Trefusis

“ The door opened before he rang. “If you please, sir,” said the maid in a low voice, “will you step into the library; and the doctor will see you immediately.”
On the first landing of the staircase two gentlemen were speaking to Mr. Jansenius, who hastily moved out of sight, not before a glimpse of his air of grief and discomfiture had given Trefusis a strange twinge, succeeded by a sensation of having been twenty years a widower. ”

“ She murmured some reply and hurried away, thinking that the poor young man would alter his tone presently.
He was joined at once by a gray whiskered gentleman, scrupulously dressed and mannered. Trefusis introduced himself, and the physician looked at him with some interest. Then he said:
"You have arrived too late, Mr. Trefusis. All is over, I am sorry to say."
"Was the long railway journey she took in this cold weather the cause of her death?" ”

“ Miss Trefusis is aware of what she does. What do I care for her? I regard Selina——"
"She hath said farewell. She would say no other word."
Susannah broke out passionately.
"Oh, cannot you understand? She cares for you beyond anything in the world; she thinks that so do you care for her, and if you marry—Ah, but I can say no more!"
"There is no more to be said," answered my lord. "These ideas are sweet, but over-romantical. I shall ask for the hand of Miss Trefusis to-morrow, as I am a very ordinary gentleman and cannot go to ruin for a whim."
Miss Chressham pressed her brow wearily. ”

“ Why, nurse, what a queer expression you have in your face. You have got such strange eyes—I never before saw human eyes express so much. I do not believe you like this wedding. Well, Miss Trefusis is a beautiful young lady, but then Mr. Hertslet is so clever, the cleverest surgeon of his day. ”

“ Human beings on horseback are so far centaurs that liberties taken with their horses are almost as personal as liberties taken with themselves. When Sir Charles saw Trefusis patting the bay he felt as much outraged as if Lady Brandon herself were being patted, and he felt bitterly towards her for permitting the familiarity. ”

“ Mr. Petre said very little and said it oddly, as though by rote. Cassleton and Trefusis noted that manner, and agreed silently that our greatest men are the hardest to comprehend. Charlie Terrard did most of the explanation and all the firmness in the intervals of his principal’s silence. Terrard it was who laid down detail and clause, negotiated, insisted, yielded when he chose to yield. All Mr. Petre did was to nod and, now and then, in monosyllables, to agree. But Trefusis, fighting a losing battle, could see well enough which was master and which was man. ”

“ Petre, “what then?”
Terrard pondered a moment, recalling the instructions of Mr. Charlbury, J.P. for the County of Surrey. Then he started off:
“Well,” slowly, “the fact is,” more slowly, “Trefusis is going about saying he must act, one way or the other.” Mr. Petre’s blood ran cold again. “You know the kind of man he is?” Mr. Petre nodded; he didn’t, so he nodded—quite emphatically. “He’s like a rat. If he’s cornered, he bites.” Mr. Petre nodded again, as though the habits of the mysterious Trefusis had been the study of his life. “But he’s frightened, Mr. Petre; devilish frightened. ”

“ The artist lost his temper, and suggested that if Trefusis could not feel that the prerogative of art was divine, perhaps he could understand that a painter was not such a fool as to design a tomb for five pounds when he might be painting a portrait for a thousand. Trefusis retorted that the fact of a man paying a thousand pounds for a portrait proved that he had not earned the money, and was therefore either a thief or a beggar. ”

“ John Trefusis. He married one of the daughters of William Stephen Poyntz, Esq. and niece of Mark Anthony Browne, last Lord Montague, of Cowdray Castle, in Sussex; but having died without issue, he is succeeded by his brother Charles Trefusis. The widow is recently married again to Colonel Horace Seymour.
The situation of Trefusis is very beautiful, the whole jutting into Falmouth harbour, with Penryn river on the south and Milor river to the north. ”

“ Trefusis expressed his opinion that the mason’s charge was the more reasonable, somewhat to the indignation of his artist friend, who reminded him of the years which a Royal Academician has to spend in acquiring his skill. Trefusis mentioned that the apprenticeship of a mason was quite as long, twice as laborious, and not half so pleasant. The artist now began to find Trefusis’s Socialistic views, with which he had previously fancied himself in sympathy, both odious and dangerous. He demanded whether nothing was to be allowed for genius. ”

“ Mena's Island
"We've made a proper mess of things this time!" ejaculated Ross Trefusis—"or rather I have."
"It can't be helped," rejoined his chum, Vernon Haye. "We've done our level best to get her off. How long is it before the tide floats her?" ”

“ You will agree with me there, Trefusis, won't you?"
"Certainly not," said Trefusis. "A king nowadays is only a dummy put up to draw your fire off the real oppressors of society, and the fraction of his salary that he can spend as he likes is usually far too small for his risk, his trouble, and the condition of personal slavery to which he is reduced. What private man in England is worse off than the constitutional monarch? We deny him all privacy; he may not marry whom he chooses, consort with whom he prefers, dress according to his taste, or live where he pleases. ”

“ That debenture sum for buying out the Locals was too large altogether; that the eight per cent. offered was of itself a danger signal and would warn off even the worst fools: that for once Trefusis had overreached himself.
The Public discovering no small appetite for the Debentures at 8%.
They didn’t know Trefusis; they didn’t know the dear old Public; they didn’t even know the time of year.
Profits are always in season. The Public is quite fond of eight per cent. Trefusis—to repeat the classic phrase—knew his way about. ”

“ Sir Charles, to whom he told what he had overheard in the avenue, professed sympathy, but was evidently pleased to learn that there was nothing serious in the attentions Trefusis paid to Agatha. Erskine wrote three bitter sonnets on hollow friendship and showed them to Sir Charles, who, failing to apply them to himself, praised them highly and showed them to Trefusis without asking the author’s permission. Trefusis remarked that in a corrupt society expressions of dissatisfaction were always creditable to a writer’s sensibility ”

“ There is a passing boat kept here, it being the post road, and by much the nearest cut from Falmouth to Truro and the east, called Restronget Passage.
A part of the Bishop’s manor of Penryn extends into this parish.
MANOR OF TREFUSIS AND TREGOSE.
Trefusis, saith the Editor of Camden, in the Additional Part, p. 22, signifies a walled town, or fortified place. 227 This hath been the seat of an eminent family of the same name ever since the Conquest, if not before. The present possessor hereof is Robert Trefusis, Esq. a young gentleman of great hopes, who is yet unmarried. ”

“ Sampson, wife of the Dean, who once had a water-colour in the Academy, says she has never seen. Samuel Trefusis is a failure, and, what is truly awful, he does not mind; nobody buys his pictures and he does not care; and, worst taste of all, he laughs at his relations, although he lives on them. Nothing further need be said.
To Helen, Mary and Jeremy he had always been a fascinating object, although they realised, with that sharp worldly wisdom to be found in all infants of tender years, that he was a failure, a dirty man, and disliked children. ”

“ Perhaps they would like us to lend them the wagonette to drive in?”
“I have no doubt they would,” said Trefusis, beaming at her.
“Pray leave me to manage here, Jane; this is no place for you. Bring Erskine to the house. He must be—”
“Why don’t the police make them go away?” said Lady Brandon, too excited to listen to her husband.
“Hush, Jane, pray. What can three men do against thirty or forty?”
“They ought to take up somebody as an example to the rest.”
“They have offered, in the handsomest manner, to arrest me if Sir Charles will give me in charge,” said Trefusis. ”

“ About half-way across the mouth of the harbour is the Black Rock, exposed at low water, but covered when the tide rises. An eccentric Mr. Trefusis, of Trefusis, opposite Falmouth, one day invited his wife to boat with him to the Black Rock and picnic there. She incautiously accepted, and when he had landed her, he made his bow, and rowed away with, “Madam, we are mutually tired of each other, and you will agree with me that it were best to part.” ”

“ Blagden wearily. “None at all.”
“My dear sir,” said Mr. Wilkins, shocked, “do consider what you are saying! Two millions! More than two millions!”
“I assure you I mean it,” said Mr. Blagden sincerely and simply. “What on earth does a man want with more than sixty thousand a year? I’ve got that now, apart from all this last detestable nonsense.”
The image of Mr. Trefusis rose in his mind and nauseated him; for the morbid mood of those last days remained as a strong impression, although he was now back again in his right mind. ”

“ Trefusis wouldn’t say it isn’t true. What he does say is that he takes no stock of it.”
“Well, he’ll be selling stock pretty soon,” said Charlie, as grimly as his easy voice could manage such a tone. Then he added: “Surely Trefusis knows what kind of a man Petre is?”
Cassleton nodded. “Oh, yes,” he said, “everybody knows that.”
“Perhaps everybody does not know it as I know it,” said Charlie. “It is the amazing everyday sort of way that he does these things. He moves the price of a City like a man taking off his hat ”

“ They were 2s. 6d. before Trefusis and his gang came in. Thirty-five pounds odd for your quid isn’t bad, even for Trefusis, these days: Harry Holt’s wife made forty odd thousand, and Holt left the Government, took a directorship in it.”
Mr. Charlbury heard him out, his contempt increasing, but his awe at the mundane connections remaining fixed. “Nothing to do with that, Charlie,” he snapped. “Listen to me. If the Trefusis crowd think they’ve got Petre up against them ... eh?”
Charlie Terrard opened his mouth foolishly, like a man recovering from gas. “Up against ’em?” he repeated mechanically. ”

“ Before Jansenius could reply his wife hurried upstairs, caught him by the arm, and said, "Don't speak to him, John. And you," she added, to Trefusis, "WILL you begone?"
"What!" he said, looking cynically at her. "Without my dead! Without my property! Well, be it so."
"What do you know of the feelings of a respectable man?" persisted Jansenius, breaking out again in spite of his wife. "Nothing is sacred to you. This shows what Socialists are!" ”

“ No nation with a sense of beauty would banish Lady Brandon, or Miss Lindsay, or Miss Wylie."
"Such nonsense!" said Jane.
"You would hardly believe how much I have spent in sending workmen out of the country against my own view of the country's interest," continued Trefusis, addressing Erskine. "When I make a convert among the working classes, the first thing he does is to make a speech somewhere declaring his new convictions. His employer immediately discharges him—'gives him the sack' is the technical phrase. The sack is the sword of the capitalist, and hunger keeps it sharp for him. ”

“ Of all varieties of man, the minor poet realized her conception of the human ass most completely, and Erskine, though a very nice fellow indeed, thoroughly good and gentlemanly, in her opinion, was yet a minor poet, and therefore a pronounced ass. Trefusis, on the contrary, was the last man of her acquaintance whom she would have thought of as a very nice fellow or a virtuous gentleman ”

“ Trefusis House, the property of Lord Clinton, in this neighbourhood, is a very antient building, most delightfully situated; but not having been inhabited for many years, is going rapidly to decay. Part of it is now occupied as a farm-house.
On the right of the road from Penryn to Helston, in the parish of Constantine, is a very curious massy rock, called a Tolinen; it is 33 feet long by 141⁄2 feet wide, 18 feet high, and 97 feet in circumference. In form it resembles an egg, and is poised on two natural rocks. ”

“ I did not see why I should pay to provide a rich company with tenant farmers, and I told Jansenius so. He remarked that when money and not talk was required, the workmen of England soon found out who were their real friends."
"I know nothing about these questions," said Sir Charles, with an air of conclusiveness; "but I see no objection to emigration." "The fact is," said Trefusis, "the idea of emigration is a dangerous one for us. ”

“ They are getting frightened at what they have done, and they would be glad to escape the consequences by apologizing, most likely. But they shan’t. I am not such a fool as they think.”
“They don’t think so. You have proved the contrary.”
“Jane,” said Sir Charles pettishly, “do you know this gentleman?”
“I should think I do,” said Lady Brandon emphatically.
Trefusis bowed as if he had just been formally introduced to the baronet, who, against his will, returned the salutation stiffly, unable to ignore an older, firmer, and quicker man under the circumstances. ”

“ She has gone as we three shall go soon enough. If we were immortal, we might reasonably pity the dead. As we are not, we had better save our energies to minimize the harm we are likely to do before we follow her."
The doctor was deeply offended by this speech, for the statement that he should one day die seemed to him a reflection upon his professional mastery over death. Mrs. Jansenius was glad to see Trefusis confirming her bad opinion and report of him by his conduct and language in the doctor's presence. ”