"Errand" Quotes from Famous Books
 ... would have been indecent and improper to oppose it, he answered that he would write about it to the King, and he did not doubt but his Majesty would consent to it; that it would give him the greatest pleasure to see Oxenstiern, but if his errand was to set aside the treaty of Paris, he foresaw the interview would do more harm than good; and that he would dispatch La Grange to the High Chancellor to compliment him, and assure him he must not think of concluding ...
— The Life of the Truly Eminent and Learned Hugo Grotius • Jean Levesque de Burigny
... when he had been sent to deliver clothes he performed his errand quickly, and boarding a passing street car, paid one of his very few five-cent pieces to ride down to the office of the Hon. Mr. Brown, the colored lawyer whom he had visited when he first came to the city, and who was well known to ...
— The Wife of his Youth and Other Stories of the Color Line, and - Selected Essays • Charles Waddell Chesnutt
... prepared with much solicitude; peculiarly flexible; which wreathes and serpentines round the cable and messenger like an elegantly modelled garter-snake round the stalks of a vine." The messenger thus was appropriately named; it went back and forth on its errand of anchor raising, the slack side being helped on its way by a row of twelve or fifteen men seated, pulling it along forward. This gang, by immemorial usage, was composed of the colored servants, and I can see now that row of black faces, with ...
— From Sail to Steam, Recollections of Naval Life • Captain A. T. Mahan
... over to Hagar's Corners you won't mind giving me a lift, will you?" he drawled. "I have an errand over at the station, and it won't take me a minute. I can come right back with you. Go on, Fred; I'll sit in here with the trunk and you and Betty needn't ...
— Betty Gordon in Washington • Alice B. Emerson
... errand is yet to tell. Some friends here are very desirous that Mr. Fraser should send out to a bookseller here fifty or a hundred copies of the Sartor. So many we want very much; they would be sold at once. If we knew that two or three hundred would be taken up, we should ...
— The Correspondence of Thomas Carlyle and Ralph Waldo Emerson, - 1834-1872, Vol. I • Thomas Carlyle and Ralph Waldo Emerson
... man, who had often seen those shoulders at a ball, knew well the treasures that the shawl concealed. By the way a Parisian woman wraps a shawl around her, and the way she lifts her feet in the street, a man of intelligence in such studies can divine the secret of her mysterious errand. There is something, I know not what, of quivering buoyancy in the person, in the gait; the woman seems to weigh less; she steps, or rather, she glides like a star, and floats onward led by a thought which exhales from the folds and motion ...
— Ferragus • Honore de Balzac
... I had reached Bridget's cottage she was there, with no semblance of hurried walk or discomposure of any kind. The door was slightly ajar. I knocked, and the majestic figure stood before me, silently awaiting the explanation of my errand. Her teeth were all gone, so the nose and chin were brought near together; the grey eyebrows were straight, and almost hung over her deep, cavernous eyes, and the thick white hair lay in silvery masses over the low, wide, wrinkled ...
— Curious, if True - Strange Tales • Elizabeth Gaskell
... the friar's head and his so close together over a dusty parchment just come in from Greece, as you could put one cowl over the pair. His wench Onesta told me. She mostly looks in here for a chat when she goes an errand." ...
— The Cloister and the Hearth • Charles Reade
... nothing of the kind. You've no feeling about your daughters at all!" But Sophie went on her errand, and in order to protect her father's small modicum of "sperrits" she slipped on her cloak and walked out so as to be able to watch the girl. Still, I think that the maiden managed to get a sip as she left the bar. The father, in the mean-time with ...
— Mr. Scarborough's Family • Anthony Trollope
... pretty kettle of fish! There's a two-horse sleigh outside, with a man driving, and a gentleman in the back seat who I am sure is Dr. Morris, and he has come all the way on this bitter cold morning to see the patient I sent for him to come to. Now, who is going to tell him he has come on a fool's errand?" ...
— The Magic Egg and Other Stories • Frank Stockton
... purely religious he was tampering with words in order to deceive. To him the removal of Elizabeth would have been a religious act. The Queen did all she could to make him save his life by recantation, even applying the cruel and lawless machinery of the rack. If his errand had been merely to preach what he regarded as Catholic truth, she would have let him go, as she checked the persecuting tendencies of her Bishops over and over again. But it was as much her duty to defend England from the ...
— The Life of Froude • Herbert Paul
... the officers for the money, and then escaped; but, so far as I know, not a man of that crew has ever been seen or heard of since. When at last the boat was ready for us, we started, leaving all hands, save the commodore, impressed with the belief that we were going on some errand connected with the loss of the missing boat and crew of the St. Mary. We sailed directly north, up the bay and across San Pablo, reached the month of Sonoma Creek about dark, and during the night worked up the creek some twelve miles by means of the tide, ...
— Memoirs of Three Civil War Generals, Complete • U. S. Grant, W. T. Sherman, P. H. Sheridan
... Jasper," said Naomi's father quickly. "I would we were more presentable, but up to a few days ago I had no hope of—but never mind that. Our errand must explain the nature of our attire. You stand behind me, and the servant ...
— The Birthright • Joseph Hocking
... just believe it, Marse Tom, I know it. Day before yesterday they knew something was going to happen. They were that excited, and whispering around together; why, anybody could see that they—But my! I must get back to her, and I haven't got to my errand yet." ...
— Innocents abroad • Mark Twain
... morning Carl started again on his way. His new friend, Edward Downie, accompanied him for a mile, having an errand at that distance. ...
— Driven From Home - Carl Crawford's Experience • Horatio Alger
... died the next day. Everything has been different among us since the Rehbock was built. Our village used to be quiet and orderly; every one was contented to work all the week and rest on Sunday. Nobody ever heard of such a thing as noisy drinking and rowdyism. But I have another errand with you now, doctor. Lene charged me on her death bed to attend to it. She did not leave any money, but she had an excellent outfit. She bade me sell her bedstead and her bureau, and bring you the proceeds, to settle ...
— Veronica And Other Friends - Two Stories For Children • Johanna (Heusser) Spyri
... this conversation, the family were surprised by Ben Fuller's driving up in his sleigh soon after breakfast, and asking for Alida. They were all in the library, and he announced his errand without taking a seat. "My sister Ada—Mrs. Cranford, you know—is very anxious for you to come over for a little while. She was so prostrated yesterday by the shock of what happened in her absence that she couldn't talk coherently to you then; but she feels that she must see you for a few ...
— Cicely and Other Stories • Annie Fellows Johnston
... calls, so we had perforce to open the gates for ourselves. They creaked on their rusty hinges, as if they had not been unclosed for many a day, and when I noted the neglected drive, where the overhanging trees swept our faces as we passed, I began to fear that I had come on a fool's errand, and that I should find the house shut up and my ...
— The Jolliest School of All • Angela Brazil
... 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 see ...
— With Links of Steel • Nicholas Carter
... 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
... got here ahead of me, eh?" came in Jack's voice, as he approached on a swift walk. "I had to do an errand for father and ...
— Randy of the River - The Adventures of a Young Deckhand • Horatio Alger Jr.
... "My errand here is to warn you," he said, "that the Englishman whom you left for dead at Big Bend, on the banks of the Blue River, has been heard of in ...
— The Great Impersonation • E. Phillips Oppenheim
... glance at the three hungry clerks—for the errand boy, as might be expected, was not admitted to the honors of the magisterial table, "in my cousin's place, I would not keep such gourmands! They look like shipwrecked sailors who have not ...
— The Three Musketeers • Alexandre Dumas, Pere
... Mackellar is a gentleman I value; and you must contrive, so long as you are under this roof, to bring yourself into no more collisions with one whom I will support at any possible cost to me or mine. As for the errand upon which you came to him, you must deliver yourself from the consequences of your own cruelty, and none of my servants shall be at all employed ...
— The Works of Robert Louis Stevenson - Swanston Edition, Vol. XII (of 25) - The Master of Ballantrae • Robert Louis Stevenson
... a painful errand to-day," says my lord to me, "for which, as it enters in no way among your duties, I wish to thank you, and to remind you at the same time (in case Mr. Henry should have neglected) how very desirable it is that no word of it should reach my daughter. ...
— The Works of Robert Louis Stevenson - Swanston Edition, Vol. XII (of 25) - The Master of Ballantrae • Robert Louis Stevenson
... heard of such a thing as children looking for a governess!' ejaculated the old lady. 'Poor little motherless things, their father ought to be ashamed of himself sending them out on such an errand!' ...
— 'Me and Nobbles' • Amy Le Feuvre
... he took a cab, and went off to Waymark's lodgings in Chelsea. Here he learned that Waymark had left home at the usual time, and had not yet returned. Just as he was speaking with the landlady at the door, another gentleman came up on the same errand. Mr. Woodstock remembered Julian Casti, and held out his hand to him. Casti looked ill; his handsome features had wasted, and his fair complexion was turned to a dull, unhealthy, yellowish hue. It was a comparatively warm day for the season, but his thin frame was closely muffled up, ...
— The Unclassed • George Gissing
... in a milder voice, "it is well for you to be cautious. I approve of this rough reception: it is soldierlike. It shows that you are true to the King. But read this. Give me something to eat and drink, and then I will tell you my errand." ...
— A Castle in Spain - A Novel • James De Mille
... Hartcliffe made a great stir, in order to become Provost, and actually obtained a mandate of King William to the society to choose him; but he was far from being agreeable to the Fellows of the college, who, when they heard he was in town, and upon what errand he came, directly shut up the college gates, and proceeded to an election, when Dr. Roderick was chosen, with the odds of ten votes to one. This being transacted in the infancy of King William's reign, he chose not ...
— Notes and Queries, Number 183, April 30, 1853 • Various
... perfectly normal. The sight, or even thought, of high boots, or leggings, especially if well polished or in patent leather, would set all my sexual passions aflame, and does yet. As a boy my great desire was to wear these things. A soldier in boots and spurs, a groom in tops, or even an errand-boy in patent leather leggings, fascinated me, and to this day, despite reason and everything else. The sight of such things produced an erection. An emission I could always produce by tightly tying my legs together, but only when wearing boots, and preferably leggings, which when I ...
— Studies in the Psychology of Sex, Volume 5 (of 6) • Havelock Ellis
... not afraid that we shall get tired of each other. The great point of union is that we have gone to our Saviour, hand in hand, on the supreme errand of life, and have not come away empty. All my meditations bring me back to that point; or, I should rather say, to Him. I came here praying that in some way I might do something for Him. The summer has gone, ...
— The Life and Letters of Elizabeth Prentiss • George L. Prentiss
... into the face that had haunted him all the afternoon, he forgot for the moment all about his errand. He was finally brought to a realization of the true state of affairs by ...
— Betty Zane • Zane Grey
... edge of the Ashland woods, looking up at the stars, the ripened bluegrass—a yellow, moonlit sea—around them and the woods dark and still behind them. Both smoked and were silent, but each knew that to the other his thoughts were known; for both had been on the same errand that day, and the miserable tale of the last ten months both ...
— The Little Shepherd of Kingdom Come • John Fox
... force which was now to go on the perilous errand of striking General Pope's rear, General Lee selected Jackson, who had exhibited such promptness and decision in the campaigns of the Valley of Virginia. Rapidity of movement was necessary above all things, and, if any one could be relied upon for that, it was the now ...
— A Life of Gen. Robert E. Lee • John Esten Cooke
... from the weight of these," she said, lifting the casket in her hands, "the toil of my errand will be less." ...
— The Old Countess; or, The Two Proposals • Ann S. Stephens
... said he, in a low and tremulous voice, "in wishing you farewell I may not now say more. I leave you, and, strange to say, I do not regret it, for I go upon an errand that may entitle me to return again, and speak those thoughts which are uppermost in my soul even ...
— Night and Morning, Complete • Edward Bulwer-Lytton
... I'll have on a good errand, I hope," he exclaimed, as he leaped into the saddle; "for though the police and I weren't over friendly once on a time, I can now face them like an honest ...
— The Gilpins and their Fortunes - A Story of Early Days in Australia • William H. G. Kingston
... therefore, when submission had been resolved upon, it had been thought both expedient and easy to recall them peremptorily to their duties. In addition to this motive for seeking the interior of the palace, the servants of the Senate had another errand to perform there. The widely rumoured determination of Vetranio and his associates to destroy themselves by fire, in the frenzy of a last debauch—disbelieved or disregarded while the more imminent perils of the city were under ...
— Antonina • Wilkie Collins
... lo! as she did so, her sober gray dress became a brilliant blue, the color caught from the azure of those clear heights. Higher and higher she flew, feeling so free and happy after her long captivity, that she quite forgot Father Noah and the errand upon which she had been sent. Up and up she went, higher than the sun, until at last she saw him rising far beneath her, a beautiful ball of fire, more dazzling, more wonderful than ...
— The Curious Book of Birds • Abbie Farwell Brown
... than was Indaco." Nothing is recorded concerning their friendship, except that Buonarroti frequently invited Indaco to meals; and one day, growing tired of the man's incessant chatter, sent him out to buy figs, and then locked the house-door, so that he could not enter when he had discharged his errand. A boon-companion of the same type was Menighella, whom Vasari describes as "a mediocre and stupid painter of Valdarno, but extremely amusing." He used to frequent Michelangelo's house, "and he, who could with difficulty be induced to work for kings, would lay ...
— The Life of Michelangelo Buonarroti • John Addington Symonds
... who seemed to confirm the butler's last observation, by twisting his features at him, when he was looking another way, into the resemblance of the grotesque face on the bole of a German tobacco pipe; after which, with an odd conge to Waverley, he danced off to discharge his errand. ...
— Waverley, Or 'Tis Sixty Years Hence, Complete • Sir Walter Scott
... but I'm not here for the purpose of apprehending anybody," replied Narkom suavely. "My errand is of a totally different sort, I assure you. Captain Glossop, allow me to make you acquainted with a great friend of mine, Mr. George Headland. Mr. Headland is an amateur investigator of criminal matters, and he has taken a fancy to look into the ...
— Cleek, the Master Detective • Thomas W. Hanshew
... to find the nursery. The soldiers were on guard at the door, but they let her go by when she told them her errand. Some of the babies were being fed, while others were already on their way upstairs. Alerta was about to pick up one of the children when a cry ...
— Friends and Helpers • Sarah J. Eddy
... day last year our laundress sent her oldest boy, a lad fourteen years of age, on an errand. He was gone an hour or more longer than she expected him to be. Upon his return she asked him what he had been doing all that time. He told her that an expressman had been run away with, and had been quite badly hurt. He had helped get the man into a store, had gone for a ...
— The American Missionary - Volume 50, No. 6, June 1896 • Various
... replied the recipient, bluntly. She laughed at that, and he went straight to the Dun Cow. He found young Fitzroy sitting rather disconsolate, and opened his errand at once by asking him if it was true that they were ...
— A Perilous Secret • Charles Reade
... I promised to give him 100 piastres if I could accomplish it; and after consulting his brother cavashes, he returned, saying, it would only be necessary to ask permission of the Seraskier. Ask the Seraskier! beard the lion in his den! Who would undertake to present himself before him on such an errand? George, however, the fearless pilot of the Actaeon, would have belled the Sultan himself in his divan; so he was unanimously chosen to represent the company of English nobles, and pushed ...
— Journal of a Visit to Constantinople and Some of the Greek Islands in the Spring and Summer of 1833 • John Auldjo
... fruit; but 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 ...
— Illustrated Science for Boys and Girls • Anonymous
... bumble as busy as their conventional character demands of them among the golden cups of the first timid crocuses. Give the bee sunshine, indeed, with a temperature just about freezing-point, and he'll flit about joyously on his communistic errand. But bees, one must remember, have heavy bodies and relatively small wings: in the rarefied air of mountain heights they can't manage to support themselves in the most literal sense. Hence their place in these high stations ...
— Science in Arcady • Grant Allen
... the remaining men started off zealously upon this errand. Meanwhile Sam, the craven coachman, came up with a crestfallen air to the side ...
— Ishmael - In the Depths • Mrs. E. D. E. N. Southworth
... this ignoble sentiment can be given. In the year 1833 or 4 the speaker was an errand boy in the Anti-slavery office ...
— Civilization the Primal Need of the Race - The American Negro Academy. Occasional Paper No. 3 • Alexander Crummell
... entered the Bank as an errand-boy, and rose by slow stages to Principal of the Stock-Room. He served the Bank full half a century, and saved from his salary a goodly competence. This money, tightly and rightly invested, passed to his son. The son never secured the complete favor of his employers that the father had known, ...
— Little Journeys to the Homes of the Great, Volume 5 (of 14) • Elbert Hubbard
... now on its middle, and behaving accordingly each time. Mr. Walkingshaw, perceiving that it was now bouncing in the direction he desired to go, fell for a moment to a walk and looked around for some assistant. But the only spectators within hail happened to be two errand boys who had not seen a circus for some time and evinced no desire to interrupt the entertainment. So off he started again, his white spats twinkling beneath his flapping overcoat, and covered the first fifty yards in ...
— The Prodigal Father • J. Storer Clouston
... the lane to the place indicated by Mrs. Williams, where a sign over the door, 'Fashionable Dressmaker,' explained the feminine nature of her errand. Leaving there, the two walked on till they reached a spot where they used to ...
— The Continental Monthly, Vol. 4, No. 1, July, 1863 - Devoted to Literature and National Policy • Various
... been thinking rapidly. Late in the forenoon she reached a decision. A little errand uptown kept her longer than she expected, but by the late afternoon she was back again at her desk, on which rested a small package which had been ...
— Constance Dunlap • Arthur B. Reeve
... day, with many an other purchasing errand, general and particular. New Year's gifts for the mill hands and the children; the supplies for the stores which Rollo was purposing to open in the Hollow, where all sorts of needful things should be furnished to the hands at cost prices; an easy ...
— The Gold of Chickaree • Susan Warner
... studied Ophelia, wondering who she was, and tried to turn the conversation. At last something occurred to her. It was necessary for her to run some errand or other, and "the young gentleman" could "accompany" her a part ...
— Walter Pieterse - A Story of Holland • Multatuli
... answered, wholly unaware of the important nature of the errand which brought des Lupeaulx ...
— Bureaucracy • Honore de Balzac
... laws which have been given. If these methods are used faithfully, then we have done what we can in the way of insuring the recall of facts of this type, unless we associate them with some artificial cue, such as tying a thread around our finger to remember an errand, or learning the multiplication table by singing it. We are not to be too ready to excuse ourselves, however, if we have forgotten to mail the letter or deliver the message; for our attention may have been very lax when we recorded the direction ...
— The Mind and Its Education • George Herbert Betts
... own interests—there's another tale." And Mr. Billing's staunch adherence to the hero of the village was cried out to his credit when Sedgett stated, on Stephen Bilton's authority, that Robert's errand was the defence of a girl who had been wronged, and whose whereabout, that she might be restored to her parents, was all he wanted to know. This story passed from mouth to mouth, receiving much ...
— The Shaving of Shagpat • George Meredith
... complains to me last night that young loafer takes her uptown yesterday on a wild fool's errand, understand me, and together they get pretty near kicked out of ...
— Elkan Lubliner, American • Montague Glass
... in America, where they diligently labour in the vineyard, probably for a year or two, at a distance from their families and friends. And here it may be observed, that, while Quaker ministers from England are thus visiting America on a religious errand, ministers from America, impelled by the same influence, are engaging in Apostolical missions to England. These foreign visits, on both sides, are not undertaken by such ministers only as are men. Women engage in them also. They cross the Atlantic, ...
— A Portraiture of Quakerism, Volume II (of 3) • Thomas Clarkson
... all about the recent little adventure, and fix his whole mind on what lay ahead of him. He had started out on what seemed rather a risky errand, if, as they suspected, the occupant of the strange cabin was really a desperate escaped convict. Still, Max was a brave lad; and having once conceived this little plan of campaign, he could not force himself to give it up, just because ...
— The Strange Cabin on Catamount Island • Lawrence J. Leslie
... so many words, that he durst not speak to the captain upon any such design, and was very sorry they had no more respect for him than to desire him to go upon such an errand; but, if they were resolved upon such an enterprise, he would advise them to take the long-boat in the morning betimes, and go off, seeing the captain had given them leave, and leave a civil letter behind them to the captain, and to desire ...
— The Life, Adventures & Piracies of the Famous Captain Singleton • Daniel Defoe
... informed him that both Inza and Elsie had gone on an errand of mercy to the home of ...
— Frank Merriwell's Reward • Burt L. Standish
... Nicholson died, it was down this same road he must journey to the grave; and down this road, on the same errand, his wife had preceded him years before; and many other leading citizens, with the proper trappings and attendance of the end. And now, in that frosty, ill-smelling, straw- carpeted, and ragged-cushioned cab, with his breath ...
— Tales and Fantasies • Robert Louis Stevenson
... this help and encouragement shown by Colet as Dean to a foreign scholar, it is worth while to mention the visit to London in 1509 of Cornelius Agrippa, the famous philosopher and scientist, who had been sent to England by Maximilian on a diplomatic errand, which he describes as 'a very secret business'. During his stay, which lasted into 1510, he tells us that 'I laboured much over the Epistles of St. Paul, in the company of John Colet, a man most learned in Catholic doctrine, ...
— The Age of Erasmus - Lectures Delivered in the Universities of Oxford and London • P. S. Allen
... rumbles and trumpets on to take up Thompson, Jackson, and Richardson, who, cigars in mouth, are waiting at a distance of forty paces off to ascend the roof. An hour later, a second omnibus comes by on the same benevolent errand, for the accommodation of those gentlemen, more favoured by fortune, who are not expected to be at the post of business until the hour of ten. As Our Terrace does not stand in a direct omnibus route, these are all the 'buses' that will pass in the course of the day. The gentlemen whom ...
— Chambers's Edinburgh Journal, No. 448 - Volume 18, New Series, July 31, 1852 • Various
... you. But it is not so with pirates. They will plunder their own countrymen as readily as they will Christians, and the safe guard of the governor of Syria will be of no use whatever to you. In this consists the danger of your mission. I cannot send one of our war galleys on such an errand, and if there are not enough knights on board to beat off any pirate, the fewer there are the better. I hear that the craft is a fast sailor, and as the crew will be as anxious to avoid pirates as you, they will do their best to escape. I leave it to you to take any route. ...
— A Knight of the White Cross • G.A. Henty
... a delightful abode for Alethea; and she was considering of its capabilities when she started at the sound of an approaching step. It was the rapid and measured tread of the Captain, and in a few moments he entered. 'Thank you,' said he, smiling, 'you are on the same errand as myself.' ...
— Scenes and Characters • Charlotte M. Yonge
... on her errand. She was some moments before she could make the old man understand what she needed; then, with the air of one who parts with some treasure, he handed over to her a little tortoiseshell box, remarking, ...
— The Mystery of the Four Fingers • Fred M. White
... marvel, and I would fain know, what thou dost all the day long? Doth thy Lord keep thee standing by his chair, first o' one leg, and then o' tother, while he hath an errand for thee?" ...
— It Might Have Been - The Story of the Gunpowder Plot • Emily Sarah Holt
... driven up from the station, sitting erect in the buggy behind Jed, the sorrel horse. His errand, as he had explained to Ma Holbrook, was to see how Teeny-bits was "getting along." He arrived at dusk and, after hitching the sorrel to a post outside Gannett Hall, mounted the two flights of steps to Number 34. He found ...
— The Mark of the Knife • Clayton H. Ernst
... said she, "you may rest entirely contented: for, take my word for it, no danger can happen to you of which you will not be timely apprized by him. And as for the fellow that had the impudence to come into your room, if he was sent on such an errand as you mention, I heartily wish I had been at home; I would have secured him safe with a constable, and have carried him directly before justice Thresher. I know the justice is an enemy to bailiffs on his ...
— Amelia (Complete) • Henry Fielding
... room closed upon them. The word passed along Main Street that Jack and William were closeted in the bank. Phil, walking downtown on an errand, with the happiness of her party still in her eyes, was not without her sense of the situation. At the breakfast-table her father, deeply preoccupied, had brought himself with an effort to review the happier events of the party. Knowing what was in his mind Phil mentioned the untoward ...
— Otherwise Phyllis • Meredith Nicholson
... Galway, the favorite amusement of the Leprechawn is riding a sheep or goat, or even a dog, when the other animals are not available, and if the sheep look weary in the morning or the dog is muddy and worn out with fatigue, the peasant understands that the local Leprechawn has been going on some errand that lay at a greater distance than he cared to travel on foot. Aside from riding the sheep and dogs almost to death, the Leprechawn is credited with much small mischief about the house. Sometimes he will make the pot boil over and put out the fire, then again ...
— Irish Wonders • D. R. McAnally, Jr.
... left you, men," Marble commenced, swabbing his eyes and cheeks, and struggling to speak with something like an appearance of composure, "and the errand on which I went. The last I saw of you was about half an hour before the gust broke. At that time I was so near the ship, as to make out she was a whaler; and, nothing doubting of being in sight of you in the morning, I thought it safer to pull ...
— Afloat And Ashore • James Fenimore Cooper
... moment, in pursuance with this idea, and, followed by King, the bearer of my large and weighty desk, entered the banking-house of my host, and was shown at once, by attentive clerks, to his peculiar sanctum. I told him my errand ...
— Sea and Shore - A Sequel to "Miriam's Memoirs" • Mrs. Catharine A. Warfield
... Mary and her mother returned, and we rose up. "Mrs James, is that you and Mary? Here's a captain and his friend come to me; but it's a fool's errand, and ...
— Percival Keene • Frederick Marryat
... sitting there yet if a diversion had not arrived in the person of Mrs. Silas, who came bustling out of the door of the grocery or post-office or bank; whichever it is called, is according to your errand there. Mrs. Si was tall, and almost as broad as the door itself, with the rosiest cheeks and the bluest eyes I had ever beheld, and they crinkled with loveliness around their corners. She had white water-waves that escaped their decorous plastering into waving little ...
— The Golden Bird • Maria Thompson Daviess
... her errand and soon returned, bringing with her two bottles, the smallest of which was labeled "Solution of Morphia—POISON. Dose for an adult, ten drops;" while the largest Was simply inscribed "Sulphuric Ether." These she ...
— Not Pretty, But Precious • John Hay, et al.
... what she had before determined to say, as sufficiently explaining her errand, and yet betraying nothing that her mistress might ...
— Mistress and Maid • Dinah Craik (aka: Miss Mulock)
... what Father Francis said. I know he looked as though the errand he had come to fulfil were unspeakably distasteful ...
— Kate Danton, or, Captain Danton's Daughters - A Novel • May Agnes Fleming
... feel awkward over my errand here," hesitating; "I wanted to see a lawyer in his office, with his books and papers, and be permitted to look, especially ...
— Bart Ridgeley - A Story of Northern Ohio • A. G. Riddle
... faded blue eyes, a low nose in three distinct divisions, and thin, curveless, cruel lips. He wore no hair on his face; but long grey locks, long as a woman's, were scattered over his shoulders, and hung down on his breast. When Wolkenlicht had explained his errand, he smiled a smile in which hypocrisy could not hide the cunning, and, after many difficulties, consented to receive him as a pupil, on condition that he would become an inmate of his house. Wolkenlicht's heart bounded with delight, which he tried to hide: ...
— Adela Cathcart, Vol. 3 • George MacDonald
... was late March now, and the air was full of vernal promise. Johnnie stepped out on the porch and glanced toward the west. She was expecting Gray that evening. Would there be time before he came, she wondered, for a little errand she wanted to do? Turning back into the hall, she caught a jacket from the hook where it hung and hurried down to the gate, settling her arms in the sleeves as she ran. There would be time if she went fast. She wished to ...
— The Power and the Glory • Grace MacGowan Cooke
... of those instinctive feelings of panic which we cannot explain to ourselves. Where can I take refuge? she thought. Shall I forsake the road and venture amidst the strange woods beyond? Then she bethought her on what errand she had come, and she trembled no longer, but drew forth her pistols from her holsters, looked well to their priming, placed one under her arm, took the other in her hand, and tying the horse to a tree by the roadside (for, indeed, of what further ...
— The Day of Wrath • Maurus Jokai
... when the door again was thrown open and the footman announced a gentleman upon the King's errand. 'Twas indeed his Majesty's guardsman with his order, and Cedric listened with flushed face and beating heart, not to what he said, but for the sound of a silken rustle upon the great hall parquetry; and as he heard it, he raised his voice and ...
— Mistress Penwick • Dutton Payne
... the white glare of the master's wrath. He arose and stumbled sullenly out of doors on his unpleasant errand. Scotty had been placed in his especial care both by the boy's grandmother and his own mother, and his soul writhed under the master's command. Outside the door he paused, weighing the chances of returning without the weapon; the master's tawse had been removed ...
— The Silver Maple • Marian Keith
... the direction of the gates. A strange sweet woman, with a power quite apart from the physical charms which usually affect men of my age, but one not easily read nor parted from unless one had an imperative errand, ...
— The Millionaire Baby • Anna Katharine Green
... developments of human nature as they came before her; but she was conscious of a disagreeable, troubled sensation left by this visit of Mrs. Dallas. It had not been pleasant. It ought to have been pleasant: she was Pitt's mother; she came on a kind errand; but Esther felt at once repelled and put at ...
— A Red Wallflower • Susan Warner
... able to catch it all upon their arms, and keep a circle of bare ground beneath them where the birds scratched. But the day following this fall, they stood with their lower branches completely buried. If the Old Man of the North had but sent us his couriers and errand-boys before, the old graybeard appeared himself at our doors on this occasion, and we were all his subjects. His flag was upon every tree and roof, his seal upon every door and window, and his embargo upon ...
— A Year in the Fields • John Burroughs
... road must have been freshly dug in front of the cottage. Once clear of the garden Fyne gathered way like a racing cutter. What was a mile to him— or twenty miles? You think he might have gone shrinkingly on such an errand. But not a bit of it. The force of pedestrian genius I suppose. I raced by his side in a mood of profound self-derision, and infinitely vexed with that minx. Because dead or alive I thought of ...
— Chance - A Tale in Two Parts • Joseph Conrad
... Alders could not write; And though the Robin knew The art as well as any bird— Or so he said—he flew Straight up the hill and far away, Remarking as he went, He had a business errand And ...
— Pinafore Palace • Various
... more, though having discovered this much he could easily guess that the errand of the marshal must have some connection with the breaking of the last tie that would hold the Spence family to the old home up the Sound. Perhaps the marshal and the lawyer were on their way to ...
— Motor Boat Boys Down the Coast - or Through Storm and Stress to Florida • Louis Arundel
... sent me on an errand. As I left the house I felt uneasy, thinking that my lie might be discovered. The moment I returned, I saw by the expression on my mother's face that my fears had been realised. The storm ...
— An Anarchist Woman • Hutchins Hapgood
... Phil's unexpected loss, I must explain that Tim Rafferty, whose ordinary place of business was in or near the City Hall Park, had been sent uptown on an errand. He was making his way back leisurely, when, just as he was passing Burnton's bookstore, he saw Phil looking in at the window. He immediately recognized him as the little Italian fiddler who had refused to lend him his fiddle, as described ...
— Phil the Fiddler • Horatio Alger, Jr.
... when she went on her usual errand Mrs. Corfield met her at the hall-door, "Alick will be glad to see you, my dear," she called out, radiant with happiness, as the girl crossed the threshold. "We are in the drawing-room to-day, as brisk and bonny as a bird: such a treat for him, ...
— Lippincott's Magazine, Vol. XVII, No. 99, March, 1876 • Various
... early, so I was awakened while it was still dark. But when I stood ready to be off just before sunrise, the Kafir boy, a servant of the store, who was to have guided me, was not to be found. No search could discover him. He had apparently disliked the errand, perhaps had some superstitious fear of the spot he was to lead me to, and had vanished, quite unmoved by the prospect of his employer's displeasure and of the sum he was to receive. The incident was characteristic ...
— Impressions of South Africa • James Bryce
... as a rule shy or in awe of his superior officer, but his wife's commission gave him an ill-defined uneasiness, so that he boggled over his errand. ...
— 'Jena' or 'Sedan'? • Franz Beyerlein
... Cross, on receiving the message from Short, called for volunteers, which was equivalent to summoning a 'posse.' He knew there was going to be trouble, and left his money and watch behind him, stating that he feared for the result of his errand. His 'posse' was made up of Ted Eaton, Bob Hubbard, Rolland Wilcox, and myself. At that time I was only a boy, about nineteen ...
— The Story of the Outlaw - A Study of the Western Desperado • Emerson Hough
... y-thonked be God, yestronde."[37] "And whether a maiden child, other a knave?" "Tway sones, sir, God hem save!" The knight thereof was glad and blithe, And thonked Godes sonde swithe, And granted his errand in all thing, And gaf him a palfray for his tiding. Then was the lady of the house A proud dame, and malicious, Hoker-full, iche mis-segging,[38] Squeamous, and eke scorning; To iche woman she had envie; She spake these words of felonie: "Ich have wonder, thou messenger, ...
— The Lay of Marie • Matilda Betham
... after this, Selma was sent by her mother on an errand to the nearest village. As it would be dark before she returned, she did not take the little gnome with her. About sunset, when Jules Vatermann returned from his work, he found the youngster playing by himself ...
— St. Nicholas Magazine for Boys and Girls, Vol. V, August, 1878, No 10. - Scribner's Illustrated • Various
... afternoon, and stopped at the American Temperance House. This was October 30, 1854. It was believed that he was in search of information about some fugitive negroes who were supposed to be in Worcester, and I suppose that to be the fact, although it was claimed that his errand was to summon witnesses against persons concerned in the riot which took place when Burns was captured. The fact of his presence became known in the course of the day on Sunday, and a pretty angry crowd began to gather in the streets in the neighborhood of the American House. Butman ...
— Autobiography of Seventy Years, Vol. 1-2 • George Hoar
... had obtained one of the rare social honours which men confer on one another. Thither came all manner of people—the distinguished foreigner travelling incognito, and eager to talk with some Minister unofficially on matters of import, the diplomat on a secret errand, the traveller home for a brief season, the soldier, the thinker, the lawyer. It was a catholic assembly, but exclusive—very. Each man bore the stamp of competence on his face, and there was no cheap talk of the "well-informed" variety. When the members ...
— The Half-Hearted • John Buchan
... she cam' ben, he bowed fu' low, And what was his errand he soon let her know; Amazed was the Laird when the lady said "Na;" And wi' a laigh curtsie she ...
— The Modern Scottish Minstrel , Volume I. - The Songs of Scotland of the past half century • Various
... read a chapter to father and Hurry!" said the innocent but terrified speaker, "and that would have kept them from going again on such an errand. Do you call to them, Deerslayer, and tell them I want them, and that it will be good for them both if they'll return and hearken ...
— The Deerslayer • James Fenimore Cooper
... crudeness; but the archeologist knows how to read into them a thousand vital points. History helps out, too, with the story of Harold, moustached like the proper Englishman of to-day, taking a commission from William, riding gaily out on a gentleman's errand, not a warrior's. This is shown by the falcon on his wrist, that wonderful bird of the Middle Ages that marked the gentleman by his associations, marked the high-born man on an errand of ...
— The Tapestry Book • Helen Churchill Candee
... which they sat at the tea-table discussing the excursion up Rattlesnake was the beginning of it. When Winnie was sufficiently mopped up to admit of his locomotion about the house with any safety to the carpets, he was dispatched to the library on the errand to his father. What with various wire-pullings of Gypsy's, and arguments from Tom, the result was that Mr. Breynton gave his consent to the plan, on condition that the young people would submit to his ...
— Gypsy's Cousin Joy • Elizabeth Stuart Phelps
... officers of the law to take any chances, and, accordingly, the ground had to be reached from Sweetsburg in a round-about way. It was with grave apprehension that the officers of the court and the citizens of that town let our small party depart on what to them appeared a most dangerous errand; it seemed perfect folly to them that Detective Carpenter alone, with only a Star reporter, should thus attempt to 'beard the lions in their dens'—and on a very ...
— The Story of a Dark Plot - or Tyranny on the Frontier • A.L.O. C. and W.W. Smith
... risen with the morning star to do an errand beyond Widewood, and was now getting back to Suez. This very dawn he had made Judge March's acquaintance beside his broken wagon, and had seen him ride toward Suez to begin again the repair of his disasters. Would the small Confederate ...
— John March, Southerner • George W. Cable
... distressing instance after instance in the progress of the cruel and unmanly business, but a certain degree of restraint was observed. The new policy has swept every restriction aside. Vessels of every kind, whatever their flag, their character, their cargo, their destination, their errand, have been ruthlessly sent to the bottom without warning and without thought of help or mercy for those on board, the vessels of friendly neutrals along with those of belligerents. Even hospital ships and ships carrying relief to the sorely bereaved and stricken people of ...
— History of the World War - An Authentic Narrative of the World's Greatest War • Francis A. March and Richard J. Beamish
... not know why the sight displeased me, for of course she had a right to speak to her clergyman. Uncle Geoffrey whistled under his breath, and then laughed and wondered "what the little saint had to say to her pastor;" but I did not let him go on, for I was too excited with our errand. ...
— Esther - A Book for Girls • Rosa Nouchette Carey
... hope—that he is a very extraordinary representative of it. I have traced his history back to his boyhood, when he was a cabin-boy. Having apparently failed to recommend himself to his employers in that capacity, he became errand-boy to a sort of maitre d'armes at Melbourne. Here he discovered where his genius lay; and he presently appeared in the ring with an unfortunate young man named Ducket, whose jaw he fractured. This laid the foundation of his fame. He fought several battles with unvarying success; ...
— Cashel Byron's Profession • George Bernard Shaw
... sent his son James, a boy twelve years old, across the river to the house of a relative, on an errand. As there was no bridge or ferry, all who crossed the river ...
— New National Fourth Reader • Charles J. Barnes and J. Marshall Hawkes
... nothing to explain, Monsieur le Prefet. I have come to you on an errand which I am fulfilling without knowing exactly what it ...
— The Teeth of the Tiger • Maurice Leblanc
... no particular business, in that quarter, and, if they see any cause for alarm, depart with an indifferent air that reveals nothing of their secret. Not thus the ingenuous lazuli. She showed her anxiety every moment; coming in the most businesslike way, and proclaiming her errand to the most careless observer, till I thought every boy on the street would know where her eggs were to be found. She had a very pretty way of going to the nest; indeed, all her manners were winning. She always alighted on the peach-tree branch, looked about on all sides, especially at ...
— A Bird-Lover in the West • Olive Thorne Miller |
