United States or Central African Republic ? Vote for the TOP Country of the Week !
How inferior in wit, in acuteness, in stratagem, was Douce to Vargrave; and yet Douce had gulled him like a child! Well said the shrewd small philosopher of France "On peut etre plus fin qu'un autre, mais pas plus fin que tous les autres."* * One may be more sharp than one's neighbour, but one can't be sharper than all one's neighbours.
The last time they had met was in the death-chamber of Florence; and the old man forgot for the moment the anticipated dukedom, and the dreamed-of premiership, and his heart flew back to the grave of his only child! They saluted each other, and shook hands in silence. And Vargrave whose eye was on them Vargrave, whose arts had made that old man childless, felt not a pang of remorse!
"Your father was a Cameron; I have known some of that name." "No relation of ours: my mother says we have none living." "And have we no chance of seeing Lady Vargrave in B -shire?" "She never leaves home; but I hope to return soon to Brook-Green." Maltravers sighed, and the conversation took a new turn.
A chain of accidents suddenly acquainted me with the rest." Here Vargrave pretty faithfully repeated what he had learned from the brewer at C , and from Mr. Onslow; but when he came to the tacit confirmation of all his suspicions received from Mrs. Leslie, he greatly exaggerated and greatly distorted the account.
He accordingly stopped, and writing upon a piece of paper, "Dear Howard, send up for me the moment you arrive: I shall be with Mr. Maltravers au second" Vargrave wafered the affiche to the door, which he then left ajar, and the lamp in the landing-place fell clear and full on the paper. It was the voice of Vargrave, in the little stone-paved antechamber without, inquiring of the servant if Mr.
"Hear!" echoed Vargrave; and the approving sound went round the table. Lord Raby rose. "Gentlemen, fill your glasses; a health to our distinguished neighbour!" The company applauded; each in his turn smiled, nodded, and drank to Maltravers, who, though taken by surprise, saw at once the course to pursue.
To flowers those charming children of Nature, in which our age can take the same tranquil pleasure as our youth Lady Vargrave devoted much of her monotonous and unchequered time. She seemed to love them almost as living things; and her memory associated them with hours as bright and as fleeting as themselves. "My dear friend," said Mrs. Leslie, "I have news for you. My daughter, Mrs.
Your Lordship's most obedient and most obliged humble servant, GUSTAVUS DOUCE. To the Right Hon. LORD VARGRAVE, etc. This letter sharpened Lord Vargrave's anxiety and resolve; nay, it seemed almost to sharpen his sharp features as he muttered sundry denunciations on Messrs. Douce and Co., while arranging his neckcloth at the glass. Sol.
Strange as it may seem, despite her terror, he was dearer to her in that hour as she believed, of gloom and darkness than in all the glory of his majestic intellect, or all the blandishments of his soft address. "What has happened to you?" she said, approaching him again; "have you seen Lord Vargrave? Speak to me, only speak!"
And plans, and drawings, and explanations, and rent-rolls, would justify him in spending morning after morning alone with her. Thus cogitating, Lord Vargrave suffered Mr. Douce to stammer out sentence upon sentence, till at length, as he rang for coffee, his lordship stretched himself with the air of a man stretching himself into self-complacency or a good thing, and said, "Mr.
Word Of The Day