"Overhear" Quotes from Famous Books
 ... "But he could overhear it, Keith. No, no, don't look like that," she protested hurriedly, as Keith began to frown. "Jest listen a minute. It would be jest as easy. He could be over on the grass right close, where he could hear every word; an' you could get John to talkin', an' as soon as he ...
— Dawn • Eleanor H. Porter
... hold your croaking tongue!" Mr. Rivers broke in angrily. "'Tis bad enough for the women as things are, and if they overhear these old wives' tales, think you it will ...
— Margaret Tudor - A Romance of Old St. Augustine • Annie T. Colcock
... and you must tell them now—I say you must—I will have them. Nay, don't be afraid; I'll not tell them again, and nobody can overhear ...
— The International Magazine, Volume 2, No. 2, January, 1851 • Various
... Chillington enjoyed Miss Liston's society; the interest she showed in him was incense to his nostrils. I used to overhear fragments of his ideas about himself, which he was revealing in answer to her tactful inquiries. But neither was it doubtful that he had by no means lost his relish for Pamela's lighter talk; in fact, he seemed to turn to her with ...
— Comedies of Courtship • Anthony Hope
... he had exchanged places with his son, and riding on before the rest, had reached home first, being just in time to overhear the last part of the conversation between Mrs. Livingstone and 'Lena. Instantly changing her manner, Mrs. Livingstone motioned her niece from the room, heaving a deep sigh as the door closed after her, and saying that "none but those who had tried it ...
— 'Lena Rivers • Mary J. Holmes
... being confronted merely by a frail and not over-scrupulous woman, had ventured there alone; had stationed his men beyond sound; had doubtless instructed them to ignore any noise of struggle which they might overhear within. It was these very arrangements for evil which now afforded opportunity, and Keith crept forward, alert and ready, his teeth clenched, his hands bare for contest. Even although he surprised his antagonist, it was going to be a fight for life; he knew "Black Bart," ...
— Keith of the Border • Randall Parrish
... herself attracting a good deal of attention, and was amazed to find that it frightened her a little. She was conspicuously a newcomer, and could not but overhear the comments that some of the watching young men made as ...
— Saturday's Child • Kathleen Norris
... administered his opiate before the patient knew much more about it; next minute he was shaking hands with me, and the minute after that Raffles went in to put out his light. He was gone some little time; and I remember leaning out of the window in order not to overhear the conversation in the next room. The night was nearly as fine as ever. The starry ceiling over the Albany Courtyard was only less beautifully blue than when Raffles and I had come in a couple of ...
— Mr. Justice Raffles • E. W. Hornung
... middle of the room, gracious sir, and permit me to come close to you; then I will speak, for I shall know then that no one can overhear us." ...
— The Youth of the Great Elector • L. Muhlbach
... fellow remained standing for some time as if hesitating what to do; at last he looked at his hand, and, shaking his head, said something to the woman which I did not understand. The tall girl, however, appeared to overhear him, and, probably repeating his words, said, 'No, it won't do; you are right there; and now hear what I have to say,—let bygones be bygones, and let us all shake hands, and camp here, as the young man ...
— Lavengro - The Scholar, The Gypsy, The Priest • George Borrow
... cannot have been passed in solitude and, if only we had her Visitors' Book complete, we should have something that would keep many learned persons busy. We get an early glimpse of her on her underground journey, passing near enough to the dread abode of Pluto to overhear some scandal about ...
— Castellinaria - and Other Sicilian Diversions • Henry Festing Jones
... sons of Jews, and Jews they remain under their cloak of mock Christianity, to be damned as Jews in the end." He was panting now with fiery indignation; a holy zeal inflamed this profligate defiler. "God forgive me that ever I entered here. Yet I do believe that it was His will that I should come to overhear what is being plotted. Let ...
— The Historical Nights Entertainment, Second Series • Rafael Sabatini
... by the Superior to overhear what was said by novices and nuns: when they seemed to shun her, she would say, "Go and listen, they are speaking English;" and though I obeyed her, I never informed her against them. If I wished to ...
— Awful Disclosures - Containing, Also, Many Incidents Never before Published • Maria Monk
... Sullivans presently followed us here. They made a group at the base of a maple on the lawn and, affecting not to notice us, talked in a large, loud way so that we must overhear and be made envious,—even awe-struck; for they had all secured jobs on the real railroad, it appeared. They would have to begin to-morrow, probably. They didn't know for sure, but they thought it would be to-morrow. It would be fine, riding off on ...
— The Boss of Little Arcady • Harry Leon Wilson
... time," said Garrison, stuffing his handkerchief into the tube, lest the driver overhear their conversation. "There is much to be explained between us. In the first place, tell me, Dorothy, what happened just after I 'phoned you last evening, and you made an appointment to meet ...
— A Husband by Proxy • Jack Steele
... found him tearing to pieces that note which I mentioned to you a few days ago. He seemed much agitated, and desired to see General B——. They are now together, and were talking so loud in the next room to me, that I was obliged to retire, lest I should overhear secrets. Mr. L—— this moment sends for me. If I should not have time to add more, this short letter will satisfy you ...
— Tales And Novels, Vol. 8 • Maria Edgeworth
... I not overhear the conversation down-stairs last night, to which you were a party? ...
— Liber Amoris, or, The New Pygmalion • William Hazlitt
... believe in them. On religious questions the arguments are presented to them, it is true, while they are young, in catechisms and in other forms of religious instruction, and in politics by the conversations which they overhear; but it is a mistake to suppose that arguments thus offered have any material effect as processes of ratiocination in producing any logical conviction upon their minds. An English boy is Whig or Tory because his father, ...
— Gentle Measures in the Management and Training of the Young • Jacob Abbott
... voice and looked around the room as if to see whether there was anyone to overhear him. Harry looked at ...
— A Voyage with Captain Dynamite • Charles Edward Rich
... I had noticed, a very superbly dressed female visitor who had paused to witness the whole scene and was now resuming her promenade. I dreaded the comment which I felt I should overhear as she passed me—"What a horrible child!" it would be at the very least. But women are strangely unaccountable, even in so highly civilised an atmosphere as this. I distinctly heard her say, "What ...
— Punch, or the London Charivari, Vol. 159, August 4th, 1920 • Various
... He was on the point of asking—in a low voice, that the clerk might not overhear—for an explanation of Miss Gabriel's gossip. But at this juncture a client entered, and the Commandant escaped. He went up the hill with a new centre of gravity: so different is a load in the pocket from ...
— Major Vigoureux • A. T. Quiller-Couch
... sat leering at the ashes, trying with all his might to overhear what was said, but feigning abstraction as the 'Governors Both' ...
— Our Mutual Friend • Charles Dickens
... three figures with a scowl. 'You'll hand me over to the police, George Pendle, will you?' he muttered, loud enough for Cargrim to overhear. 'Take care I don't do the same thing to your father,' and like a noisome and dangerous animal he crept back in the shadow of the hedge ...
— The Bishop's Secret • Fergus Hume
... is a favourite fiction with him, however (as if he were the most industrious character on earth), that YOU never work; and as he goes past your garden and sees you looking at your flowers, you will overhear him growl with a strong sense of contrast, 'YOU are a lucky hidle ...
— The Uncommercial Traveller • Charles Dickens
... I have heard, desires to accuse you of having assaulted him. It is absurd. But no; I overhear him say to Meester Rogers in the masters' hall that he has evidence, he has evidence—ho! ho! it ...
— The Master of the Shell • Talbot Baines Reed
... is the story of two lads who overhear something of the plot originated during the Revolution by Gov. Tryon to capture or murder Washington. They communicate their knowledge to Gen. Putnam and are commissioned by him to play the role of detectives ...
— Robert Coverdale's Struggle - Or, On The Wave Of Success • Horatio, Jr. Alger
... saw of them, on a recent visit to the north, was at a dinner-party in the house of my old friend Gellatly Macbride; and after we had, in classic phrase, 'rejoined the ladies,' I had an opportunity to overhear Flora conversing with another married woman on the much canvassed ...
— Tales and Fantasies • Robert Louis Stevenson
... too, if you are in a great hurry, to talk very loudly to each other about how you don't need any tea, and are not going to have any. You get near the kettle, so that it can overhear you, and then you shout out, "I don't want any tea; do you, George?" to which George shouts back, "Oh, no, I don't like tea; we'll have lemonade instead - tea's so indigestible." Upon which the kettle boils over, ...
— Three Men in a Boa • Jerome K. Jerome
... place as soon as supper is finished?" Muriel asked, trying to overcome her diffidence. "Where can I have a word or two with you? I was afraid that somebody might overhear us here." ...
— Prescott of Saskatchewan • Harold Bindloss
... to the pen, Chicken Little glanced round to make sure that no one was about, to overhear, then, to make sure, whispered excitedly into ...
— Chicken Little Jane on the Big John • Lily Munsell Ritchie
... when he coolly overrode her objections and insisted on two dances more than she had allotted him. And she was pleased, as well as angered, when she chanced to overhear two of the strapping young cannery girls. "The way that little sawed-off is monopolizin' him," said one. And the other: "You'd think she might have the good taste to run after somebody of her own age." "Cradle-snatcher," ...
— The Valley of the Moon • Jack London
... craft, and from that time on Tom and his friends had a clear field to search for the bullion held fast in the hold of the Boldero. "Addison Berg," murmured Tom, as he looked at the watch charm. "What can he be doing in this neighborhood? Hiding, too, as if he wanted to overhear something. That's the way he did when we were building our submarine, and now he's up to the same trick when I'm constructing my electric car. I'm sure this charm is his. It is such a peculiar design that I'm positive I can't be mistaken. I thought, ...
— Tom Swift and his Electric Runabout - or, The Speediest Car on the Road • Victor Appleton
... couldn't hope to: there were too many dark, too many buzzing and bewildering and all frankly not negotiable leagues in between. Snatches of other voices seemed often to intertrude themselves in the parley; and your loyal effort not to overhear these was complicated by your fear of missing what Eva might be twittering. "Oh, you certainly haven't, my dear, the trick of propinquity!" was a thrust she had once parried by saying that, in that case, ...
— A Christmas Garland • Max Beerbohm
... they kept addressing themselves to our hero, asking him questions in a loud tone, but he was not present to answer them. The questions were a part of his scheme to mislead the men, and his purpose was to overhear what passed between the men after they supposed that he and his companions had departed. He relied, as stated, on the demoralization of the scoundrels, and his position, as it proved, was well taken. The men did assume that he and his party had departed ...
— Cad Metti, The Female Detective Strategist - Dudie Dunne Again in the Field • Harlan Page Halsey
... him when he passed in front of the house. I found the block I had chained to the dog beside the road. I heered Squire Jim Kirby talkin' to some men in Tom Belcher's sto' this very mornin'; just happened to overhear him as I come in. 'A boy an' a dog,' he says, 'is the happiest combination in nater.' Then he went on to tell about your boy an' a tan dog. He had met 'em in the road. Met 'em when? Last Friday evenin'. Oh, there ain't no use to deny ...
— Frank of Freedom Hill • Samuel A. Derieux
... I shall do, save that I must get away from here for a little while. But if you have any sense of the ordinary decencies of life you will lower your voice. I do not suppose you care to have either your mother or Katie overhear ...
— Revelations of a Wife - The Story of a Honeymoon • Adele Garrison
... hotel, where he was politely received by Colonel Geraldine, and relieved, from that moment, of all immediate alarm about his trunk and its grisly contents. The journey passed over without much incident, although the young man was horrified to overhear the sailors and railway porters complaining among themselves about the unusual weight of the Prince's baggage. Silas travelled in a carriage with the valets, for Prince Florizel chose to be alone with his Master of the Horse. On board the steamer, however, ...
— New Arabian Nights • Robert Louis Stevenson
... that in crowds awhile I waste one thought I owe to thee, And self-condemned, appear to smile, Unfaithful to thy memory: Nor deem that memory less dear, That then I seem not to repine; I would not fools should overhear One sigh that should ...
— The Works Of Lord Byron, Vol. 3 (of 7) • Lord Byron
... did over the words, I managed to eat a good breakfast, and then went into the Cullens' car and electrified the party by telling them of Camp's and Fred's despatches, and how I had come to overhear the former. Mr. Cullen and Albert couldn't say enough about my cleverness in what had really been pure luck, and seemed to think I had sat up all night in order to hear that telegram. The person for whose opinion I cared the most—Miss Cullen—didn't say anything, but she ...
— Master Tales of Mystery, Volume 3 • Collected and Arranged by Francis J. Reynolds
... be a good vantage point," answered the captain. "It is the aft trimming tank, and if you can find a place of concealment it would, at the same time, enable you to overhear any conversation that might possibly take place, when the sub-lieutenant is performing his ...
— The Boy Volunteers with the Submarine Fleet • Kenneth Ward
... 'my overhearing the dialogue in the churchyard between you and Wynne's daughter was, I need not pay, quite accidental, but it is perhaps fortunate that I did overhear it.' ...
— Aylwin • Theodore Watts-Dunton
... Phyllis now doth overhear Flora softly sighing: Flora with like luck detects Sigh to sigh replying. Thus the girls exchange the game, Each with other vying; Till the truth leaps out at ...
— Wine, Women, and Song - Mediaeval Latin Students' songs; Now first translated into English verse • Various
... main happy, having so much planting and harvesting to do, his children to play with, and now and then a visitor. In the main too he managed very well with the country people, but one day was amused to overhear a conversation over the hedge between two passing contadini. "All the English are mad," said one, "but as for this one...!" There was a story of Landor current in Florence in those days which depicted him, furious with a spoiled ...
— A Wanderer in Florence • E. V. Lucas
... I overheard nothing! From what I knew of the proper conduct of the really thrilling episodes of life I judged that I should have been able to overhear almost every word of this conversation. Instead, I could only see the Countess making ...
— The O'Ruddy - A Romance • Stephen Crane
... you might call open warfare, with scouting operations. But when they bring on the transverse section of watermelon I shall take these two trenching tools which I now hold in my hands, and just naturally start digging in. I trust you may be hanging round then; you'll certainly overhear something.' ...
— Eating in Two or Three Languages • Irvin S. Cobb
... to a gentleman whom I recognised as his brother, Mr. Colquhoun. They were engrossed in their conversation, and did not notice me for a moment. With no wish to play the eavesdropper, I could not help but overhear. They were talking about the generals. 'Yes, I know they're press-agented at eight seventy-five, dear boy,' I heard Mr. Quhayne say, 'but between you and me and the door-knob that isn't what they're getting. ...
— The Swoop! or How Clarence Saved England - A Tale of the Great Invasion • P. G. Wodehouse
... master was to come back. Dacka conveyed in a mysterious manner that he had something better to do than to bury himself in the country. In the evening she confided to the laundress, in interminable whispers, secrets that were no doubt interesting, but which Mavra made no attempt to overhear, being by nature ...
— The Little Russian Servant • Henri Greville
... Miss Sally were lurking hard by, having been, indeed, only routed from the keyhole by Mr Swiveller's abrupt exit. As their utmost exertions had not enabled them to overhear a word of the interview, however, in consequence of a quarrel for precedence, which, though limited of necessity to pushes and pinches and such quiet pantomime, had lasted the whole time, they hurried him down to the office to hear his ...
— The Old Curiosity Shop • Charles Dickens
... beating with a violence that was painfully natural. But now, more than one incident that had since occurred had forged links in a new chain of resolution that held her back from a folly. Although possibly she hardly knew it, the scrap of conversation that she had chanced to overhear between Lord Reggie and Tommy had really decided her to meet the former with a refusal if he asked her to be his wife. It had opened her eyes, and shown her in a flash the influence that a mere pose may have upon others who are not posing. Her mother's heart flushed with a heat ...
— The Green Carnation • Robert Smythe Hichens
... Richard, who happened to overhear the last of this speech between the notes of the wood-choppers song, which he was endeavoring to breathe aloud; that was the starving-time,* Cousin Bess. I grew as lank as a weasel that fall, and my face was as pale as one ...
— The Pioneers • James Fenimore Cooper
... course should be light and unpretending—a sort of simple and austere vigil for the feast of fish that was to come. The talk was that strange, slight talk which governs the British Empire, which governs it in secret, and yet would scarcely enlighten an ordinary Englishman even if he could overhear it. Cabinet ministers on both sides were alluded to by their Christian names with a sort of bored benignity. The Radical Chancellor of the Exchequer, whom the whole Tory party was supposed to be cursing for ...
— The Innocence of Father Brown • G. K. Chesterton
... he said. "I'll put it again, and you needn't be afraid that anybody'll overhear us in this place, it's safe! I say once more, what for did you not tell in your evidence at that inquest that you saw Sir Gilbert Carstairs at the cross-roads on the night ...
— Dead Men's Money • J. S. Fletcher
... have I got to do?' he asked impatiently, drawing his mother aside so that no one could overhear them. ...
— The Orange Fairy Book • Various
... train, and gradually he became aware that Nan Archdale was receiving some singular confidences from the man with whom she was now speaking. The fellow was actually unrolling before her the whole of his not very interesting life, and by degrees Coxeter began rather to overhear than to listen consciously to ...
— Studies in love and in terror • Marie Belloc Lowndes
... things, then," she said, "tell me things about yourself, if the gift of seeing is upon you.—There's no one to overhear. The neighbours on both sides are away for the holidays, thank the powers! and their houses stand empty. While the voices and footsteps down in the road only make us more happily alone. So tell me things, Dominic. I am a trifle stirred up with all this affair of the theatre, and you ...
— The Far Horizon • Lucas Malet
... a sigh, and murmured, too low for Darrell to overhear, "Poor Willy!" then aloud: "But, my dear friend, bear with me one moment. Suppose that, by the arts of this diabolical Jasper, the exchange really had been effected, and a child to your ancient line lived still, would it not be a solace, ...
— What Will He Do With It, Complete • Edward Bulwer-Lytton
... not," he rejoined. "You wouldn't want me to go and tell Mr. Darrah how you have betrayed him to Mr. Winton. I had the singular good fortune to overhear you conversation—yours and Mr. Winton's, you know; and if Mr. Darrah knew, he would cut you out of his will with very little compunction, don't you think? And, really, you mustn't throw yourself ...
— A Fool For Love • Francis Lynde
... been successful. But come nearer! no one must overhear us. A foreign merchant, whom I saved two years ago from dishonor and ruin, at the risk of my own destruction, will furnish me with the means of returning ...
— The Amulet • Hendrik Conscience
... enough to overhear their conversation without proclaiming himself. What he had learned by this eavesdropping he counted of ...
— The Yellow Claw • Sax Rohmer
... not overhear your prayers. Do you pray for the alleviation of the restless sorrow that afflicts ...
— The Precipice • Ivan Goncharov
... around this spot. He went as near as he dared trying to overhear words. Perhaps the general, unable to comprehend chaos, might call upon him for information. And he could tell him. He knew all concerning it. Of a surety the force was in a fix, and any fool could see that if they did not ...
— The Red Badge of Courage - An Episode of the American Civil War • Stephen Crane
... don't ask me!" answered the padrone, with a terrified look. "They may overhear you. It is not my business to put questions to them. It is enough that they pay well, and do not wish to be known. Besides, they would not scruple to cut my throat if they were offended—and most assuredly their friends would string ...
— The Pirate of the Mediterranean - A Tale of the Sea • W.H.G. Kingston
... McKinley Street, and Roosevelt Street; he had also named a street after himself! Later on I learnt that this American schoolmaster was a kind of spy in the American secret police, and that he had to listen outside Filipino houses at night to overhear the conversation of suspected insurgents. I was told this by Victoriano, my Filipino servant in the mountains, who often accompanied the American in his nightly rounds, and was the only man in the secret. This Victoriano, whom I always ...
— Wanderings Among South Sea Savages And in Borneo and the Philippines • H. Wilfrid Walker
... my temperature," answered Vautrin, "it is not cold this morning. Let us go and sit over there," he added, pointing to the green-painted garden seats; "no one can overhear us. I want a little talk with you. You are not a bad sort of youngster, and I have no quarrel with you. I like you, take Trump—(confound it!)—take Vautrin's word for it. What makes me like you? I will tell you by-and-by. Meantime, ...
— Father Goriot • Honore de Balzac
... duke left them together, and desired the provost who had the charge of the prisoners to place him where he might overhear their conversation. ...
— Tales from Shakespeare • Charles and Mary Lamb
... smoked his cigar in the rear room. She was conscious always of Grandma Ridge's keen ears pricked to attention behind the smooth curls of gray hair. It was astonishing how much the old lady could overhear and misinterpret!... ...
— One Woman's Life • Robert Herrick
... reception given by Rhees Crier, a young sculptor of social proclivities, who had been introduced to her by Taylor Lord, she was given a taste of what it means to be a neglected wife from a public point of view. As she entered on this occasion she happened to overhear two women talking in a corner behind a screen erected to conceal wraps. "Oh, here comes Mrs. Cowperwood," said one. "She's the street-railway magnate's wife. Last winter and spring he was running with that Platow girl—of the ...
— The Titan • Theodore Dreiser
... were seated a young man, and, by his side, a young lady. Ah, young sir! what are you about? If it is necessary that you should whisper your communications to this young lady—though really I see nobody at this hour, and on this solitary road, likely to overhear your conversation—is it, therefore, necessary that you should carry your lips forward to hers? The little carriage is creeping on at one mile an hour; and the parties within it, being thus tenderly engaged, are naturally bending down their heads. ...
— Miscellaneous Essays • Thomas de Quincey
... this with an air of polite, but rather detached, interest, wondering all the time whether Craven could overhear what was being said. Craven was sometimes talking to his neighbour, Mrs. Farringdon, but occasionally their conversation dropped, and Lady Sellingworth was aware of his sitting in silence. She wished, and yet almost feared, to talk ...
— December Love • Robert Hichens
... work in the coal mine I happened to overhear two miners talking about a great school for coloured people somewhere in Virginia. This was the first time that I had ever heard anything about any kind of school or college that was more pretentious than the little coloured school ...
— Stories of Achievement, Volume III (of 6) - Orators and Reformers • Various
... had been so indiscreet," he said, half to himself. "However, there is no harm done, for I know you boys are to be trusted not to repeat what you overhear. I'll tell you this, you two are among the very few who know that any of the German ...
— The Boy Allies Under the Sea • Robert L. Drake
... in haughty amaze. "You can have nothing to say to me, Miss Silver, the whole world may not overhear. If you intend to be impertinent, I shall order you ...
— The Baronet's Bride • May Agnes Fleming
... that they have been begotten again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible through the word of God. But here again it is not clear that the writer has in view water baptism or any rite at all as the means and occasion of regeneration. In the conversation with Nicodemus we seem to overhear a protest against the growing tendency of the last years of the 1st century to substitute formal sacraments for the free afflatus of the spirit, and to "crib, cabin and confine" the gift ...
— Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 3, Part 1, Slice 3 - "Banks" to "Bassoon" • Various
... didn't care. Was he not seraphically whizzing through space, obeying the diamond telegram of love? In the general whizzle and bang of the whole performance he even ventured to raise his voice in song, and I could overhear him behind me, adding a lyrical finish to the hum of the machinery. It was a walloping run, and we only throttled down on the outskirts of Morristown. You see I had to coach him about that Japanese war business, or else there might be trouble! ...
— The Motormaniacs • Lloyd Osbourne
... I think the river is a very good place for it, as no one can overhear you except the person whose services you have hired—and you need ...
— Jacob Faithful • Captain Frederick Marryat
... importunity, by giving him a very slender portion of victuals. Then he keeps a sharp lookout, and if he sees any fire, he runs towards it in the hope of getting some flesh or broth. He takes great care to keep himself at first concealed behind the tent, in order to overhear what passes there, and to discover if they are at victuals; for they are at great pains, in order to prevent such visits, to take away very speedily the three stones which support the kettle; and in this case his plan succeeds, since they never see any person pass without ...
— Perils and Captivity • Charlotte-Adelaide [nee Picard] Dard
... concerned, were unfeignedly glad the rather prolonged conference was over. They had been gazing at the group gathered around the young Englishman with a sort of puzzled wonder, and listening to what scraps of conversation they chanced to overhear, without being able to make out what the matter was about, with feelings of mingled expectancy and impatience at the length of the debate. But, now it was all settled, as they could see from the dispersal ...
— Picked up at Sea - The Gold Miners of Minturne Creek • J.C. Hutcheson
... of superiority? at least before the late Teutonic conquest? Gwendolen colored deeply, but, with her usual presence of mind, did not show an ungraceful resentment by moving away immediately; and Miss Arrowpoint, who had been near enough to overhear (and also to observe that Herr Klesmer's mode of looking at Gwendolen was more conspicuously admiring than was quite consistent with good taste), now with the utmost tact and kindness came close to ...
— Daniel Deronda • George Eliot
... themselves in the long cane chairs amidships. Still all curiosity to hear further details on the ingenious piece of espionage against my own nation, I took off my shoes and crept up to a spot where I could crouch concealed and overhear their conversation, for the Italian night was calm and still. They talked mainly about affairs in Finland, and with some of Oberg's expressions of opinion Polovstoff ventured to differ. This aroused ...
— The Czar's Spy - The Mystery of a Silent Love • William Le Queux
... the spectators. I have generally found the crowds who follow a big professional match round the links both highly intelligent and exceedingly considerate. But sometimes we overhear some strange things said. Taylor and I were once fulfilling an important engagement together, and when my opponent had a particularly difficult shot to play, two ladies came up quite close to him and persisted in talking in a loud tone ...
— The Complete Golfer [1905] • Harry Vardon
... had enjoined Ferdinand this task merely as a trial of his love, was not at his books, as his daughter supposed, but was standing by them invisible, to overhear ...
— Tales from Shakespeare • Charles and Mary Lamb
... would have even remotely suspected the fact that M. Roussillon had chanced to overhear a conversation between Hamilton and Farnsworth, in which Hamilton stated that he really did not intend to hurt M. Roussillon in any event; he merely purposed to ...
— Alice of Old Vincennes • Maurice Thompson
... in a sort of fright about this Jamaica bill," said Mr Egerton in an undertone, as if he were afraid a passer-by might overhear him. "Don't say anything about it, ...
— Sybil - or the Two Nations • Benjamin Disraeli
... Piombo there, you would judge for yourself; if it were not his later manner, the question was, Who was it? Titian, that might or might not be—perhaps he had only touched it. Daniel Doyce said perhaps he hadn't touched it, but Mr Meagles rather declined to overhear ...
— Little Dorrit • Charles Dickens
... excited, we must be familiar with the persons; but how is this possible if we are always to see them under the yoke of their designs and endeavours, or, what is worse, of an unnatural and assumed grandeur of character? We must overhear them in their unguarded moments, when they imagine themselves alone, and throw aside all care ...
— Lectures on Dramatic Art - and Literature • August Wilhelm Schlegel trans John Black
... good deal of interest in Kent's visits there, and shown an unmistakable desire to know what they were talking about. They had never paid much attention to him; but now even Val felt a vague uneasiness lest he overhear. She had been sitting, her face buried in her arms, crushed beneath the knowledge of what ...
— Lonesome Land • B. M. Bower
... the King testily, "that you would not call me 'Jack'; at least, not after—not where any of the servants may come in and overhear us. It would ...
— King John of Jingalo - The Story of a Monarch in Difficulties • Laurence Housman
... if he had the desire, of which, as far as I was aware till then, he had shown no sign, to try his skill on the strings of the muses. You may be pleased here to remind me of the discourse between Messer Brunetto Latini and Dante, which I strove to overhear on that May morning in the Piazza Santa Felicita, to which I will make bold to answer that I did not truly overhear much at the time, and that the substance of what I set down was garnered later, both from Dante and from Messer Brunetto. But even if I had caught sound of those poetical ...
— The God of Love • Justin Huntly McCarthy
... into step beside her. They did not speak until they were in the yard where passers-by could not overhear them. ...
— Counsel for the Defense • Leroy Scott
... the penalties one always has to pay for a woman's fame,' I said to myself, one day, as I sat sipping my chocolate, while I was forced to overhear from a neighboring alcove an insolent young dandy tell of various scenes, betraying passionate love on both sides, which he had probably manufactured to make himself of consequence. One story he told I felt sure was false, and yet I would ...
— The Atlantic Monthly, Volume 4, No. 24, Oct. 1859 • Various
... Did I overhear a civil murmur, "That's very gratifying, to be sure?" Well, yes, it is gratifying—thank you. It is at least as gratifying to be certified sober as to be certified romantic, though such certificates would not qualify one for the secretaryship of a temperance association ...
— A Personal Record • Joseph Conrad
... find no volume of poetry especially prepared for him which should fulfill the promise of the verse offered to him in his Primer and Reader. Be it remembered that he was not so much to read verse written expressly for him, as to overhear the great poets when they sang so simply, so directly, and yet with so penetrating a note that the burden of their song, full, it may be, to the child's elders, would have an awakening power for the child himself. As so often said, a child can receive and delight in a poem through the ear long before ...
— Verse and Prose for Beginners in Reading - Selected from English and American Literature • Horace Elisha Scudder, editor
... the only man on board In whom I have any real confidence. I fear that my grandfather has been misled, wilfully and shamefully misled, but I am unable to prevent it for lack of proof. But to-night, after dinner, I chanced to overhear a conversation with reference to you which redoubled the doubts I have felt ever since this expedition was decided on. I feel that I must tell you. Baron von Kerber distrusts you because you are a gentleman. He fears you will act as one if you have to choose between his interests and your ...
— The Wheel O' Fortune • Louis Tracy
... assumption than usual of fatherly fondness; and if she was a little shy, was it not because she was conscious of so great a secret? He was even unusually complaisant to Lavender, and lost no opportunity of paying him indirect compliments that Sheila could overhear. ...
— Lippincott's Magazine, Volume 11, No. 26, May, 1873 • Various
... brave, as your father was! Come, so that those fellows who killed him may not overhear us," said ...
— The Social Cancer - A Complete English Version of Noli Me Tangere • Jose Rizal
... talk about when they were by themselves and confidential. In her fancy she endowed their conversations with the inexplicable attractiveness of masculinity, as masculinity is understood by women alone. She had an intense desire to overhear such a conversation, and she felt that she would affront the unguessed perils of it with delight, drinking it up eagerly, every drop, even were the draught deadly. Meanwhile, the mere inarticulate sound of those distant voices pleased her, ...
— Hilda Lessways • Arnold Bennett
... small hole, of the girth of one's wrist, sunk like a telescope three feet through the masonry into the cell, served at once for ventilation, and to push through food to the prisoner. This hole opening into the chapel also enabled the poor solitaire, as intended, to overhear the religious services at the altar; and, without being present, take part in the same. It was deemed a good sign of the state of the sufferer's soul, if from the gloomy recesses of the wall was heard ...
— Israel Potter • Herman Melville
... he had been ahead of her all the time. She had not dared to question the people at the various inns, where they had stopped to change horses. She feared that Chauvelin had spies all along the route, who might overhear her questions, then outdistance her and warn her ...
— The Scarlet Pimpernel • Baroness Orczy
... you will believe," Miss Brandon said, "that it was quite involuntarily I became a spy on your actions. I did not overhear one word; and my partner had that moment left me, when I saw—" Not all her self-command could check the shudder that ran through every limb, and the choking in her ...
— Guy Livingstone; - or, 'Thorough' • George A. Lawrence
... were amusing the visitors and themselves, he edged along as near this particular man as he could without exposing himself too freely, and during the pauses between the songs he was fortunate enough to overhear the following conversation between the fellow in whom he was interested ...
— Messenger No. 48 • James Otis
... whispered. She was a foolish little girl. "You brought me love, you know." Then they rode in silence for a long time. Both of them were new to the phraseology of love. Their simple compliments to each other were almost ludicrous. But any one who might have chanced to overhear them would have been charmed, for they betrayed an innocence as ...
— A Mountain Woman and Others • (AKA Elia Wilkinson) Elia W. Peattie
... middle-aged man, large and solid, with very flat feet and a smoothly shaven face, twinkling eyes, and a benevolent smile. I was very glad to see him, especially before breakfast. I took him away from the house, so that Anita might not overhear our conversation, and then I laid the whole case before him. He was an Alsatian, but his English ...
— John Gayther's Garden and the Stories Told Therein • Frank R. Stockton
... is that of a quiet and rather cheery humour, far indeed from gaiety, but farther still from wretchedness. And in matters like this one's senses are not deceived. I know that my neighbours have abundant excuses for being down-hearted; and, as described in an earlier chapter, I sometimes overhear their complainings; but more often than not the evidence of voice-tones and stray words is reassuring ...
— Change in the Village • (AKA George Bourne) George Sturt |
