Trunnion

“ This gun I has here is only to let a man see his limit afore it's too late. If I didn't show it, he might go too far, and then—well, I reckon ye know just what might happen, being as Trunnell has told you what a gentle, soft-hearted fellow I am. He's a rum little dog, that fuzzy-headed fellow, Trunnell. Did ye ever see sech arms in anything but an ape? 'Ell an' blazes, he could squeeze a man worse than a Coney Island maiden gal. ”

“ Thus Turnus: “Then begin, and try thy fate:
My message to the ghost of Priam bear;
Tell him a new Achilles sent thee there.”
A lance of tough ground ash the Trojan threw,
Rough in the rind, and knotted as it grew:
With his full force he whirl’d it first around;
But the soft yielding air receiv’d the wound:
Imperial Juno turn’d the course before,
And fix’d the wand’ring weapon in the door.
“But hope not thou,” said Turnus, “when I strike,
To shun thy fate: our force is not alike,
Nor thy steel temper’d by the Lemnian god.” ”

“ As for the Princess Trognon, she arrived in a little machine which was only a cubit in height, and carried in a litter. King Brun went to meet her. When he saw her so deformed, seated in a bowl, her skin covered with scales like that of a cod-fish, her eyebrows meeting, her nose large and flat, and her mouth reaching to her ears, he could not forbear saying, "Truly, Princess Trognon, it becomes you to despise my Torticoli. Know that he is very ugly; but to speak the truth, he is less so than you." ”

“ Trunk, "that, as the ladies had so much curiosity, they did not go and see him in his bath."
"Well, the fact is," replied Mr. Parrot, "that they did try, but the monster would only just show them the tip of his nose."
"He has become quite a nuisance to the neighbourhood," said Mr. Trunk.
"I wonder," observed the conveyancer, "if the Alderman could put him down?"
"Put him down!" growled Trunk again; "the fellow's too fat. You might as well try to put down a whale!" ”

“ Which when Turnus perceived, he cried to Faunus, saying, “O Faunus, if I have kept holy for thee that which the men of Troy have profaned, hold fast this spear.” And the god heard him; nor could Æneas draw it forth. But while he strove, Juturna, taking again the form of Metiscus, ran and gave to Turnus his sword. And Venus, perceiving it, wrenched forth the spear from the stump. So the two stood again face to face.
Then spake Jupiter to Juno, where she sat in a cloud watching the battle, “How long wilt thou fight against fate? What purpose hast thou now in thy heart? ”

“ Thorne, with his generally exalted ideas as to family, should speak in this cold way as to a projected marriage between the heir of Greshamsbury and his brother's bastard child!
'But, doctor,' repeated the squire.
The doctor put one leg over the other, and began to rub his calf. 'Squire,' said he, 'I think I know all that you would say, all that you mean. And you don't like to say it, because you would not wish to pain me by alluding to Mary's birth.'
'But, independently of that, what would they live on?' said the squire, energetically. 'Birth is a great thing, a very great thing. ”

“ The sooner the quicker, eh? Supposen the question was asked you, Mr. Rolling, what'd you say, hey? Why is Mr. Trunnell like a lady's bouquet, hey? Why is the little man like a bunch of flowers? Don't insult him, Mr. Rolling. The sanitary outfit of the cabin is all right. 'Tain't that. No, split me, it ain't that. Think a minute."
Trunnell walked to and fro without a word, while the captain grinned. The fellow at the wheel, Bill Spielgen, a square-cut man with an angular face and enormous hands, stared sullenly into the binnacle.
"It's because he's a daisy," rapped out the skipper. ”

“ And Trunnell went into the forward cabin with the apparition following eagerly in his wake.
What a strange little giant he was, this mate! "Discipline is discipline," he would say, and no man got anything for nothing aboard his ship. ”

“ Mr. Mudge broke in upon the silence. "I have no doubt that the truants lived there, and that the new road begins at the foot of the steps," he said plaintively; "but neither statement adds materially to my knowledge."
Pamela and Warrisden turned to him and laughed. It was true that they had for a moment forgotten Mr. Mudge. The memory of the star-lit night, in last July, when from this balcony they had watched the truants slip down the steps and furtively call a cab, was busy in their thoughts. ”

“ Grundy—that is,'the World'—without injury to any one. We must suppose that that footman of Trevanion's was out of his mind,—it is but a charitable, and your good father would say a philosophical, supposition. All great knavery is madness! The world could not get on if truth and goodness were not the natural tendencies of sane minds. Do you understand?"
"Not quite."
"Why, the footman, being out of his mind, invented this mad story of Trevanion's illness, frightened Lady Ellinor and Miss Trevanion out of their wits with his own chimera, and hurried them both off, one after the other. ”

“ But even were it so, I do not see why I should object.'
'Not object!'
'As I said before, Frank is, to my thinking, an excellent young man. Why should I object?'
'Dr. Thorne!' said her ladyship, now also rising from her chair in a state of too evident perturbation.
'Why should I object? It is for you, Lady Arabella, to look after your lambs; for me to see that, if possible, no harm shall come to mine. If you think that Mary is an improper acquaintance for your children, it is for you to guide them; for you and for their father. Say what you think fit to your own daughter ”

“ Thorne, in the few words which he spoke to his niece before he left Boxall Hill, had called himself an old man; but he was as yet on the right side of sixty by five good years, and bore about with him less of the marks of age than most men of fifty-five do bear. ”

“ It is my inmost, my only desire, that the flesh may quickly follow the spirit that has already passed. For the last fifteen days I have been living at Traunkirchen, the pearl of Traunsee.... All the comforts that a man could wish for are here to make my life happy—peace, solitude, beautiful scenery, invigorating air, and everything that could suit the tastes of a hermit like myself. ”

“ Trunnell seldom bragged, and we crowded around, looking for quick results.
"A little bit o' trunk a-breakin' the backs o' a pair o' fellows as has the impudence to say they are men an' question the discipline o' the ship!" he said, with a loud grunt of disgust. "Stan' clear an' let a man have a chanst. If it's gold, an' ye're right, it'll rattle an' jingle fast enough; an' I hopes then ye'll be satisfied." ”

“ Thorne was hardly prepared. 'Go to?' he repeated. 'Oh, some member of the family, I believe. There are plenty of nephews and nieces.'
'Yes; but will it be divided, or all go to one?'
'Probably to one, I think. Sir Roger had a strong idea of leaving it all in one hand.' If it should happen to be a girl, thought Lady Arabella, what an excellent opportunity would that be for Frank to marry money!
'And now, doctor, I want to say one word to you: considering the very long time that we have known each other, it is better that I should be open with you. ”

“ The father of Trognon was enraptured to find so advantageous an opportunity of getting her married; for everybody is not anxious to burden themselves with a cripple. He accepted the proposals of King Brun, and though, to speak the truth, he had not been greatly struck by the portrait of Prince Torticoli, which had been brought to him, he had it, in its turn, placed in a magnificent gallery. ”

“ Dr. Thorne had come to the house somewhat before dinner-time, at Mr. Gresham's request, and was now sitting with the squire in his own book-room—so called—while Mary was talking to some of the girls up stairs.
'I must have ten or twelve thousand pounds; ten at the very least,' said the squire, who was sitting in his usual arm-chair, close to his littered table, with his head supported on his hand, looking very unlike the father of an heir to a noble property, who had that day come of age. ”

“ This hand alone shall right the gods and you: [Pg 157]
Our injured altars, and their broken vow,
To this avenging sword the faithless Turnus owe."
Thus while he spoke, unmindful of defence,
A winged arrow struck the pious prince.
But, whether from some human hand it came,
Or hostile god, is left unknown by fame:
No human hand, or hostile god, was found,
To boast the triumph of so base a wound.
When Turnus saw the Trojan quit the plain,
His chiefs dismayed, his troops a fainting train,
The unhoped event his heightened soul inspires:
At once his arms and coursers he requires ”

“ He was managing an estate which owed Sir Louis an enormous sum of money, and, therefore, he could not afford to despise the baronet; but he thought to himself, what a very abject fellow the man would be if he were not a baronet, and had not a large fortune!
And then the squire came in. His broad, honest face was covered with a smile when he saw the doctor.
'Thorne,' he said, almost in a whisper, 'you're the best fellow breathing; I have hardly deserved this.' The doctor, as he took his old friend's hand, could not but be glad that he had followed Mary's counsel. ”

“ Grantly to her son when they were alone together.
"About what property?"
"About this property, or any property; you know what I mean;—something to show that you are interested about his affairs. He is doing the best he can to make things right." After dinner, over the claret, Mr. Thorne's terrible sin in reference to the trapping of foxes was accordingly again brought up, and the archdeacon became beautifully irate, and expressed his animosity,—which he did not in the least feel,—against an old friend with an energy which would have delighted his wife, if she could have heard him. ”

“ But it never occurred to her that her favourite quintain was but a modern copy of a Norman knight's amusement, an adaptation of the noble tourney to the tastes and habits of the Saxon yeomen. Of this she was ignorant, and it would have been cruelty to instruct her.
When Mr Thorne saw the tear in her eye, he repented himself of his contemptuous expression. By him also it was recognised as a binding law that every whim of his sister was to be respected. He was not perhaps so firm in his observances to her, as she was in hers to him. ”

“ Thorne's order. Mr. Thorne has been a hunting man all his life."
"But he have guv' up now, your reverence. He ain't a hunted these two years."
"I'm sure he wouldn't have the foxes trapped."
"Not if he knowed it, he wouldn't, your reverence. A gentleman of the likes of him, who's been a hunting over fifty year, wouldn't do the likes of that; but the foxes is trapped, and Mr. Henry'll be a putting it on me if I don't speak out. They is Plumstead foxes, too; and a vixen was trapped just across the field yonder, in Goshall Springs, no later than yesterday morning." ”

“ Thorne was only a second cousin; and, therefore, though he was entitled to talk of the blood as belonging to some extent to himself, he had no right to lay claim to any position in the county other than such as he might win for himself if he chose to locate himself in it. This was a fact of which no one was more fully aware than our doctor himself. His father, who had been first cousin of a former squire Thorne, had been a clerical dignitary in Barchester, but had been dead now many years. ”

“ Mr. Slope, great as he was with embryo grandeur, still came to see the signora. Indeed, he could not keep himself away. He dreamed of that soft hand which he had kissed so often, and of that imperial brow which his lips had once pressed, and he then dreamed also of further favours.
And Mr. Thorne was there also. It was the first visit he had ever paid to the signora, and he made it not without due preparation. Mr. Thorne was a gentleman usually precise in his dress, and prone to make the most of himself in an unpretending way. ”

“ Yes, sir, wimmen have been my ruin, an' I'm that scared o' them I can raise them afore their topmast is above the horizon. Sink me, if that ain't one." And he leered at the figure of the third mate, whom we knew as Mr. Bell.
"What would a woman be doing here as third mate?" I asked; for although I had come to the same conclusion some days before, I had said nothing to any one about it.
"That's the old man's affair," said Trunnell; "it may be his wife, or it may be his daughter, but any one can see that the fellow's pants are entirely too big in the heft for a man. ”

“ When he had spare hours in the afternoon he liked to walk to the Brown Wood or down to the sea. Once or twice he bicycled over to Pendragon and had tea with the Trojans. Sir Henry Trojan was a man who had appealed to him immensely. In spite of his size and strength and simplicity, his air of a man who lived out of doors and read little, he had a tremendous poetic passion for Cornwall. He showed Traill a great many things that were new to him. He began to feel a sense of color; he saw the Brown Wood, the twisting, gray-roofed village, the sweeping, striving sea with fresh vision. ”

“ Trunnell straightened up quickly, staggered for an instant, and then pitched forward over the trunk, uttering a fierce oath.
Mrs. Sackett screamed. Jennie burst into a wild fit of laughter. Chips and Gunning stood staring with open mouths and eyes, while Trunnell picked himself up, with the trunk handle in his iron fist.
"Faith, an' ye are a good strong man," said the carpenter. "Ye'd make a fortune as a porter a-liftin' trunks at a hotel."
"He can lift a little thing like that," said Jennie, mimicking the mate's tone to perfection. ”