Usk

“ MANŒUVRES. So confident was Usk in his mother’s kindness of heart that when Lord and Lady Caerleon arrived in London late that evening, he was waiting for them at the terminus, eager to conduct them at once to the Hotel Bloomsbury. Having seen the evening papers in the course of their journey, they were acquainted with the details of the tragedy, and did not need to be assured by him of the desolate state of the two girls.
“I knew you would come,” he said.
“How could we do anything else?” asked his mother. “Poor Félicia! one’s heart bleeds for her. ”

“ Usk is a real good fellow, and his folks are just lovely. I’m on yet.”
“I do wonder how you’ll feel when you come to live way down in the country all of the year, and be out in the air mornings and afternoons and evenings. You’ll have a nice round contented face like the Jones girls by then, rosy-cheeked and blowsy and dairymaidish.”
“You needn’t be nasty.” Félicia went to the glass and examined her face with some anxiety, but the pure creamy pallor was not yet vulgarised by any touch of red. She laughed. “Not much harm done this far, Maimie. I’ll tell you when I’m tired of Usk, any way.” ”

“ People entangled each other in long paper streamers, banged each other with bladders, knocked off each other’s headgear, poked confetti down each other’s collars, all in high good-humour, and amid shrieks of laughter. Dominos of every possible colour and shade of colour, Pierrots and Pierrettes of every degree of inanity, debased national and historical costumes of every country and every era, eddied round Usk, but he tried in vain to distinguish any figure that he knew. ”

“ I know there are just about three hundred people coming.”
“You are very kind,” said Usk, then he turned to Félicia. “I will come at any time when it is convenient for you to see me,” he said pointedly.
“Well, I don’t see but you can do that at tea,” she replied.
“Say, Lord Usk, we can’t have you monopolise Miss Steinherz!” cried Mrs van Zyl. “She’s just about the most popular girl in Nice, and she’s getting fresh invitations all the time.” ”

“ There was absolutely no reason why she should feel so frightened, as if she were doing something dreadful. Why should she not go out for a walk alone if she chose? She was an Englishwoman now, and Usk had often laughed at her because she disliked to go down the street without Hannele or Jakob in attendance. She was simply taking an afternoon walk, and what possible objection could there be to her going round by the Pelenko mansion? ”

“ Say, Fay, Usk is real devoted, isn’t he? I’m glad you’ve taken him instead of the King now I’ve seen him, don’t you think! He’s solid good right through. He won’t ever have you find out anything new and unpleasant about him. Every day of his life he’ll come to meet you mornings with a flower, just as his father does to Lady Caerleon, and he’ll like nothing better evenings than sit alone with you and read the ‘Times’ out loud. ”

“ Usk will give you driving-lessons, and take you with him on all his expeditions wherever the buggy can go. When he can’t be with you he’ll leave you in charge of his man William, who is the nephew of our coachman at Llandiarmid, and knows all there is to know about horses.”
“Oh, thank you. You have arranged everything so nicely,” said Helene.
“We will take a carriage and go over to Drinitza in the morning to see about rooms,” said Usk. “Will that suit you, Aunt Ernestine? You evidently share Phil’s opinion that I don’t take proper care of my wife.” ”

“ The Princess drew a letter from her pocket. “Of course Lord Usk won’t believe me,” she said, “but I should really like to save you two from taking a journey into the wilds for no reason at all.”
“Cousin Ottilie! why shouldn’t Usk believe you?” cried Helene, aghast.
“My dear child, he is prejudiced, of course,” but the Princess seemed a little confused, and unfolded the letter quickly, as though to forestall further questioning. “This is from my husband’s cousin, Valerian Pelenko. I have just been paying a flying visit to Dardania—to see the new baby, not to stay ”

“ I don’t know what to do.”
“It strikes me you’re much too independent for an engaged young woman. You deserve a good scolding. Why didn’t you say anything to me?”
“I thought it would be such a nice surprise. I never imagined he might be angry, somehow. Please scold me, Nym. Then perhaps I shall not be so frightened.”
“I don’t think there’s much need for me to scold you,” said Usk gravely, rising to look down the path which led to the Lauterbach plateau from the lower world. ”

“ But this matter at Uske was indeed a fine love affair, secret, ardent and well-planned from the beginning; daily calling for fresh stratagems and new meeting-places and all those counterfeits that lovers take delight in, though to be sure they are made more for show than use. Yet I suppose this couple might have learnt the alphabet together for a long time without being found out, if Payne had been content to bear his mistress company in her country walks and sunset meditations in the woods by the river. ”

“ Rara glanced down at his feet. "Apparently you have no shoes either. Well, good luck here in the New World, the Island of Opportunity." She brushed by him and aimed toward a man and woman who carried a bundle composed of a hoe, a rake, a shovel, and a baby. "A picture," she said, digging into her box, "of our illustrious majesty, King Uske, with a real metal frame, hand-painted in miniature in honor of his birthday. No true cosmopolitan patriot can be without one."
The woman with the baby leaned over to see the palm-sized portrait of a vague young man with blond hair and a crown. ”

“ The Princess Helene was looking very small and shy, and as young as ever, in her simple white gown, with her hair coiled round and round the small head, which seemed overweighted by the heavy plaits. She was not pretty, thought Usk, looking at her dispassionately, she was too thin and pale, but the over-abundant hair was of a warm brown, and the large eyes a deep hazel. If she was with people who were kind to her, and was not in constant fear of being snubbed or called to order, she would be a jolly little girl. ”

“ Uske snuggled his head into the pillow. "Apparently your father has managed to amass quite a fortune. Chargill says I have to treat him kindly so we can borrow money from him later on. Unless I'm dreaming that up too."
"You're not dreaming."
Uske opened one eye, closed it again. And rolled over onto the pillow. "Tell that to my cousin, the Duchess of Petra. She was dragged all the way from her island estate to come to this thing. The only people who are getting out of it are mother and my kid brother. Lucky starfish."
"Go back to sleep," said Jon.
"Go away," said Uske. ”

“ Reply: a man is better than a beast; yet even for your beasts you make cattle-sheds and stables. Our houses are often poor ones. Did you ever see any that resembled the Tower, or Windsor Castle, or Woodstock? Your lies are shameless; pp. 77-8. I note here Jack Upland's rejoinder; he says that he does not object to the friars having houses, but he objects to the needless grandeur of them; for it does not follow that a man who drinks a quart of wine must therefore proceed to drink a gallon ”

“ Slowly Uske reached for the button. A freshly shaven young man with black hair stood in the sunlight, examining his cuffs. An open brocade jacket with metal-work filigree covered a white silk shirt that laced over a wide V-neck. The tight gray trousers were belted with a broad strip of black leather and fastened with a gold disk. The black boots, opened at the toe and the heel, were topped with similar disks. Jon Koshar looked around. "It's good to be back." ”

“ Uske had started out smiling. It turned to a giggle. Then to a laugh. Suddenly he cried out and threw himself down on the bed. "Nobody listens to me! Nobody takes any of my suggestions!" He moaned and stuck his head under the pillows. "No one does anything but contradict me. Go away. Get out. Let me sleep."
Chargill sighed and withdrew from the royal bedchamber.
CHAPTER II
It had been silent for sixty years. Then, above the receiving stage in the laboratory tower of the royal place of Toromon, the great transparent crystal sphere glowed. ”

“ The sentiment that love teaches all goodness, is common at this time; see Schick's note to Lydgate's Temple of Glas, l. 450.
152. The true reading is doubtful.
153-8. Here the author produces a considerable metrical effect, by beginning all of these lines with a strong accent. There are three such consecutive lines in the Wyf of Bathes Tale, D 869-71. Cf. ll. 161, 232, 242, 252, 261, 265, 268, 270, 278.
180. Bell and Morris read haire, without authority, and Bell explains it by 'he may full soon have the hair (!) ”

“ After secte, supply I:—'that, in any respect, I may so hold an opinion against her sex.' Secte is properly 'suite'; but here means sex; cf. l. 134.
140. in hem, in them, i.e. in women. And so in l. 141.
Chap. III. 8. victorie of strength; because, according to the first book of Esdras, iv. 14, 15, women are the strongest of all things.
9. Esdram, accus. of Esdras, with reference to the first book of Esdras, called 'liber Esdrae tertius' in the Vulgate. ”

“ The sense is—'For he who gets a little bliss of love may very soon find that his heir has come of age, unless he is always devoted to it.' This is a mild joke, signifying that he will soon find himself insecure, like one whose heir or successor has come of age, and whose inheritance is threatened. On the other hand, 'to have one's hair of age' is wholly without sense. ”

“ The implied subject to which it refers is paradise, where the author's Eve is supposed to be. Hence the sense is:—'paradise is so far away from the place where I am lying and from the common earth, that no cable (let down from it) can reach me.'
59. ferdnes is obviously the right word, though misprinted frendes. ”

“ Since the twenty-second hour belongs to the Sun, and the twenty-fifth to the Moon, the planetary interval from day to day is really obtained by pitching upon every third planet in the series, i.e. by skipping two. Hence the order of ruling planets for each day (which rule depends upon the assignment of the first hour) is obviously—the Sun, the Moon, Mars, Mercury, Jupiter, Venus, Saturn ”

“ For
every cause of a cause is cause of thing caused. Than thus:
good thinges and profitable ben by dignitè, honour, and reverence
caused. Ergo, they accorden; and dignites ben good with 10
reverences and honour. But contraries mowen not accorden.
Wherfore, by reson, there shulde no dignitee, no reverence, non
honour acorde with shrewes. But that is fals; they have ben
cause to shrewes in many shreudnes; for with hem they accorden. ”

“ The earth being taken as the centre of the planetary system, the planets are arranged in the order of the radii of their orbits. The nearest planet is the Moon, then Mercury, Venus, the Sun, Mars, Jupiter, and Saturn. ”

“ For to John Gore at that time it was like pampering a man who had sought to betray the honor of his wife.
The old year had gone; the new was in with white hoar-frost on the grass and the boughs each dawn, and a silvery smoke of mist melting into clear blue mornings. January went plodding on—a heavy, toothless, torpid month, despite the frost and the shimmer of sunlight; for January has little of the likeness of a child; rather it appears as a gray old man laboring in the dusk and the mists of the morning at some task that no man sees. ”

“ The buds were bursting, the birds were singing, and in the warm valley a band of farmers were plowing with lazy bulls, and singing, meanwhile, a grateful song in praise of their just King, their peaceful, prosperous country, and their full stomachs. As the Ussa came along in his disguise he began to jest with them, but they did not like him, and were rude in their jokes at his expense; when an old man, evidently the father, cautioned them to be careful. ”

“ What hath caused any wight 70
to don any good dede? Fynd me any good, but-if this knotte
be the cheef cause. Nedes mot it be good, that causeth so
many good dedes. Every cause is more and worthier than thing
caused; and in that mores possession al thinges lesse ben
compted. ”

“ Now, if ideas live and move in a spiritual world, your spirit must be able to perceive them if it penetrates that world. These phenomena are not more extraordinary than those of memory; and those of memory are quite as amazing and inexplicable as those of the perfume of plants—which are perhaps the ideas of the plants."
"How you enlarge and magnify the world!" exclaimed Ursula. "But to hear the dead speak, to see them walk, act—do you think it possible?"
"In Sweden," replied the abbe, "Swedenborg has proved by evidence that he communicated with the dead. ”

“ Aristotle's Metaphysics begins with the words: πάντες ἄνθρωποι τοῦ ἐιδέναι ὀρέγονται φύσει, all men by nature are actuated by the desire of knowledge. The reference to this passage is explicitly given in the Romans of Partenay, ll. 78-87; and it was doubtless a much worn quotation. ”

“ Water is more subtyll and lyght thanne erthe, but in respect of Ayre and Fyre, it is grosse and heuye, and of hir proper Nature is colde and moyste.
Ayre is more lyghte and subtylle than the other two, and beinge not altered with any exteriour cause, is properly hotte and moyste. ”

“ If any man yeve to another wight, to whom 130
that he ought not, and whiche that of him-selfe nothing may
have, a garnement or a cote, though he were the cote or els
thilke clothing, it is not to putte to him that was naked the cause
of his clothinge, but only to him that was yever of the garnement.
Wherfore I saye, thou that were naked of love, and of thy-selfe 135
non have mightest, it is not to putte to thyne owne persone,
sithen thy love cam thorow thy Margaryte-perle. Ergo, she was
yever of the love, although thou it use; and there lente she thee
grace, thy service to beginne. ”