Worthing

“ As a residential town, pure and simple, Worthing is rapidly overtaking its great rival, and successful business men make their money in the one and live in the other, as though the Queen of Watering-places were an industrial centre. Worthing has a great advantage in its fine old trees; as a matter of fact the place would be unbearably arid and glaring without them in the summer months, for it has undoubtedly proved its claim to be the sunniest south coast resort ”

“ And Worthing determined to study the things she liked, and borrowed some reference-books from a library that told of the mysteries of the book-lovers' cult. And when Hooker heard Worthing speak of the rare first edition of Poe's Tamerlane, he almost fainted with surprise!
"Don't you want to look over father's books, Mr. Hooker," asked Miss Blaythwaite. "You may go in the library as usual, and make yourself at home. I have added a few things myself!" ”

“ And now, dear Mr. Worthing, I will not intrude any longer into a house of sorrow. I would merely beg you not to be too much bowed down by grief. What seem to us bitter trials are often blessings in disguise.
Miss Prism. This seems to me a blessing of an extremely obvious kind. ”

“ But I have a complaint when a man like Worthing comes into my house—who hardly ever takes the trouble to ask me into his—and behaves as if he had the right to over-ride me. I hate that detestable swaggering high-handed way of his, carrying off everything as if nobody had a right to exist except himself. He's no use to anybody here—hardly ever comes to church, and takes his own way in scores of matters that he ought to consult me about ”

“ Lord, what a boon it is to have this house opened up again!"
"They're a cheery lot," said Grafton. "You'll like the boy too, I think. He'll be home soon now. I suppose there are some people about for them all to play with. I hardly know anybody in this part of the world."
"There are some of the nicest people you'd meet anywhere," said Worthing. "They'll all be coming to call directly. Oh, yes, we're very fortunate in that way. ”

“ An admirable idea! Mr. Worthing, there is just one question I would like to be permitted to put to you. Where is your brother Ernest? We are both engaged to be married to your brother Ernest, so it is a matter of some importance to us to know where your brother Ernest is at present. ”

“ The white road to Worthing from Washington first climbs the hills and then descends steadily to the sea. The first village is Findon, three miles distant, but one passes on the way two large houses, Highden and Muntham. ”

“ Worthingham’s resources would have affected him on the other hand as an odious ordeal, some glare of embarrassment and exposure in a circle of hard unhelpful attention, of converging, derisive, unsuggestive eyes. ”

“ Worthingham’s own polished and prosperous little person—to smile, it struck him, with her smile, to twinkle not only with the gleam of her lovely teeth, but with that of all her rings and brooches and bangles and other gewgaws, to curl and spasmodically cluster as in emulation of her charming complicated yellow tresses, to surround the most animated of pink-and-white, of ruffled and ribboned, of frilled and festooned Dresden china shepherdesses with exactly the right system of rococo curves and convolutions and other flourishes, a perfect bower of painted and gilded and moulded conceits. ”

“ When all was ready, Hugh went for Adah, and taking her in his arms carried her to the upper chamber, where, the fire was burning brightly, casting cheerful shadows upon the wall, and making Adah smile gratefully, as she looked up in his face, and murmured,
“God bless you, Mr. Worthington! Adah will pray for you to-night, when she is alone. It’s all that she can do.” ”

“ If Hugh Worthington lurks on the Pacific Coast until he has made the coup, I will find him out there. You can be in hiding near, ready to appear, and then boldly claim your rights. Arthur Ferris will probably be back in New York City in charge, and Worthington will yield rather than have the world, his beloved daughter, and all society know of his inward baseness. ”

“ That broke out from every corner as the high pitch of interest, and with a candour that—no, certainly—he had never seen equalled; every particular expensive object shrieking at him in its artless pride that it had just "come home." He met the whole vision with something of the grimace produced on persons without goggles by the passage from a shelter to a blinding light; and if he had—by a perfectly possible chance—been "snap-shotted" on the spot, would have struck you as showing for his first tribute to the temple of Mrs Worthingham's charming presence a scowl almost of anguish. ”

“ There was a hesitancy on the part of the mother, and then she said, “’Lina staid in Saratoga. She is very happy there. She will come if you grow worse. She sent her love.”
Poor Mrs. Worthington! She mentally asked forgiveness for this fabrication. ’Lina had sent no love, and the mother only said so because she must say something. Wistfully, eagerly, Hugh’s eyes sought hers for a moment, and then filled with tears which dropped upon the pillow. ”

“ Worthington's popularity as a preacher, sustained in London with no diminution for nearly forty years, is unexampled among liberal dissenters of any school, and was the undisguised envy of more radical thinkers. ”

“ Family opinion was against her, innocent and beautiful as she looked lying there—so helpless, so still, with her long-fringed lashes shading her colorless cheek, and her little hands folded upon her bosom, as if already she were breathing the promised prayer for Hugh. Only in Mrs. Worthington’s heart was there a chord of sympathy. She couldn’t help feeling for the desolate stranger; and when, at her own request, Hannah placed Willie in her lap, ere laying him by his mother, she gave him an involuntary hug, and touched her lips to his fat, round cheek. ”

“ There was joy at the cottage then, old Uncle Sam stealing away to his accustomed place of prayer down by the Willow Spring, where he so oft had asked that Miss Adah might be spared, and where now he knelt to thank the God who had restored her. Joy at Spring Bank, too, when Mrs. Worthington wept tears almost as joyful as any she had shed when told that ’Lina would live. Joy, too, unobtrusive joy in Hugh’s heart, a joy which would not be clouded by thoughts of the heavy bills which he must meet ere long. ”

“ One wouldn't do that for the world—a rudimentary discretion forbade it; and yet this check from elementary undiscussable taste quite consorted with a due respect for them, or at any rate with a due respect for oneself in connection with them; as was just exemplified in what would be his own, what would be poor dear old White-Mason's, insurmountable aversion to having, on any pretext, the doubtless very queer spectre of the late Mr Worthingham presented to him. ”

“ Worthington, where Henry Lincoln and William Bender still remained, the one as a practising lawyer and junior partner of the firm, and the other as a student still, for he had not yet dared to offer himself for examination. Study was something which Henry particularly disliked; and as his mother had trained him with the idea, that labor for him was wholly unnecessary, he had never bestowed a thought on the future, or made an exertion of any kind. ”

“ Not ’Lina, most assuredly, for Alice’ reminiscences of her were not of the literary kind; nor yet Mrs. Worthington, kind, gentle creature as she seemed to be. Who then but Hugh could have pored over those pages? And with a thrill of joy she was turning from the corner, when the patter of little naked feet was heard upon the stairs, and a bright mulatto child, apparently seven or eight years old, appeared, her face expressive of the admiration with which she regarded Alice, who asked her name. ”

“ She has her own set, and you are not much acquainted; besides, I shall feel easier to know you are up stairs. Go, do. He’s waiting for me,” and in the black eyes there was a gleam which Mrs. Worthington always obeyed.
With a sigh, and a lingering glance at the comfortable sofa, where Mrs. Richards sat in solemn state, she left the comparatively cool parlor, and climbing the weary flights of stairs, entered her hot, sultry room, and laying her head upon the table, cried a grieved kind of cry, as she recalled ’Lina’s selfishness and evident desire to be rid of her. ”

“ Worthington, the only person who comes to mind as one to whose care I can entrust you.”
“But, mother, I may not be wanted there,” and Alice’s lip quivered painfully. “Adaline is a young lady now, and Hugh, what of him, mother? What is he?”
Mrs. Johnson could not tell; neither did she know if her darling would be welcome, but money, she knew, had a charm, and she replied to Alice’s queries,
“You will not go empty handed, nor be a burden to them. They are poor, and money will not come amiss. We can but try at all events, and if they object, Mr. Liston will do the best he can for you. ”

“ He could trust her on that score, and so the dastardly coward affected to sneer at what he called her primness, charging ’Lina to be careful what she did, if she did not want a lecture, and asking if there were any ragged children in Kentucky, as she would not be happy unless she was running a Sunday school!
“She can teach the negroes! Capital!” and ’Lina laughed so loudly that Mrs. Richards joined them, laughing, too, at what she did not know, only “Miss Worthington had such spirits; it did one good; and she wished Anna was there to be enlivened. Write to her John, won’t you?” ”

“ Anne married Meshach Smith, formerly of Jesus College, Cambridge, and afterwards vicar of Hendon in Middlesex; the other two died in infancy.
By his contemporaries Worthington was generally regarded as an Arminian; but his sympathies were rather philosophical than theological, and he shared with the school of the Cambridge Platonists (to which he stood in close relation) their dislike to dogmatic intolerance. ”

“ William Worthington, D.D., an eminent theological writer, was born in Meirionethshire in 1703. He received his education at the Grammar School, in Oswestry, and Jesus’ College, Oxford, where he proceeded p. 79through his degrees. Having taken orders, he obtained various preferment from Dr. Hare, then bishop of St. Asaph, he was rector of Hope, and Darowen, and had a prebendal stall in the Cathedral of St. Asaph, and another in York, to which he was appointed by Archbishop Drummond, whose chaplain he had been. ”

“ But one’s own poor relics and odds and ends are one’s own at least; and one has—yes—come back to them. They’re all I have in the world to come back to. They were stored, and what I was paying—!” Miss Rasch wofully added.
He had possession of the small old picture; he hovered there; he put his eyes again to it intently; then again held it a little behind him as if it might have been snatched away or the very feel of it, pressed against him, was good to his palm. “Mrs. Worthingham’s things? You think them beautiful?”
Cornelia did now, if ever, show an odd face. ”

“ But they are very aristocratic, and family position is sometimes better than money. On the whole, I prefer it to wealth. It will be something in this wise,” she continued; “after the honeymoon is past, and my lord hears nothing about bank stock, negroes or lands, he’ll come straight out, and say, ‘Mrs. Richards, I supposed you were rich!’ while Mrs. Richards would retort, ‘And I thought you were rich!’ Don’t you see, it will be an equal thing, and I shall take my chance.”
Meantime the doctor sat in his own room near by, thinking of ’Lina Worthington, and wishing she were a little more refined. ”

“ Extreme kindness and affection must mark every action, and in the end we shall succeed. If John is satisfied and happy, that is all I ask. Asenath and Eudora think you had better persuade her to come home with you for a few days before going to New York and I concur in their wishes. The house will 200seem dull to her, no doubt, after Saratoga gayeties but we will make it as pleasant as possible.
“‘When will you come? Asenath has sent the curtains in the north chamber to the laundress, but will go no farther until we hear for certain that Miss Worthington is to be our guest. Write immediately. ”

“ May I see him, please?”
“First tell what he is to you and to this child,” ’Lina rejoined, her black eyes flashing with a gleam, before which the brown eyes for an instant quailed; then as if something of a like spirit were called to life in her bosom, Adah answered calmly,
22“Your brother might not like me to tell. I must see him first—see him alone.”
“One thing more,” and ’Lina held back her mother who was starting in quest of Hugh, “are you a wife?”
“Don’t, ’Lina,” Mrs. Worthington whispered, as she saw the look of agony pass over Adah’s face. “Don’t worry her so; deal kindly by the fallen.” ”

“ John Worthington," edited by James Crossley, Esq., F.S.A. (Chetham Society) , contains many letters from Hartlib to Worthington, between 1655 and 1662, but not this one. Mr. Crossley's Diary and Correspondence of Worthington, so far as it has gone, is one of the best edited books known to me, the footnotes being very nuggets of biographical lore; and it is to be regretted that the connected notices of Worthington, Hartlib, and Durie, postponed by Mr. Crossley until the work should be completed, have not yet appeared. ”

“ Worthingham had no data. He almost hugged that word,—it suddenly came to mean so much to him. No data, he felt, for a conception of the sort of thing the New York of “his time” had been in his personal life—the New York so unexpectedly, so vividly and, as he might say, so perversely called back to all his senses by its identity with that of poor Cornelia’s time: since even she had had a time, small show as it was likely to make now, and his time and hers had been the same. Cornelia figured to him while he walked away as, by contrast and opposition, a massive little bundle of data ”