Larkspur

“ Larkspur smiled.
"Lord bless your innocence!" he replied. "How do I know it? Why, ain't London the natural place for him to be in? Ain't London the place where every one that has done a successful trick goes to enjoy it, and every one that has missed his tip goes to hide himself? I'll take my davy, though it's a thing I don't like doing in general, that Carrington's back in town, living with his mother, as right as a trivet."
So Lady Eversleigh and Jane Payland travelled up to town again, and took up their old quarters. And Mr. Larkspur returned, and resumed his room and his accustomed habits. ”

“ The morning mail brought a letter from Searles acknowledging my congratulations on his play. While my enthusiastic praise pleased him, he was very scornful of my suggestions about available stars, and seemed even more depressed than when he talked to me.
"It's impossible for me to plan other work. 'Lady Larkspur' ate the soul out of me. I'm done; finished, clean out of the running. There's only this to report. I had a letter from Dalton saying that some time ago he asked at the hotel where he sent the script of 'Lady Larkspur' to know whether Miss Dewing had sent a forwarding address. ”

“ But it may well be that Lord Larkspur has an intrigue of his own with his secretary, Miss Devereux, and, if their big scene is to take place on the stage too, the hall has got to be cleared for them in some way. Your natural instinct will be to say, "Exeunt Fluffinose and Lady Larkspur, R. Enter Lord Larkspur and Miss Devereux, L." This is very immature, even if you are quite clear as to which side of the stage is L. and which is R. You must make the evolutions seem natural. Thus:—Enter from the left Miss Devereux.
She stops in surprise at seeing Lord Arthur and holds out her hand. ”

“ The foot-farer, trudging along the outskirts of the village, is often shut out by close stone or board barriers from any sight of the flowering country gardens, the luxuriance of whose blossoming is promised by the heads of the tall hollyhocks that bend over and nod pleasantly to him; but the traveller on the coach could see into these old gardens, could feast his eyes on all the glorious tangle of larkspur and phlox, of tiger lilies and candytuft, of snowballs and lilacs, of marigolds and asters, each season outdoing the other in brilliant bloom. ”

“ Larkspur, much pleased with her boarder’s readiness, and she waited in the parlor for him to come down again.
A few minutes later Gabe Flecker came rushing down into the parlor with an excited manner and a flushed face.
“Goodness, Mr. Gibson, what is the matter?” questioned the alarmed landlady. To her he had introduced himself as Ralph Gibson, from Rochester.
“Matter? Matter enough, madam! I had laid aside fifty dollars in one of my trunks only yesterday, and to-day it is gone—every dollar of it is gone!”
“Is it possible!” ejaculated Mrs. Larkspur, in dismay. ”

“ If you'd rather defer the business till to-morrow morning—"
"I would rather not defer it," answered Lady Eversleigh; "I am ready to listen to you for as long a time as you choose. I have been anxiously expecting some tidings of your movements."
"Very likely, ma'am," replied Mr. Larkspur, coolly; "I know you ladies are given to impatience, as well as Berlin wool work, and steel beads, and the pianoforte, and such like. But you see, ma'am, there's not a living creature more unlike a race-horse than a police-officer. ”

“ Do come and help; it's really no use dressing up till we've settled what we're going to do. Can't anybody think of a good Word?
Miss Larkspur. We ought to make a continuous story of it, with the same plot and characters all through. We did that once at the Grange, and it was awfully good—just like a regular Comedy!
Mr. Whipster. Ah, but we've got to hit on a Word first. Come—nobody got an idea? NIGHTINGALE, you're not much use over there, you know. I hope you and Miss ROSE have been putting your heads together? ”

“ I am what I make myself or choose to be. I pray you, let that suffice."
My face was wet with perspiration, and my heart thumped wildly. For either I was stark, staring mad, or these were lines from Searles's "Lady Larkspur," the manuscript of which was carefully locked in my trunk.
"That should be spoken a trifle more slowly, and with the best air of unpremeditatedness you can put into it," Mrs. Farnsworth was saying. "You can work it out better when you've memorized the lines. It's141 immensely effective having the last scene come back to the big boulder on the mountainside. ”

“ And in its big assembly room, whose windows looked out over the rows and rows of railroad tracks with their solid wall of motionless freight cars, to the river and open fields beyond, the girls of Troop Six held their Christmas party.
Even before the last holly wreath had been fastened in place the guests began to come--whole families at a time, in holiday attire that to Pat made them look like pictures in some fairy-tales; old men and old women, younger men with hands still grimy from their work, younger women with tired faces and babies in their arms ”

“ Pat, wanting to free her soul before her whole world of whatever guilt might lie between it and Captain Ricky's approval, loudly clapped her hands and demanded that they all listen while she confessed to them that she was sure she had once even pinched the forward she was guarding and that "she had been a perfect peach not to tell!" ”

“ Through the window the sun shone with added brightness and warmth and delicious earthy smells greeted the girls.
"Oh, isn't it just grand to be alive? Let's dress fast and be the first ones down!" And Pat, because the sun and the birds and the spring freshness made her very happy, also burst into a gay snatch of song. Aunt Pen and Capt. Allan were late for breakfast. When the others had almost finished they came in from a brisk walk through the park, with red cheeks and amazing appetites. ”

“ Her eyes were brimming with tears, but through them she was smiling like the others! Pat was too young to guess the tragedy of sacrifice that might lie behind those tears, but she was not too young to sense the common joy and thankfulness and privilege they shared! So she squeezed the worn fingers and smiled back into the little old woman's face!
"Here come the men from the Works!" cried Aunt Pen, standing on tiptoe to look over the crowd. The shipbuilders had passed on. Along surged the approaching host, fifteen thousand strong, men and women! ”

“ The discordant blasts of their band was heavenly music to their ears! Old men stepped along like boys; scattered through the lines were hundreds of girls in their working overalls and caps.
Renée was puzzled. These men, many of them, did not look like the Americans she had seen! One of them shouted out in a strange tongue, but he carried a banner that said "We are for the U.S.A." Perhaps, like herself, he had come to America for refuge and was giving now of his strength and loyalty to the mother country he had sought.
"Can't we march, too, Aunt Pen?" cried Pat. ”

“ Then, under Captain Ricky's direction, the trimming of the tree began. This was a surprise even to the girls of the Troop, who sat with bright eyes watching. For each one in the room who had had a son, a brother, a husband or a father in the service of the country, was given a silver star to hang upon the branches of the tree. One by one they went up--at first shyly, then proudly; bent old men with uncertain step, young wives, blushing, with children tugging at their skirts ”

“ Pat threw both arms about her neck in a strangling hug. "Oh, Aunt Pen, it will be such fun and I'll really, truly try to learn Latin and I won't stuff things behind the wardrobe any more--that was my half of the room, you know! And maybe, with Renée to help me, I can soon speak French as well as Celia!"
"And I'll offer a prize for the best loaf of bread that one of my girls makes!" added Mr. Everett.
"No, there shall be no prizes in this school! If one of the girls can do something better than the other then she is going to help the other! ”

“ And at the end of the first week Aunt Pen had allowed the girls to make apple pies which Mr. Everett had declared were better than any apple pies he had ever tasted!
"And ten dollars a week!" Pat went on, "I will be rich very soon! Now we must find something for Renée!"
"Perhaps I might earn a little arranging flowers in shop windows; often I helped Colette Voisin, who had a stall at St. Cloud, and I loved it!"
"Just the thing!" cried Pat, delighted with anything out of the ordinary. "Most of the flower shops look hideous and they'd probably pay you well! ”

“ Almost involuntarily the man's fingers went to the small cross of honor he wore on his tunic. "And we fellows get pretty well acquainted, you know--just lying hours in a shell hole next to another man is like knowing him for years and years back home. It was like that with this Emile LaDue and me. I found out that his father and mother had been born in America--they were both dead, for one night he told me that if anything happened to him--and there was plenty of chance for something to happen any minute--it would leave his little sister all alone in the world. ”

“ And beneath that, emphasizing its warning with a skull and crossbones, was another sign: "No Admittance."
"Three knocks and then a quick one is the signal," explained Pat mysteriously; "and you and Sheila and Peggy and Keineth and True Scott are the only ones that will know it--except, of course, Ren and me!"
Pat was unlocking the door as she spoke. She threw it open proudly. "This isn't going to be any silly club!" she explained. "Everyone that comes here must work! That desk over there is mine and Renée has this table because she can paint on it and the light's good. ”

“ I believe he just doesn't want a body to know he's in the house! Hark!" Holding hands tightly they listened; a soft pad-pad overhead made them certain someone was moving about in the room above.
"I wish they'd hurry and come and arrest him," Sheila groaned. And scarcely had the words left her lips when the front doorbell gave out its rusty clang.
Mrs. Quinn met three men at the door who briefly explained that they came with a warrant for the arrest of one Mr. John Marx who they thought might be found in her house. With a nodding of the head that set awry all sorts of little gray curls, Mrs. ”

“ But the lark is the most untrustworthy creature under heaven. However much it might freeze at night, the frost was forgotten at the first sunbeam; and the lark soared, singing, high over the heath, until it bethought itself that it was hungry.
Then it sank slowly down in wide circles, singing, and beating time to its song with the flickering of its wings. But a little way from the earth it folded its wings and dropped like a stone down into the heather.
The lapwing tripped with short steps among the hillocks, and nodded its head discreetly. ”

“ I can rope and throw Lark any time he gets to horning in where he shouldn't, and I promise you that he isn't going to pull open any hornet's nest just to see how it's made. And Lark's right about one thing, anyway. The best thing to do, now it's pretty well known where we stand, is to ride in and show we aren't ashamed of ourselves. The Willis boys were afraid, Maw. They tried to run, and then when they were caught, they begged like whipped pups. ”

“ When the hired rig from Smoky Ford swung through the gate and on up to the very porch of the house, with Bud grinning impudently at his world from the driver's seat and a strange young woman wedged in between him and a young man who bore all the earmarks of a pilgrim, and three huge trunks lashed to the back of the vehicle to say that the visitors had come to stay, Lark stood in the doorway and stared dazedly, with never a word of welcome for the strangers. ”

“ An illustration of these forms and their relations may be taken from the common shore lark and its varieties, although it is fair to say that some of these variations have never been regarded as species.
The shore lark, or horned lark (Otocoris alpestris) , ranges widely over the colder and open parts of Europe, Asia, and America. The common form, called alpestris, is familiar to most of us. In the Northwestern region, as far south as Utah, is another form, equally large, but paler in color (eucolæma) . In the prairie region the lark is of the ordinary color, but smaller (praticola) . ”

“ As Larkington helped her into the carriage, the wind blew the soft tress against his lips; it felt like a caress, and he sprang after her, taking the reins from the strange groom who held them.
"I have lost my man; it's a most extraordinary thing; he is usually the most steady, punctual creature. I am afraid that Mr. Gray Grosvenor treated the coachmen too well, and that Stirrups did not show himself because he knew it would be better for him not to be seen," said Larkington. ”

“ I tell you, sir, you'll make nothing of me; and now you may as well withdraw. There are two things in this house you don't like, though you'll have enough of them one day; there's death up stairs, sir, and some thing very like the devil here."
Mr. Larkin thought he saw signs of an approaching access of the Dingwell mania, so he made his most dignified bow, and at the door remarked, "I take my leave, sir, and when next we meet I trust I may find you in a very different state of mind, and one more favourable to business." ”

“ Larkens, or Larkins, or Larkme, or Larkus—Sir J.H. is not able to read which or what; but he is happy to observe, at all events, that, end how he may, the gentleman begins with a "lark!" which Sir J.H. always does, when he can. ”

“ It is something to have known youth and gayety, enthusiasm and a bravery which flies in the face of day, and now—something to have lost them. The Lark has lived and now dies well, and, to some at least, the time of its irregular appearance will no longer be a red-letter day.”
The Philosopher.—“And now The Lark announces its end. It was the freshest, purest breath of air that ever blew across the atmosphere of letters.”
London Times.—“So unique in literature and illustration, we are sorry to note that its publication is to be suspended. ”