"Errand" Quotes from Famous Books
 ... moment surprise fairly deprived her of her self-possession. Recovering herself, she begged permission to leave me for a minute. I let her go, knowing what her errand was. She came back with a box of paint and powders; and I said nothing to check her. I saw, in the glass, my skin take a false fairness, my cheeks a false color, my eyes a false brightness—and I never shrank from it. No! I let the odious conceit go on; I even admired the extraordinary ...
— The Law and the Lady • Wilkie Collins
... through the park," replied Violet. "He had met her about five o'clock, and they walked about in the park for a short time. Then he told her that he had an errand to do, after which he was coming to call upon me. Then Mary laughed and replied that she would ...
— With Links of Steel • Nicholas Carter
... this time, and, despite the failure of his hopes and of his errand, Blake was flying with a mind at peace. "It is all we have left," the general had said. Well, it was good to face facts, to admit them—and that was that! There was no use of thinking or worrying.... He lifted the ship to a higher level and glanced at his compass. There were clouds ...
— Astounding Stories of Super-Science, December 1930 • Various
... kindness of Mendoza, with a distant view of Philip II. with his son and daughter at their devotions in the chapel of the Escorial. This was the tale generally recounted and believed after the agent's return from Spain, so that Varenne was somewhat laughed at as having gone to Spain on a fool's errand, and as having got nothing from Mendoza but a disavowal of his former propositions. But the shrewd Calvaert, who had entertained familiar relations with La Varenne, received from that personage after his return a very different account of his excursion to the Escorial from the one ...
— The Rise of the Dutch Republic, 1555-1566 • John Lothrop Motley
... in the port of Ostia under the command of Caesarius, the son of the Neapolitan duke, a noble and valiant youth, who had already vanquished the fleets of the Saracens. With his principal companions, Caesarius was invited to the Lateran palace, and the dexterous pontiff affected to inquire their errand, and to accept with joy and surprise their providential succor. The city bands, in arms, attended their father to Ostia, where he reviewed and blessed his generous deliverers. They kissed his feet, received the communion ...
— The History of The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire - Volume 5 • Edward Gibbon
... of the keel, the ammunition boxes were stowed in the stern-sheets, and then, all else being ready, those who were to take part in the expedition were mustered for inspection prior to being dispatched on what was likely enough to prove a dangerous errand. But little recked any of us of possible danger; on the contrary, if an onlooker had judged only by the satisfied smirk which our countenances wore, it might have been supposed that we were all bound ashore for a day's holiday ...
— A Middy of the King - A Romance of the Old British Navy • Harry Collingwood
... thousand skins of the first quality, with several tons of oil, were procured by the Nautilus, and Furneaux's Islands have since been frequented by small vessels from Port Jackson upon the same errand. Unfortunately, this species of fishery is soon exhausted in any one place; or it would have been the means of raising up an useful body of seamen, and thus proved of advantage, both to the colony and ...
— A Voyage to Terra Australis • Matthew Flinders
... matter till the visitor should be gone. But the prospect of a long day in the solitary nursery did not tend to brighten her face, and it was sadly enough that she went slowly down the street on an errand for ...
— Christie Redfern's Troubles • Margaret Robertson
... was possessed of talents and a power of controlling his features beyond the ordinary. He unslung his tools, and saluting me abjectly waited in silence. After a moment's thought, I asked him peremptorily what was his errand with the ...
— From the Memoirs of a Minister of France • Stanley Weyman
... a long bill was a chicken-hawk, and it lived by killing weaker and smaller birds than itself. Raven knew this was its way the moment he saw it was mist-made, and so he sent it on this errand. ...
— Girl Scouts in the Adirondacks • Lillian Elizabeth Roy
... cannot help telling you that you have forgotten yourself, and I do not see who will venture to make the proposal for you." "You yourself," replied he immediately. "I go to the sultan!" answered the mother, amazed. "I shall be cautious how I engage in such an errand. Why, who are you, son," continued she, "that you can have the assurance to think of your sultan's daughter? Have you forgotten that your father was one of the poorest tailors in the capital, and that I am of no better extraction; and do not you know ...
— The Arabian Nights - Their Best-known Tales • Unknown
... ill last night, but I thought nothing of it. When I returned from an errand this noon, he had fallen into a kind of stupor—last night he was so excited—and I was alarmed. I had Mrs. Ducharme telephone for you then. He did not come out of his stupor," she added ...
— The Web of Life • Robert Herrick
... everything else, what was most evident about him, as he came up the path, was confidence in the happiness promised by his errand; the anticipation in his eyes could have been read by a stranger. His look at the door of Isabel's house was the look of a man who is quite certain that the next moment will reveal something ineffably charming, ...
— The Magnificent Ambersons • Booth Tarkington
... said Banion, swinging out of saddle and forgetting any errand he might have had. "Then it's ...
— The Covered Wagon • Emerson Hough
... let her into the hall without attracting much attention, and then went down to the cook on my errand. I forget what was done, except that I know a good meal was given to the 'mother' and some milk to the baby. Just then an elder sister of mine came into the hall, and was attracted as I had been to the infant; but ...
— The Strand Magazine, Volume V, Issue 26, February 1893 - An Illustrated Monthly • Various
... Jarvis departed on his errand muttering to himself: "Wait until they see her. Who in the world could tell she was ...
— Peg O' My Heart • J. Hartley Manners
... he should lake this course, and succeed, what would be the consequence? Who would put sufficient faith in the story of a simple seaman, like Robert Betts, and send a ship to look for Mark Woolston? In these later times, the government would doubtless despatch a vessel of war on such an errand, did no other means of rescuing the man offer; but, at the close of the last century, government did not exercise that much of power. It scarcely protected its seamen from the English press-gang and the Algerine slave-driver; ...
— The Crater • James Fenimore Cooper
... the grocery for anything, I write my order on a piece of paper, put it into a basket, and give the basket to him, just lifting my finger, and saying, 'Go to the grocery, go to the grocery,' twice; and he never makes a mistake. To-day, Jack, for the first time, he came home without doing his errand." ...
— The Young Surveyor; - or Jack on the Prairies • J. T. Trowbridge
... women dassent git fur from the house. We wouldn't even go to the spring if we happened to see a strange wagon or horsebacker. One of Master Sam Love's women was stole and sold down in Texas. After freedom she made her way back to her fambly. Master Frank sent one of my brothers to Sherman on an errand. After several days the mule come back but we never did see my brother again. We didn't know whether he run off ...
— Slave Narratives, Oklahoma - A Folk History of Slavery in the United States From - Interviews with Former Slaves • Various
... his friend rues it ever more,' he answered at last. 'And it is ill done when men's lives are at stake to send the biggest liar in Iceland on such an errand.' ...
— The Red Romance Book • Various
... clever fellow," reflected the old man, when Burns had started on his errand. "A bit too religious to suit my taste. Still he seemed grateful for the little I did for him. If he had a little more push and get up and get about him he would succeed better. Why, he isn't more than forty and he confesses himself a failure. Why, at forty I considered ...
— A Cousin's Conspiracy - A Boy's Struggle for an Inheritance • Horatio Alger
... "Yes," he said, "it is a strange parting and a wild errand. But who knows? It may please Providence to take you through, and if not—why, our troubles will soon ...
— Benita, An African Romance • H. Rider Haggard
... The errand of this horde was to murder the inhabitants and burn the dwellings of an unprotected town; its ultimate purpose was to please the Abenaki Indians of Maine. These Indians had complained to the governor of Canada about some fancied or real wrong done them by the ...
— The New England Magazine Volume 1, No. 3, March, 1886 - Bay State Monthly Volume 4, No. 3, March, 1886 • Various
... Rosie in this emergency was overtaken by Hans and forced to divulge his mission, threatened with dire evils if he said a word to Rosie about Hans having halted him, and urged to go with all haste on his errand, and to be sure of the reward, a ticket to the coming circus and two dishes of ice cream from the Wyker eating house, as ...
— Winning the Wilderness • Margaret Hill McCarter
... Jenny; Frank's confidence was too overwhelming and too infectious. But he had reflected that it was not a wholly pleasant errand to have to inform a girl that her lover had been in prison for a fortnight. But the tone in which she had just said those four words was so serene and so compassionate that he was completely reassured. This really was a fine creature, he said ...
— None Other Gods • Robert Hugh Benson
... turned from the cottage on the shore with their errand accomplished, he did say after some hesitation, "Of course, if for any reason you should want me when I am away, you must let me know. ...
— The Way of an Eagle • Ethel M. Dell
... His experiences are but our own, intensified by his poet's gift. Or, if they are not already ours, they will become so. He seems almost ourselves as he passes through the city twilight, intent upon some errand upon which we, too, have gone, journeying a road which we ourselves have traveled. We know the room in which he lives, the windows from which he gazes, the moments which come upon him there in the silence of the lamp. For he has captured in his ...
— Musical Portraits - Interpretations of Twenty Modern Composers • Paul Rosenfeld
... no room in western Europe for his own country and her great rival, thought there could be no peace until France was destroyed. Burke sneered that he had gone to Paris on his knees. He had been received with suspicion and distrust, many believing his real errand to be the reorganization of a royalist party in France. Then, too, Delacroix, minister of foreign affairs, was a narrow, shallow, and conceited man, unable either to meet an adroit and experienced negotiator on his own ...
— The Life of Napoleon Bonaparte - Vol. I. (of IV.) • William Milligan Sloane
... where there was a chance of getting any medicine, and it happened that on the way back she fell in with a couple of soldiers, on horseback, who asked her a few questions. They were members of a home and conscript guard just formed, and when she left them they had learned her errand. ...
— The Burial of the Guns • Thomas Nelson Page
... taken the constable with him," said old Mrs. Fidgit, "then perhaps he'd have got him back. I guess the thieves won't keep the boy long though, he's too troublesome! His ma sent him over once on an errand, and I'd as lieve have a wild-cat in the house any day. Mark my word, they'll let him drop ...
— Nine Little Goslings • Susan Coolidge
... "I'd keep my lamps trimmed and burning, and I'd catch a lady falling off a car, or pick up a purse, or a kid, or run an errand. 'With,' there'd be only one thing I'd think of, because papers are my game. I'd buy one for a penny and sell it for two; buy two, sell for four; you know the multiplication table, don't you? But of course you don't ...
— Michael O'Halloran • Gene Stratton-Porter
... therefore gathered up their minds to hearken, he presenteth them with his errand—to wit, that the Messiah was come, and that the promise was indeed fulfilled that a Saviour should be born to Israel—'Of this man's seed,' saith he, 'hath God, according to his promise, raised unto Israel a ...
— The Works of John Bunyan • John Bunyan
... however, to call Mr. Cunningham's attention to the necessity, in a Hand-book especially, of referring his readers correctly to the places at which tickets are to be obtained for any purpose whatever. It discourages the visitor to London when he is thus "sent upon a fool's errand;" and the Cockney himself is not in quite so good a humour with the author for being sent a few steps out ...
— Notes and Queries, Number 49, Saturday, Oct. 5, 1850 • Various
... quarters, and the three men also went away together on an errand of business, leaving Robert and Tayoga to go whithersoever they pleased and it pleased them to wander along the shores of the port. Young Lennox was impressed more than ever by the great quantity of shipping, and the extreme activity of the town. The war with France, so far from interfering ...
— The Shadow of the North - A Story of Old New York and a Lost Campaign • Joseph A. Altsheler
... I saw it first when I entered the light of your palace-gate. Look, it is marred and imperfect, a thing of little value. It is not the crystal of Truth. I have been deceived. You have claimed my life for a fool's errand, a thing of naught; no jewel, but a bauble. Take ...
— The Unknown Quantity - A Book of Romance and Some Half-Told Tales • Henry van Dyke
... which make me think that it may not have been all superstition which connected the movements and appearance of the heavenly bodies with great moral events on earth. Did not a meteor run on evangelistic errand on the first Christmas night, and designate the rough cradle of our Lord? Did not the stars in their courses fight against Sisera? Was it merely coincidental that before the destruction of Jerusalem the moon was eclipsed for twelve consecutive nights? Did it merely happen so that a new star appeared ...
— New Tabernacle Sermons • Thomas De Witt Talmage
... is here torn out of the first quaternion of the Medicean MS. An idea of the matter omitted may be gained by comparing Xiphilinus (p. 5):—"Catulus, one of the foremost men, had said to the populace: 'If he fail after being sent out on this errand (as not infrequently happens in many contests, especially on the sea) whom else will you find in place of him for still more pressing business?' Thereat the entire throng as if by previous agreement lifted ...
— Dio's Rome • Cassius Dio
... said this individual; as he seriously and proudly walked forward from behind the king's throne. "Yes, Henry, your brother, the fool John Heywood, had on that night the proud honor of accompanying your consort on her holy errand; but, I assure you, that he was less like the king, than the king is just now ...
— Henry VIII And His Court • Louise Muhlbach
... dresses, pointed, gathering in knots, to the white Ensign and red cross of St. George,—which drooping, dipped, like a swallow, to the water's surface, then floated lazily in the air,—and concluded at once in their sweet minds from what part of the sunny South we came, and what the errand was which had brought us so far from home to Denmark. I could almost tell, by the fervour of their manner, how the men viewed with admiration the slight downward curve of the cutter's bowsprit, her burnished copper, and low, raking hull. Boats of all sizes and shapes, each containing a cargo, ...
— A Yacht Voyage to Norway, Denmark, and Sweden - 2nd edition • W. A. Ross
... I will soon tell you that; you must go to the rock there under the mountain-ridge, and take the club that is there, and knock on the rocky wall," said the Master-maid. "Then someone will come out who will sparkle with fire; you shall tell him your errand, and when he asks you how much you want to have you are to say: 'As much as ...
— The Blue Fairy Book • Various
... this. One day, Tom, the fourth of the nine hungry and turbulent children, sent to the store on an errand, returned, bringing a letter. A letter, that was not a circular about fertilizers, or one of those polite and persuasive invitations to vote for a certain man for a town office, which penetrated even ...
— A Village Ophelia and Other Stories • Anne Reeve Aldrich
... however, I found comfortable companionship in the smiling face of a little lad running beside my chair, his swift feet keeping pace with the carriers. I smiled back, and when the heavy doors of our night's lodging-house closed behind us, I found the small gamin was inside, too,—self-installed errand boy. He proved quick and alert beyond the common run of boys, East or West, and made himself very useful, but save when out on errands he was always at my side, watching me with dog-like interest, and kowtowing to the ground when I gave him a small ...
— A Wayfarer in China - Impressions of a trip across West China and Mongolia • Elizabeth Kendall
... difficult, however, to understand why they were "liars and impostors" because, in a conference with the representative of France, they endeavoured to make their own opinions of public policy valid rather than content themselves simply with being the errand-bearers of the new king, whom they believed incapable of being stirred to an ...
— The Rise of the Dutch Republic, 1555-1566 • John Lothrop Motley
... not improved by an incident that occurred shortly. One afternoon Duncan Polite sent his nephew on an errand to some relatives who lived down by Lake Simcoe and he was not able to return until the next morning. Mr. Egerton noticed, with a feeling of relief, that he was absent from the Epworth League that evening and at the close of the meeting the thought ...
— Duncan Polite - The Watchman of Glenoro • Marian Keith
... as mourners wear, drooping its broad brim over his heavy brows. Glancing behind them, the lovers well knew who it was that followed, but wished from their hearts that he had been elsewhere, as being a companion so strangely unsuited to their joyous errand. It was a near relative of Lilies Fay, an old man by the name of Walter Gascoigne, who had long labored under the burden of a melancholy spirit, which was sometimes maddened into absolute insanity, and always had a tinge of it. What a ...
— The Lily's Quest (From "Twice Told Tales") • Nathaniel Hawthorne
... and Mrs. Nash, interrupted by the former's errand to the delicatessen and drug stores, was taken up again at the table of the royal feast. The way the children laughed and "um-um-ed" over the "goodies" did Helen's heart good and rendered even cheerful her discussion ...
— Campfire Girls in the Allegheny Mountains - or, A Christmas Success against Odds • Stella M. Francis
... of October, in the year 1753, a young man, whose name was as yet unknown outside the colony of Virginia, though it was destined to attain world-wide fame, set out from Williamsburg, in that colony, on a momentous errand. It was the first step taken in a series of events which were to end in driving the French from North America, and placing this great realm under English control,—the opening movement in the memorable French and Indian War. The name of the young man was George Washington. ...
— Historic Tales, Vol. 1 (of 15) - The Romance of Reality • Charles Morris
... issued from the room, bent upon going on the errand. But the married women stealthily pulled her back. "How could you, miss, be made to go and tell them?" they smiled. "We've got some one here, who ...
— Hung Lou Meng, Book II • Cao Xueqin
... with his face all glowing And eyes as bright as the day With the thoughts of his pleasant errand, He trudged along the way; And soon his joyous prattle Made glad a lonesome place— Alas! if only the blind old man Could have seen that happy face! Yet he somehow caught the brightness Which his voice and presence lent; And he felt the sunshine come and ...
— The Elson Readers, Book 5 • William H. Elson and Christine M. Keck
... William executed his errand, although with a feeling that the dignity of the place was not being upheld. There was a luncheon party at the Cairns mansion, and when the butler brought in the plate of cookies and the doughnuts and delivered the message, ...
— Drusilla with a Million • Elizabeth Cooper
... offices of charity; he offered the vicar to take a class in the school, and was naively exultant that the vicar curiously happened to fix an hour when he must needs see Miss Leyburn going or coming on the same errand; he dropped into Burwood on any conceivable pretext, till Rose and Agnes lost all inconvenient respect for his cloth and Mrs. Leyburn sent him on errands; and he even insisted that Catherine and the vicar should make use of him and his pastoral ...
— Robert Elsmere • Mrs. Humphry Ward
... the Thames is at Reading, but sometimes narrower. But there was nought stirring within eyeshot on the further bank that day, save the fowl, and a bull that came running along and lowing as he went on some errand, whatever it might be, for he was not followed of any men. So he came back with the flock before dark all safe; neither had he gone far from the stead, for so he was bidden of ...
— The Sundering Flood • William Morris
... "When that foremost of Brahmanas had gone away on some other errand, the maiden began to ponder over the virtue of those mantras. And she said to herself, 'Of what nature are those mantras that have been bestowed on me by that high-souled one? I shall without delay test their power.' And as she was thinking ...
— The Mahabharata of Krishna-Dwaipayana Vyasa Bk. 3 Pt. 2 • Translated by Kisari Mohan Ganguli
... sits bent and motionless, as if picking out a pattern with his fingers. He seems to keep surreptitious watch upon them, as they run swiftly on their appointed errands. There is no errand they are not nimble enough to carry without a stumble to the journey's end. They obey him as if in fear; they dare not turn aside from the straight path; for their whole aim is to get to the end of the journey, having ...
— Plays, Acting and Music - A Book Of Theory • Arthur Symons
... at the fluttering doorway of O'Brallaghan's shop, and encountered the proprietor upon the threshold, who made him a low bow. His errand was soon told, and O'Brallaghan entered into extensive explanations and profuse apologies for the delay in sending home Mr. Verty's suit left with him. It would have received "attinshun" that very morning—it was in the back room. Would Mr. ...
— The Last of the Foresters • John Esten Cooke
... slip of paper—in the event of my having occasion to write to her, before she is settled in London. This is the whole substance of her letter. I have only to add, that it does not contain the slightest allusion to the nature of the errand on ...
— Man and Wife • Wilkie Collins
... among the savages, why should they not make themselves known?" demanded Robert Willoughby. "Your character, sir, is no secret; and they must be acquainted with their own errand here." ...
— Wyandotte • James Fenimore Cooper
... if he had been bought, like Betty's ugly little terrier, or born in the house, like blessed little Betty herself. It was Conny who gave the last rub to Prince, and brought him to the door; Conny who, in cold or heat, was ready with such good-natured promptness for any errand far or near; Conny who could mend and make; who oiled rusty hinges, repaired broken locks and latches, sharpened the kitchen knives, filed the old saws, and put new handles to all the cast-away tools on the ...
— Harper's Young People, September 28, 1880 - An Illustrated Weekly • Various
... gone the half mile or more away to the little House in the Woods on an errand. She had promised to help prepare supper before the camping party could return. Finding herself in need of supplies she had explained to Tory and slipped away. Kara would not be apt to awaken soon and there appeared no immediate need ...
— The Girl Scouts in Beechwood Forest • Margaret Vandercook
... shore, and he regretted that he was not on her. She would get away at any rate, but as for the atoll—A sea breached across, almost sweeping him off his feet, and he selected a tree. Then he remembered the barometer and ran back to the house. He encountered Captain Lynch on the same errand and together they ...
— South Sea Tales • Jack London
... the 9th of August; but, owing to contrary winds, they were unable to come to anchor at Gran Canaria until the 12th. The admiral left Pinzon at Gran Canaria to endeavour to procure another vessel instead of that which was disabled, and went himself with the Nina on the same errand to Gomera. ...
— A General History and Collection of Voyages and Travels, Vol. III. • Robert Kerr
... to inquire what my enemies say, my dear lady. But in what way could this effect our friend, Captain Lewis? He is under orders, on my errand." ...
— The Magnificent Adventure - Being the Story of the World's Greatest Exploration and - the Romance of a Very Gallant Gentleman • Emerson Hough
... his errand of good nature by handing over the physic he has been to get, which he delivers with the laconic verbal direction that "it's to be all took d'rectly." Secondly, Mr. Snagsby has to lay upon the table half a crown, his usual panacea for an immense variety of afflictions. Thirdly, Mr. Bucket has to ...
— Bleak House • Charles Dickens
... country home; it would be better for them now to be put under the care of some Twybridge teacher—such an one as Miss Cadman's acquaintances could recommend. For her own credit, the milliner was anxious that these nephews of hers should not be running about the town as errand-boys or the like, and with prudence there was no necessity for such degradation. An uncommon lad like Godwin (she imagined him named after the historic earl) must not be robbed of his fair chance in life; she would gladly spare a little money for his benefit; he was ...
— Born in Exile • George Gissing
... there were four machines and a stack of brooms, and the litter of shreds and waste, and I was about to retreat with an apology after making known my errand. He said I had made no mistake, but he was out of everything except confectionery; peanuts, dates and figs. So as there were no apples, no pears, no peaches, no grapes, after all my perseverance, dates I would have, and he went to a closet where ...
— Illustrated Science for Boys and Girls • Anonymous
... anything about me," she begged, "I mean about my uncle, or anything of that sort at all. I am going over to England on a very foolish errand, I think, and I wish to keep it ...
— The Governors • E. Phillips Oppenheim
... ordinance; that every twelve years there should be set forth out of this kingdom, two ships, appointed to several voyages; that in either of these ships there should be a mission of three of the fellows or brethren of Salomon's House, whose errand was only to give us knowledge of the affairs and state of those countries to which they were designed; and especially of the sciences, arts, manufactures, and inventions of all the world; and withal to bring unto ...
— Ideal Commonwealths • Various
... an errand? I was cal'latin' to run out myself for a little spell. Can't I do your errand ...
— The Portygee • Joseph Crosby Lincoln
... enemy is at work, they thrust in the barbed instrument and pull him out. Sometimes he may only have just commenced, when his capture is more easily effected, but even should he have penetrated to the very heart of the tree, the deadly needle does not fail in its errand, but brings the culprit out, impaled and writhing on its point. This is the only known way of checking the ravages of this beetle, except destroying its larvae. Some cultivators, however, think pouring salt water or brine on the top of the tree, so as ...
— The Commercial Products of the Vegetable Kingdom • P. L. Simmonds
... gave the Jap an unnecessary push toward the fireplace, for the little Oriental fairly flew on his errand. ...
— Officer 666 • Barton W. Currie
... There was a certain place of high authority at Jerusalem which Caesar would gladly bestow on a Jew who had done him a service. This mission would commend me to him. It was a great occasion, suited to my powers. Thus Herod fed me with fair promises, and I ran his errand. There ...
— The Sad Shepherd • Henry Van Dyke
... we got here?" said he; "raw head and bloody bones?" When his friend, slipping on his clothes, gave him to understand that this was a friend of Sir Launcelot Greaves, and explained the purport of his errand, he treated him with more civility. He assured him that he should have the pleasure to break a spear with Mr. Dawdle; and signified his surprise that Sir Launcelot had made no answer to his letter. It being by this time clear daylight, and Crowe extremely interested in this ...
— The Adventures of Sir Launcelot Greaves • Tobias Smollett
... is cowardly to display bravery against one's own tribesmen. These scouts have been compelled to do what they did; they are no better than servants of the white officers. I came here on a peaceful errand." ...
— Indian Heroes and Great Chieftains • [AKA Ohiyesa], Charles A. Eastman
... tremblest; and the whiteness in thy cheek Is apter than thy tongue to tell thy errand. King Henry IV., Pt. II. Act i. ...
— The World's Best Poetry — Volume 10 • Various
... page of Greek; he tried a theme occult,— A message and an errand,—every time the same result! Then Cyrus knew that somehow his machine had missed its aim; For though the works ran smoothly it was always ...
— The Jingle Book • Carolyn Wells
... lighted city streets they rode at a pace that seemed to Willard Holmes more fitting for ladies' gentle exercise than for two men bound on an errand against time. The eastern man urged his horse ahead, but his companion held back and Holmes was forced to check his speed and wait for the other to come up with him. To the engineer's attempts at conversation the other answered only in ...
— The Winning of Barbara Worth • Harold B Wright
... to you upon an errand which can be very briefly performed, but I beg that you will not measure its importance by the number of sentences in which I state it. No communication I have addressed to the Congress carried with it graver or more far-reaching implications as to the interest of the country, and I ...
— President Wilson's Addresses • Woodrow Wilson
... he abode some days and informing himself with the utmost precaution of the name of the street where the lady dwelt and of her manner of life, understood of her that and more than that which he had heard of her from Bernabo, wherefore himseemed he was come on a fool's errand. However, he presently clapped up an acquaintance with a poor woman, who was much about the house and whose great well-wisher the lady was, and availing not to induce her to aught else, he debauched her ...
— The Decameron of Giovanni Boccaccio • Giovanni Boccaccio
... my captain's errand, yet I hoped there might be some touching on the question of the river navigation with the Spanish governor of St. Louis, and I had visions of returning to Kentucky and, amid the acclaims of our fellow-citizens, announcing that Captain Clarke, assisted by his young kinsman, had succeeded in convincing ...
— The Rose of Old St. Louis • Mary Dillon
... 26.] [Sidenote: Johannes Cremensis a legat sent into England.] After this also, in the yeare 1125. a cardinall named Johannes Cremensis was sent into England from pope Honorius the second, to se reformation in certeine points touching the church: but his cheefe errand was to correct preests that still kept their wiues with them. At his first comming ouer he soiourned in colledges of cathedrall churches, and in abbeies, addicting himselfe to lucre & wantonnesse, reaping where he had not sowen. At length, about the feast ...
— Chronicles of England, Scotland and Ireland (2 of 6): England (3 of 12) - Henrie I. • Raphael Holinshed
... partiality of the law, now computing again and again the nature of his loss. So he was still sitting when Mr. Archer entered the kitchen. At this a light came into his face, and after some seconds of rumination he dispatched Nance upon an errand. ...
— Lay Morals • Robert Louis Stevenson
... he went on, "my errand is not so much to buy as to borrow. I dare say you go into rather heavy ...
— Daniel Deronda • George Eliot
... little work; she left that to a subordinate who, for a modest wage, attended to her business and left her free to go out morning, noon and night. She now questioned Marie Pascal with considerable curiosity, and the young girl explained her late errand to deliver the gown ...
— A Royal Prisoner • Pierre Souvestre
... Street, staring, as if I had never seen them before, at the banks and brokers' offices, and other financial institutions, of which there had been in the State Street of my vision no vestige. Business men, confidential clerks, and errand boys were thronging in and out of the banks, for it wanted but a few minutes of the closing hour. Opposite me was the bank where I did business, and presently I crossed the street, and, going in with the crowd, stood in a recess of the wall ...
— Looking Backward - 2000-1887 • Edward Bellamy
... Mildred explained our errand. "Mother," she said, "I cannot tell you anything about this young lady, and I have come to ask if you will take her on ...
— The Woman Thou Gavest Me - Being the Story of Mary O'Neill • Hall Caine
... though she tried to look as if they had a definite destination, keeping her eyes eager and her lips parted;—people had called jovially to them from the distance, she meant to imply, and they were going to join these merry friends. She was still upon this ghostly errand when a furious outbreak of drums and saxophones sounded a prelude ...
— Alice Adams • Booth Tarkington
... sheriff: "Go after this man Kauffman and his daughter. It seems they've had some trouble with Watson and I want to interrogate them. Search the cabin for weapons and bring all the woman's shoes," he added. And while the sheriff rode away up the trail on his sinister errand, Hanscom with sinking heart remained to ...
— They of the High Trails • Hamlin Garland
... look, such as a man gets when he has been dogged by some care or annoyance that makes his bed and his dinner of little use to him. He spoke almost abruptly, as if his errand were too pressing for him to trouble himself about what would be thought by Mrs. Moss of his visit and request. Good Mrs. Moss, rather nervous in the presence of this apparently haughty gentleman, was inwardly ...
— The Mill on the Floss • George Eliot
... end of the conversation, saw me hastily give Alice word as to the errand which kept me from going home with her, observed my preparations for leaving the company, and, scenting news, fell in with me as I was ...
— Aladdin & Co. - A Romance of Yankee Magic • Herbert Quick
... errand in London was to see his wife, and to make inquiries at Mrs. Eyrecourt's house. The report was more favorable than usual. Stella whispered, as she kissed him, "I shall soon come back to ...
— The Black Robe • Wilkie Collins
... confidence. And she paused a moment before she imparted her secret— "To care only for the BEST! To do the best, to know the best—to have, to desire, to recognise, only the best. That's what I have always done, in my quiet little way. I have gone through Europe on my devoted little errand, seeking, seeing, heeding, only the best. And it has not been for myself alone; it has been for my daughter. My daughter has had the best. We are not rich, but I can ...
— The Pension Beaurepas • Henry James
... already on his way to Clisson. It was Jean Stein, who was hurrying as fast as his beast could carry him from Durbelliere to M. Larochejaquelin; but instead of explaining now what was the purport of his errand, we will return to Clisson, and see how Westerman finished there ...
— La Vendee • Anthony Trollope
... petty act of spleen; and it is far more likely that the messenger, aware of what sort of letter he was carrying, and to what sort of person, did not care, under the circumstances, to do more than his bare errand; but, that done, to save himself, hastened from the very possible consequences to his poor limbs of the first ebullitions of the imperial wrath. Be that as it may, Frederic determined to let the ...
— Pope Adrian IV - An Historical Sketch • Richard Raby
... sleep in which he wrote the poem. Coleridge said (though he is not to be trusted explicitly) that he composed the poem, to a length of over 200 lines, without conscious effort; that on awaking he wrote down what has been preserved; that he was then called out on an errand; and returning after an hour he could recollect only this much. How far do you agree with Swinburne's judgment: 'It is perhaps the most wonderful of all poems. We seem rapt into that paradise revealed to Swedenborg, where music and color and ...
— A History of English Literature • Robert Huntington Fletcher
... Baron Larrey came to see Frantz Mayer, who was very ill. He wrote a prescription which a young errand boy was told to wait for and bring back very, very quickly. As the boy was rather given to loitering, I went to the window. His name was Victor, but we called him "Toto." The druggist lived at the corner of the Place ...
— My Double Life - The Memoirs of Sarah Bernhardt • Sarah Bernhardt
... keeping an alert eye about him, he went the rounds of the saloons. Before he had visited half of them there was an air of suppressed excitement in the manner of Lazette's citizens, and knowledge of his errand went before him. In the saloons that he entered men made way for him, looking at him with interest as he peered with impersonal intentness at them, or, standing in doorways, they watched him in silence as he departed, and then fell to talking in whispers. He knew what was happening—Lazette ...
— The Boss of the Lazy Y • Charles Alden Seltzer
... share of the blood-money, but something was better than nothing. The sheriff came soon enough with a score of armed men. But Arendt Persson had not reckoned with his honest wife. She guessed his errand and let Gustav down from the window to the rear gate, where she had a sleigh and team in waiting. When the sheriff's posse surrounded the house, Gustav was well on his way to Master Jon, the parson ...
— Hero Tales of the Far North • Jacob A. Riis
... Then what was it you said the other night when you were afraid to pass the cemetery on an errand,—a ou ...
— Two Years in the French West Indies • Lafcadio Hearn
... no fear of wreck. But my father was wont to say that Poseidon bore a grudge against us because we carry all men safely to their homes; and that one day he would smite a ship of ours as it came home from such an errand, changing it to a rock that should overshadow our city. But thou, stranger, tell us of thyself,—whither thou hast wandered, and what cities thou hast seen, be they cities of the unrighteous, or cities of them that are hospitable to strangers and fear the gods. Tell ...
— The Story Of The Odyssey • The Rev. Alfred J. Church
... Have at her, archers: have at her, muskets all!" and in an instant a storm of bar and chain-shot, round and canister, swept the proud Don from stem to stern, while through the white cloud of smoke the musket-balls, and the still deadlier clothyard arrows, whistled and rushed upon their venomous errand. Down went the steersman, and every soul who manned the poop. Down went the mizzen topmast, in went the stern-windows and quarter-galleries; and as the smoke cleared away, the golden flag of Spain, which the last moment flaunted above their heads, hung trailing in the water. ...
— Great Sea Stories • Various
... impatient. I whispered to Forth in the darkness, "Shut the damn film off! You couldn't send that guy on an errand like ...
— The Planet Savers • Marion Zimmer Bradley
... was born in Philadelphia in the spring of 1814. He was left an orphan when very young, dependent for support and education wholly upon his own resources. Having been errand-boy in a book-store, and copy-reader in a printing-office, in his fourteenth year he apprenticed himself in a jewelry establishment. Having learned his trade, he removed to Boston, where he remained four years working at his trade, and giving, meanwhile, considerable time to reading and study. Returning ...
— History of the Thirty-Ninth Congress of the United States • Wiliam H. Barnes
... not necessarily follow that its owners were in the castle. The moccasin might have drifted from a distance, or it might have fallen from the foot of some scout, who had quitted the place when his errand was accomplished. In short it explained nothing, while it awakened ...
— The Deerslayer • James Fenimore Cooper
... to land lest they should provoke the jealousy of the people; and when, on Sunday (July 22), his highness had to undergo a public dinner, in which English servants only were allowed to attend upon him, the Castilian lords, many of whom believed that they had come to England on a bootless errand, ...
— The Reign of Mary Tudor • James Anthony Froude
... had pitched camp for the night the others would elect me to go to his tent, and ask if we could come over and pay our respects. They always selected me for this errand, because they said it was easy to see that I was ...
— Captain Macklin • Richard Harding Davis
... they came upon several wagons in charge of a commissioned officer, before whom the guide stopped with a very formal salute. After receiving a recognition of his salute the guide explained his errand. A laughing response greeted his explanation of circumstances. The officer called one of his aides, and the work of outfitting the erstwhile ...
— Boy Scouts Mysterious Signal - or Perils of the Black Bear Patrol • G. Harvey Ralphson
... his shoulder, and rolling more than ever in his walk, strolled into the kitchen of the Stopping-House and made known his errand. He also asked for the loan of a neck-yoke, having broken his in a heated argument ...
— The Black Creek Stopping-House • Nellie McClung
... game, played at "The Manx Fairy" on the last night of Philip's holiday, Csesar being abroad on an evangelising errand, Kate was expected to draw water, but she drew ...
— The Manxman - A Novel - 1895 • Hall Caine
... forgot the errand which had brought him there, but she remained sufficiently cool and observant. She touched ...
— Bob Hampton of Placer • Randall Parrish
... relate only to every variety of bear known to naturalists; and the African bear does not come under this category— since it has not yet been described by any naturalist. For that reason we shall have no errand into Africa." ...
— Bruin - The Grand Bear Hunt • Mayne Reid
... anything from which one derives profit. Though he knew that the hatred of his brethren might bring on unpleasant adventures, yet Joseph, in filial reverence, declared himself ready to go on his father's errand. Later, whenever Jacob remembered his dear son's willing spirit, the recollection stabbed him to the heart. He would say to himself, "Thou didst know the hatred of thy brethren, and yet thou didst say, Here ...
— The Legends of the Jews Volume 1 • Louis Ginzberg
... marriage, Mrs. Lee had been a Sunday-school teacher at St. Andrew's, and though party spirit considered her to have gone over to the enemy, there were old habits of friendly confidence between her and Miss Mohun, and there was an exchange of friendly greetings and inquiries. When she understood their errand she rejoiced in it, saying that poor Mrs. White was very poorly, and rather fractious, and that this supply would be most welcome both ...
— Beechcroft at Rockstone • Charlotte M. Yonge
... his Hanover people have been beforehand with this civility; Baron Munchhausen, no doubt by orders given for such contingency, had appeared at Berlin with the due compliment and condolence almost on the first day of the New Reign; first messenger of all on that errand; Britannic Majesty evidently in a conciliatory humor,—having his dangerous Spanish War on hand. Britannic Majesty in person, shortly after, gets across to Hanover; and Friedrich despatches Truchsess, with Bielfeld adjoined, to ...
— History of Friedrich II. of Prussia, Vol. XI. (of XXI.) • Thomas Carlyle
... Walden presently, his thoughts again reverting to the Five Sisters' question,—"If Bainton does his errand awkwardly,—if the lady will not see him,—if any one of the thousand things do happen that are quite likely to happen, and so spoil all chance of interceding with Miss Vancourt to spare the trees,—why ...
— God's Good Man • Marie Corelli
... catch you as many as he can in the morning, and he forthwith starts on his piscatorial errand with a large basket, cone shaped, of two feet diameter at the bottom and about eight inches at the top. This basket is open at both ends, and is about ...
— The Rifle and The Hound in Ceylon • Samuel White Baker
... that it was my duty to write a book about the American composers, exposing their futile pretensions and describing their flaccid opera, stave by stave. It was in vain that I urged that this would be but a sleeveless errand, arguing that I could not fight men of straw, that these our composers had no real standing in the concert halls, and that pushing them over would be an easy exercise for a child of ten. On the contrary, he retorted, ...
— The Merry-Go-Round • Carl Van Vechten
... one who ought to have known better," evasively returned the master. "I can't stop to talk now, Galloway. I have an errand to do, and must be back ...
— The Channings • Mrs. Henry Wood
... I have come again on a similar errand," continued Raskolnikoff, somewhat surprised and uneasy at being received with so much distrust. "After all, this may be her usual manner, though I did not notice it ...
— The Continental Classics, Volume XVIII., Mystery Tales • Various
... long after it was spoken, one of the Bechuanas came to the camp, and asked to be conducted to the chief. Groot Willem was immediately pointed out by Swartboy as the individual who answered to that appellation, and the black walked up to him. His errand was to say that the horses and cattle could only be watered one at a time. This was satisfactory enough. Willem's horse, as belonging to the chief of the party, should be supplied first, and was led away by the man, its owner following at its heels. A short distance ...
— The Giraffe Hunters • Mayne Reid
... one with another. After the meat there entered a tall, auburn-haired youth, of royal bearing, clothed in a garment of satin, who saluted Pwyll and his companions. "The greeting of Heaven be unto thee," said Pwyll; "come thou and sit down." "Nay," said he, "a suitor am I, and I will do my errand." "Do so willingly," said Pwyll. "Lord," said he, "my errand is unto thee, and it is to crave a boon of thee that I come." "What boon soever thou mayest ask of me, so far as I am able, thou shalt have." "Ah!" said Rhiannon, "wherefore didst thou give that answer?" ...
— The Junior Classics, V4 • Willam Patten (Editor)
... different thing. Is the British Telephone Service, for example, kept as efficient as it is—which isn't very much, by the bye, in the way of efficiency—by the protests of the shareholders or of the subscribers? Does the grocer's errand-boy loiter any less than his brother who carries the Post Office telegrams? In the matter of the public milk supply, again, would not an intelligently critical public anxious for its milk good and early be a far more formidable master than a speculative ...
— New Worlds For Old - A Plain Account of Modern Socialism • Herbert George Wells
... little difficulty in finding it, and were ushered into an office, where a very immaculate Frenchman received them, and inquired how he could serve them. On hearing their errand he smiled still more pleasantly, and in a few minutes everything was settled. Barbara was to come over twice a week and have lessons, and, if she cared, might begin that afternoon. The only drawback was that she had ...
— Barbara in Brittany • E. A. Gillie
... speaking, to scare anyone about this. Many people have this nervous trick of a crooked smile, and in many it is even attractive. But in all Syme's circumstances, with the dark dawn and the deadly errand and the loneliness on the great dripping stones, there ...
— The Man Who Was Thursday - A Nightmare • G. K. Chesterton
... at the meeting-place, was not in a bad humor. Having sent Rosa away on some errand, he turned to Jose with a flashing smile, ...
— Heart of the Sunset • Rex Beach
... is timed to leave the town at four in the afternoon precisely, and it is now half-past three by the clock in the turret at the top of the street. In a few seconds errand-boys from the shops begin to arrive with packages, which they fling into the vehicle, and turn away whistling, and care for the packages no more. At twenty minutes to four an elderly woman places her basket upon the shafts, slowly mounts, takes up a seat inside, and folds her hands and her lips. ...
— Life's Little Ironies - A set of tales with some colloquial sketches entitled A Few Crusted Characters • Thomas Hardy
... don't mind my looking in, although I have no special errand here," said the stranger. "I was a blacksmith myself in my younger days, and can never pass by a smithy without first stopping to glance in ...
— Jerusalem • Selma Lagerlof
... Chattanooga, while Sherman was sent to Meridian, the chief railway centre in the Southern part of Mississippi. In February Sherman arrived there, and, though a subsidiary force, sent from Memphis on a similar but less important errand somewhat further north, met with a severe repulse, he was able unmolested to do such damage to the lines around Meridian ...
— Abraham Lincoln • Lord Charnwood
... become a prime favourite with her husband's family. Jean's sister Louise was assiduous in teaching her French, and she had already begun to make some progress. Louise and her mother were constantly running across to the little pavilion, on some errand or other; and Patsey spent as much of her time with them as she did ...
— No Surrender! - A Tale of the Rising in La Vendee • G. A. Henty
... "So it seems. An errand for papa." She lifted her brows and pursed up her lips, and the wicked joy in her face pierced the mantle of ...
— Prudence Says So • Ethel Hueston
... fixed upon the strange girl and her troubles. Wyn did not neglect the errand her mother had given her to do, although she ...
— Wyn's Camping Days - or, The Outing of the Go-Ahead Club • Amy Bell Marlowe
... ejaculated Pennold disgustedly. "Dresses like a dude, an' chases after a bunch of skirts! Spreads himself like a ward politician when he gets a chance! He's my nephew, all right, but as long as he won't run straight, same as I'm doin' now, I'd rather he'd crack a crib than play errand boy for a man I wouldn't ...
— The Crevice • William John Burns and Isabel Ostrander |
