Varick

“ A woman or a ghost? A creature of this world or a fantasy of the night? Wherever she was, whatever she was, he loved her and he wanted her. And in that hour of his agony her eyes had told that she loved him.
It was eight months before they met again. Varick's friends thought him changed, and quite possibly he was. The insouciant boy of twenty-eight had become a man, a sympathetic, serious, thoughtful man, still given to sports and out-door life, but more than all devoted to a search which had taken in no end of out-of-the-way European towns. ”

“ Varick had first flouted the idea with a laugh, and then carefully explained that while women, collectively, were "all right," as individuals he had "no use for 'em"; after which he had smiled his own surprisingly seraphic smile and returned to the cleaning of the various guns on which his deepest affections were then centred. From all this it will be seen that Varick was not the person to have unusual psychological experiences. ”

“ Varick reflected grimly that it was not the "amusing things" which occasioned his perturbation, but he kept his reflection to himself and smiled down at her sunnily.
"For example," she continued, "as we really do not exist here, and as we are not visible to these people, we cannot do anything that will affect them in any way or attract their attention. ”

“ The mellow contralto and the clear tenor formed a soft and pleasant duet, but Varick noticed that not a head in the crowd around them turned their way, nor did an eye of all the peasant throng give them a glance. He spoke of this to his companion as they continued their walk
"The most surprising thing to me in all this—unusualness," he said, "is the cool manner in which these beggars ignore us. You know how such people gape usually; but there's not a soul of all these people who seems to know we're here."
She looked at him with a gentle amusement and sympathy in her brown eyes. ”

“ Her escort seemed equally astonished. The gentleman, a middle-aged, medium-sized person with pale, myopic eyes, pale, drooping mustaches, and thin, colorless hair, gave vent to a grunt, then a sniff. The lady's buglelike tones, however, at once submerged this.
Her surprise at finding Varick there was not only startled, it was scandalized, one saw.
"You don't mean you're living here?" she demanded. Afterward, having given her bonnet a devastating jab with one hand, she remarked eloquently: "My Lord!"
Varick in spite of himself had to smile. ”

“ She found Mr. Varick pleasantest when he was asking after her sick mother, and telling her what New York gayeties used to be before the beginning of his long European absence. He had a tripping, lightsome mode of speech, that somehow suited the jaunty upward sweep of his white mustache. He would oscillate both hands in a graceful style as he talked. Elegant superficiality flowed from him without an effort. It needed no keenness to tell that he had been floating buoyantly on the top crest of the wave, and well amid its froth, all his life. He made no pretense to youth ”

“ It signified hopelessness, almost despair, Darkness began to fall, and an early moon hung pale in the heavens. Somewhere in the thick bushes near them a nightingale began to sing. To Varick's excited fancy there was a heart-breaking pathos in the soft notes. ”

“ Its radiance contrasted vividly with the lower city's usual dingy dimness, though Varick gave little heed to that. He bustled onward, his face grim. Even when across the street a man stepped out from a doorway and followed [124] him, matching his step to Varick's, he gave it scant attention. To be watched, to be followed, was not any novelty now. It neither worried him nor made him wonder why he was the subject of that espionage. The night before, shoved under his door at Mrs. Tilney's, he had found the card of no less a person than his one-time friend, David Lloyd. ”

“ A fourth rider, topping the roadside fence, flew into view. His horse instantly she recognized. It was one from the Blairs' stable, a thoroughbred that Bab [261] often had seen Linda riding. The next instant she had recognized its rider. It was Varick!
Bab's heart beneath her trim linen jacket gave a thump, and she sat staring at him in wonder. The color, a moment later, poured into her face. Already, before he saw her, Varick's mount had bucked into the road and, crossing it at a stride, was gathering himself to take the fence beyond. Varick pulled him up sharply. ”

“ Until the time that Varick dared speak out about the matter, Franks and Arnold were preserving the same appearance of opinion—they “thought well of him as a man.”
Then Varick honestly spoke out. He got hold of the Jewish Franks and told him all that he knew and suspected about Smith. The evidence was too overwhelming for Franks to scoff at. Any man scoffing at Varick’s tale would himself be under suspicion. Varick was given to understand that he had changed Franks’ opinion of Smith. ”

“ Bertie nodded, his face very grave. "Don't I know?" he said. "I'm as old as you are! Since I've met her I've broken into a cold perspiration sometimes over the thought that some other girl might have got me before she came. It often happens, you know," he added. Miss Varick favored him with a piercing glance, but it was clear that he was speaking with entire sincerity and with an utter absence of memories which might have checked his artless prattle.
"A man," he continued, oracularly, "flirts and flutters about a bit, and loses his head a few times, perhaps. ”

“ He laughed his blithe, bass laugh. "Oh," he said, "I know a lot of things in a loose, haphazard way. We newspaper men can't escape general information, Mrs. Varick. We breathe it in, naturally, and in spite of ourselves."
"But tell me," Pauline now asked, "are these other people to whom I shall soon be presented as clever as you are?" ”

“ Varick said as he rose. "The fact is I'm not used to having much money to look after, and I don't want to make an ass of myself—" He smiled, and Waythorn could not help noticing that there was something pleasant about his smile. "It feels uncommonly queer to have enough cash to pay one's bills. I'd have sold my soul for it a few years ago!"
Waythorn winced at the allusion. He had heard it rumored that a lack of funds had been one of the determining causes of the Varick separation, but it did not occur to him that Varick's words were intentional. ”

“ She felt within her shame a fierce self-condemnation. The fact she did not blink—she had flung herself at Varick's head, and Varick virtually had refused her! She had cheapened [272] herself! With a fierce struggle to hold back the flood of tears, the hurt that flung its signals in her eyes, she gathered up the reins, then spoke to the waiting cob. The cart rolled swiftly up the road. Speeding along, it turned a bend in the wood's tunneled greenery. Behind it in the road the thoroughbred and its rider were left standing. ”

“ He wanted to go on talking, telling Murray about Ethel, but Murray didn't hear him. He had pushed a chair between Bertie and Miss Varick, had slipped into it, and now, very much at his ease, was giving all his attention to his hostess, who, in her turn, was obviously and wholly absorbed in him. Bertie, neglected, alone, studied them in silence, caught at last a look that flashed between them, felt a moment's pang, and then unselfishly rejoiced.
"By Jove! they've got it, too! Good for Janet!" his thoughts went on. "But I wish," he couldn't help adding, "it hadn't been Murray!" ”

“ Northward another flame reddened on the hills, then another, fire answering fire.
"What the devil is this?" growled Nick. "These are no times for Indians to talk to one another with fire."
"Get into your saddle," said I, "and we shall ride by Varick's, for I've a mind to see what will-o'-the-wisps may be a-dancing over the great Vlaie!"
So the tall lad took his leave of his little pigeon of Pigeon-Wood, who seemed far from willing to let him loose; and I made my adieux to Jessica, who stood a-pouting; and we mounted and set off at a gallop for Varick's, by way of Summer House Point. ”

“ Varick joined him hurriedly. "Look!" said Mr. Mapleson.
His tone was dead, his air quite impassive, as he held out to Varick the visiting card. Varick glanced at it swiftly. Then with Mr. Mapleson at his heels he went up the stairs to see the man who waited in Mrs. Tilney's parlor. It was Lloyd, Beeston's son-in-law.
He was in evening dress, but in his air was nothing that accorded with that festive attire. Planted [163] on the hearthrug, his hat in one hand, his other tugging at his pale mustache, he gave Varick and Mr. Mapleson as they entered a sudden, piercing look. ”

“ Then, of an impulse, her fingers closed on mine firmly, and she looked me straight in the eye.
"You are a good comrade; welcome to Varicks', cousin Ormond!"
Our hands fell apart, and, glancing up, I perceived a group of youthful barbarians on the stairs, intently watching us. As my eyes fell on them they scattered, then closed in together defiantly. A red-haired lad of seventeen came down the steps, offering his hand awkwardly.
"I'm Ruyven Varick," he said. "These girls are fools to bait men of our age--" He broke off to seize Dorothy by the arm. ”

“ May 18th, 1826, the Sixth Yearly Conference took place in Zion Church, New- York. The Preachers that attended this meeting were, James Varick, Superintendent, Christopher Rush, Leven Smith, Peter Vanhas, Timothy Eatto, Abraham Thompson, Charles Anderson, William Carman and George Tredwell. They had an agreeable time. Charles Anderson and George Tredwell were ordained Deacons, and Timothy Eatto ordained Elder. James Varick was re-appointed Superintendent; Christopher Rush appointed to New-York; William Carman and George Tredwell, to Long Island circuit ”

“ Kindelon bowed and smiled in every direction. He appeared unconscious that everybody did not bow and smile with just the same reciprocal warmth.
"This is the most luxurious way of enjoying the opera," he exclaimed, with an upward gesture of both hands to indicate the walls of the commodious box. "But, ah! I am afraid that it possesses its drawbacks as well! One would be tempted to talk too much here—to discountenance the performance. Now, I am an irreclaimable talker, as Mrs. Varick can testify; she has hardly done anything but listen since the beginning of our acquaintance. ”

“ Varick's antiquated stoop. Most of them were now married; they had made their market, as Pauline's deceased mother would have said, and it is written of them with no wanton harshness that they had in very few cases permitted sentiment to enact the part of salesman. There is something about the fineness of our republican ideals (however practice may have determinedly lowered and soiled them) that makes the mere worldly view of marriage a special provocation to the moralist. ”

“ Haskett's sincerity of purpose made him invulnerable, and his successor had to accept him as a lien on the property.
Mr. Sellers was sent to Europe to recover from his gout, and Varick's affairs hung on Waythorn's hands. The negotiations were prolonged and complicated; they necessitated frequent conferences between the two men, and the interests of the firm forbade Waythorn's suggesting that his client should transfer his business to another office. ”

“ There's no use pounding against stone walls. The reading public will have what it wants, and if I don't give it to them, somebody else will be only too glad to take my place.... By the way, Mrs. Varick, do you think that Miss Poughkeepsie is going to marry that Scotch earl—Lord Glenartney?"
"I can't tell you, really," said Pauline. She had made up her mind to dislike Miss Cragge very much indeed. At the same time she felt a certain pity for her.
Kindelon began to press quietly forward, and Pauline, who still had his arm, by no means resisted this measure. ”

“ After considerable consultation, they resolved to appoint Abraham Thompson, James Varick, John Dungy and George Collins a committee, to call on Doctor Phoebus, an old Elder of the Methodist Episcopal Church, (who was said to be neutral in the case of the division) and William M. Stilwell, to gain some further information on the subject, and to obtain from William M. Stilwell a copy of the resolution of the last General Conference, which had caused the schism in the white Methodist Church. ”

“ Half an hour later, when he returned, their heads were still close together; he went below, and Marjorie and her father had the deck to themselves until it was time to dress for dinner. It was their first intimacy; like many another father and daughter, they had never become acquainted.
More than once in his talk Mr. Varick mentioned Jacob Cleaver, the multi-millionaire from Nevada who, he said, bade fair to quadruple his fortune by reason of the misfortunes of the New York crowd. ”

“ Paris was so big, and so many men were always doing such funny things there.
The conclave on these shores heard and sympathetically shuddered. The "new set" had now healed all its old feuds. New York society was in a condition of amicably cemented factions. The Briggs girls and the Snowe girls had married more or less loftily, and had proved to the Amsterdams and others that they were worthy of peaceable affiliation. "Poor Pauline Varick" began to be a phrase, though a somewhat rare one, for without anybody actually wakening to the fact, she had been living abroad four whole years. ”