"Latch" Quotes from Famous Books
 ... listening, then quickly stepping down into the yard, he gazed toward the dairy house, into which, accompanied by a negro woman, had gone a slim girl, wearing a gingham sun-bonnet. The girl came out, carrying a jug, and hastened toward the yard gate. Tom heard the gate-latch click and then stepped quickly to the corner of the house; and when out of sight he almost ran to overtake the girl. She had reached the road, and she pretended to walk faster when she heard his footsteps. She did not raise her eyes as ...
— An Arkansas Planter • Opie Percival Read
... gate was in one piece, it sagged so that it must be lifted; or it had lost one hinge, and fell over on the rash individual who loosened the fastenings; or it was about falling to pieces, and must be handled like a piece of choice bric-a-brac. If it had a latch, it was rusty or did not fit; and if it had not, it was fastened, either by a board slipped in to act as a bar and never known to be of proper size, or in some occult way which would require the skill ...
— A Bird-Lover in the West • Olive Thorne Miller
... latch of the door turned back for some time. Now he pushed it open and stepped out. He was only barely in time, for the man of the sneer was turning quickly in his direction, since there was only one hiding place ...
— Ronicky Doone • Max Brand
... the other side of the door before the second syllable came, and the click of the latch told him that after all he might ...
— Follow My leader - The Boys of Templeton • Talbot Baines Reed
... if quite calm and content, but with one eye on the gate. No, indeed, there was not a doubt about it—Agrippa intended to pay them a visit, for just then he lifted the gate latch. ...
— The Emperor of Portugalia • Selma Lagerlof
... sensation. Nobody, apparently, had heard the latch click, and nobody had caught sight of me. Their eyes were fixed on the young man and Beale. I stood at the gate and ...
— Love Among the Chickens - A Story of the Haps and Mishaps on an English Chicken Farm • P. G. Wodehouse
... up the stockings of the 'Coon and 'Possum and the Old Black Crow. But first he had to be sure of some way of getting in, so he said to them he didn't see how they could expect Santa Claus, their chimneys were so small, and Mr. Crow said they could leave their latch string out down stairs, which was just what Mr. Dog wanted. Then they said they were going to have all the folks that had spent the summer with them over for Christmas dinner and to see the presents ...
— How Mr. Rabbit Lost his Tail • Albert Bigelow Paine
... pressed the latch, and walked in where the grandmother lay in bed. He made one jump at her, but she jumped out of bed into a closet. Then the wolf put on the cap which she had dropped and crept under ...
— Children's Hour with Red Riding Hood and Other Stories • Watty Piper
... Rooney spoke, the latch of the door was raised, and a miserably clad woman entered, closed the door immediately after her, and placed the bar against it. The action attracted the attention of all the inmates of the house, for the doors of the peasantry are universally "left on the ...
— Handy Andy, Vol. 2 - A Tale of Irish Life • Samuel Lover
... latch and entered. There Her grandchild sat; oh, she was sweet to see! Her cheek was bright, and fairer than the fair, Each tress the sungleam shimmering o'er the sea; An open bible lay upon her knee, She had been reading ...
— The Minstrel - A Collection of Poems • Lennox Amott
... conversation dropped as we walked rapidly along. I was much occupied with my own thoughts and Dr. Armitage was noted for his long periods of silence. At last we reached my doorstep. I fumbled for my latch-key, found it, and wished my friend good-night. We ...
— A Girl Among the Anarchists • Isabel Meredith
... common consent, as it appeared, the girls rose and crowded round the entrance. Ellenor lifted the latch, and, flinging the door wide open, she stood on the threshold and looked out into the inky blackness of the night. The wind howled and moaned as it entered the kitchen; and a flash of lightning tore open, for one ...
— Where Deep Seas Moan • E. Gallienne-Robin
... story!" exclaimed Eugenia, tartly, with such a frown that Lloyd began singing in a tantalising tone, "Crosspatch, draw the latch, sit ...
— The Little Colonel's House Party • Annie Fellows Johnston
... swallow, oft, beneath my thatch Shall twitter from her clay-built nest; Oft shall the pilgrim lift the latch, And share my meal, a ...
— The Golden Treasury - Of the Best Songs and Lyrical Poems in the English Language • Various
... wood, heavy and massive, the upper one a shutter which served as a window. In many of the smaller towns of France the shops have the same type of door though far more decorated, the lower half possessing a call-bell. The door in question opened with a wooden latch worthy of the golden age, and the upper part was never closed except at night, for it was the only opening through which daylight could enter the room. There was, to be sure, a clumsy window, but the glass was thick like the bottom of a bottle, ...
— The Chouans • Honore de Balzac
... placed his hand on the heavy wooden latch. A second passed. He glanced over his shoulder. It had occurred to him to wonder at the sudden going of the youth who ...
— The Forfeit • Ridgwell Cullum
... to escape the rain That drove in gusts down the common's centre At the edge of which the chapel stands, Before I plucked up heart to enter. Heaven knows how many sorts of hands Reached past me, groping for the latch Of the inner door that hung on catch More obstinate the more they fumbled, Till, giving way at last with a scold Of the crazy hinge, in squeezed or tumbled One sheep more to the rest in fold, And left me irresolute, standing sentry In the sheepfold's lath-and-plaster ...
— Christmas Eve • Robert Browning
... he was kneeling at the attic door, the music suddenly ceased, and Christie heard a dull, heavy sound, as if something had fallen on the floor. He waited a minute, but all was quite still; so he cautiously lifted the latch, and peeped into the room. There was only a dim light in the attic, for the fire was nearly out, and old Treffy had no candle. But the moonlight, streaming in at the window, showed Christie the form of the old man stretched on the ground, and his poor old barrel-organ laid beside ...
— Christie's Old Organ - Or, "Home, Sweet Home" • Mrs. O. F. Walton
... harpsichord! Monsieur de la Vablerie was singing, and Mademoiselle Jeanne accompanying him. I knew not, in those days, that the misfortune of one was often the joy of others, and I said to myself with my hand on the latch: "They have not ...
— The Conscript - A Story of the French war of 1813 • Emile Erckmann
... nor since. There's some dead leaves blowin' around the paddock 'n' he's jumpin' on 'em with his front feet like a setter pup playin'. Two jumps 'n' he's clear across the paddock! His shoulders 'n' quarters 'n' legs is made to order. His head 'n' throat-latch is clean as a razor, 'n' he's the proudest thing that ever stood on four legs. He looks to be comin' three, but ...
— Blister Jones • John Taintor Foote
... I, "they live to live because the world liveth." He stretched out his hand to me and grasped mine, but said no more; and went on till we came to the door in the rood-screen; then he turned to me with his hand on the ring-latch, and said, "Hast ...
— A Dream of John Ball, A King's Lesson • William Morris
... prasters of the graias at Brighton. There was the paiass of wussin' the pasheros apre for wongur, an' I got to the pyass, an' first cheirus I lelled a boro bittus—twelve or thirteen bar. Then I nashered my wongur, an' penned I wouldn't pyass koomi, an' I'd latch what I had in my poachy. Adoi I jalled from the gudli 'dree the toss-ring for a pashora, when I dicked a waver mush, an' he putched mandy, 'What bak?' and I penned pauli, 'Kek bak; but I've got a bittus left.' So I wussered with lester an' nashered saw my covvas—my chukko, my gad, an' saw, barrin' ...
— The English Gipsies and Their Language • Charles G. Leland
... to it," replied the other voice, now quite familiar to me as that of General O'Brien. A gentle click of the cabin-door latch succeeded; and I opened my eyes languidly, to see Scudamore's sharp-cut features bending close to mine, with an earnest, intent ...
— The Castaways • Harry Collingwood
... me, and I left the room. The latch closed behind me, but Miss Tita, contrary to my hope, had remained within. I passed slowly across the hall and before taking my way downstairs I waited a little. My hope was answered; after a minute Miss Tita ...
— The Aspern Papers • Henry James
... sad at the departure of the Bear, and opened the door so hesitatingly, that when he pressed through it he left behind on the latch a piece of his hairy coat; and through the hole which was made in his coat Snow-White fancied she saw the glittering of gold, but she was not quite certain of it. The Bear, however, ran hastily away, and was ...
— Boys and Girls Bookshelf (Vol 2 of 17) - Folk-Lore, Fables, And Fairy Tales • Various
... iron latch of a door at the top of the house opened, and a female voice exclaimed hurriedly over ...
— Mr. Sponge's Sporting Tour • R. S. Surtees
... out better than I could devise. But hast thou yet latch'd the Athenian's eyes With the love-juice, as ...
— A Midsummer Night's Dream • William Shakespeare [Collins edition]
... fires burning," said Tom Brangwen, looking at his watch. "I told Emma to make 'em up at nine, an' then leave the door on th' latch. It's only half-past. They'll have three fires burning, an' lamps lighted, an' Emma will ha' warmed th' bed wi' th' warmin' pan. So I s'd think ...
— The Rainbow • D. H. (David Herbert) Lawrence
... days of their sojourn. Also there are hostesses who seem born with the "smile of cordiality" fixed on to their mouths. They also give of their best and brightest for forty-eight hours and then, metaphorically, give their guests a latch-key and a time-table of meals, and wash their hands of them until they meet again on the door-step of "farewell." But the majority of visitors seem incapable of leading their own lives in any house except their own. They follow you about ...
— Over the Fireside with Silent Friends • Richard King
... low-sloping shoulders, tremendous quarters, exceptionally short of cannon bone and long from hock to stifle as a greyhound; with a breadth of chest and a depth of barrel beneath the withers that indicated most unusual lung capacity, behind the throat-latch Sol showed, in extraordinary perfection, all the best points of a thoroughbred hunter that make for speed, jumping ...
— The Red-Blooded Heroes of the Frontier • Edgar Beecher Bronson
... Robert ran on to overtake a farmer on the road. Rose stooped to open the latch; Langham mechanically made a quick movement forward to anticipate her. Their fingers touched; she drew hers hastily away and passed in, an erect and dignified figure, in ...
— Robert Elsmere • Mrs. Humphry Ward
... of the double sliding things the Martians had used, was closed. Selim von Ohlmhorst tried it, but it was stuck fast. The metal latch-parts had frozen together, molecule bonding itself to molecule, since the door had last been closed. Hubert Penrose came over with the jack-hammer, fitting a spear-point chisel into place. He set the chisel in the joint between the doors, braced the hammer against ...
— Omnilingual • H. Beam Piper
... you are sure that you are alive, come in here and sit down and tell me all about it," said the little old lady, opening the door of her house with a latch-key which she drew from her pocket, and pointing to the parlour, which she signed to me ...
— Will Weatherhelm - The Yarn of an Old Sailor • W.H.G. Kingston
... quarters of the house was to be gained, not solely through a main door, but by separate stairs leading up directly from the streets and lanes. It would appear that each tenant had his own key, corresponding, though hardly in convenience of size, to our latch-key. Whereas it will be found that the ordinary private house of one storey was for the most part lighted by openings in the roof and by wide courts, this arrangement could manifestly be applied only partially to the tall tenement buildings. There might, it is true, exist in ...
— Life in the Roman World of Nero and St. Paul • T. G. Tucker
... wished to avoid me, I passed the mill without looking in at the door, as I was in the habit of doing, and went on to the cottage, where I lifted the latch, and walked in. Both the old people were there, and both looked troubled, though they welcomed me ...
— Annals of a Quiet Neighbourhood • George MacDonald
... filled her with sudden alarm. Running back, she found that what she had feared was too true. She was alone in the street, half-dressed and with her head uncovered, and the door, which closed with a dead-latch, shut against her. ...
— The Iron Rule - or, Tyranny in the Household • T. S. Arthur
... the 'phone, latch the chain on the door behind him, leaving it half open. So he must ...
— In the Bishop's Carriage • Miriam Michelson
... hurried toward the cabin. His hand was on the latch, when he chanced to glance up at the white emblem of distress ...
— The Blue Envelope • Roy J. Snell
... calling out to Burney that she'd have to pay for it, that mamma would be very angry, and that she, Poppy, was going to spoil every thing in the room. But Burney was gone, and no one came near her. She kicked the paint off the door, rattled the latch, called Burney a "pig," and Cy "a badder boy than the man who smothered the little princes in the Tower." Poppy was very fond of that story, and often played it with Nelly and the dolls. Having relieved her feelings in this way, ...
— Aunt Jo's Scrap-Bag VI - An Old-Fashioned Thanksgiving, Etc. • Louisa M. Alcott
... being so lean, loved fat, and to put a fish before him was an insult to his bones—just at the moment when she had struck oil, in the shape of a very fat chop, from forth a stew, which had beaten all the children by stearine inertia—then at this moment, when she was rejoicing, the latch of the door clicked, and a man ...
— Mary Anerley • R. D. Blackmore
... had two doors, with brass latches on the inner side; so that the owner, if he chose, could shut himself up and go to sleep in a sort of cupboard. But as a rule, he closed one of them only—that by his feet. The other swung back, with its brass latch showing. The men kept these latches in a ...
— Old Fires and Profitable Ghosts • A. T. Quiller-Couch
... the dusk of the road, and the gate latch clicked, and a familiar form, erect and sturdy, came up the path. Duncan arose with a sensation of comfort at the sight of his friend. Andrew Johnstone never went down to the village without dropping in for a few minutes at the ...
— Duncan Polite - The Watchman of Glenoro • Marian Keith
... the community is the "herd," and common notions of right and wrong are absurdities to be visited with scorn and denunciation. He makes a strong appeal to young men, even after the years during which the carrying of one's own latch-key is a source of elation. He appeals also to those perennially young persons who never attain to the stature which befits those who are to take a responsible share in the organized efforts of ...
— A Handbook of Ethical Theory • George Stuart Fullerton
... in a little while the broth rose so high that the man was like to drown. So he threw open the kitchen door and ran into the parlour, but it wasn't long before the quern had ground the parlour full too, and it was only at the risk of his life that the man could get hold of the latch of the house door through the stream of broth. When he got the door open, he ran out and set off down the road, with the stream of herrings and broth at his heels, roaring like a waterfall over the whole farm. Now, his old dame, who was ...
— Popular Tales from the Norse • Sir George Webbe Dasent
... without us; particularly Lisbeth Mary—that's my daughter, Daniel's wife—with her mother to comfort her, an' the firelight goin' dinky-dink round the cups and saucers on the dresser. I pictured the joy of it, too, when Sam or Daniel struck rat-tat and clicked open the latch, or maybe one o' the gals pricked up an ear at the sound of their boots on the cobbles. I 'most hoped the lads hadn't been thoughtful enough to send on a telegram. My mind ran on all this, sir; and then for a moment it ran back to myself, sittin' ...
— News from the Duchy • Sir Arthur Thomas Quiller-Couch
... an open space, or lawn, called Ingersoll's Common. Here he lived nearly seventy years. During that long period, his doors were ever open to hospitality and benevolence. His house was the centre of good neighborhood and of all movements for the public welfare. His latch-string was always out for friend or stranger. In a military sense, and every other sense, it was the head-quarters of the village. On his land, a few rods to the north-east, stood the block-house where watch was kept against Indian attacks. There ...
— Salem Witchcraft, Volumes I and II • Charles Upham
... in without ringin'. Well, you see, I'm used to turnin' out pretty early, and when it got to be most seven o'clock, I couldn't lay to bed any longer, so I got up, dressed, and went for a walk. I fixed the door latch so's I could come in quiet. You haven't waited ...
— Cap'n Warren's Wards • Joseph C. Lincoln
... decided to go to the hotel; once more that vague, indefinite fear assailed me and again I knocked. And now my fear was becoming a panic. I had my latch-key in my pocket, so very quietly I ...
— The Trail of '98 - A Northland Romance • Robert W. Service
... quick com mand' ster'ling re'al ize solve com mence' sur'feit re'qui em wrong com mend' ur'gent co'gen cy quince com pact' fur'lough no'ti fy shrimp com plaint' jas'mine po'ten cy cause es tray' lack'ey o'ri ole gauze ap proach' latch'et o'ri ent quoin cor rode' mat'in jo'vi al squaw cur tail' scat'ter vo'ta ry cross ...
— McGuffey's Eclectic Spelling Book • W. H. McGuffey
... a year from that day, when the priest, late one autumn evening, heard some one in the passage outside of the door, carefully trying to find the latch. The priest opened the door, and in walked a tall, thin man, with bowed form and white hair. The priest looked long at him before he ...
— Library Of The World's Best Literature, Ancient And Modern, Vol. 5 • Various
... had disappeared. A glance sufficed to show him the position of the secret door—secret, he perceived, only to those who looked with a careless eye. It was just an ordinary door let in flush with the panelling. No latch nor handle betrayed its position, but an unobtrusive catch sunk in the wood invited the thumb. George was astonished that he had not noticed it before; now he had seen it, it was so obvious, almost as ...
— Crome Yellow • Aldous Huxley
... You see I tried my latch key first, and finding the house dark, I sought to avoid disturbing the sleepers. I went to the back door and the side door. Finally I knocked. Since neither of you was ...
— The Tyranny of Weakness • Charles Neville Buck
... now without his escort, and this time also two of his favourite bodyguard accompanied him to the upper floor. He knocked at the door, but received no answer, and after a second or two he bade his men wait in the corridor and, gently turning the latch, ...
— The Elusive Pimpernel • Baroness Emmuska Orczy
... have asked why he had dismissed the cab before arriving at his destination, because every one knew. The reason was that this ducal person, with the gestures of command, dared not drive up to his mother's door in a cab oftener than about once a month. He opened that door with a latch-key (a modern lock was almost the only innovation that he had succeeded in fixing on his mother), and stumbled with his unwieldy parcel into the exceedingly ...
— The Card, A Story Of Adventure In The Five Towns • Arnold Bennett
... latch at eve, Though tired in heart and limb: He loved no other place, and yet Home ...
— Poems of Coleridge • Coleridge, ed Arthur Symons
... the whirl of society, politics, fashion and frivolity revolved like the wheel in a squirrel's cage, round which the poor little imprisoned animal leaps and turns incessantly in a miserable make-believe of forest freedom,—but to the old gardener who lifted the latch of his gate and went in to the Sunday dinner prepared for him by his stout and energetic helpmate, who was one of the best dairy-women in the whole countryside, there was only one grave piece of news in the universe worth considering or discussing, ...
— God's Good Man • Marie Corelli
... I could answer This comfort with the like! But I have words That would be howl'd out in the desert air, Where hearing should not latch them. ...
— Macbeth • William Shakespeare [Collins edition]
... I couldn't stir; but my hand slipped from the door, and as it swung shut the figure vanished. At the same instant there came another sound from below stairs—a stealthy mysterious sound, as of a latch-key turning in the house-door. I ran to Mrs. Brympton's ...
— The Descent of Man and Other Stories • Edith Wharton
... a substantial three-roomed structure. Its two outer doors opened with latch strings and were sawed across just above the middle, so that the lower sections might be kept closed against the straying pigs and fowls, while the upper part remained open to help the windows opposite give light and ventilation. The ...
— The Expedition of the Donner Party and its Tragic Fate • Eliza Poor Donner Houghton
... five o'clock, gray dawn of what was to be a clear, beautiful summer morning, when Keziah softly lifted the latch and entered the parsonage. All night she had been busy at the Hammond tavern. Busy with the doctor and the undertaker, who had been called from his bed by young Higgins; busy with Grace, soothing her, comforting ...
— Keziah Coffin • Joseph C. Lincoln
... this he made no reply, but having dressed himself, he deliberately, and with great caution, raised the latch, and proceeded out at that dismal and lonely hour. Sarah, for a time, knew not how to act. She had often heard of sleep-walking, and she feared now, that if she awakened him, he might imagine that she had heard matters which he wished no ears whatever ...
— The Black Prophet: A Tale Of Irish Famine • William Carleton
... he muttered to himself, and slipping out on to the little landing he raised the latch of his uncle's door, glided in, and made for the big portmanteau that lay unstrapped ...
— The Ocean Cat's Paw - The Story of a Strange Cruise • George Manville Fenn
... person in possession of a latch-key, I presume. No one else could have come in without ringing at ...
— The Old Man in the Corner • Baroness Orczy
... lifted the latch and sprang in, and gobbled up the poor old grandmother in a moment. Then he put on her nightgown and nightcap, got into bed, and pulled up the bedclothes. Presently Red Riding Hood came and ...
— Children's Rhymes, Children's Games, Children's Songs, Children's Stories - A Book for Bairns and Big Folk • Robert Ford
... he found himself before a window whose small panes dripped and groaned under a rain that was fast becoming a torrent. Chilled by the sight, he turned toward the door faintly outlined beside it, and in the semi-darkness seized an old-fashioned latch rattling in the wind that permeated every ...
— The Circular Study • Anna Katharine Green
... horizontal position in boring. Each of the forms shown has a ball thrust bearing between the pinion and frame. The breast plate may be adjusted to suit and is locked by a set screw. The spindle is kept from turning while changing drills, by means of the latch mounted on the frame, and readily engaging with the pinion. The crank is pierced in three places so that the handle can be set for three different sweeps, depending on the ...
— Carpentry for Boys • J. S. Zerbe
... volume lies The mystery of mysteries! Happiest they of human race, To whom God has granted grace To read, to fear, to hope, to pray, To lift the latch and force the way; And better had they ne'er been born, Who read to doubt, or read ...
— Many Thoughts of Many Minds - A Treasury of Quotations from the Literature of Every Land and Every Age • Various
... The latch went up, the neighbors came and instantly good cheer Went 'round the festive gathering 'till the Christ-child hour drew near, The piper played, the dance began, and child and parent fond Tripped back and forth, tripped high and low, ...
— The California Birthday Book • Various
... Manderson's room was the first on the right hand when the bedroom floor was reached, and he went to it at once. He tried the latch and the lock, which worked normally, and examined the wards of the key. Then ...
— Trent's Last Case - The Woman in Black • E.C. (Edmund Clerihew) Bentley
... "the latch-string hangs out for you, and if you will only come and spend the winter with me I shall then endeavor to even up the score with you for this favor, as I know I can do it in no ...
— The Sheep Eaters • William Alonzo Allen
... She was not in bed, for the light was still burning; they could see it at either side of the blind, shrunk crooked with steam. There was one step down into the kitchen; but for all that, the door would not open when they raised the latch and ...
— The Best British Short Stories of 1922 • Various
... for her father, and Mary would not go to bed and leave her, so the two sisters waited till they heard the latch-key. Ethel ran out, but her father was already on the stairs, and ...
— The Trial - or, More Links of the Daisy Chain • Charlotte M. Yonge
... but paused, with his hand on the door latch. The habit of his profession was strong in him—stronger than his sense of personal dignity. He turned ...
— Can Such Things Be? • Ambrose Bierce
... knew a boy who put his nose into the crack of the door, and then took hold of the latch and pulled the door to, and pinched his nose to death. That was a little ...
— Mary Erskine • Jacob Abbott
... all, has stood looking on. With his hand on the door-latch, he now calls loudly and tauntingly.] Give him something to eat, an' ...
— The Dramatic Works of Gerhart Hauptmann - Volume I • Gerhart Hauptmann
... out his latch-key to open his front door, she spoke again: "If Nannie gives it back to him, Blair will have to send it ...
— The Iron Woman • Margaret Deland
... disappeared in the gloom. The moment he had passed she was not quite sure it was he. She went downstairs in the dark, having taken off her shoes to prevent any noise. She put on her shoes again, drew back the bolts softly, left the door upon the latch, and crept out into the street. Swiftly she walked, and in a few moments she was within half-a-dozen yards of those whom she followed. She could not help being sure now. She continued on their track, her whole existence absorbed ...
— Miriam's Schooling and Other Papers - Gideon; Samuel; Saul; Miriam's Schooling; and Michael Trevanion • Mark Rutherford
... there were footsteps heard, and, suddenly lifted, Sounded the wooden latch, and the door swung back on its hinges. Benedict knew by the hob-nailed shoes it was Basil the blacksmith, And by her beating heart Evangeline knew who was with him. "Welcome!" the farmer exclaimed, as their footsteps paused on the threshold, "Welcome, Basil, my friend! Come, take thy place ...
— Elson Grammer School Literature, Book Four. • William H. Elson and Christine Keck
... there arrived one of the other young men, and in the evening, when the shoemaker had gone out and they were alone, she said to him, 'See if the latch is on the door.' The young man hastened to do her bidding, but as soon as he touched the latch, his fingers stuck to it, and there he had to stay for many hours, till the shoemaker came back, and the girl let ...
— The Lilac Fairy Book • Andrew Lang
... path led across the church-yard, and the gate being on the latch, we entered, and walked round among the graves and monuments. The latter were chiefly head-stones, none of which were very old, so far as was discoverable by the dates; some, indeed, in so ancient a cemetery, were disagreeably new, with inscriptions glittering like ...
— The Atlantic Monthly, Volume 10, Number 60, October 1862 • Various
... went a few weeks later to have a look at the manor-house he could not believe his eyes at the sight of the destruction that had taken place. There were no panes in the windows and not a single latch left on the wide-open doors; the walls had been stripped and the floors taken up. The drawing-room was a dungheap, Pani Joselawa, the innkeeper's wife, had put up hencoops there and in the adjoining rooms; axes and saws were lying about everywhere. The ...
— Selected Polish Tales • Various
... house opposite, had pushed open the porte cochere, which was on the latch—when, without the slightest warning, he was suddenly attacked from behind, his arms seized and held behind his back with a vice-like grip, whilst a vigorous kick against the calves of his legs caused him to lose his footing and suddenly ...
— The League of the Scarlet Pimpernel • Baroness Orczy
... saw that she placed her hand on the latch of the door, when he felt at that gesture that he was to lose her, that he should never have her again, he shouted. He forgot everything. There remained in him only the dazed feeling of a great misfortune accomplished, of an irreparable calamity. And ...
— The Red Lily, Complete • Anatole France
... footman doing something to the latch of the door, which caused it to make a clicking sound. He was obeying orders and examining it. As she involuntarily glanced at him, he—bending over the door handle—raised his eyes sideways and glanced at her. ...
— The Head of the House of Coombe • Frances Hodgson Burnett
... little farm, I'm king 'ithin my little pleaece; I don't break laws, an' don't do harm, An' bent a-feaer'd o' noo man's feaece. When I'm a-cover'd wi' my thatch, Noo man do deaere to lift my latch; Where honest han's do shut the hatch, There fear ...
— Poems of Rural Life in the Dorset Dialect • William Barnes
... stifling silence, Doris, home hours before her time, stood there in dance gown and white cloak, a latch-key in her hand, her eyes wide with wonder—wonder that gave place ...
— Till the Clock Stops • John Joy Bell
... machine that he was wont to work with. With his sharp axe he could not only cut the logs for his cabin and notch them down, but he could make a close-fitting door and supply it with wooden hinges and a neat latch. From the roots of an oak or ash he could fashion his hames and sled runners; he could make an axle-tree for his wagon, a rake, a flax brake, a barrow, a scythe-snath, a grain cradle a pitchfork, a loom, a reel, a washboard, a stool, a chair, ...
— Community Civics and Rural Life • Arthur W. Dunn
... like one who has only one sense, the tactile sense, he turned the latch. It clicked. He held still. The bed-clothes rustled. His heart did not beat. Then again he drew the latch back, and very gently pushed the door. It made a sticking noise as ...
— Women in Love • D. H. Lawrence
... the Seidlitz-powder man. 'Tom Cummins was in the chair,' said the man with the brown coat. 'It was half-past four when I got to Somers Town, and then I was so uncommon lushy, that I couldn't find the place where the latch-key went in, and was obliged to knock up the old 'ooman. I say, I wonder what old Fogg 'ud say, if he knew it. I should get the ...
— The Pickwick Papers • Charles Dickens
... fast asleep when some warm fur softly caressed me, and waking up I understood that the dissolute rodent—almost bigger than a cat—had returned home in the small hours, just as if he had been provided with a latch-key. ...
— My Friends the Savages - Notes and Observations of a Perak settler (Malay Peninsula) • Giovanni Battista Cerruti
... my dress, I presently heard Tiger approaching, giving an occasional savage growl. I called him to me with as much simulated affection in the tones of my voice as I could command, and walked straight for the kitchen door. I put my hand on the latch, not daring to hesitate long enough to knock, when he caught my sleeve in his teeth. Half beside myself with terror, I called to Mrs. Blake, and in a second or two the door opened and Daniel was peering out curiously into my white face. ...
— Medoline Selwyn's Work • Mrs. J. J. Colter
... thought of it, and the rest of the talk was London, London, to the exclusion of all smaller topics. He took me up the Hampstead Road almost to the Cobden statue, plunged into some back streets to the left, and came at last to a blistered front door that responded to his latch-key, one of a long series of blistered front doors with fanlights and apartment cards above. We found ourselves in a drab-coloured passage that was not only narrow and dirty but desolatingly empty, and then he opened a door and revealed ...
— Tono Bungay • H. G. Wells
... a mighty nice family, and a mighty nice house, too. I hadn't seen no house out in the country before that was so nice and had so much style. It didn't have an iron latch on the front door, nor a wooden one with a buckskin string, but a brass knob to turn, the same as houses in town. There warn't no bed in the parlor, nor a sign of a bed; but heaps of parlors in towns has beds in them. There was a big fireplace that was bricked ...
— Innocents abroad • Mark Twain
... it. You may remain an hour if you wish to do so. Leave at once if your visit troubles Lucy." Then with a cold smile he added, "I am her only cicerone, you see. She has no mother. You will remember that, Mr. Hatton." As he spoke, he was looking for his latch-key and using it. There was a lamp in the hall, and he silently indicated the door of the room in which Lucy was sitting. At the same moment he opened a door opposite and struck a light. Seeing Hatton ...
— The Measure of a Man • Amelia Edith Huddleston Barr
... that stood just inside the front door, Judge Priest picked up a palmleaf fan; and he held the fan slantwise as a shield for his eyes and his bare head against the sun's glare as he went down the porch steps and passed out of his own yard, traversed the empty street and strove with the stubborn gate latch of the little house that faced his own. It was a poor-looking little house, and its poorness had extended to its surroundings—as if poverty was a contagion that spread. In Judge Priest's yard, now, ...
— The Escape of Mr. Trimm - His Plight and other Plights • Irvin S. Cobb
... Avenue and Twenty-seventh Street, Indiman stopped suddenly and picked up a small object. It was a latch-key of the familiar Yale-lock pattern. I looked at it ...
— The Gates of Chance • Van Tassel Sutphen
... dog's head roughly away, and Lupe stood up before him and shook himself violently so that his ears rattled. Then, trotting towards the door, he was stopped short, for the latch was in its place and he tried to drag it open with his claws, but tried for some moments in vain. Then showing plenty of intelligence, he trotted back to the middle of the room, looked up anxiously in his young ...
— Marcus: the Young Centurion • George Manville Fenn
... her father lock the barn and shed and knew that he would be going upstairs immediately, so she quickly went through the side yard and lifted the latch of the kitchen door. It was fastened. She went to the front door and that, too, was bolted, although it had been standing open all the evening, so that if a breeze should spring up, it might blow through the house. Her ...
— The Story Of Waitstill Baxter • By Kate Douglas Wiggin
... when it's supper with me. Catch!" And Poppy, in defiance of all propriety, tossed her latch-key over the balcony. And somehow that latch-key had to be returned. He did not use it, but rang, with the intention of handing it to the servant; an intention divined and frustrated by Poppy, who opened ...
— The Divine Fire • May Sinclair
... ill they suited me—those journeys dark [60] 415 O'er moor and mountain, midnight theft to hatch! To charm the surly house-dog's faithful bark, Or hang on tip-toe at the lifted latch. The gloomy lantern, and the dim blue match. The black disguise, the warning whistle shrill, 420 And ear still busy on its nightly watch, Were not for me, brought up in nothing ill: Besides, on griefs so fresh my thoughts ...
— The Poetical Works of William Wordsworth - Volume 1 of 8 • Edited by William Knight
... that the unknown Jud had gone for a gun to shoot Sanch, Betty gave a desperate pull at the latch and ran into the yard, bent on saving her friend. That it was a friend there could be no further question; for, though the creature rushed at her as if about to devour her at a mouthful, it was only to roll ecstatically at her feet, lick her hands, and gaze into her face, trying to pant out the ...
— St. Nicholas Magazine for Boys and Girls, Vol. 5, July 1878, No. 9 • Various
... Craigin's voice was cold and deliberate. "These stores are in my charge. I am an officer of the law. If any man lays his hand on that latch I'll shoot ...
— The Doctor - A Tale Of The Rockies • Ralph Connor
... days in July mark an memorable epoch in the history of this good county. The authoritative proclamation has gone forth that her house has been put in order, that the latch-string is out —all things in readiness—and that McLean County would welcome the return of all her children who have in days past ...
— Something of Men I Have Known - With Some Papers of a General Nature, Political, Historical, and Retrospective • Adlai E. Stevenson
... door had been left on the latch, as it usually is, when a party is on," Drake explained coldly. "And I was just entering the room when I heard my wife make the remark about covering an honor with an honor, and then her question of Penny as to whether she should have played ...
— Murder at Bridge • Anne Austin
... cry, he turned and ran back into the monastery. He brushed aside the hateful gray uniforms. He ran panting up the stone steps. In the dark hall above he stopped at a cell door, and pounded, and tugged frantically at its latch. ...
— The Missourian • Eugene P. (Eugene Percy) Lyle
... Caius observed that it ran past the cellar down the chine to a landing where Day now kept a flat-bottomed boat. They stood on this path before the heavy door of the cellar. Rust had eaten into the iron latch and the padlock that secured it, but the woman produced a key and opened the ring of the lock and took him into a chamber about twelve feet square, in which props of decaying beams held up the earth of the walls and roof. The place ...
— The Mermaid - A Love Tale • Lily Dougall
... to latch, gave Mrs. Nettley a chance to hear what was going on. She stood, slice in hand, listening. Some unaccustomed tones came to her ear — then Mr. Inchbald's round ...
— Hills of the Shatemuc • Susan Warner
... John Stokes, the son of old Simon Thornly's sister, marched across the road, and finding the door upon the latch, entered unannounced into the ...
— Aunt Deborah • Mary Russell Mitford
... between gill and gill-cover. Nor was this all; the fish was fresh-caught, for the gills had not puffed out, nor the supple body stiffened. Every little wavelet rippled its slim and limber length; and a thread of blood trailed from the throat-latch out over the surface ...
— The Hidden Children • Robert W. Chambers
... door, lifts the latch, and Stumps steals in, brushing the snow from his neck and shoulders. He has a club in his hand, and looks back and about him ...
— Shadows of Shasta • Joaquin Miller
... after Phoebe and Mrs. Buchanan had retired down the hall, and up the stairway, Caroline Darrah still knelt by the major's chair. They were both silent and the major held her hand in his. They neither of them heard the latch key and in a moment Andrew Sevier stood across the ...
— Andrew the Glad • Maria Thompson Daviess |
