Thomas Spence

“ That, again, was part of the high comedy of the hour—that Millner should descend the Spence steps at young Spence's side, and stroll down Fifth Avenue with him at the proudest moment of the afternoon; O. G. Spence's secretary walking abroad with O. G. Spence's heir! He had the scientific detachment to pull out his watch and furtively note the hour. Yes—it was exactly forty minutes since he had rung the Spence door-bell and handed his card to a gelid footman, who, openly sceptical of his claim to be received, had left him unceremoniously planted on the cold tessellations of the vestibule. ”

“ Spennie plunged into an explanation, feeling all the time that he was making things worse for himself. Nobody is at his best in the matter of explanations if a lady whom he knows to be possessed of a firm belief in the incurable weakness of his intellect is looking fixedly at him during the recital. A prolonged conversation with Lady Blunt always made him feel exactly as if he were being tied into knots.
“All this,” said Sir Thomas, as his nephew paused for breath, “is very, very characteristic of our dear Spennie.” ”

“ Young Spence was taught to read by his father; he was a clerk, and afterwards a teacher in several schools in Newcastle. A lawsuit between the corporation and free men of the town about some common land is said to have first turned Spence's attention to the question to which he devoted his whole life. He submitted, in 1775, his views on land tenure to the Philosophical Society, which met in Westgate Street, in a paper entitled ‘The Real Rights of Man.’ The society expelled him, not for his opinions nor even for printing the paper, but for hawking it about like a halfpenny ballad. ”

“ But on the appearance {162} of the luminary a strange transformation had slowly overtaken her spouse. At first he attempted to keep in the shade, to avoid the golden beams that he knew meant death to him, but all to no purpose. The air became gradually warmer, and slowly he dissolved and fell to pieces, so that his frenzied wife now only beheld his garments, the bones that had composed his framework, and the gaudy plumes and beads with which he had been bedecked. Long she sought his real self, thinking that some trick had been played upon her ”

“ Spence grew paler yet. He seemed about to speak, but controlling himself by an effort turned to leave the room, motioning us to precede him.
"How distinctly piteous!" repeated Miss Kingsley, as we went downstairs. "He acted shamefully, of course, and there is no excuse for his conduct. But though it is impossible to [Pg 186] justify him, I can pity him, can't you? His nature is so impressionable; and when he is interested in anything there is no half way with him: he wants the whole or nothing. ”

“ I am determined to fit myself for Spencer's promotion which must surely come in time, especially as we can both stand the climate fairly well. I have only been down once with fever since I came out, and Spence sets malaria at defiance with cocktails and an occasional stiff whisky peg. Between us before long we ought to know all that is worth knowing at Unguja. And Spence is so popular with the natives. They instinctively look up to a strong man.
As to the missionaries they simply swarm on the island and the mainland. ”

“ Spence says:—"Does it not sound mean to talk of lopping a man? of lopping away all his posterity? or of trimming him with brazen sheers? Is there not something mean, where a goddess is represented as beck'ning and waving her deathless hands; or, when the gods are dragging those that have provok'd them to destruction by the Links of fate?" ”

“ Does your father want hand, Master Louis?"
"Yes, to go up the Darling to one of his stations there. I am very sure he would like you, for he was wondering who to send. I wish he would send me, instead of poking me with Mr. Prince over those detestable Latin and Greek lessons, and those beastly problems. Fred and I hate them like poison, and after a year of that we're to go to England, and Fred will be sent to Harrow, or Rugby, or Eton to be flogged; and I to Oxford or Cambridge to be plucked. The whole business is a complete sell ”

“ Mr. Spence looked at his watch. “You can't be in more of a hurry than I am; and I've got seven minutes and a half.” He seated himself behind the coffee—tray, lit a cigar, laid his watch on the table, and signed to Draper to resume his place. “No, Millner, don't you go; I want you both.” He turned to the secretary. “You know that Draper's given up his Bible Class? I understand it's not from the pressure of engagements—” Mr. Spence's narrow lips took an ironic curve under the straight-clipped stubble of his moustache—“it's on principle, he tells me. He's principled against doing good!” ”

“ He felt this still, even in the act of noting his own bewilderment—felt it the more in contrast to the odd unconsciousness of Mr. Spence’s attitude, of the incredible candour of his self-abasement and self-abandonment. It was clear that Mr. Spence was not troubled by the repercussion of his actions in the consciousness of others; and this looked like a weakness—unless it were, instead, a great strength. ...
Through the hum of these swarming thoughts Mr. Spence’s voice was going on. “That’s the only rag of proof they’ve got ”

“ Nor shall I die until it pleases the good God. Nevertheless, I wot well who you are. Rather would I die on the instant than wed with a Korrigan.”
Leaping upon his horse, he turned and rode from the woodland as a man possessed. As he drew homeward he was overshadowed by a sense of coming ill. At the gate of his château stood his mother, anxious to greet him with good news of his bride. But with averted eyes he addresses her in the refrain so familiar to the folk-poetry of all lands:
“My good mother, if you love me, make my bed. ”

“ If he is your idea of a desirable acquaintance to invite to your house, [Pg 152] I am sorry for it. You never got any such notions from my side of the family."
"It is useless to talk with you if you go off at a tangent, Aunt Helen," said I. "I am proud to call both those young men my friends, and they are vastly superior in every way to nine tenths of those one meets in society. Mr. Spence, whose ideas you think so peculiar, is one of the ablest scientists in the country, and I am going to take lessons in his philosophy from one of his assistants. ”

“ The whole of the ex-railway employés became energetic members of the Brotherhood.
The people, were now thoroughly ripe for insurrection, but awaited a leader. Such a person was found in Oliver Spence, a powerfully built and determined man who had been of what was termed "good family," was well read and a keen observer of men and things. The ruthless competition of the great syndicates had ruined his father, a small capitalist, and forced Oliver to turn his abnormal physical strength to account by earning his living as a navvy. ”

“ On another occasion Spence was delighted by the sudden appearance of the poet at Oxford, "dreadfully fatigued;" he had good-naturedly lent his own chariot to a lady who had been hurt in an upset, and had walked three miles to Oxford on a sultry day.
A man of such brilliant wit, familiar with so many social circles, should have been a charming companion. It must, however, be admitted that the accounts which have come down to us do not confirm such preconceived impressions. Like his great rival, Addison, though for other reasons, he was generally disappointing in society. ”

“ The girls actually say they like their lessons, but it must be all pretence; they can't do it, or if they really do, what can you expect from a parcel of girls? but they bother Prince as much as Fred and me do. But as the governor won't hear of me going up the Darling, it's very likely he would give you the billet, Copeland," said Louis.
"My father has no wish to part with you, George," said Jessie.
"Nor have I," said Allan, who had returned with the piece of wood he wanted. "We might make it as well worth your while as Mr. ”

“ Have then your wish, for honour with me is above all.” The infant was then undressed and laid between the two upon a table.
“Take your sword,” said the phantom, “and cut off a portion for me.”
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“Ah, I would that I were on that desert rock in the middle of the ocean!” cried the unhappy father. He raised his weapon and was about to strike, when the phantom called upon him to hold.
“Harm not your infant, Iouenn,” it cried. “I see clearly that you are a man of honour and that you have not forgotten the service I rendered you ”

“ This was too much for the Senior Keeper. With an exclamation that need not be recorded, Spence made an attempt to rise with the help of his crutches, but was gently laid back in his chair by Jock, who said--
"Muckle ye'll mak' o't! as the auld wife said to the guse waumlin' in the glaur. Sit doon--sit doon, Mr. Spence; I'll be as guid to you as Hugh; an' I'll ca' in Hugh ony time ye like: sae be easy. For I wish atween oorsels to tell ye aboot an auld poacher and an auld acquaintance o' yours and mine, Sergeant Adam Mercer; for it's aboot him I've come." ”

“ The two powerful men swayed to and fro in each other's grasp, each thirsting for the blood of the other. Their veins stood out like whip-cord, and their breaths came hot, short and quick. Every trick known to the professional wrestler was in vain tried by Oliver, and he had almost begun to despair of success and to resign himself to his fate when Mary, who had recovered from the blow she had received, picked up from the ground where it had fallen, the loaded stick habitually carried by Spence, and struck his antagonist a violent blow at the back of the head. ”

“ Spence gave a start, for the likeness was marvellous. As for Miss Kingsley, she whispered in my ear,—
"Did you sit for it, dear?"
"No, I did not," I answered.
"Detestable philosophy!" continued Mr. Spence, looking from the canvas to the artist. "There was the making of a man in you,—this [Pg 185] portrait shows it. But it is too late. The brute is rampant, and genius is no more."
"She could have moulded me in her hands like clay," said Paul Barr. ”

“ In Africa he built the first fort at Mesurado, in Liberia. He was ordered to command the West India fleet in 1826, but died before sailing.—Capt. Spence's sons, Carroll and Charles Lowell Stewart, were afterward in the diplomatic service of the United States, the former being minister to Turkey under President Pierce, and the other secretary of legation, and afterward envoy to Persia. ”

“ Try me no more, friend, it is enough; I shall die now if you tarry longer,’ ‘Naymes,’ says the king, ‘take this lady away; if I see her grief any more, I shall go mad.’
“That night he ate no bread nor drank wine, but had the city watched, and rode the rounds himself, with helmet closed, his great buckler hanging to his neck, his sword in his fist. All the night it rained and blew; the water ran through the joints of his hauberk, and wetted his ermine pelisse beneath. ”

“ His glance rested on his son Draper, seated opposite him behind a barrier of Georgian silver and orchids; but his words were addressed to his secretary who, stylograph in hand, had turned from the seductions of a mushroom soufflé in order to jot down, for the Sunday Investigator, an outline of his employer's views and intentions respecting the newly endowed Orlando G. Spence College for Missionaries. It was Mr. Spence's practice to receive in person the journalists privileged to impart his opinions to the world ”

“ The new comer was no other than Oliver Spence and on the young woman perceiving that it was indeed he, she fell, in a half-fainting condition, into his arms—for he was her lover. Our hero looked every inch the hero, the fire of genius flashed from his eyes, while his broad massive brow stamped him as a thinker, and his well-defined nose indicated that, he possessed sufficient force of character to enable him to carry his thoughts into execution. ”

“ If you ask me if I love Mr. Spence, candor compels me to say that I do not. If you ask if I am particularly happy at the prospect of marrying him, I must say that I am not. But it seems to me the best chance that is likely to offer. I respect him thoroughly, and, as you say, the rest may follow. A life devoted to a noble theory is better suited to my tastes and capacities than the control of a large fortune."
"You are a little morbid, Virginia," he interrupted. "My original impression is confirmed. This is no match for you. I warn you against the danger of becoming addicted to fads and isms. ”

“ Spence leaned forward to Pelham. "Biggest crook in six states! Does all their dirtiest jobs.... They always come in this way; it impresses the courthouse crowd."
The door swung again; a succession of breathless "There he is!"-es, as Colonel Lysander G. Pugh stamped heavily in, with his invariable atmosphere of busied haste, bowing affably left and right, his weathered broad-brim clutched beside his brief case.
Another shifting of interest. Tipton Leach, narrow-eyed, a permanent sneer around his mouth, walking slowly, speculatively. "He is the brains," continued Spence. ”

“ As the matter stands, the attitude of the Censor, though not logical, is not wholly unsatisfactory; it is ludicrous enough that he should have adopted an ostrich policy towards Mr Jerome's piece, yet no harm has been done by the production of this sincere and respectful drama. Indeed, some good may have come from it. In an ideal world, no doubt, we should all be severely logical; in England we are radically illogical, and we carry out most of our affairs on a basis of compromises. ”