Queechy Novel Chapters
List of most recent chapters published for the Queechy novel. A total of 185 chapters have been translated and the release date of the last chapter is Apr 02, 2024
Latest Release: Chapter 1 : Queechy.Volume I.by Elizabeth Wetherell.CHAPTER I.A single cloud on a sunny day, When al
Queechy.Volume I.by Elizabeth Wetherell.CHAPTER I.A single cloud on a sunny day, When all the rest of heaven is clear, A frown upon the atmosphere, That hath no business to appear, When skies are blue and earth is gay.
BYRON."Come, dear grandpa! ? the ol
- 101 "Just the same! ? he has not altered a jot," she said to herself as he came forward to Mrs. Evelyn; ? "it is himself! ?his very self ? he doesn't look a day older ? I'm very glad! ?(Yes, Ma'am, it's extremely tiresome ?)
- 102 "Yes ? what is it you look for in a face?" said Mrs. Evelyn."Let us hear whether America has any chance," said Mr. Thorn, who had joined the group, and placed himself precisely so as to hinder Fleda's view."My fancy has no st
- 103 "Well," said the doctor, as they sat at breakfast the next morning, "where are you going next?""To the concert, I must, to-night," said Fleda. "I couldn't help myself.""Why should you want to help yourself
- 104 "I ? I was going to say, Miss Ringgan!" said the doctor, with a most unaffected obeisance, "but ? a ? I am afraid, Sir, it is a deceptive influence!""I hope not," said Dr. Gregory, smiling; one corner of his mouth for his gue
- 105 "I never studied faces in a cla.s.s," said Constance, a little scornfully. "Come from? ? a region of mist and clouds, I should say, for it is sometimes pretty well covered up.""There are some eyes whose sparkling is nothing more t
- 106 "Unfit them for the duties of their station, and make them discontented with it.""By making it pleasanter?""No, no ? not by making it pleasanter.""By what then, Mr. Stackpole?" said Thorn, to draw him on, and to dra
- 107 "Well, Miss Constance?""And I am morally certain I sha'n't recollect a word of it if I don't carry away some specimens to refresh my memory, and in that case he would never give me another."It was impossible to help laug
- 108 The next day Fleda ran away, and spent a good part of the morning with her uncle in the library, looking over new books, among which she found herself quite a stranger, so many had made their appearance since the time when she had much to do with librarie
- 109 "It don't signify what Burke says about it," said Mr.Stackpole, rubbing his chin ? "Burke is not the first authority; but, Miss Ringgan, it is undeniable that slavery, and the slave-trade too, does at this moment exist in the interior
- 110 "One of our own ? where?" said he."In India," said Fleda with a glance ? "and there are I don't know how many trains leading to it ? so, better hands off, Sir.""Where did you pick up such a spite against us?" s
- 111 AS YOU LIKE IT."What have we to do to-night?" said Florence, at breakfast the next morning."You have no engagement, have you?" said her mother."No, Mamma," said Constance, arching her eyebrows ? "we are to taste the swee
- 112 "I shall let her encounter the dullness alone, Ma'am," said Fleda, lightly.But it was not in a light mood that she put on her bonnet after dinner, and set out to pay a visit to her uncle at the library; she had resolved that she would not b
- 113 Her countenance absolutely fell."I sometimes think," said he, turning over the leaves of her book, "that these are the best companions.h.i.+p one can have ?the world at large is very unsatisfactory.""O, how much!" said Fleda,
- 114 "Not that which shows itself most splendid to the eye, but which offers fairest indications to the fancy."Fleda looked a little wistfully, for there was a smile rather of the eye than of the lips, which said there was a hidden thought beneath.&q
- 115 "Shall I see you at Mrs. Decatur's, to-morrow?""No, Sir.""I thought I understood," said he, in an explanatory tone, "from your friends, the Miss Evelyns, that they were going.""I believe they are, and I di
- 116 "Wretched! This beautiful snow! Here have I been enjoying it for this hour."But Florence rubbed her hands, and looked as if Fleda were no rule for other people."How horrid it will make the going out to-night, if it snows all day!""
- 117 "Handsomest! I never saw anything like it. I shall wear some of these to-night, Mamma.""You are in a great hurry to appropriate it," said Constance; "how do you know but it is mine?""Which of us is it for, Joe?"&quo
- 118 "Of what, Mrs. Evelyn? ? I beg your pardon."The lady's tone somewhat lowered."Are you a judge of roses, Mr. Carleton?""So far as to know a rose when I see it," he answered, smiling, and with an imperturbable coolness tha
- 119 "No," said Mr. Carleton, with that eye of deep meaning to which Constance always rendered involuntary homage ? "every one wants, it; if we do not daily take an observation to find where we are, we are sailing about wildly, and do not know w
- 120 "Ay, but how shall we be sure that it is so?""Why, Mr. Carleton, Sir," said Mrs. Evelyn, "do you doubt that? Do you suppose it possible, for a moment, that a benevolent being would make creatures to be anything but happy?"&qu
- 121 "You have seen it before?""Why?" Fleda said, with a look up at him, at once a little startled and a little curious ? "what makes you say so?""Because ? pardon me ? you did not read it.""Oh," said Fleda, la
- 122 "Let me have it, Miss Edith," said Mr. Carleton, smiling. "I will read it for you.""Ah, but it would be twice as good if you could hear her read it," said Edith, fluttering over the leaves of the magazine, "she reads it
- 123 "I must know by what standards Mr. Carleton will be guided, before I agree to any such thing," said Fleda."Standards! but aren't you going to trust anybody in anything, without knowing what standards they go by ?""Would that
- 124 Her eye half unconsciously reiterated her meaning as she shook hands with Mr. Carleton. And without speaking a word for other people to hear, his look and smile in return were more than an answer. Fleda sat for some time after he was gone, trying to think
- 125 "I expect that an immediate depopulation of New York will commence," said Constance, "and go on till the heights about Queechy are all thickly settled with elegant country seats, which is the conventional term for a species of mouse-trap.&q
- 126 "Fleda, does it seem pleasant to be here again?""Very pleasant, dear aunt Lucy, though I have had a very pleasant visit too.""On the whole, you do not wish you were at this moment driving out of town in Mr. Thorn's cabriolet?
- 127 "Certainly!" said Charlton; "and I'm quite willing ? but it never reaches quite such a towering height on our side the water.""I am sure I don't know how that may be," said Fleda; "but I know I have heard a lad
- 128 "and that is an honour you never made any pretensions to.""Come, you shall not say that any more," said he, taking the kiss that Fleda had no mind to give him.Half laughing, but with eyes that were all too ready for something else, she
- 129 "You ha'n't got one speck o' good by _this_ journey to New York," was Miss Elster's vexed salutation."Do you think so?" said Fleda, rousing herself. "I wouldn't venture to say as much as that, Barby."
- 130 "I'll take my share of credit whenever I can get it," said Earl, "and I think it's right to take it, as long as you ha'n't nothing to be ashamed of; but I wont take no more than my share; and I will say I thought we was
- 131 "Just got back yesterday," said Fleda."Why didn't you stay longer?""I thought my friends at home would be glad to see me," said Fleda. "Was I mistaken?"He made no answer for a minute, and then said ?"Is yo
- 132 "She is up stairs ? you mustn't go to her, Hugh!" said Fleda, laying a detaining hand upon him with more strength than she thought she had; "I don't want anything.""Why mustn't I go to her?""I don't t
- 133 "Don't ask me, Barby," said Fleda, hiding her face in her hands, and s.h.i.+vering; "I made myself very cold just now ? Aunt Lucy doesn't feel very well, and I got frightened," she added, presently."What's the matte
- 134 "Wont you come?"Mrs. Rossitur shook her head."Mayn't I bring you something? ? do let me."But Mrs. Rossitur's shake of the head was decisive. Fleda crawled off the bed, feeling as if a month's illness had been making its
- 135 "I will go, too, presently: I do not think anybody will be here to-night.""Is ? are there ? is this what has taken him away?" said Hugh.Her silence and her look told him; and then, laying her cheek again alongside of his, she whispered
- 136 "I'll put the kettle on. It'll boil directly. I'll go in there and fix up the fire."A word or two more, and then Fleda ran up to speak to her aunt and Hugh.Her aunt she found in a state of agitation that was frightful.Even Fleda&#
- 137 "Couldn't! ? Oh Fleda! ? I have seen changes! ? He was there one afternoon, alone, and had got into difficulty with some bigger boys ? a little fellow, you know ? he stood his ground manfully, but his strength wasn't equal to his spirit, an
- 138 "I would not have come in on any account to disturb you if I had known ? I did not understand you were more than a trifle ill."Fleda wished he would mend his .mistake, as his understanding certainly by this time was mended. But that did not seem
- 139 "He wasn't going there till next week, but he was to be in Philadelphia a few days before that; the letter might miss him.""Mr. Plumfield! ? couldn't he?"But Fleda shook her head."Wouldn't do, aunt Lucy: he would do
- 140 Fleda replied, with a jump of her heart, that business affairs had obliged him to be away for a few days."And when does he expect to return?" said the doctor."I hope he will be home as soon as I am," said Fleda."Then you do not ex
- 141 "_Queechy_."_Let me see you at the old place. I have come here on urgent business for you. Do not deny me, for H?'s sake!_"With a trifle of alteration, she thought this would do; and went on to make a number of fair copies of it for so
- 142 Carleton said, after a while.Fleda's heart throbbed an answer ? she did not speak."Both in its direct and indirect action. The mind is set free from influences that narrowed its range and dimmed its vision, and refined to a keener sensibility, a
- 143 The old woman, herself most unchanged, did not know the young lady, but well remembered the little girl whom Fleda brought to her mind. And then she was overjoyed to see her, and asked a mult.i.tude of questions, and told a long story of her having met Mr
- 144 Even long ago I knew that.""The good that it did!" It was no time then to moralize, but he must know that Marion was at home, or he might incautiously reveal to her what happily there was no necessity for her ever knowing. And the story mus
- 145 "But what brought you to town again, Fleda " said the elder sister."What makes you talk so, Constance?" said Fleda."I haven't told you the half!" said Constance, demurely. "And then mamma excused herself as well as
- 146 "Somebody is _very_ kind!" said Fleda, from the bottom of her heart. "But, dear Mrs. Pritchard, I shall want another dish."Somebody was kind, she thought more and more; for there came every day or two the most delicious bouquets, every
- 147 Fleda's shocked start and change of countenance was seen by more eyes than one pair. Thorn's fell, and a shade crossed his countenance, too, for an instant, that Fleda's vision was too dazzled to see. Mr. Carleton moved away."Why are _
- 148 "Yes ? for mine," he said, with a meaning deliberateness.Fleda was silent, with a face of white determination."It will be beyond _eluding_, as beyond recal, the second time.I may seem selfish ? I am selfish ? but, dear Miss Ringgan, you do
- 149 "Give me what a friend can have in charge to do for you, and it shall be done."Fleda raised her head, and looked out of the window, in a silence of doubt. The carriage stopped at Mrs. Evelyn's."Not now," said Mr. Carleton, as the
- 150 "He is, Sir," said the servant, admitting him rather hesitatingly."I wish to see him a few moments on business.""It is no hour for business," said the voice of Mr. Lewis from over the bal.u.s.ters ? "I can't see any
- 151 "You must explain yourself, Sir," he said, haughtily."I am acquainted with _all_ the particulars of this proceeding, Mr. Thorn. If it goes abroad, so surely will they.""She told you, did she?" said Thorn, in a sudden flash of
- 152 "What do you mean?""I mean that there is a Supreme Disposer of all things, who, among the rest, has our lives in his hand. And now, Sir, I will give you that chance at my life for which you have been so eagerly wis.h.i.+ng.""Well,
- 153 "I don't know that," said Mr. Carleton, gravely. "We have it on the highest authority that it is the glory of man to _pa.s.s by_ a transgression.""But you can't go by that," said Charlton, a little fidgeted; "t
- 154 That day was spent by Fleda in the never-failing headache which was sure to visit her after any extraordinary nervous agitation, or too great mental or bodily trial. It was severe this time, not only from the anxiety of the preceding night, but from the u
- 155 "It will do her all the more good for that," said Mrs. Evelyn.The only ears that took the benefit of this speech were Edith's and Mr. Carleton's; Fleda's were deafened by the rush of feeling. She very little knew what she was hold
- 156 A glance at Mrs. Evelyn's face, which was opposite her, and at one or two others, which had, undeniably, the air of being _arrested_, was enough for Fleda's quick apprehension. She knew they had been talking of her. Her eye stopped short of Mr.C
- 157 The vinaigrette dropped from Fleda's fingers, but beyond a heightened colour and a little tremulous gravity about the lip, she gave no other sign of emotion."Mamma," said Florence, laughing, "you are too bad !""Mamma," s
- 158 "You're just the same, Miss Fleda, that you used to be ?you're very little altered ? I can see that ? though you're looking a good-deal more thin and pale; you had very pretty roses in your cheeks in those times. Yes, I know, I underst
- 159 "Thy power and love, my love and trust, Make one place everywhere."But the night fell, and Fleda at last could see nothing but the dim rail-fences they were flying by, and the reflection from some stationary lantern on the engine, or one of the
- 160 "Well, Sir, I'll open it if you wish it," said the man, civilly, "but they say we sha'n't have nothing to make fires with more than an hour or two longer; so maybe you'll think we can't afford to let any too much co
- 161 "Somewhere between a town the name of which I have forgotten, and a place called Quarrenton, I think; and Quarrenton, they tell me, is but a few miles from Greenfield. Our difficulties will vanish, I hope, with the darkness."He walked again, and
- 162 "I am afraid you have wanted my former prescription to-day,"said Mr. Carleton, after considering the little-improved colour of Fleda's face."I have, indeed.""Where is it?"Fleda hesitated, and then, in a little confusion,
- 163 "It is more than I would dare say for my own land.""I should think" ? Fleda suddenly stopped."What?" ? said Mr. Carleton, gently."I beg your pardon, Sir ? I was going to say something very presumptuous.""You ca
- 164 She laid her gentle detaining hand, as irresistible in its way as most things, upon his arm, and he followed her in.Only Hugh was in the sitting-room, and n a great easy-chair by the fire. It struck to Fleda's heart; but there was no time but for a f
- 165 "You will think me very foolish, Mr. Carleton ? I am ashamed of myself ? but I have lived here so long in this way ? my spirits have grown so quieted by different things, that it seems, sometimes, as if I could not bear anything ? I am afraid" ?
- 166 "What?""I am very happy. I only want your promise about that.""I can't talk to you, Hugh.""No; but promise me.""What?" "That you will not let anybody take you away while I want you.""I am sure he would not ask it," said Fleda, hiding her ch
- 167 "No.""Ah! she has scratched it so. It is Fleda's."Hugh shut his eyes again, and Mr. Carleton seeing that he had settled himself to sleep, went to the window with the paper.It hardly told him anything he did not know before, though set in a fresh ligh
- 168 "I don't think it was a right mood of mind I had when I wrote that," she said. "It was morbid. But I couldn't help it. Yet if one could keep possession of those words you quoted just now, I suppose one never would have morbid feelings, Mr.Carleton?"
- 169 "I am afraid, in a good many things ? in general reading ? and in what are called accomplishments ?""You shall read as much as you please, by and by," said he, "provided you will let me read with you; and, as for the other want, Elfie, it is rather a
- 170 "But must I do nothing?" said Mrs. Rossitur, when she had remained quiet, with her face in her hands, for a minute or two after he had done speaking."Nothing but be willing ? be willing to have Christ in all His offices, as your Teacher, your King, and
- 171 Mr. Olmney presently came round to take leave, promising to see her another time; and pa.s.sing Fleda, with a frank grave pressure of the hand, which gave her some pain. He and Seth left the room. Fleda was hardly conscious that Dr. Quackenboss was still
- 172 Fleda hesitated, and he pressed the matter no further; but, more unwilling to displease him than herself, she presently went on, with some difficulty; wording what she had to say with as much care as she could."I was thinking, how grat.i.tude ? or not gr
- 173 "How pleasant those oysters smell!" said he. "Fleda, they remind me so of the time when you and I used to roast oysters in Mrs. Renney's room for lunch ? do you recollect? ? and sometimes in the evening, when everybody was gone out, you know; and what
- 174 "I won't disturb 'em!" said Barby, in a tone a little, though unconsciously, significant.Mr. Carleton neglected the chair she had placed for him, and remained standing by the mantel-piece, thinking of the scenes of his early introduction to that kitch
- 175 "I am not tired, dear Hugh."Hugh clasped one arm round her neck and kissed her ? again and again, seeming unable to say anything to her in any other way; still keeping his hold of Mr. Carleton's hand."I give all my part of her to you," he said, at le
- 176 "No, Sir," said Fleda ? "and ? but ?""What is in the way?"But it seemed impossible for Fleda to tell him."May I not know?" he said, gently putting away the hair from Fleda's face, which looked distressed. "
- 177 The quick smile and colour that answered this, both very bright, wrought in Mrs. Carleton an instant recollection that her son was very apt to be right in his judgments, and that probably the present case might prove him so. The hand which had played with
- 178 If riches have their poisonous snares, Fleda carried away from this place a strong antidote. With a spirit strangely simple, pure, and calm, she went back to her aunt.Poor Mrs. Rossitur was not quieted, but at Fleda's touch and voice, gentle and lovi
- 179 "Well, you aint agoing to forget Queechy?" she said, shaking Fleda's hand with a hearty grasp."Never ? never!""I'll tell you what I think," said Mrs. Dougla.s.s, the tears in her eyes answering those in Fleda's
- 180 "The city is very hot and dusty just now.""Very, and I am sorry to keep you in it, Mrs. Carleton.""Keep me, love?" said Mrs. Carleton, bending down her face to her again; "it's a pleasure to be kept anywhere by you.
- 181 "It will have nothing to act upon! And you are going to England! I think it is very mean of you not to ask me to go too, and be your bridesmaid.""I don't expect to have such a thing," said Fleda."Not? ? Horrid! I wouldn'
- 182 Drawing Fleda's arm within hers, and giving kind recognition to the rest who stood around, Mrs. Carleton led her to the stairs and mounted them, repeating in a whisper, "He will be here presently again." They went to Mrs. Carleton's dr
- 183 The weight of these things bowed Fleda to the ground and made her bury her face in her hands. But there was one item of happiness from which her thoughts never even in imagination dissevered themselves, and round it they gathered now in their weakness. A
- 184 said Fleda; ? "I had been thinking of all these things ?""And what else?"Her colour and her silence begged him not to ask. He said no more, and let her stand still again, looking off through the roses, while her mind more quietly and lightly went over
- 185 In the midst of all this the housekeeper was called in and formally presented, and received by Fleda with a mixture of frankness and bashfulness that caused Mrs. Fothergill afterwards to p.r.o.nounce her "a lady of a very sweet dignity indeed."&