"Missive" Quotes from Famous Books
 ... was happily broken, before the week closed, by the promised letter from Maurice. Bertha, whose only exciting occupation consisted in watching for the arrival and distribution of letters, was in possession of the precious missive before her aunt and Count Tristan were aware of its arrival. She tore it open, and, glancing through the contents, uttered a cry of joy that rang through the chateau, and reached the ears even of the countess and her son in the library. The next moment Bertha burst ...
— Fairy Fingers - A Novel • Anna Cora Mowatt Ritchie
... threes they left her, the men bowing low, and going away fretted by the memory of the picture she made—a tall and regal figure in her flowered crimson, her stateliness seeming relaxed and softened by the mere holding of the sealed missive in her hand. But the women were vaguely envious, not of Osmonde, but of her before whom there lay outspread as far as life's horizon reached, a future of such perfect love and joy; for Gerald Mertoun had been marked by feminine ...
— A Lady of Quality • Frances Hodgson Burnett
... not know of the recent change of name, and the letter had been long on the way, but had reached its destination at last, and was soiled and worn, and very second-class in its appearance, Peter decided, as he took it from the office and studied it carefully. No such missive had, to his knowledge, ever before found its way into the aristocratic precincts of Crompton Place. If it had he had not seen it, and he wondered who could have sent this one. He found his master ...
— The Cromptons • Mary J. Holmes
... was passing away, and the autumn hues were slowly creeping over the forest, when Sir Richard's answer arrived at Shaftesbury. It was not a pleasing missive; but it would have cost Philippa more tears if it had made her less angry. That gentleman had not written in a good temper; but he was not without excuse, for he had suffered something himself. He ...
— The Well in the Desert - An Old Legend of the House of Arundel • Emily Sarah Holt
... his face at his old friend Bill Harmon's spelling and penmanship, for a missive of that kind seldom came to the American Consulate. When the second letter postmarked Beulah first struck his eye, he could not imagine why he should have another correspondent in the quaintly named little village. He had read Nancy's letter twice now, and still he sat smoking and dreaming with ...
— Mother Carey's Chickens • Kate Douglas Wiggin
... mighty interesting letter," commented Mr. Littell, folding up the missive and returning it to Betty. "Though you're going to leave a hole in this household, Sister, when you set sail. You see, he's been out of sight and hearing of trains and post-offices for a long time. I'd like to be able to lose myself in the desert or a wilderness for a month ...
— Betty Gordon in Washington • Alice B. Emerson
... magic so terrifying to him, I took the dirty, crumpled missive and unfolded it. The superscription of Quebec citadel was at the top. With overwhelming revulsion came memory of poor Louis Laplante lying at the camp-fire in the gorge tossing a crumpled piece of paper wide of the flames, where the Sioux squaw ...
— Lords of the North • A. C. Laut
... observed Lempriere, who shared his countryman's idea of the importance of their little island. "But how fares my Rose? A wanderer may love his Ithaca, but he loves his wife most. Have I your leave, Mr. Prynne, to examine this missive?" ...
— St George's Cross • H. G. Keene
... my arrival I received a note from Mr. Dale announcing that he would be able to get away from the city by the end of the week. The receipt of this missive thrilled me with joy; but I felt that proper sentiments obliged me to tell my Aunt Helen. It would scarcely be honorable to carry on an affair of which she disapproved, while enjoying her hospitality and under her protection. Besides, I was not without hopes of winning her over to my side. She had ...
— A Romantic Young Lady • Robert Grant
... forth sorrowfully, and surmounting many dangers, reached the Court of the King of Persia in safety; but what was his anger to find that the secret missive he bore contained nothing but an earnest request to put the bearer of it to death. But he was helpless, and when sentence had been passed upon him, he was thrown into a loathly dungeon, clothed in base and servile weeds, and his arms strongly fettered up ...
— English Fairy Tales • Flora Annie Steel
... She had the missive open there; it was emphatic though concise. "Eureka. Immense." That was all—he had saved the cost of the signature. I shared her emotion, but I was disappointed. "He doesn't say ...
— The Figure in the Carpet • Henry James
... to you When rioting in Alexandria; you Did pocket up my letters, and with taunts Did gibe my missive out of audience. ...
— Antony and Cleopatra • William Shakespeare [Collins edition]
... the effect this missive produced upon the proud, high-minded doctor of divinity. He took a sheet of paper and wrote a stinging letter to Lord Hartledon, forbidding him to think again of Anne. But when he was in the act of sealing it a sudden doubt like an instinct rushed over him, whether it might ...
— Elster's Folly • Mrs. Henry Wood
... Captain Robert McFarland. The purport of the epistle is not a matter of public interest; but it was written in a lady's delicate hand, and was probably warm with affection; and little did the fair writer dream that her missive would find its way into an African hut, where it was probably regarded as ...
— Journal of an African Cruiser • Horatio Bridge
... hardly settled in his parish. To think that I had been fool enough to trust even him with the particulars of my all-important secret! But here I was again interrupted, coffee-cup still full, toast still untasted, by another missive. ...
— If, Yes and Perhaps - Four Possibilities and Six Exaggerations with Some Bits of Fact • Edward Everett Hale
... angry, and the fragment of his reply which we give, was probably as unpalatable a missive as the little king had received since the days ...
— Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine, No. 327 - Vol. 53, January, 1843 • Various
... fairy-like symmetry that make up the tout-ensemble of the page, and was about to dissolve into another rhapsody, when Hapgood, who was not half so sentimental as the sergeant, became impatient to know the contents of the missive. Tom read it aloud to the stoical veteran; and though we cannot clothe its sweet words in the fairy chirography which transported our hero, and made the letter a dream of bliss to him, we shall venture to present it to our curious readers, stiffened and hardened into the dull, cold forms ...
— The Soldier Boy; or, Tom Somers in the Army - A Story of the Great Rebellion • Oliver Optic
... receive his missive than he set himself in active motion. Wharton, who commonly dined at the club, was so near that Strong had only to pass the note over to him. Whether Wharton was still suffering from the shock ...
— Esther • Henry Adams
... the missive from General Otaballo, and read aloud the instructions. But not until the last paragraph did Wilson learn anything of moment. Then, in a second his whole attitude towards ...
— The Web of the Golden Spider • Frederick Orin Bartlett
... Walcott, with whom he was talking excitedly. He spoke rapidly in Spanish. Kate caught only one word, "Senora," as he handed a note to Walcott, at the same time pointing backward over his shoulder towards the entrance. Kate saw Walcott grow pale as he read the missive, then, with a muttered curse, he started for the ...
— At the Time Appointed • A. Maynard Barbour
... was pleasant to him as he wore His careless surcoat, glanced some missive o'er, Propped on his truncheon ...
— The Poetry Of Robert Browning • Stopford A. Brooke
... hitherto been chiefly with the Guises and her Cardinal uncle, by letters to the Pope.[109] On the 31st she writes Pius IV. assuring him of her devotion to the Church, and that for it and for the restoration to it of her kingdom she is ready to sacrifice her life.[110] The bearer, too, of this secret missive was Cardinal Granvelle, from Madrid, and deep at this moment in the persecuting plans of Alva and his master Philip. For a new and greater danger was now rising for Scotland. Hitherto the chief pretenders ...
— John Knox • A. Taylor Innes
... burning, after the fashion of our fathers' time before the invention of lucifer matches and congreve lights—a fashion adopted when a letter had been written and the writer, who knew not adhesive envelopes and desired to seal his missive, made use of the phosphorus bottle instead of producing a light with ...
— Hunting the Skipper - The Cruise of the "Seafowl" Sloop • George Manville Fenn
... he let it be known that he was not a little anxious concerning a message that was late in arriving, and he made it a point, indeed, that the maid should advise Mrs. Linford to this effect, with an inquiry whether she might not have seen the delayed missive. ...
— The Seeker • Harry Leon Wilson
... N. correspondence, letter, epistle, note, billet, post card, missive, circular, favor, billet-doux; chit, chitty^, letter card, picture post card; postal [U.S.], card; despatch; dispatch; bulletin, these presents; rescript, rescription^; post &c (messenger) 534. V. correspond with; write to, send a letter ...
— Roget's Thesaurus of English Words and Phrases: Body • Roget
... in movement was almost like a snake. It dragged itself along close to the ground, making no sound as it moved. Soon it reached the hollow tree, rose to the height of a man and flattened itself against the tree-trunk. Then it put out a hand, felt for the hollow receptacle and groped for the missive which Henri de Montorgueil had dropped in there a ...
— The League of the Scarlet Pimpernel • Baroness Orczy
... carrier's hand. Struck by the look on De Young's face, the postman did not turn, but stood near by watching. The exile, once the immovable, seized the missive feverishly, then paused to examine. It was a man's writing he held, and he winced as at a blow, but with a hand that was nerved too high to tremble, he tore open the envelope. He read the few words, and read again; then in a motion ...
— A Breath of Prairie and other stories • Will Lillibridge
... this missive at 5.30. I read it over in a hurry, and took cheer: read it over a second time, sentence by sentence, and liked it less. It left no doubt, anyhow, that to search for Jack on the reaches of the river would be idle, as to find him would be ...
— Foe-Farrell • Arthur Thomas Quiller-Couch
... by, Faith being in her own room, took out from her letter box the last missive from abroad. There was something in this which vexed Faith, and yet ...
— Faith Gartney's Girlhood • Mrs. A. D. T. Whitney
... as they can, of an unpleasant feeling of involuntary, egoistic regret.... I understand genuine, warm sympathy ... but such sympathy you would not accept from just any one.... Do, please, get angry with me.... If you're angry, you'll be sure to read my missive to ...
— The Diary of a Superfluous Man and Other Stories • Ivan Turgenev
... day I got a missive Writ in a dainty hand, Which made my manly bosom With vanity expand. 'T was from a "young admirer" Who asked me would I mind Sending her "favorite poem" "In autograph, ...
— The Love Affairs of a Bibliomaniac • Eugene Field
... replied to this note that "he" was not in need of money. The same evening, however, another missive was received, enclosing two guineas. And the like favours were continued throughout the soldier's stay ...
— The Romance of Old New England Rooftrees • Mary Caroline Crawford
... cheeks left them white. But the letter only came from Joe Noy, and it is certain that Mr. Tregenza would have forwarded no other. Excitement died, and was painfully renewed, in a fresh direction, when Joan realized from whom the missive came and thought about its writer. He had long been a stranger to her mind, and now he seemed suddenly to re-enter ...
— Lying Prophets • Eden Phillpotts
... after the Countess, she felt herself jostled and a note was thrust into her hand. Turning, she saw the young officer at her elbow. As quick as thought, she put the note in her glove and entered the carriage. On her return from the drive, she hastened to her chamber to read the missive, in a state of excitement mingled with fear. It was a tender and respectful declaration of affection, copied word for word from a German novel. Of this fact, Lisa ...
— The Queen Of Spades - 1901 • Alexander Sergeievitch Poushkin
... matters), 'but eikit' (added) 'two articles to his copy, the one concerning Ninian Chirnside' (as to a dangerous plot-letter lost by Bower), 'the other, where the Laird ordered Bower to tear his missive letters. He grants that he wrote another copy with his course hand, copied from his copy, and gave it to the goodman of Rentoun,' while the copy given to Heddilstane 'was of his counterfeited writing,' an imitation ...
— James VI and the Gowrie Mystery • Andrew Lang
... do that," John Lirriper answered. "I will remain here below if Captain Francis desires to see me or has any missive to intrust to me." ...
— By England's Aid • G. A. Henty
... dissuasive tenor, is in State-Paper Office: Prussian Despatches, vol. xl,—dateless; probably some months later in 1780.] without regret to anybody; and we will not reckon it worth transcribing farther. Such Missive, such two Missives (not now found in any archive) speed to England by express; may the winds be favorable. Her Majesty waits anxious at Berlin; ready to take refuge in a bed of sickness, should bad ...
— History Of Friedrich II. of Prussia, Vol. VI. (of XXI.) • Thomas Carlyle
... his desk without further parley. There, for the second time that day, he penned a letter to Elkan; and, after exhibiting it to his partner, he inclosed it in an addressed envelope. Two minutes later he paused in front of Wasserbauer's cafe and, taking the missive from his pocket, tore it into small pieces and cast it ...
— Elkan Lubliner, American • Montague Glass
... reaches you, I shall be far away, though it breaks my heart to go and this missive is mussed up scandalous with my bitter tears. Forgive me if you can, and forget me if you have to. It is better thus, for it couldn't otherwise was,'" he improvised mockingly, while his chilled fingers fumbled to release the paper, which was evidently ...
— The Uphill Climb • B. M. Bower
... young men returned, soaking with wet and covered with mud, but with light hearts, for they had found their companions in the enjoyment of perfect health and in the best spirits. They brought back with them a missive, couched ...
— Willis the Pilot • Paul Adrien
... black were his by surest right, Like things but seen in horrid dreams of night. The steeds are swathed in trappings manifold, The armed knights are grave, and stern, and cold, Terrific too; the clench'd fists seem to hold Some frightful missive, which the phantom hands Would show, if opened out at hell's commands. The dusk exaggerates their giant size, The shade is awed—the pillars coldly rise. Oh, Night! why ...
— Poems • Victor Hugo
... as he finished reading this missive. He felt that his uncle had done him injustice. It was no foolish fancy, but a conscientious sense of duty, which had led him to ...
— Helping Himself • Horatio Alger
... and then went to the registry offices; but Monday's inquiries were no more successful than Saturday's; so she dropped her letter in the post, and felt as many people, especially women, do when an important missive has left them for ever to go to the hands to which it is addressed. It seems so irrevocable, they doubt the wisdom of the step ...
— Mr. Hogarth's Will • Catherine Helen Spence
... anxiously upon the necessity of maintaining unspotted the moral purity of the Court. Lord M's pupil considered that dear Albert was strait-laced, and, in a brisk Anglo-German missive, set forth her own views. "I like Lady A. very much," she told him, "only she is a little strict awl particular, and too severe towards others, which is not right; for I think one ought always to be ...
— Queen Victoria • Lytton Strachey
... did things to this letter that in after years he would blush to acknowledge, if they remained a part of his memory. He kissed the scribble—undeniably. Then, with rapt eyes, he reread the lengthy missive from "Dolly." It had come in the morning mail and he had read it a dozen times. The reader is left to conjecture just what the letter contained. Mr. Garrison's thoughts were running ...
— Her Weight in Gold • George Barr McCutcheon
... happily hung with blue ribbon from the top of the mirror. It represented a woman inclined to stoutness, about three and thirty. The chestnut hair was piled and curled with strange art about the head. Above the face there was a mask, roses wreathed, and a swallow carrying a love missive, butterflies and arrows everywhere, and below the face there was a skull profusely wreathed and almost hidden in roses. This portrait would have stirred the imagination of many young men, but Frank thought nothing ...
— Spring Days • George Moore
... less pre-occupied with her, own thoughts, she could not have failed to remark the harsh expression which darkened the public writer's countenance when he learned beyond doubt to whom this innocent missive was addressed. In fact, he seemed unable to make up his mind to inscribe the name given, for when he had written the word "Monsieur," he suddenly dropped ...
— A Cardinal Sin • Eugene Sue
... JONES, of Hartford, Conn., wrote a letter to my friend PLOPP, whom he supposed to be in Hartford at the time. The missive was forwarded to PLOPP, who is in Newport. It requested him to 'step in and ...
— Continental Monthly, Vol. I., No. IV., April, 1862 - Devoted To Literature And National Policy • Various
... side by side, and began to be moved exceedingly. She had one of her instincts, and it set every fiber quivering with excitement. It was some time before she could take her eyes off the pearls, and it was with a trembling hand she opened Mrs. Undercliff's letter. That missive was not calculated to calm ...
— Foul Play • Charles Reade
... it when Ferdiah's charioteer Heard the approaching clamour and the shout, The rattle and the clatter, and the roar, The whistle, and the thunder, and the tramp, The clanking discord of the missive shields, The clang of swords, the hissing sound of spears, The tinkling of the helmet, the sharp crash Of armour and of arms, the straining ropes, The dangling bucklers, the resounding wheels, The creaking chariot, and the proud approach Of the triumphant champion of the ...
— Poems • Denis Florence MacCarthy
... nobody went to see Fanny Forrest. Now, what could this strange girl be doing with letters from "Dr. Chesterfield"? Even Mrs. Post watched her narrowly as she hurriedly read the lines of the doctor's elegant missive. Her eyes seemed to dilate, her color heightened and a little frown set itself darkly on her brow; but she looked up brightly after a moment's thought, and spoke kindly and ...
— 'Laramie;' - or, The Queen of Bedlam. • Charles King
... steps forth, as the life and soul of the conventicle, armed with its decree, and addresses an insulting letter to the Pope, inscribed "Henry, king by the grace of God, to Hildebrand." In this letter, the decree of the conventicle is lost in the insolence of the king. "I," is the language of the missive, "I have followed their advice, because it seemed to me just. I refuse to acknowledge you Pope, and in the capacity of patron of Rome command you to vacate the Holy See." Can the most jaundiced eye, can the man ...
— The Truce of God - A Tale of the Eleventh Century • George Henry Miles
... Polyzoarium missive or crustaceous, composed of ovate cells in juxtaposition and arranged, more or less regularly, in linear series, radiating from a central ...
— Narrative Of The Voyage Of H.M.S. Rattlesnake, Commanded By The Late Captain Owen Stanley, R.N., F.R.S. Etc. During The Years 1846-1850. Including Discoveries And Surveys In New Guinea, The Louisiade • John MacGillivray
... to find the sealed letter she had been commissioned to deliver to Miss Maitland but a complaining missive from her stepmother, setting forth the girl's faults and failures with that accuracy of detail so characteristic of the "second Mrs. John." That lady's handwriting upon the envelope had helped her to this impression, yet so honest was she that she had not once thought of protesting or refusing ...
— The Brass Bound Box • Evelyn Raymond
... word he rose from the table, took the letter in his hand, and thrust it into the kitchen range. A blue flame slowly cut round the envelope; the pages began to curl like dry leaves in autumn, and presently the withered ghost of the missive shrank away in the dull glare of ...
— The Homesteaders - A Novel of the Canadian West • Robert J. C. Stead
... Yusuf had ended his poetry he presented an hundred dinars to Ibn Ibrahim, who took the letter and fell to cutting through the wilds and the wolds, after which he went in to the presence of Al-Hayfa and gave her the missive. She wept and wailed and cried, "O Ibn Ibrahim, this letter is indeed softer than all forewent it; and as thou hast brought it to me, O Ibn Ibrahim, I will largesse thee with two honourable robes of golden brocade and a thousand dinars." So saying, she called for pen-case and paper whereupon ...
— Supplemental Nights, Volume 5 • Richard F. Burton
... Lowe, the bank's attorney, and to Bennett Swope, the latter being the only member of the board available at short notice. This done, he wrote a note to Henry Nelson. In spite of his effort to control his hand, it shook when he signed his name, and on second thought he destroyed the missive. There is something ominous about the written word. If Nelson grew suspicious, ...
— Flowing Gold • Rex Beach
... stopped by Ruth, handed her the letter, and stared frankly at Mr. Amasa Farrington. That person's face began to redden as Ruth idly opened the unsealed missive. ...
— Ruth Fielding in Moving Pictures - Or Helping The Dormitory Fund • Alice Emerson
... with inquisitive form-mates ready to peep over her shoulder, did not seem the congenial atmosphere for the opening of the missive, so Irene was obliged to curb her curiosity until mid-morning "interval," when she gulped her glass of milk hastily, took her portion of biscuits, and, avoiding conversation, hurried down the garden ...
— The Jolliest School of All • Angela Brazil
... Mrs. Gourlay's face as she took the letter from his hand. But she betrayed nothing to his curiosity, since she knew nothing of her husband's affairs, and had no fear, therefore, of what the letter might portend. She received the missive with a vacant unconcern. It was addressed to "John Gourlay, Esquire." She turned it over in a silly puzzlement, and, "Janet!" she cried, "what am I to do ...
— The House with the Green Shutters • George Douglas Brown
... occasionally set in motion, greatly to their own diversion and the extreme discomfort of the surprised unfortunate. For he who has ever broken his skull on a treacherous sidewalk, or received from the post a dunning missive when he expected a love-letter, or arrived one minute late at the car-station, or taken a desperately bad bill in exchange for good silver, or been caught in a thunderstorm with white pantaloons and no umbrella, knows that the unavoidable surprises of life ...
— Autumn Leaves - Original Pieces in Prose and Verse • Various
... at the brief missive and looked up to find the messenger gone and Bill Blunt staring at the muzzle of his rifle which had a moment before been jammed against the man's brown skin. The mate read the words aloud and sought for an answer in Miss Sheldon's ...
— Gold Out of Celebes • Aylward Edward Dingle
... with contracted brows; and then for the moment she became still another Sylvia. She tore the missive into bits. She was pale with rage—rage which was none the less obsessing because it had in it the element of terror. Her father dared to suggest such a thing! It would have been bad enough if Fectnor had sent the summons himself; but for her father ...
— Children of the Desert • Louis Dodge
... &c. He withdrew his eyes, as if conscious that even to have looked on this important parcel might engender some suspicion of his purpose, or intimate the deep interest which he took in the contents of the missive which was so slightly treated by his friend Mrs. Pott. At this moment the door of the shop opened, and Lady Penelope Penfeather entered, with her eternal pendante, ...
— St. Ronan's Well • Sir Walter Scott
... When Messrs. Screw and Scratch read this epistle they opened their eyes wide, wondering what manner of man Claudius, Phil.D., might be. And it took them some time to find out. But Claudius put out his light when he had signed and sealed the missive, and slept the sleep of the strong and the just, undisturbed by the possession of a fortune or by any more doubts as ...
— Doctor Claudius, A True Story • F. Marion Crawford
... spoke a word as Graham began and slowly, to the uttermost line, read his draft of Blakely's missive. No one spoke for a moment after he had finished. Angela, with parted lips and dilated eyes, had stood at first drinking in each syllable, then, with heaving bosom, she slowly turned, her left hand falling by ...
— An Apache Princess - A Tale of the Indian Frontier • Charles King
... defied to prevent communication between the betrothed pair, unless his injunction had Mabel's endorsement; and, upon alighting from the stage at the village, on his return to Ridgeley, he had taken from the post-office, along with the impertinent missive addressed to himself, one for Mabel, superscribed by the same hand. From the first, he had no intention of transferring it to the keeping of the proper owner, It was forwarded in direct disobedience to his commands, ...
— At Last • Marion Harland
... hear the solemn notes of the "Veni Creator" sounding from within, as the good ecclesiastics prayed for divine direction in their solemn office. At last a name was written down, sealed up and given to the Chaplain de la Confrerie de St. Romain, who passed solemnly out with the fatal missive in his hand, and the canons at once proceeded to fill up the interval of waiting with ...
— The Story of Rouen • Sir Theodore Andrea Cook
... the missive fiercely from its envelope, and scowled at the mocking glint of the royal crown so heavily embossed at the top of the paper. What a toy it was, he thought, to cost so much, and eventually to mean so little! Roughly translated, ...
— One Day - A sequel to 'Three Weeks' • Anonymous
... the last moment I could trace his form, Edward leaned over from his giddy seat, And tossed out something on the air. I saw The little missive fluttering slowly down, And stretched my hand to catch it, for I knew, Or thought I knew, that it would come to me. And it did come to me—as if it slid Upon the cord that bound my heart to his— Strained to its utmost tension—snapped at last. I marked it ...
— Bitter-Sweet • J. G. Holland
... the young man's elbow holding a salver on which lay a missive of some sort, a telegraphic message, to judge by the flimsy, ...
— The Gates of Chance • Van Tassel Sutphen
... missive, small and neatly folded, and bearing the words 'Badsworth Hall' stamped in gold at the back of the envelope. ...
— God's Good Man • Marie Corelli
... with what patience he could until the letter was written. Then he watched Jessie seal and address it. Then she rose and stood staring down at the cruel missive. She knew it was cruel now, for, trading on the knowledge of the man who was to receive it, she had appealed through the channel of her woman's weakness to all that great spirit which she knew to abide in her ...
— The Twins of Suffering Creek • Ridgwell Cullum
... are well matched by that of a French lady, who wrote to her husband this missive ...
— Town and Country, or, Life at Home and Abroad • John S. Adams
... as the little missive was put into his hands. Yet he opened it eagerly, and opened his nostrils to the perfume, which exhaled from it, with a greedily ...
— A Siren • Thomas Adolphus Trollope
... whom his lord relied, In toil and peril trained and tried, Would to a happy issue bring The task commanded by the king. He gave the ring that bore his name, A token for the captive dame, That the sad lady in her woe The missive of her lord might know. "This ring," he said, "my wife will see, Nor fear an envoy sent by me. Thy valour and thy skill combined, Thy resolute and vigorous mind, And King Sugriva's high behest, With joyful hopes ...
— The Ramayana • VALMIKI
... had wooed me away from all my gloomy thoughts and surroundings. My tired spirit had flown across the broad Atlantic at sight of her missive, and reveled for a few happy moments, amid phantom pleasures. Now, with her finished letter lying in my listless fingers, upon my lap, I was creeping back to my sorrows from this outward sunshine, that had fallen in a golden flood, ...
— The Doctor's Daughter • "Vera"
... two "sweet girl graduates" of the June gone by, while the regiment was stirring up the Sioux on the way to the Big Horn and Yellowstone. Everybody had lavish welcome for them, and to Miriam Arnold the month at Fort Cushing had been quite a dream of delight, until there came a strange and sudden missive from her father, bidding her break off a visit that was to have lasted until February, and all relations with Lieutenant Robert ...
— Lanier of the Cavalry - or, A Week's Arrest • Charles King
... the location of the main ledge of copper or other ore which is measured from some point in that vicinity, and which may be determined later on by noting the place where the missive was found, or from some ...
— The Wonder Island Boys: Adventures on Strange Islands • Roger Thompson Finlay
... addressed the following words in a letter which John Erault took down from her dictation—to write she knew not—to the English commanders before Orleans: 'In the name of the King of Heaven I command you, Suffolk [spelt in the missive Suffort], Scales [Classidas], and Pole [La Poule], to return ...
— Joan of Arc • Ronald Sutherland Gower
... a scare by some one," remarked Jack, as he handed the missive to Fret. "But there can be no harm in keeping a sharp lookout," he admitted. "I suppose the trouble has got to begin soon, and it might as ...
— Jack North's Treasure Hunt - Daring Adventures in South America • Roy Rockwood
... she thought how long it would take to count the number of the little hands, some trembling, some bold, that had slipped into the rectilinear mouth of the letter-box some little missive that was either the foretaste ...
— His Excellency the Minister • Jules Claretie
... days before, for to-day was Monday. I made every possible haste in my toilet and ordered a horse. I wondered whether Isaacs had received a similar missive. What could be the matter? What might not have happened in those two days since the note was written? I felt sure that the illness had begun before I left them in the Terai, hastened probably by the pain she ...
— Mr. Isaacs • F. Marion Crawford
... again the stately emblem on the Bay State's rusted shield, Give to Northern winds the Pine Tree on our banner's tattered field. Sons of men who sat in council with their Bibles round the board, Answering England's royal missive with a firm, "Thus saith the Lord!" Rise again for home and freedom! set the battle in array! What the fathers did of old time we their sons ...
— Outlines of English and American Literature • William J. Long
... galloped into the wood. "General Jackson? Where is General Jackson?" A hundred hands having pointed out Little Sorrel and his rider, he arrived breathless, saluted, and extended a gauntleted hand with a folded bit of paper. Jackson took and opened the missive with his usual deliberation, glanced over the contents, and pushed Little Sorrel nearer to Fauquier Cary. "General," he read aloud, though in a low voice, "the signal officer reports a turning column of the enemy approaching Sudley Ford two miles above the Stone ...
— The Long Roll • Mary Johnston
... grave-faced visitors were now awaiting a formal interview with the agitated Professor Andrew Fraser. The young Major's face was simply radiant, for Mattie Jones had just given him a letter and a nosegay, sent by the young heiress, who had already read a dozen times her lover's smuggled love missive of ...
— A Fascinating Traitor • Richard Henry Savage
... tomb; Our mother cannot move from 'neath your foot. We too will somehow wear this one day out: But with to-morrow hastens here—the Earl! The youth without suspicion. Face can come From Heaven and heart from... whence proceed such hearts? I have dispatched last night at your command A missive bidding him present himself To-morrow—here—thus much is said; the rest Is understood as if 'twere written down— "His suit finds favor in your eyes." Now dictate This morning's letter that shall countermand Last ...
— A Blot In The 'Scutcheon • Robert Browning
... as of old, "we must seal this missive. Cut off one lock of my hair with your dagger, for my last gift to my first friend, and make ...
— A Monk of Fife • Andrew Lang
... no time to write letters. Oh, I beg pardon, letter for ME?" He took the missive from the silver tray and stuffed it absent-mindedly into a pocket, fumbling meanwhile for a tip. "I don't seem to have any money, my boy, but money, after ...
— The Ne'er-Do-Well • Rex Beach
... straggling, masculine characters which suggested painful effort and seemed to indicate that the writers were more used to the pick and shovel than to the pen. But although Mrs. Thomas had to spell out the contents of each missive with more or less difficulty, her giggles, blushes and occasional exclamations showed how much ...
— The Black Pearl • Mrs. Wilson Woodrow
... Madame Beaurepas handed me, with her own elderly fingers, a missive, which proved to be a telegram. After glancing at it, I informed her that it was apparently a signal for my departure; my brother had arrived in England, and proposed to me to meet him there; he had come on business, and was to spend but three weeks in Europe. "But my house empties itself!" ...
— The Pension Beaurepas • Henry James
... said Dunk, when Andy told of this missive, and also mentioned receiving one from Miss Martin, thanking him for the entertainment he and Dunk had given to her and her chum. "You sure are going it, Andy! Two strings to your bow, ...
— Andy at Yale - The Great Quadrangle Mystery • Roy Eliot Stokes
... difficulty he was recognized, by the well-known deficiency of some of his teeth, and by remarkably long finger-nails. But that, notwithstanding the marks, there were still incredulous people who doubted his death, and looked for his reappearance, is proved by the missive in which Louis XI. called upon the Burgundian States to return to their allegiance to the Crown of France. "If," the passage runs, "Duke Charles should still be living, you shall be released from your oath to me." Comines, t. iii., Preuves des ...
— The Works of Frederich Schiller in English • Frederich Schiller
... about?" said Joan, claiming the right of ownership so far as the unfolding the missive went. "Some random talk or 'nother, I'll be bound," she added, with a keener knowledge of her correspondent than Eve possessed. "I'll warrant he's a nice handful aboard there 'mongst 'em all, with nothin' to do but drinkin' ...
— Lippincott's Magazine, Vol. 26, August, 1880 - of Popular Literature and Science • Various
... The missive purported to be written by the wife of Count Skariatine's steward, and it set forth in rather servile and illiterate language that the said Count Skariatine and his eldest son were both dead, having been seized on the same day with the smallpox, of which there had been an epidemic ...
— A Cigarette-Maker's Romance • F. Marion Crawford
... missive was brought to Phaon. Nero snatched it out of his hand, and read that he had been decreed an enemy by the Senate, and was demanded for punishment 'according to the manner of our ancestors.' He asked what this meant. Being told that ...
— A History of Roman Literature - From the Earliest Period to the Death of Marcus Aurelius • Charles Thomas Cruttwell
... a communication in black borders so portentous that Dick, always alive to the comic side of everything, was moved for the moment to a profane laugh. "No mourning could ever be so deep as this looks," he said to himself, and opened the gloomy missive with little thought. It could, he believed, only convey to him information of the death of some one whom he knew little, and for whom he cared less. But the first glance effectually changed his aspect. His face grew colourless, the paper fell out of his hands. "Good God!" he said. It was ...
— A Country Gentleman and his Family • Mrs. (Margaret) Oliphant
... the clerk pushed a plain manila envelope into her outstretched hand. Evidently from the thinness of the letter, Farriss had but few instructions to give and, thrusting the unopened missive into her hand-bag, she retraced her ...
— The Strange Case of Cavendish • Randall Parrish
... the contents of the missive. "Now you shall see my benefactor, Charlie. Come, Belbeis, conduct us to him, that is, if I ...
— Under the Rebel's Reign • Charles Neufeld
... the girl broke the seal, drew forth the missive, and slowly unfolded it. It was long and ...
— Kidnapped at the Altar - or, The Romance of that Saucy Jessie Bain • Laura Jean Libbey
... three times without a smile. The feeling that he had prompted the missive—that it was partly his—stood between him and a tumult of gladness. And yet when he closed his eyes he could see Mary, all buoyancy and laughter, spurning his claim to each and every stroke of the pen. ...
— Dr. Sevier • George W. Cable
... and I hear that he is in Baghdad; where fore I crave of the bounty of the Vicegerent of Allah that he make search for tidings of him and do his endeavour to find him and send him back to me with the Chamberlain." When the Caliph read the missive, he commanded the Chief of Police to search out the truth of the matter, and he ceased not to enquire after Ibrahim, till it was told him that he was at Bassorah, where upon he informed the Caliph, ...
— The Book of the Thousand Nights and a Night, Volume 9 • Richard F. Burton
... seemed like an hour, but was probably five minutes, the letter, whatever its nature, was judged complete; and with the same stealthy but unhurried movements the writer sought and obtained an envelope from the many which lay ready to hand and slipped the missive in with deft fingers. An address added, the abominable thing was complete; and having quietly put everything in order, so that even the most acute eyes could discover nothing amiss, the writer rose softly from the chair, and taking up the electric torch extinguished ...
— Afterwards • Kathlyn Rhodes
... come for her too, it seemed, and she looked up with an expression of concentrated fierceness from a missive she was reading as he entered the room. Her marvellous self-control banished all but love from her eyes after they had rested on him for an instant, but his senses—so fine now—had remarked the first glance, just as his eye had seen the heavy royal crown ...
— Three Weeks • Elinor Glyn
... me the missive, the superscription of which was, to my astonishment, in the handwriting of Satronius Dromo. While my fingers tugged at ...
— Andivius Hedulio • Edward Lucas White
... Vincent gave an impatient exclamation. "Another time we might do so, but as you have just come safely back to us I don't think it would be fair, especially as this is the very first letter. Here it is!" and she took out of the workbox before her the missive Vincent ...
— With Lee in Virginia - A Story of the American Civil War • G. A. Henty
... implements. Even long after adhesive envelopes had become common in European Turkey, their use was considered over familiar, if not actually disrespectful, for formal letters, and there was a particular traditional knack in cutting and folding the special envelope for each missive, which was included in the instruction given by every competent Khoja as the present writer well remembers in the quiet years that ended with ...
— The Travels of Marco Polo Volume 1 • Marco Polo and Rustichello of Pisa
... put the missive in an envelope, "I understand you're a hero, woke up and found yourself famous and all that kind of stuff. Can you sprint? Good. I'm going to give you the chance of your life, and no war tax. Hervey Willetts started for home about three ...
— Tom Slade's Double Dare • Percy Keese Fitzhugh
... The irregular act is, however, made known to the authorities, and Mateo is threatened with instant dismissal if he persists in avoiding the street in question. Fortunately, the sereno receives a second missive from the anonymous correspondent, containing the assurance that there is still hope for immediate and radical disenchantment if Mateo will only follow the writer's advice. This consists, first of all, in depositing a piece of coin under the ...
— The Pearl of the Antilles, or An Artist in Cuba • Walter Goodman
... and the ministers of foreign courts. Her majesty directed Lord John Russell to show the document conveying her demands to the foreign secretary. From the production of this stern, severe, and rebukeful missive from the royal hand, it became evident either that Lord Palmerston had failed in his duty, abused the confidence of her majesty, and behaved with intolerable insolence, assumption, and arrogance, or that a conspiracy existed to prejudice the mind of ...
— The History of England in Three Volumes, Vol.III. - From George III. to Victoria • E. Farr and E. H. Nolan
... Pseudolus. Thee do I seek that thou mayst obtain thrice three times triple delights in three various ways, joys earned by three tricks and three tricksters, cunningly won by treachery, fraud and villainy, which in this little sealed missive have I ...
— The Dramatic Values in Plautus • Wilton Wallace Blancke
... from his pocketbook and gave it to the wise old man, who stuck glasses on his nose awry, and at an angle well down toward the point, and scanned the missive. ...
— Mixed Faces • Roy Norton
... And then he lets poor sentiment go slide! We try to think of what you'd have us say, dear, But when we've coaxed a good thought half way out, A money-making idea's in the way, dear, And then Love's gentle troops are put to rout. So—with a business missive in each hand— Will three words do? Or ...
— With the Colors - Songs of the American Service • Everard Jack Appleton
... secured the ducal missive in an iron box where she was in the habit of keeping her own private papers, and which opened with a ...
— Wagner, the Wehr-Wolf • George W. M. Reynolds
... missive—fresh from the post-office—and gazed anxiously at the envelope. It was postmarked in one of the border towns many days after the report of Juan Dicampa's death; yet the writing on the envelope was the ...
— How Janice Day Won • Helen Beecher Long
... surprising that Grenville asked for time to consult his colleagues (probably also the King) before returning an answer to Lebrun's missive; for, though unobjectionable in form, it re-affirmed the French claims and justified all the proceedings of that Government. Lebrun accused the Pitt Cabinet of raising difficulties of form and of discovering hostile intentions where none existed. ...
— William Pitt and the Great War • John Holland Rose
... was allowed to land. Cablegrams, letters, and newspapers came in bundles for the cabin-folk. The only communication of any sort for officers or men was a letter addressed to Royson by name. Von Kerber constituted himself postman, and he brought the missive to Dick in person, but not until the Aphrodite had entered the canal after shipping her ...
— The Wheel O' Fortune • Louis Tracy
... "Captain Mayhew, stand by now to receive it"; and taking the fatal missive from Starbuck's hands, he caught it in the slit of the pole, and reached it over towards the boat. But as he did so, the oarsmen expectantly desisted from rowing; the boat drifted a little towards the ship's stern; so that, as if by magic, the ...
— Moby Dick; or The Whale • Herman Melville
... signs of travel on his garments, removed his head dress, untwisted the long locks of hair bound according to custom around his head, and, producing a small packet from the midst of his tresses, flung it on the floor. I picked up the missive, and handed it ...
— Tales of Destiny • Edmund Mitchell
... air was that of the champion who wanted to see "the man who struck Billy Patterson," and his fierceness quite alarmed me, lest he should step on some of the men. So I hurried to him, and was no little surprised to find that the offending missive was my note. I told him I had written it, and could have had no thought of "reporting" him, since I ...
— Half a Century • Jane Grey Cannon Swisshelm
... difficult to follow the lines closely, but at length achieved a respectable result. "I'll take good care of it," Hepsey said, wrapping the precious missive in a newspaper, "and this afternoon, when I get my work done up, I'll fix it. ...
— Lavender and Old Lace • Myrtle Reed
... the morning, he was so tense and animate that he heard the soft, swift tread of a Chinese in the hall and the faintest possible rustle of a paper thrust under his door. He waited a moment before turning on the light.... It was another missive from the ...
— Fate Knocks at the Door - A Novel • Will Levington Comfort
... missive was somewhat relieved by a humorous account of the recall of the cavalry force. She then learned, through her father, that the entire army was again on the move, and that another terrific battle would be fought in a ...
— An Original Belle • E. P. Roe
... Sayda that a packet had arrived for her from Beyrout, which was to be delivered into her own hands, her sanguine mind was filled with the hope of coming prosperity. But when the packet was opened, instead of the long-expected missive from Sir Francis, it proved to be an official statement from Colonel Campbell, Consul-General for Egypt, that in consequence of an application made to the British Government by one of Lady Hester's chief creditors, an order had come from Lord Palmerston ...
— Little Memoirs of the Nineteenth Century • George Paston
... of thought was abruptly broken by the entrance of the Doctor. He marched solemnly in, holding out the offending missive. "Look at this, sir!" he said, shaking it angrily before Paul's eyes. "Look at this! what do you mean by receiving a flippant communication like this in a sacred edifice? What ...
— Vice Versa - or A Lesson to Fathers • F. Anstey
... The haughty missive, a copy of which was sent to England,[273] produced the desired effect. The doctors became obedient and convinced, and the required declaration of opinion in Henry's favour, was drawn up in the most ample manner. They made a ...
— The Reign of Henry the Eighth, Volume 1 (of 3) • James Anthony Froude
... had been my courtesy to Rachel. And then for the first time, I told Marjie of her father's dying message. I had wanted her to love me for myself. I did not want any sense of duty to her father's wishes to sway her. I knew now that she did love me. And I closed the affectionate missive ...
— The Price of the Prairie - A Story of Kansas • Margaret Hill McCarter
... have been a severe blow to Imperial pride to receive such a letter: and the sense of insult can scarcely have been much mitigated by the fact that the missive was enveloped in a silken covering, or by the circumstance that the bearer, Narses, endeavored by his conciliating manners to atone for his master's rudeness. Constantius replied, however, in a dignified and calm tone. "The Roman emperor," he said, "victorious by land and sea, saluted ...
— The Seven Great Monarchies Of The Ancient Eastern World, Vol 7. (of 7): The Sassanian or New Persian Empire • George Rawlinson
... judiciously into the haven of a well-chosen apartment, sharing his intimacy only with Arthur Ferris, the brisk-eyed advocate whose curt office missive always enforced the lagging collections of the ...
— The Midnight Passenger • Richard Henry Savage
... peculiarity in the city of Norwich. Although "Valentines," as generally understood, that is to say billets sent by means of the post, are as numerously employed here as in other places, yet the custom consists not in the transmission of a missive overflowing with hearts and darts, or poetical posies, but in something far more substantial, elegant and costly—to wit, a goodly present of value unrestricted in use or expense. Though this custom is openly adopted among relatives ...
— Notes & Queries, No. 19, Saturday, March 9, 1850 • Various
... and stared out over the roof-tops. He couldn't afford to be a philanthropist. A rather sweeping idea had flashed into his mind as he read that missive. His horizon was continually expanding. Money, beyond cavil, was the key to many doors, a necessity if a man's eyes were fixed upon much that was desirable. If he could make money selling machines for Groya Motors Inc., why not for himself? ...
— Burned Bridges • Bertrand W. Sinclair
... last lines of his Latin, and the doctor turned over the newspaper, the girl read a letter—evidently, from the large sprawling handwriting, the missive of some girlish correspondent. She was deep in it when, from one of the turrets of the Cathedral, a bell began to ring. At that, she ...
— The Paradise Mystery • J. S. Fletcher
... forest lay between Sowams and Plymouth, but a swift runner was dispatched at once with the missive, and the promise of a rich reward if he hastened his return; then Winslow turned to his fellow-statesman who stood looking ...
— Standish of Standish - A story of the Pilgrims • Jane G. Austin
... not far from Warsaw, where my aunt owns a house in which she spends the winter. Every winter she tries to inveigle me there in the hope to see me married. Even now I received a mysteriously worded missive adjuring me to come at once. I shall have to go, as I have not seen her for some time. She writes that she is getting old and wishes to see me before she dies. I confess I do not always feel inclined to go. I know that my aunt's dearest wish is to see me married, therefore every visit ...
— Without Dogma • Henryk Sienkiewicz
... moment?' said Ethelberta, stepping to the window and opening the missive. It contained these words only, in a scrawl so full of deformities that she could hardly piece its ...
— The Hand of Ethelberta • Thomas Hardy
... she read it through carefully, made the one or two little corrections, which are still visible in the document, then folded her missive, hid it within the folds of her kerchief, and, wrapping a dark cloak and hood round her, she slipped noiselessly ...
— I Will Repay • Baroness Emmuska Orczy
... Sylvia had a long letter from Jermain Fiske, a letter half apologetic, half aggrieved, passionately incredulous of the seriousness of the break between them, and wholly unreconciled to it. The upshot of his missive was that he was sorry if he had done anything to offend her, but might he be everlastingly confounded if he thought she had the slightest ground for complaint! Everything had been going on so swimmingly—his father had taken the greatest notion to her—had ...
— The Bent Twig • Dorothy Canfield
... been wrong—very far wrong—in assuming that the letter had no reference to herself because Giles had turned away into the wood after its perusal. It was, sad to say, because the missive had so much reference to herself that he had thus turned away. He feared that his grieved discomfiture might be observed. The letter was from Beaucock, written a few hours later than Melbury's to his daughter. ...
— The Woodlanders • Thomas Hardy
... delayed sending her letter to Phraortes, in order to see the woman Zoroaster admired, and had, in her absence of mind, forgotten the scroll upon the seat in the corridor, and had brought herself into such desperate danger through the discovery of the missive, that she hardly yet felt safe. The king had dismissed her peremptorily from his presence while he waited for Nehushta, and she had not seen him during the rest of the day. As for Zoroaster, she had soon ...
— Marzio's Crucifix and Zoroaster • F. Marion Crawford
... a long letter to Edna—a straightforward, business-like missive, as his letters had always been, in which, in language which she could understand, but would carry no intelligible idea to any unauthorized person who might open the letter, he gave her an account of what he had done, and which was calculated to relieve all apprehensions, should ...
— The Adventures of Captain Horn • Frank Richard Stockton
... expeditious to have intrusted the letter to one of the suite of Prince Henry of Almayne, who had been recalled by the tidings of the state of his father's health; but Richard dreaded betraying his brother's secret too much to venture on confiding the missive to any of this party—none of whom were indeed likely to wish to oblige him. Hamlyn de Valence was going with Henry as his esquire; and his absence seemed to Richard like the beginning of ...
— The Prince and the Page • Charlotte M. Yonge
... returned, Tiburcio brought a request from Miss Jean, asking me to come into the ranch that night. Responding to the summons, I was rewarded by finding a letter awaiting me from Frances Vaux, left by a vaquero passing from the Frio to Santa Maria. It was a dainty missive, informing me that Esther was her guest; that the tournament would not take place, but to be sure and come over on Sunday. Personally the note was satisfactory, but that I was to bring any one along was artfully omitted. Being thus forced to read ...
— A Texas Matchmaker • Andy Adams
... gratuitous affront was offered him! It was damnable. He smote the offending note. He would soon find out whether it was true or not. Then he flung the thing violently to the floor. But he realized that this burst of fury would not translate the muddle, so he stooped and recovered the missive. He laughed, but the laughter had a grim Homeric sound. War! Nothing less. He was prepared for it. Twenty thousand troops were now in the valley, and there were twenty thousand reserves. What Franz Josef of Austria or William of Prussia said did not amount to the snap of his two fingers. ...
— The Goose Girl • Harold MacGrath
... line from his late father, he became in fact the only legitimate heir of the chateau and lands of Vivey; still, there was a strong probability that Claude de Buxieres had made a will in favor of some one more within his own circle. The second missive from Arbillot the notary, announcing that the deceased had died intestate, and requesting the legal heir to come to Vivey as soon as possible, put a sudden end to the young man's doubts, which merged into a complex feeling, less ...
— A Woodland Queen, Complete • Andre Theuriet
... said, turning half-unwilling to watch a knight who advanced, unattended, bearing a missive with the pendant royal seal of Cyprus that she knew so well. He knelt before her, vizor down, yet with the customary homage; ...
— The Royal Pawn of Venice - A Romance of Cyprus • Mrs. Lawrence Turnbull
... of a servant with the morning letters interrupted further conversation, until Arthur tossed his wife a letter which Dr. Ashton had mailed at the same time he posted the missive which Helen received ...
— The Pagans • Arlo Bates
... explicit instructions from President Madison but also some very pronounced convictions as to what they were expected to accomplish. Matthews, at least, understood that the President wished a revolution after the West Florida model. He assured the Administration-Adams read the precious missive in the files of his office-that he could do the trick. Only let the Government consign two hundred stand of arms and fifty horsemen's swords to the commander at St. Mary's, and he would guarantee to put the revolution through without committing the ...
— Jefferson and his Colleagues - A Chronicle of the Virginia Dynasty, Volume 15 In The - Chronicles Of America Series • Allen Johnson
... This important Missive reached Custrin, by estafette, that same midnight, 4th-5th February; when Wolden, "Hofmarschall of the Prince's Court" (titular Goldstick there, but with abundance of real functions laid on him), had the honor to awaken the ...
— History of Friedrich II. of Prussia, Vol. IX. (of XXI.) • Thomas Carlyle
... took up the missive and read it aloud: "Come home at once. Mother seriously ill.—Dodona." He looked up to find his employer's ...
— Nancy McVeigh of the Monk Road • R. Henry Mainer
... must be an extraordinary blunder. But no! The few lines that he hurriedly read breathed the same atmosphere of intellectual repose, gentleness, and imagination as the first contribution. And yet they were in the same handwriting as the singular missive, and both were identical with the ...
— A Sappho of Green Springs • Bret Harte
... intense satisfaction, the horribly blood-stained garment was brought in, and his hand went out trembling to catch it by the breast, fully expecting to find the missive gone. ...
— A Dash from Diamond City • George Manville Fenn
... have made an impression, but certainly not a ten-strike," he thought to himself, as he folded up the missive and put it into the most sacred compartment of his Russia-leather pocketbook, along with ...
— The Slim Princess • George Ade
... himself in the words of urgency and high consequence, which the Earl of Mar, when that nobleman was raising the "Standard on the Braes o' Mar," flung, like a fiery cross, at Jock Forbes of Inverernan. You will perceive the lordly egotism of the Black Colonel when I give you the missive, as I read it myself, with its new, intimate and individual bearing, immediately Red ...
— The Black Colonel • James Milne
... quiet of her own room. It had been delivered to her secretly by her old friend Sarah Peters, the miller's daughter, who had been the confidante of her love affairs; for even in his indignation Mr. Randall had been prudent enough to consider that such a missive, falling perchance into Stephen Whitelaw's hands, ...
— Fenton's Quest • M. E. Braddon
... at Pelion, Troglodyt[^e]s cast The missive spear within the bosom past Death's sable shades the fainting frog surround, And life's red tide runs ...
— Character Sketches of Romance, Fiction and the Drama - A Revised American Edition of the Reader's Handbook, Vol. 3 • E. Cobham Brewer
... which was much easier to write than the one intended for Miss Thoroughbung, was unfortunately sent off a little before the completion of the other. A day's interval had been intended. But the missive to Miss Thoroughbung was, under the press of difficulties, ...
— Mr. Scarborough's Family • Anthony Trollope
... night's lodging for us. Before he sealed up the despatch he read it to us in a loud voice, sentence by sentence. It might have been an autograph letter from King Philip to some foreign potentate. Armed with this important missive, we mounted our horses, shook hands with no end of well-wishers, and rode ...
— Anahuac • Edward Burnett Tylor
... Recha read the missive which Mendel handed to her. It was a flattering invitation from the congregation of Odessa. "Our Rabbi is old and infirm," stated the letter, "and desires a staff in his declining years. Your reputation as a scholar has reached our people and we would ...
— Rabbi and Priest - A Story • Milton Goldsmith
... the middle of the noon repast, some one sighted a mounted man coming at a furious pace for the camp, and shortly the horseman dashed up and inquired for Lovell. We all arose, when the messenger dismounted and handed my employer a letter. Tearing open the missive, the old man read it and turned ashy pale. The message was from Mike Sutton, stating that a fourth member of the ring had arrived during the forenoon, accompanied by a United States marshal from the federal court at Omaha; that the officer was armed with an order of injunctive relief; ...
— The Outlet • Andy Adams
... sixteenth century manufacture, and had doubtless been the means of relieving the tedium of many a weary watch or waiting, in field or fortress, before they found their resting-place of a couple of centuries in the obsolete missive weapon where they ...
— The Strand Magazine, Volume V, Issue 25, January 1893 - An Illustrated Monthly • Various
... time that Peter Ruff found among his letters one morning a highly-scented little missive, addressed to him in a handwriting with which he had once been familiar. He looked at it for several moments before opening it. Even as the paper cutter slid through the top of the envelope, he felt that he had already divined the nature of ...
— Peter Ruff and the Double Four • E. Phillips Oppenheim
... truth, gladly supplied the small sum which was deficient. The letter was sent, and in less than a week an immense dispatch found its way to the village, which excited universal wonderment. It was a great oblong missive, with the words 'On His Majesty's Service' printed at the top. It had an enormous seal, and was directed to 'Mr Thomas Larkin.' A crowd of idlers followed the postman with this epistolary phenomenon, in the hope of getting some knowledge of its ...
— Tales for Young and Old • Various
... the refuge of tempted faith. What was Hezekiah to do with the crafty missive? It was hoped that he would listen to reason, and come down from his perch. But he neither yielded nor took counsel with his servants, but, like a devout man, went into the house of the Lord, and spread the letter before the Lord. It would have gone hard with ...
— Expositions of Holy Scripture - Isaiah and Jeremiah • Alexander Maclaren
... last parting with him. I remembered the sealed envelope he had given me, and the instructions that came with it. I had forgotten it entirely, until that moment; but now, without replying to her question, I drew the missive from my pocket ...
— Princess Zara • Ross Beeckman
... and combining these with some distant memories of the "Song of Songs" he was able to compose the most flowery epistle you could wish for, full of unlikely similes and improbable metaphors. With this romantic missive Tartarin would have liked to combine a bouquet of flowers with emblematic meanings, but prince Gregory thought it would be better to buy some pipes from the brother, which could not fail to soften the savage temperament of the gentleman and would please the ...
— Tartarin de Tarascon • Alphonse Daudet
... going every other day across the country, brought the minister the letter from his niece with the happy tidings of Elizabeth's safe arrival, under her guidance, at the city hospital. The stage-driver viewed the missive with professional interest as he delivered it. The majority of his passengers paid him monotonously in butter or eggs for his services, his trips were tedious, and his ideals were limited. To read and digest all postals and to conjecture at the contents of all envelopes ...
— Life at High Tide - Harper's Novelettes • Various
... the missive written, he could not be gone too soon from the scene of these transgressions; and remembering how his father had once returned from church, on some slight illness, in the middle of the second psalm, ...
— Tales and Fantasies • Robert Louis Stevenson
... missive in his hand, while he turned to send a verbal refusal, but the usher had withdrawn, and he had no other way of sending ...
— The Old Countess; or, The Two Proposals • Ann S. Stephens
... north, addressed, in pale, sprawling characters, to Skipper Tommy Lovejoy of our harbour—a crumpled, greasy, ill-odoured missive: little enough like a letter from a lady, bearing (as we supposed) a coy appeal ...
— Doctor Luke of the Labrador • Norman Duncan |
