Complete Short Works of George MeredithMeredith, George
General
Complete Short Works of George Meredith
Meredith, George
English fiction -- 19th century
Van Diemen stood fronting him; the accumulation of stores of petty
injuries and meannesses which he had endured from this man, swelled
under the whip of the conclusive exhibition of treachery. He looked so
black that Annette called, “Papa!”
“Philip,” said Tinman. “Philip! my best friend!”
“Pooh, you’re a poor creature. Come along and breakfast at Elba, and you
can sleep at the Crouch, and goodnight to you. Crickledon,” he called to
the houseless couple, “you stop at Elba till I build you a shop.”
With these words, Van Diemen led the way, walking alone. Herbert was
compelled to walk with Tinman.
Mary and Annette came behind, and Mary pinched Annette’s arm so sharply
that she must have cried out aloud had it been possible for her to feel
pain at that moment, instead of a personal exultation, flying wildly
over the clash of astonishment and horror, like a sea-bird over the
foam.
In the first silent place they came to, Mary murmured the words: “Little
Jane.”
Annette looked round at Mrs. Crickledon, who wound up the procession,
taking little Jane by the hand. Little Jane was walking demurely, with a
placid face. Annette glanced at Tinman. Her excited feelings nearly rose
to a scream of laughter. For hours after, Mary had only to say to her:
“Little Jane,” to produce the same convulsion. It rolled her heart and
senses in a headlong surge, shook her to burning tears, and seemed to
her ideas the most wonderful running together of opposite things ever
known on this earth. The young lady was ashamed of her laughter; but
she was deeply indebted to it, for never was mind made so clear by that
beneficent exercise.
ETEXT EDITOR’S BOOKMARKS:
Adversary at once offensive and helpless provokes brutality
Causes him to be popularly weighed
Distinguished by his not allowing himself to be provoked
Eccentric behaviour in trifles
Excited, glad of catastrophe if it but killed monotony
Generally he noticed nothing
Good jokes are not always good policy
I make a point of never recommending my own house
Indulged in their privilege of thinking what they liked
Infants are said to have their ideas, and why not young ladies?
Lend him your own generosity
Men love to boast of things nobody else has seen
Naughtily Australian and kangarooly
Not in love--She was only not unwilling to be in love
Rich and poor ‘s all right, if I’m rich and you’re poor
She began to feel that this was life in earnest
She dealt in the flashes which connect ideas
She sought, by looking hard, to understand it better
Sunning itself in the glass of Envy
That which fine cookery does for the cementing of couples
The intricate, which she takes for the infinite
Tossed him from repulsion to incredulity, and so back
Two principal roads by which poor sinners come to a conscience
THE GENTLEMAN OF FIFTY AND THE DAMSEL OF NINETEEN
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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