Thomas Webb

“ Y' see, this Jameson chap writes me a sassy letter from Liverpool. Spite. Thomas Webb was th' name. What's th' matter?"
"Haggerty, the very devil is the matter. Thomas Webb, recently a steward on the Celtic, has been my wife's private secretary for nearly two months."
"Say that again!" gasped Haggerty, bracing himself against the jamb of the door.
"But I'll wager my right hand that there's some mistake."
"Of all th' gall I ever heard of! Private secretary, an' Miss Killigrew's sapphires stowed away in his trunk, if he ain't sold 'em outside th' pawnshops! Will y' gimme a free hand, Mr. ”

“ Thomas told her it was the best thing that could be done for me, and mother thinks what she says is law and gospel. I believe old Mrs. Thomas thinks a coloured person can't get to Heaven, without first living at service a little while."
The school bell ringing put an end to this important conversation, and the boys recommenced their lessons.
When Charlie returned from school, the first person he saw on entering the house was Robberts, Mrs. Thomas's chief functionary, and the presiding genius of the wine cellar—when he was trusted with the key. ”

“ I declare I thought I had that silk frock in the window."
"The girls' heads are always running on finery—wake up, and come along,
I'm going home."
Caddy followed her mother out, leaving Aunt Rachel and Tom nodding at each other as they dozed before the fire.
That night Mr. Ellis and his wife had a long conversation upon the proposal of Mrs. Thomas; and after divers objections raised by him, and set aside by her, it was decided that Charlie should be permitted to go there for the holidays at least; after which, his father resolved he should be sent to school again. ”

“ Webb was an observer of great ability. He took a special interest in the study of the moon, was a member of the moon committee of the British Association, and an active supporter of the now defunct Selenographical Society. After his father's death he finished editing the ‘Military Memoirs of Colonel John Birch,’ for the Camden Society, and in 1879 published a new and enlarged edition of John Webb's ‘Civil War in Herefordshire.’ In 1882 he became prebendary of Hereford Cathedral. On the death of Sir Henry Webb, seventh baronet, of Odstock, Wiltshire, he succeeded in 1874 as head of that family. ”

“ And what else could he have been with his practice in Bolderhead?
Men get stunted in small towns—especially professional men. Dr. Webb could never have made much more than a miserably poor living for mother and I had he lived; and all that time the thought of the great Darringford Estate would have been the skeleton in our closet!
[126] It was better as it was, I suppose. It had been a dream that my father was still alive. I believe I would have gladly given up my share of my grandfather’s money to have found that the mysterious man aboard the frozen ship was my father! ”

“ No, Webb had not seen her, and together the two started in search, first to the flagstaff, and there at the point of bluff beyond the Rays',—there she stood, gazing up the Platte toward the Indian village through a pair of signal glasses that weighed heavily in her daintily gloved hands. Captain Tracy, a bachelor assistant surgeon, stood faithfully by her side, listening to her lively chatter, with ears that absorbed and eyes that worshipped.
"Come away," said Webb. "I have an order on you for Field's currency in your safe. When are you going to try to get your cash to bank?" ”

“ Charles Webb, you're wasted in the insurance business. If you have the cold nerve to offer me that old skate that's been turned down by every company from the Continental down to the Kickapoo Lloyds—well, you ought to be in the legislature, that's where you ought to be!"
"But here's something to go with it—to sweeten it up," the unabashed Mr. Webb would probably protest, producing another risk of equally detrimental description. Then Mr. Cuyler would turn.
"Harry," he would say, "put on your hat and take Mr. Webb back to his office. He's not himself; the heat is too much for him." ”

“ You can wear those fine dresses.'
'I'm a-cold,' said Hazel; 'the sun's undering; I'd best go home-along.'
'Come on, then. Up you get. We'll be there in no time. You shall have some supper and—'
'What'n I want trapsing to Undern when I live at the Mountain?'
'You'll be asking to come soon,' he said, with the crude wisdom of his kind. 'You like me better than that soft parson even now.'
She shook her head.
'I'm a man, anyway.'
She looked him over, and owned he was. But she did not want him; she wanted freedom and time to find out how much she liked Edward. ”

“ We are in perfect contrast, each supplying the deficiency in the other.... As I am an incorrigible mountebank, and Webb is one of the simplest of geniuses, I have always been in the centre of the stage, whilst Webb has been prompting me, invisible, from the side. ”

“ The inborn Anglo-Saxon love of "the man who dares" was with him—a regard for daring for its own heroic sake. The hour was his, and he braved his shifting popularity as he would brave its final outcome.
II
One afternoon in early May, Dudley Webb came out upon his front steps and paused to light a cigar before descending to the street. A spring of happy promise was unfolding, for overhead the poplars bloomed against an enchanted sky. In the shadow of the church across the way, children were romping, their ecstatic trebles floating like bird-song on the air. ”

“ In 1875 Captain Webb abandoned a sea-faring life and became a professional swimmer. On the 3rd of July he swam from Blackwall Pier to Gravesend, a distance of 20 m., in 43/4 hours, a record which remained unbeaten until 1899. In the same year, after one unsuccessful attempt, he swam the English Channel, on the 24th of August, from Dover to Calais in 213/4 hours. For the next few years Webb gave performances of diving and swimming at the Royal Aquarium in London and elsewhere. Crossing to America, he attempted, on the 24th of July 1883, to swim the rapids and whirlpool below Niagara Falls. ”

“ Elsie read his thoughts.
“No, I don’t think Mr. Webb went away of his own volition. I know he did not! And quite aside from his love for me, and his wish to marry me yesterday, if those things hadn’t been so, Mr. Webb is too much of a gentleman, too kind-hearted a man, to go away and leave his mother and sister, to say nothing of myself, in this fearful predicament.”
“That’s right! No decent man could do such a sneak! Well, then as it’s perfectly clear you suspect Miss Webb of being complicated,—why do you?”
“I don’t want to say anything against Miss Webb. I’ve nothing to say against anybody. ”

“ On the death of Burroughs, on 23 Nov. 1761, Webb undertook the sole charge. In 1766 he retired from the pastoral office and filled the office of deputy searcher at Gravesend until 1777, when he removed to Poole in Dorset. In 1775 he republished Dr. Johnson's ‘Marmor Norfolciense,’ a squib against Walpole, which first appeared in 1739. Johnson had not concealed his Jacobite principles in penning it, and Webb, in a satirical preface, cleverly contrasted the views he had then held with those he manifested in the ‘False Alarm’ (1770) and in ‘Taxation no Tyranny’ (1775) . ”

“ Better men than Kimball Webb have been brought to bay by force of circumstances; wiser men than he have been the victims of blackmailing schemes; stronger men than he have met disaster through no fault of their own. I make no suggestions,—I have none to make,—but I maintain the only logical theory of Webb’s disappearance is that he went voluntarily, if not willingly.”
“I think you’re horrid!” Elsie cried, her eyes flashing. ”

“ While still an undergraduate he, together with his somewhat older friend, John Mason Neale [q. v.] , founded the Cambridge Camden Society, which played an important part in the ecclesiological revival consequent upon the tractarian movement, and of which Webb continued to be secretary, both at Cambridge and afterwards in London (whither it was removed in 1848 under the name of the Ecclesiological Society) , from its beginning to its extinction in 1863. With Webb and Neale were associated in this enterprise Webb's intimate and lifelong friend Alexander James Beresford-Hope [q. v.] ”

“ Didn't all the big animals prey upon the smaller ones? Of course. Webb pointed out that brains were far superior to brute strength, and that brute strength frequently defeated its own purpose. His argument had been convincing enough to arouse the ire of Binns. He knew that Webb was his superior go far as intellect went, and it angered him. Well, he'd show the weakling that there was another way of taking care of yourself besides using physical strength—there was a foxlike cunning, that didn't require the brains that Webb seemed to think he had, either. ”

“ Webb waxed philosophical. "When a man's enemies bother him it only drives him down; that is, a man like Sam. But when his friends ride him it's likely to put a little color in his liver. That's why I keep after him. I never did figure he'd try to get Beck in an open fight, but I used to think he might do it some other way. That's what I'd like to see him do!"—darkly.
"Maybe he will. Somethin's changed him again, Webb. I tell you he's been goin' around today like a man whose done somethin' big! It's a sort of ... of confidence, you'd call it."
"Mebby Hilton's got under his skin. ”

“ It was true, Webb admitted to himself. No longer did he feel the least malice toward Cliff. But bitterness was still rank on his tongue. "So how does the story end? Does boy get girl or not?"
"Of course. Boy always gets girl, if he wants her. It's a long life. At this phase she wants me."
"Is that your own opinion or just another subtotal of the computer?"
"Both."
"But—how does it really end. What happens when you punch the total key?"
"You ask that, Webb? You, one of the very first to embrace the rigors of physical immortality? My dear friend, there is no total key." ”

“ On the charge made in the House of Commons on 31 Jan. 1769 that Webb had bribed, with the public money, Michael Curry to betray Wilkes and give evidence against him, counsel pleaded on behalf of Webb that he was now blind and of impaired intellect, and the motion against him was defeated.
Webb died at his seat of Busbridge Hall on 22 June 1770. He married, on 2 Nov. 1730, Susanna, daughter of Benjamin Lodington, many years consul at Tripoli. She died at Bath on 12 March 1756, aged 45, leaving one son, also called Philip Carteret Webb (d. 10 Oct. 1793; Corresp. of Jekyll, p. 31) . ”

“ Edward Webb did not deny himself another pilgrimage to the mountains. Tenderly and silently, without disdain or ruthlessness, he put aside Nancy's prejudices. He knew something which was denied to her; he knew that the mountains gave him strength—the strength he so much needed to supplement his own ”

“ Chapman informed Webb that she was a duchess.
"You see that fellow over there!" he exclaimed, suddenly, indicating with the point of his lead-pencil a young man with a vulgar, vacuous face and a clumsy assumption of the grand air; "well, he was nobody a year ago,—a distant connection of the Webbs; but they never recognized his existence until he came into some money. Then they took him up, and now he's out of sight. It's too bad you didn't happen to be that kind of Webb. You look a long sight more of a gentleman than he does."
"Are any of the Webbs here?" asked Andrew, choking with bitterness. ”

“ But it inna lost and forgotten; it's better'n this. We've got bees.'
'So've I got bees.'
'And a music.'
'Music? What's a music? You canna eat it.'
'And my dad makes coffins.'
'Does 'e, now?' said Vessons, interested at last. Then he bethought him of the credit of Undern. 'But you anna got a mulberry-tree,' he said triumphantly. 'Now then! I 'ave!'
He creaked downstairs.
In a few moments Hazel also went down, and drank her tea by the red fire in the kitchen, watching the frost-flowers being softly effaced from the window as if someone rubbed them away with a sponge. ”

“ This time, he saw nothing. The room was pitch dark, but,—and his thatch of hair rose from his forehead,—he could certainly feel his bed clothes being pulled off!
He lay still a moment, unable to believe his senses, but there was no mistake, they were certainly slipping down,—down, away from his neck, his shoulders,—and then, as he gathered himself for a spring, they were pulled entirely off of him, and thrown back, helter-skelter over his face and head. ”

“ Marston appeared.
'Oh, are you going to a show, Mr. Woodus?' she asked Abel. 'It would have been so nice and pleasant if you would have played your instrument.'
'Yes, mum. That's what I've acome for. I inna going to no show. I've come to the wedding to get my belly-full.'
Mrs. Marston, very much flustered, asked what the animals were for.
'I think, mother, they're for you.' Edward smiled.
She surveyed Foxy, full of vitality after the drive; the bird, moping and rough; the rabbit, with one ear inside out, looking far from respectable. ”

“ Edward Webb brushed his forehead: he blinked. He had an impression that, made drowsy by the strong air of the mountains, he had been near falling asleep in the glow of the fire.
"It's sad for a family to die out," he said; and the remark sounded foolishly in his ears.
"Alexander's a good lad," she said, so that he understood the sequence of her thought.
"He is, he is. But one is afraid for him." ”