Paten

“ The corners of the Griffin's mouth trembled.
"Now then," said the Lion, sternly, "no emotion."
"No! no! Lal," faltered the Griffin, "but when I think of that lovely saying, 'Everybody's Loved by Some one'——"
"There are exceptions to every rule," snapped the Lion.
"Oh," sniggered the Griffin, "then it does apply even to me, for I myself am an exception. There is only one of me," ended the Griffin eagerly, "only one in all London."
"Some things don't bear repeating," said the Lion. ”

“ So prolific and involved were his medical phrases that men like John Engle and Struve began to ask themselves if Patten understood his case. When, after twelve hours, the wounded man awoke to a troubled consciousness Patten's relief was scarcely less visible than that of Norton's friends. Patten felt his prestige taking unto itself new wings and immediately grew more wisely verbose than ever. It was a rare privilege to have the most talked of and generally liked man of the community under his hands; it was wine to Patten's soul to have that man show signs of recovering under his skill. ”

“ They have banished the Aneityumese from dark Tanna. And now they want to kill Missi Paton and me! Our great King, protect us, and make their hearts soft and sweet to Thy Worship. Or, if they are permitted to kill us, do not Thou hate us, but wash us in the blood of Thy dear Son Jesus Christ. He came down to Earth and shed His blood for sinners; through Him forgive us our sins and take us to Heaven—that good place where Missi Gordon the man and Missi Gordon the woman and all thy dear servants now are singing Thy praise and seeing Thy face. ”

“ Pat looked at Patty and Patty looked at Pat, mutely questioning. Should they venture on the cream puff story or not? Then Pat surprised a wicked twinkle in the captain’s eye and his decision was made. Turning to Bateese, he extended a frigid hand, bowed in haughty silence and stalked out, dragging the small boy in his wake. As Patty was about to follow she met the quizzical gaze of the captain fixed upon her and her eyes were led by his to the shambling bull dog at her heels. ”

“ Have you ever read Virgil?”
“No; at least only a few easy bits.”
“I wish you joy, then.”
“Why? what sort of a fellow is Mr Paton?”
“Mr Paton? he’s not a man at all; he’s a machine; he’s the wheel of a mill; he’s a cast-iron automaton; he’s—”
“The abomination of desolation spoken of by Daniel the prophet,” observed Henderson, who had caught a fragment of the conversation. “I’m in his form, too, worse luck!”
“Hush! shut up, Henderson, and don’t be profane,” said Kenrick. “Well, Evson, you’ll soon find out what Paton’s like; anything but ‘a patten of bright gold’ at any rate.” ”

“ It was all most curious, and though somewhat gruesome, Patty was fascinated at the strange sight.
“Ask him if he likes it,” she said to Peter, and when asked, he answered at great length, and very earnestly.
“What does he say?” asked Patty, impatiently.
“He declares,” said Peter, “that to be used in this decorative way is the greatest honour a Capuchin monk can have. To gain it, a monk must have been in the monastery for twenty-five years, and he’s awfully afraid he’ll die before he earns his right to be a fresco.”
“Ugh!” said Milly, with a shiver, “I hate it! Let’s go out into the sunlight.” ”

“ Pointing to his warriors, he cried, "We are many! We are strong! We can always protect you."
"I am not afraid," she calmly replied.
He then led us to that chestnut tree, in the branches of which I had sat during a lonely and memorable night, when all hope had perished of any earthly deliverance, and said to her with a manifest touch of genuine emotion, "The God who protected Missi there will always protect you."
She told him that she had no fear of that kind, but explained to him that we must for the present go to Aniwa, but would return to Tanna, if the Lord opened up our way. ”

“ Secretly Patty thought the new hat was lovely just as it was, but her plan that morning was to humour the testy old lady and, if possible, make her forget her neuralgic pains.
So she took the hats, and sat down to rip and retrim them.
Meantime, Mrs. Van Reypen instructed her maid to practise dressing her hair in the fashion Patty had done it.
But the maid was not very deft in the art, and soon Patty heard Mrs. Van Reypen shrilly exclaiming:
“Stupid! Not that way! You have neither taste nor brains! Place the braid higher. No, not so high as that! Oh, you are an idiot!” ”

“ Whilst the sailor continued to stare and mutter, the Lion's eyes could be seen to shoot out the most brilliant green fires; they looked like the flashing of two wonderful green emeralds.
The Lord Mayor quickened his pace almost to a run. "Look, look! what's the thing that man is flourishing about in his hand?"
"It's a big sailor's knife," replied the Writer uneasily.
"Quick, quick!" shouted the Lord Mayor, "he is going to do Lal some harm with it! Good heavens! he's swarmed up the pedestal and he is positively contemplating cutting Lal's eyes out. ”

“ Van Reypen seated herself again in front of her dressing mirror, and with gestures worthy of Madame Villard herself, Patty placed the hat on her head.
“It’s most becoming,” began Patty, when Mrs. Van Reypen interrupted her.
“Becoming?” she cried. “It is dreadful! It is fearful. It makes me look like an old woman!” ”

“ It was generally believed that they had gone in a canoe to Tanna or Erromanga. But one morning, as I began my work at my house alone, the brave Nelwang appeared at my side!
"Hillo!" I said, "where have you come from? and where is Yakin?"
"I must not," he replied, "tell you yet. We are hid. We have lived on cocoanuts gathered at night. Yakin is well and happy. I come now to fulfil my promise: I will help you, and Yakin will help Missi Paton the woman, and we shall be your friends. I have ground to be built upon and fenced, whenever we dare ”

“ Here he attended the parish school, till, in his twelfth year, he was put to his father's trade of stocking-making. Paton soon freed himself from the family workshop, and began to support and educate himself. He put himself for six weeks — all he could afford — to Dumfries Academy; he served under the surveyors for the ordnance map of Dumfries; he hired himself at the fair as a farm labourer ; he taught, when he could get opportunity, in schools, and even for a time set up a school for himself ; but every spare moment was devoted to serious study. ”

“ The fan was only a few steps from the door, but a rolling-stone [63] lay in wait for the lame ankle, and gave it so severe a turn that Patty sank down a miserable heap upon the ground. She sat there a moment to recover herself, and then crawled back to the door-steps. Seated here, she gazed ruefully at the fan, a white spot upon the dusky walk, and, coddling her aching ankle in her hands, wondered how she was to regain her room.
At that moment brisk steps sounded on the walk, approaching the spot where she sat. A tall form defined itself amid the darkness, pausing before her. ”

“ Elizabeth, startled, lifted up her head, and disclosed to Patty's gaze in the candle-light a pale, and strained, and careworn face, "I was saying my prayers," she replied, with a dazed look. "Why are you out of bed, my darling? What is the matter?"
"That is what I want to know," said Patty, sitting down on the bed. "What is the matter with us all? What has come to us? Nelly has been crying ever since I put the light out—she thought I couldn't hear her, but she was mistaken—sobbing and sniffing under the bedclothes, and blowing her nose in that elaborately cautious way—"
"Oh, poor, dear child!" ”

“ The sky was cloudless, the grass and foliage yet untouched by frost, but beginning to show russet tints of ripeness. The only sound which came to the maiden's ears was the soft purling of the brook beneath her feet as it flowed among the sedges and alders. Now and then a dragon-fly flitted like a flash across; and occasionally a minnow, with the gleam of a dark back or red-tipped fin, darted through the dusky water.
Patty was out of sympathy with the peaceful scene. Such a restless mood had seized her as she seldom experienced. ”

“ I and the Statue folk are going to give an evening party, the grandest you have ever seen, or will ever be likely to see."
"Oh, Lal, can I come and bring Christine?"
"Who is Christine?" inquired the Lion, cautiously; "you know we cannot admit everybody."
"Christine is my little sister. At least," added Ridgwell, "Christine is older than I am, but she is little all the same."
"I see."
"And she would so enjoy it, Lal," pleaded Ridgwell.
"Very well," said the Lion, "both come just this once. Now for home.
Come," commanded the Lion, "jump up. ”

“ The sight of Patty, hastily scrambling a clean apron over her old frock, as she waited for the train with her tray of fruit, made the young lady leave the phaeton and go to meet the child, asking, with a smile,--
"Where is the black-eyed sister? Not ill, I hope.
"No, ma'am; she's watering the sheep. She's so strong she does it better 'n I do, and I sell the baskets," answered Patty, rejoicing secretly in the clean faded apron that hid her shabbiness. ”

“ Patty, my child, you’re dreaming. That old carving is as solid as Gibraltar and that old griffin isn’t very angry anyway. He just looks rather purse proud and haughty.”
“But it’s the only griffin that’s near a rose,” persisted Patty. “And he is angry, compared to the happy-looking griffin opposite to him.”
“I believe the girl is right,” said Bob, who was already examining the carvings in question. “The rose doesn’t look movable, exactly, but it 240 is not quite like this other rose. It’s more deeply cut.” ”

“ So, Ridgie, you walk next to Lal, and I will walk the other side of you."
"A most reasonable child," muttered the Lion, "really quite reasonable."
"Did you bring the sulphur tablets?" asked the Lion mysteriously.
"Yes, here they are. Christine has them wrapped up in a packet," explained Ridgwell; "but, Lal, what can you want with sulphur tablets? You promised me we should both be asked to the party, but sulphur tablets do seem such an odd thing to want as a start. I have thought over it, and Christine has thought over it, and we cannot really think what they can be for." ”

“ Mrs Patten does not admire this excessive click-clicking activity. Quiescence in an easy-chair, under the sense of compound interest perpetually accumulating, has long seemed an ample function to her, and she does her malevolence gently. She is a pretty little old woman of eighty, with a close cap and tiny flat white curls round her face, as natty and unsoiled and invariable as the waxen image of a little old lady under a glass-case ”

“ After a period of thought, Patty decided on her scheme of trimming for the two hats before her, and then set blithely to work.
One was to be a simple style of decoration, the other, much more complicated. Taking up the elaborate one first, Patty went at it with energy, and with an assured touch, for she had the effect definitely pictured in her imagination and was sure she could materialise it. ”

“ The costume was one of the prettiest Patty had ever worn, and was exceedingly becoming. There was a short, quilted skirt of white satin and a panniered overdress of gay, flowered silk, caught up with blue bows. A little laced bodice and white chemisette completed the dress. Then there was a broad-leafed shepherdess hat, trimmed with flowers, and under this Patty’s gold curls were bunched up on either side and tied with blue ribbons. She wore high-heeled, buckled slippers, and carried a long, white crook, trimmed with blossoms and fluttering ribbons. ”

“ Now the "she" of Patty's remarks was her clever cousin Charlotte who had taken home the "it"—no other than broken-headed, torn-to-pieces old Lulu Jane herself—to make therefrom, as she declared to Patty the day before, "the finest rag doll she ever saw!"
"I do b'leeve she'll bring it home this very afternoon," happy Patty kept saying to herself, as she flew out of doors after breakfast and worship was over. Everything seemed lovelier than ever this one fair morning. ”

“ Two men helped Mr. Paton to his bedside, as I found him lying very low in fever, yet he waited on Mr. Johnston affectionately. For some time, while he was in Mr. Paton’s hands, I could scarcely keep myself up at all. We thought it was from the laudanum I had taken. I had to throw myself down every few minutes.... For some weeks after, I was almost constantly bedfast. I ate little; still I felt no pain, but very stupid.... At times, we have services with the Natives. For a week past, we have scarcely gone to bed without fears. ”

“ Van Reypen I’d be scared to death!”
“Oh, he isn’t so awfully dignified,” laughed Patty. “That’s just his manner at first. When you know him better, he’s as jolly as anything. But hurry up, girls, the minutes are flying.” ”

“ I never put any article of metal in my puddings or pies."
Duchess looked aghast, and tilted up the pie-dish.
"I have only four patty-pans, and they are all in the cupboard."
Duchess set up a howl.
"I shall die! I shall die! I have swallowed a patty-pan! Oh, my dear Ribby, I do feel so ill!"
"It is impossible, my dear Duchess; there was not a patty-pan." ”

“ If it bows any of my readers 4under as deep and certain a confidence as mine, that in “God’s hand our breath is, and His are all our ways,” my task will not be fruitless in the Great Day.
On the 24th May, 1824, I was born in a cottage on the farm of Braehead, in the parish of Kirkmahoe, near Dumfries, in the south of Scotland. My father, James Paton, was a stocking manufacturer in a small way; and he and his young wife, Janet Jardine Rogerson, lived on terms of warm personal friendship with the “gentleman farmer,” so they gave me his name, John Gibson ”