A Confidential Agent, Volume 2Chatto & Windus, 1881 - English fiction |
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Common terms and phrases
answered apprehension believe better Bleak Street Brail Butt cabman called cause Cavendish Grove circumstances Confidential Agent course cried dear diamonds door doubt Durham exclaimed expressed eyes face fact fear feel fellow felt Frank Barlow gentleman girl give hand happened head heard heart Heaven honest hope husband innocence inquired JAMES PAYN jeweller John Rutherford kleptomania knew Lady Pargiter Lady Pargiter's ladyship lawyer looked Lucy Mortlock madam Major Lovell marriage matter Matthew Helston mean mind Miss Selwood Miss Thurlow Moor Street morning murder murmured never night observed once Paris parure Patty perhaps person Phoebe Mayson pistol possession present receipt replied returned Sabey Sabey's Sally seemed seen sister speak spoke Star and Signet suppose sure suspicion tell thief things thought tion told tone took Uncle Stephen voice wife wish woman word young lady
Popular passages
Page 101 - Madge.' They were all beautifully written out, and every paper appeared to be arranged with reference to the others. But, dear as had been his hopes in that direction, his heart — or at least the core of it — had lain elsewhere. Every letter — they were not many — she had ever written to him was found there, tied up in two packets. In one were those she had addressed to him as her lover, and dated from the Rectory : in the other the few she had had occasion, since their marriage, to write...
Page 132 - And he looked,' as the lodging-house maid had observed, 'like one as knows the police is after him.' ' These things are terrible,' said Mr. Barlow after a long silence, ' but still they may be mere coincidences. Circumstantial evidence ig at once the strongest and weakest of proofs. You saw with your own eyes and heard with your own ears, and are therefore the better judge ; still By-the-by, you went to the registrar's office, of course ? ' ' No ; the woman did not indicate it ; they had only told...
Page 28 - The twenty pounds shall be paid you," chimed in Mr. Signet. "I must have a hundred," said Miss Selwood. It was plain that the jeweller would have consented to this, had not the Detective interposed. "Look here, my dear," he said; "I can't allow my employer to throw away his money by the pailful because it is your sweet pretty face as asks him to do it; when we get to three figures we mean business, into which the gentler feelings cannot be permitted to enter. It seems to me that it would be fair...
Page 37 - cried Mr. Signet, the expression of his face changing from gratified pride to an irritation that was almost truculent. ' What's the matter with it ? ' ' Nothing, my dear sir : in its own way it's perfect ; but for a newspaper it's too good.' Mr. Signet's brow relaxed : he himself thought that there was a waste of force in composing such an essay for a penny daily ; but still, a man of genius can't suit his style to the lower classes : moreover, he wanted to see it in print. ' It's all true, and...
Page 131 - But, is it a fact? It appears to me incredible.' ' Then, how must it appear to me?' returned Uncle Stephen bitterly. ' You shall judge, however, for yourself.' Then he told him all that had happened on his expedition that morning, even to the very words used by the two landladies, of which he had taken note. In this respect the identification of the man Butt with Matthew seemed to he complete. The personal description of him — middle- or even under-sized — ' not so tall as yourself ' (Mr. Durham)...
Page 53 - UNCLE STEPHEN'S vIEW. IT sometimes happens, though very rarely, that some great passenger-ship, bound for America or the Indies, will go down in the waste of ocean and leave not a vestige of her existence behind her : and even then in the minds of those who have had their dear ones entrusted to her treacherous keeping there is hope. She may have been delayed by contrary winds, or beaten out of her course ; then when such time elapses as to forbid that supposition, it is possible — just possible...
Page 145 - No doubt, no doubt,' repeated Uncle Stephen mechanically. ' Of course, if Sabey could convince her, it would be a great consolation ; but from all one has heard of Lady Pargiter there can be little hope of that ; and I fear — I greatly fear — that she may say things to wound Sabey.
Page 123 - I am not sure whether I know him or not. What sort of man was he ? ' ' Well, sir, I never saw him more than a minute or two together, and that only on two occasions. He was not as tall as yourself by many inches, I should say: rather a heavy- built man, with short brown hair. His manner was peculiar ; it may have been my fancy, but he always seemed to me to be desirous of concealment.' Mr. Durham could hardly repress a groan ; the description, though vague, tallied with his nephew's appearance ;...
Page 113 - Not at all, not at all,' interrupted Mr. Barlow with some precipitation. ' Your knowledge of human nature especially fits you to unravel a skein so delicate and — oh, dear me! — no, I had much rather leave the matter in your hands, Mr. Durham.' CHAPTER XXXVII. TWO LANDLADIES. BLEAK STREET, Bloomsbury, is not an attractive spot, whether viewed from the side of the comfortable or of the picturesque. It is tolerably wide, but the houses are low and of mean exterior, and very dingy. At what periods...
Page 182 - MR. FRANK BARLOW had as cheerful a way of regarding his disappointments in business as Mr. Samuel Signet ; neither was he deficient in egotism ; but what placed him at a great disadvantage as compared with the jeweller was that he was unable to regard a matter of the affections as a business transaction. He was not of a romantic turn of mind ; he had never addressed a sonnet to his mistress's eyebrow, nor, indeed, ever written a word of poetry in his life ; he was, in fact, in most respects of a...