatred and fury; in fact, an infernal spirit.
"All nonsense!" said Maurice, smiling, his eyes big with tears.
"Alas! our ideas, our destiny, everything tends to part us, Maurice. But I cannot stifle the tenderness I feel for you, and your candour forces me to love you."
"No," sighed Maurice. "You do not love me. You have never loved me. In a brother or a sister such indifference would be natural; in a friend it would be ordinary; in a guardian angel it is monstrous. Arcade, you are an abominable being. I hate you." ”

“ Maurice was surrounded by tanneries.
"A journeyman-tanner," said he.
"In that case," said a burgess, who stopped and regarded Maurice with a certain good-nature, not totally exempt from distrust, "you should address yourself to his master."
"That is true," said the door-keeper; "you are quite right, the masters know the names of their workmen; here is Citizen Dixmer, who is manager of a tannery, and has more than fifty workmen in his yard, he can perhaps tell you." Maurice turned round and saw a burgess of commanding figure and mild countenance, the richness of whose attire denoted opulence. ”

“ Maurice was now appointed to fill Prince Rupert's place in Wales, but without the title of president. In December 1644 he accordingly resigned his command in the west, and was made major-general of Worcestershire, Shropshire, Herefordshire, and Monmouthshire (Webb, ii. 126) . Leaving Oxford on 14 Jan. 1645 he took up his position at Worcester, and set about the task of reducing these counties to order. The plundering of Maurice's troops, an increase in taxation, and the rise of the Clubmen aggravated the prevailing discontent and rendered organisation impossible. ”

“ Maurice of his marriage engagement with Louie, and then, if the man had neither gratitude nor sense enough to reward him for his assistance in saving the brig, to trust to fortune and to time, that at last makes all things even. As he sat there listening to the lapping of the water and idly watching the reflected stars peer up and shatter in a hundred splinters with every wash of the dark tide, he could not so instantaneously decide as to whether he should make this confession or not. ”

“ Come, Gretchen, I must know what Colonel Bernhard said.”
“He said it was wrong to stay in like this week after week, and month after month. He—he said you were killing yourself by inches, Monsieur Maurice.”
Monsieur Maurice laughed a short bitter laugh.
“Killing myself!” he repeated. “Well, I hope not; for weary as I am of it, I would sooner go on bearing the burden of life than do my enemies the favour of dying out of their way.” ”

“ After Leicester's departure, Prince Maurice was, by the consent of the Union, chosen their Governour, but with a reservation to Queen Elizabeth; and enter'd that Command with the hopes, which he made good in the execution of it for many years; proving the greatest Captain of his Age, famous, particularly, in the Discipline and Ordonance of his Armies, and the ways of Fortification by him first invented or perfected, and since his time imitated by all. ”

“ On the previous evening he had stood before Maurice as an accuser and a judge, arraigning him for the folly and short-sightedness which, according to his showing, had been far more instrumental than anything else in bringing about his suffering and Margaret's. And his biting words had found their echo in Maurice's own heart, being gifted with a double sting. In the man's attitude there had been a certain power, and this it was that had inflamed his opponent, till he had longed with a fierce, sudden passion of hatred to punish him to the uttermost. ”

“ Maurice was on his way to Madeleine's. Not for years, not since the day when he breathed his love in the old Château de Gramont, had his heart throbbed with such rapturous pulsations as now; not since that hour had the world looked so paradisiacal,—life so full of enchantment to his eyes. As he reached her door and ascended the steps, his emotions were overpowering. A few moments more, and the heavenly dream would become a glorious, life-brightening reality, or would melt away, a delusive mirage in the desert of his existence, leaving his pathway a blanker wilderness than ever. ”

“ I wish that Charles-Maurice may soon be made a colonel. We die when our time comes; Maurice will not live beyond the period that fate assigns him, whether he stays at Court or goes to war. He had better follow his inclination, for all that is done from liking is better done than when one yields to constraint. ”

“ As a social reformer, Maurice was before his time, and gave his eager support to schemes for which the world was not ready. From an early period of his life in London the condition of the poor pressed upon him with consuming force; the enormous magnitude of the social questions involved was a burden which he could hardly bear. For many years he was the clergyman whom working men of all opinions seemed to trust even if their faith in other religious men and all religious systems had faded, and he had a marvellous power of attracting the zealot and the outcast. ”