United States or Algeria ? Vote for the TOP Country of the Week !
In accordance with these views they engaged Messrs. George and John Rennie to be the engineers of the railway; and Mr. Charles Vignolles was appointed to prepare the plans and sections. The line which was eventually adopted differed somewhat from that surveyed by Mr. Stephenson. The principal parks and game-preserves of the district were carefully avoided.
He already had in his possession the other twenty pounds which poor Mountjoy had brought with him. So he let the victim go. Moody went first, and Vignolles then demanded the performance of a small ceremony. "Just put your name to that," said Vignolles. It was a written promise to pay to Captain Vignolles the exact sum of two hundred and twenty-seven pounds on or before that day week.
"Well, well; pounds and fives," said Vignolles. "It's better than pottering away at ecarte at a pound a game. Of course a man could win something if the games were to run all one way; but where they alternate so quickly it amounts to nothing. You've got the first dummy, Scarborough. Where will you sit? Which cards will you take?
Vignolles and Ericsson recommended the adoption of a central friction rail, against which two horizontal rollers under the locomotive, pressing upon the sides of this rail, were to afford the means of ascending the inclined planes. The directors felt themselves quite unable to choose from amidst this multitude of projects.
Vignolles emptied the bottle of champagne, in which one glass was left, and sat himself down with the document in his hand. "Just the same fellow," he said to himself; "overbearing, reckless, pig-headed, and a bully. He'd lose the Bank of England if he had it. But then he don't pay! He hasn't a scruple about that. If I lose I have to pay. By Jove, yes!
You may think me very odd, but it's a kind of thing I never do." It was the longest speech he made through the entire evening. Vignolles reminded him that he did in fact play on credit at the club. "The committee look to that," he murmured, and shook his head.
The walk to this most ancient monastery in Russia passes pleasantly by the side of a wood; then opens a view of the vast plain beneath, intersected by the river Dnieper, over which is flung the great suspension-bridge built by the English engineer, Charles Vignolles, at the cost of £350,000.
"What's it to be: twos and tens?" said Captain Vignolles, arranging the cards and the chairs. "Not for me," said Mountjoy, who seemed to have been enveloped by a most unusual prudence. "What! are you afraid, you who used to fear neither man nor devil?" "There is so much in not being accustomed to it," said Mountjoy. "I haven't played a game of whist since I don't knew when."
"You're in for a good thing to-night, I feel as certain of it as though the money were in your pocket." Mountjoy, though he would not smoke, did drink. What would they have, asked Vignolles. There was champagne, and whiskey, and brandy. He was afraid there was no other wine. He opened a bottle of champagne, and Mountjoy took the tumbler that was filled for him.
I was awfully sorry for you, and think that they treated you uncommon harshly. As you've paid your money, of course they'll let you in again." In answer to this, Mountjoy had very little to say: but the interview ended by his accepting an invitation from Captain Vignolles to supper for the following evening.
Word Of The Day