Van Zandt

“ But Van Zandt, with a shudder and expression of utter aversion, turns away.
“Ah, I see I am too late,” remarks a quiet voice, and Van Zandt looks up to see the friendly soldier with the scar.
“To the consul’s if you would save the American girl,” says the latter. “I’ll look after these obsequies. Come, be off,” as Van Zandt stares at him in surprise. “A plot is afoot, headed by that precious Lieut. Sanchez, and you have no time to lose.” ”

“ Of course, we do not like it, and neither did Eliot, I fancy; but you must see there was no other way for a Van Zandt, so we must make the best of it."
"Fancy a Van Zandt—one of the Van Zandts, of Boston—bringing home an A B C school-girl as a bride!" was the disdainful answer she received.
Vivacious Edith cried out tartly:
"You need not take on such airs, Sylvie. You are not so learned yourself. New York girls never know anything but dressing and flirting."
"We marry into poor, learned families, and so adjust the difference," Mrs. Van Zandt replied, sarcastically. ”

“ Paul wondered why the book-keeper's manner was now so different. Van Zandt was older, but he was not so very old, not more than sixty, and old age in itself is not sufficient to make a man surly and to sour his temper. That the Major had had trouble in his family was well known. His wife had been flighty and foolish, and it was believed that she had run away from him; and his only son was a wild lad, who had been employed by Whittier, Wheatcroft & Co., out of regard for the father, and who had disgraced himself beyond forgiveness. ”

“ To return to Mme. Lorraine the night when Eliot Van Zandt lay like one dead before her door in a pool of his own blood, deserted by the brutal Remond, who had left him for dead upon the pavement.
She had peeped from the window as Carmontelle had charged her with doing, although she had denied the accusation, and she had beheld all that passed. If she had not conceived a passion for Van Zandt, he might have perished, for all she would have cared; but something of womanly softness stole into her heart as she gazed, and she murmured:
"Can he be dead, or only in a deadly swoon? ”

“ I brought two," whispered Carmontelle. "We may need them. One of us must stand at bay, while the other seizes and bears away the girl."
"It shall be I. I will cover your flight," Van Zandt said, quietly.
Under his calm exterior was seething a tempest of wrath and indignation that made him clutch the weapon in a resolute grasp. He had pure and fair young sisters at home. The thought of them made him feel more strongly for madame's forlorn victim.
Their hearts leaped into their throats as Remond's close carriage dashed into sight, whirled up to madame's door, and stopped. ”

“ It must be confessed that Van Zandt does not manifest heartfelt regret at Mr. Felton’s unhappy condition, and even Miss Hathaway is somewhat perfunctory in her expressions of sympathy. An unaccountable confidence in the handsome owner of the Semiramis has replaced her early distrust, and, happily exempt from the “dread bugbear of the voyageur,” she accepts with pleasure Van Zandt’s proposition that they explore the yacht.
The Semiramis is fair to look upon, from capstan to rudder, and from keelson to main truck. The Vermont maiden marvels at the comfort, convenience and luxury on every hand. ”

“ When she had got over her womanly shock at the news of the sham baron's death, she had, I fear, only a selfish regard at his taking off; believing that if living he would in some way show the world—which just then consisted of the headquarters and Major Van Zandt—that he had really made love to her, and possibly did honorably love her still, and might yet give her an opportunity to reject him. ”

“ For an hour or two she lay there, with flushed cheeks and conflicting thoughts. "He must never kiss me again," she said softly to herself, "unless"—but the interrupting thought said, "I shall die if he kiss me not again; and I never can kiss another." And then she was roused by a footstep upon the stair, which in that brief time she had learned to know and look for, and a knock at the door. She opened it to Major Van Zandt, white and so colorless as to bring out once more the faint red line made by her riding-whip two days before, as if it had risen again in accusation. ”

“ Mrs. Van Zandt’s a likely woman but she’s had one gold brick—’tain’t likely she’d want to fall for another. Besides, I can enjoy her cooking and her company without bein’ married to her, and there’s times I like right well to get clear of her gab,” and so he drifted into sleep, snoring comfortably before his fire went out.
It was the middle of the afternoon when Johnson, tall, gaunt and tired, stalked into Swartz’ store at Conejo where he found a situation for which he was not prepared. ”

“ The bronze clock on the mantel had chimed the quarters of an hour twice while he had sat there all alone.
"He finds her hard to persuade," he exclaimed, rising from his chair and beginning to pace restlessly up and down the floor.
Five, ten minutes elapsed. Then there came a step at the door. The handle turned. Mr. Chesterton entered—alone.
Eliot turned to him in unutterable dismay.
"Una!" he exclaimed, hoarsely, then paused, speechless. He saw a folded slip of paper in the banker's hand, and on his genial face disappointment and regret.
"Van Zandt, I am sorry for you, upon my word!" ”

“ You will bring the carriage to the end of the square, while I go back to the garden and steal the bird away."
"Excellent!" said Carmontelle. "Oh, how they will rage when they find the bird has flown! To-morrow the club shall settle with Remond; for madame, she shall be ostracised. We shall desert her in a body. Who would have believed she would be so base?"
Van Zandt made no comment. He only said, as if struck by a sudden thought:
"The poor child will have no clothes fit to wear away. Can you find time, while getting a carriage, to buy a gray dress, a long ulster, and a hat and veil?" ”

“ The singing at intervals was still persevered in, although Van Zandt's voice began to fail strangely from the weakness of hunger and illness. Hope failed him, too, as this, the third day of their mutual imprisonment waned to a close, and he regretted bitterly that he had allowed Marie to force him to take a share of the precious sherry.
Faint and fainter waxed the light, and the two victims of Mme. Lorraine's malignity began to realize that the horrors of Cimmerian darkness were about to be added to those of starvation and isolation. ”

“ He saw Remond watching him with sarcastic eyes, and said, indifferently:
"I can sing a little from a habit of helping my sisters at home. And I belong to a glee club. If these scant recommendations please you, I will make an effort to alarm New Orleans with my voice."
"You need not decry your talents. I am sure you will charm us," she said; and Van Zandt dropped indolently upon the music-stool. ”

“ Washington should turn out to be somebody else, and YOU should turn out to be somebody else—" And she stopped short, and hid her wet eyes in the window-curtains.
"Poor girl!" said Major Van Zandt to himself. "This trouble has undoubtedly frenzied her. Fool that I was to lay up the insult of one that sorrow and excitement had bereft of reason and responsibility! 'Twere better I should retire at once, and leave her to herself," and the young man slowly retreated toward the door. ”

“ Major Van Zandt leaned against a bowlder, and watched her with admiring eyes.
"You'll never find flowers that way," she said at last, looking up to him impatiently. "Go down on your knees like an honest man. There are some things in this world worth stooping for."
The major instantly dropped on his knees beside her. But at that moment Mistress Thankful found her posies, and rose to her feet. "Stay where you are," she said mischievously, as she stooped down, and placed a flower in the lapel of his coat. "That is to make amends for my rudeness. Now get up." ”

“ Nor was this military criticism entirely a private one. When the courier arrived at headquarters the next morning, it was to bring the report that Mistress Thankful Blossom, after assisting her lover to escape had fled with him. "The renegade is well off our hands," said Gen. Sullivan gruffly: "he has saved us the public disgrace of a trial. But this is bad news of Major Van Zandt."
"What news of the major?" asked Washington quickly. ”

“ He had dashed us alongside a field of over-ripe wheat, through a long avenue of stunted willows, across an acre of barbed-wire entanglements, and into the town of Zandt, its gray walls gleaming in the splashing sunlight which had just followed the customary morning shower, its claret-red [169] roofs burnished like the morocco binding of old books.
We stepped stiffly from the car on to the slippery cobblestones and stared about us.
“The Germans shell Zandt almost every day,” said the Commissaire coolly. “That French battery we just passed will probably wake them up. ”

“ With the king on one side and the duke on the other, Zenda felt itself the center of all Ruritania. We jogged gently through the town, but set our horses to a sharper pace when we reached the open country.
"You want to catch this fellow Johann?" asked Fritz.
"Aye, and I fancy I've baited the hook right. Our little Delilah will bring our Samson. It is not enough, Fritz, to have no women in a house, though brother Michael shows some wisdom there. If you want safety you must have none within fifty miles." ”

“ There are but few streets or houses near the port, the principal part of Zaandam extending along the banks of the Zaan.
Zaandam, is a larger Broek, handsomer and less puerile than little Broek.
The houses are built of wood, with one storey, and pointed façades, and are almost all painted green. There are whole streets where no other color is seen, looking as if they were make of box and myrtle. The whole place has an air of cheerfulness and freshness that is very attractive; and although it is a rich and populous city, it seems a village. ”

“ CARPENTER PETER OF ZAANDAM.
On the banks of the river Zaan, about five miles from Amsterdam, lies the picturesque little town of Zaandam, with its cottages of blue, green, and pink, half hidden among the trees, while a multitude of windmills surround the town like so many monuments to thrift and enterprise. Here, two centuries ago, ship-building was conducted on a great scale, the timber being sawed by windmill power, while the workmen were so numerous that a vessel was often on the sea in five weeks after the keel had been laid. ”

“ To such men as you, one can't do a favour. Do you think there are a sea of Kazelias in the world? You are all thick-headed. You can't read a letter. I only took fifty-four roubles on the luggage. I had to recoup myself because I lost money through sending you to London. I calculated my loss, and took only what was due to me.' I showed the letter to Grunbach, and he sent again to Rotterdam, and they answered they knew nothing of a Kazelia,—I must pay the £8 13s. Well, what was to be done? The weather grew colder. Hunger we had become inured to. ”

“ Then, with heads bowed and arms crossed, Zantut and his followers advanced across the blue tiles toward the Presence that sat cross-legged on a lofty dais at the farther end of the hall. When within five paces of the dais, all except Zantut halted, and kneeling, formed a semicircle.
Zantut advanced to the first step, knelt, and carefully scrutinized the approach to the high place. With his finger tips he caressed the polished stones.
"The holy place has not been defiled," he announced. "The dust of the weary centuries has not been disturbed. The Master sits dreaming of the Night of Power ”

“ Let her at least identify this holy darvish."
"That also would be well," admitted Zantut. "But my lord knows as well as I do what value to set on the fancy of a woman. She saw him sitting in the souk, smoking, and he pleased her. Is that to be taken against the revelations of an angel to a devout and holy man?"
Zantut paused, stroked his beard, and continued: "Cousin of the Prophet, I am a peacemaker. I would not for the very treasure of Suleiman cause contention between you and your son. My disciple may have been deceived; or what he saw might have been a snare of Iblis. ”

“ Yet Zandilli was impatient to win the spear, especially as the Queen had spoken of another who was to win the Princess Lala ere two moons had risen.
He therefore begged to be taken back to the Queen, who sat her She again upon throne. She greeted him with a smile, and laid her lily-white hand upon his bronze arm. "We have decided," she said, "upon your first task. My councillors have made it no easy one. You have seen the black chamber? It is the one blot upon our home. If you can make it as beautiful as each of the others, half your task will be fulfilled. ”

“ Gee! He's great!"
"I once saw some wretched things of his, though," said Wyndham. "I remember—at a modern exhibition at Venice."
"I grant there are one or two rotten ones," conceded Sadler; "but they're interesting, if you take them in the right way—experiments that failed, though they were fine as he had them in him. Well—then I did a bit of a tour all over the shop—came along through Holland—made cart-loads of sketches; and then I came right along here. Been getting lots of fun in London; been round with the boys, and had a rattling good time. ”

“ If he had only married Rosalie Zander, who still lived on, loving him! These Russian and Bavarian minxes were neurotic, fickle, shifting as sand; the daughters of Judæa were sane, cheerful, solid. Then he thought of his own sister married to that vulgarian, Friedland. He saw her, a rosy-cheeked girl, sitting at the Passover table, with its picturesque ritual. How happy were those far-off pious days! And then he felt a cold wind, remembering how Riekchen had hidden her face to laugh at these mediæval mummeries, and to spit out the bitter herbs, so meaningless to her. ”