"Ruefully" Quotes from Famous Books
 ... half an hour's steady work, "Father and Mother can't say I forgot them. Let me see, there are Nora and Jessica, Mrs. Gray and Mabel Allison. Eleanor owes me a letter, and, oh, I nearly forgot the Southards, and there is Mrs. Gibson. I shall have to devote two nights to letter-writing," she added ruefully. "I do love to receive letters, but it is ...
— Grace Harlowe's Third Year at Overton College • Jessie Graham Flower
... not thinking of yourself?" returned his son, half laughing, half ruefully; and his father flushed ...
— Christopher Hibbault, Roadmaker • Marguerite Bryant
... hungry," replied the Potter ruefully; "their mother has gone to get flour in the bazaar, for there is none in the house. In the meantime I can neither work nor rest because ...
— The Junior Classics, Volume 1 • Willam Patten
... better another time," he said, when he had finished, rather ruefully surveying his handiwork. "And now I'll call Hassan and get tea, and while we're having it I'll tell you about our camp in the Fayyum. To think of your giving ...
— Bella Donna - A Novel • Robert Hichens
... you will wait! take off your things right away. Dear me! and it is really our Edith; won't Trix be surprised and glad. It isn't much of a place this," says poor Mrs. Stuart, glancing about her ruefully; "not what you're used to, my dear, but such ...
— A Terrible Secret • May Agnes Fleming
... I said ruefully. "I think the best thing I could do really would be to drop overboard. The Lord knows what trouble I shall land you ...
— A Rogue by Compulsion • Victor Bridges
... his eyes towards the supposed lender, and was in a moment infected by his aspect. All the exultation of hope that sparkled in their eyes was now succeeded by disappointment and dismay; and while they gazed ruefully at each other, their features were gradually elongated, like the transient curls of ...
— The Adventures of Peregrine Pickle, Volume I • Tobias Smollett
... thus brought to the end of all his subterfuges. He could only say ruefully that his eldest son should bear the letter. The Archbishop thereupon took care to inform that young gentleman that if his missive should be either lost or delayed, its bearer would have to reckon with the Church, and might not find the account ...
— The White Lady of Hazelwood - A Tale of the Fourteenth Century • Emily Sarah Holt
... have such a blob of a nose," she said ruefully. "There is mighty little to be done with a nose like mine unless I have paraffin injected under the skin right on top. Of course, I could make it up for the stage from the outside, but not for close inspection. Are my skirts ...
— Mary Louise and Josie O'Gorman • Emma Speed Sampson
... to print a paper," said Raymond ruefully, "but they wouldn't stay in one place long enough for me to get my press going. This morning a Yankee cannon shot smashed the press and I suppose I might as well go back to Richmond. But I can't, with so much coming on. They'll be in ...
— Before the Dawn - A Story of the Fall of Richmond • Joseph Alexander Altsheler
... killed," replied Edmonds, grinning ruefully. "For the best interests of the paper. That's what the Vanney crowd's ...
— Success - A Novel • Samuel Hopkins Adams
... as if I were slinking off after a murder!" he exclaimed ruefully. "I wonder if we oughtn't to go back and try again to soothe the ...
— The Daughters of Danaus • Mona Caird
... Wesson was looking somewhat ruefully at the score sheet. "I owe you eighteen shillings," he said. "Shall I pay you, now, or shall we settle up in a lump ...
— The Gem Collector • P. G. Wodehouse
... no time, but put the matter in the hands of a crack Private Inquiry Agency. When they learned what I was doing, I'm hanged if my stepmother and uncle Bumpkin didn't stop my allowance." He laughed ruefully. "However, I kept the inquiries going by selling my two horses, my jewellery, my guns, and my clothes. That's why I'm in these rags. But no good came of it; the private detective discovered nothing, and charged ...
— The Admirable Tinker - Child of the World • Edgar Jepson
... suppose he can't do anything just now, anyway," his sister conceded ruefully. "Can't you—couldn't ...
— The Heart of Rachael • Kathleen Norris
... the garden of the square represented liberty, he was undoubtedly incarcerated. Or, again, take the story of the Scotchman returning from a convivial occasion, who had jumped carefully over the shadows of the lamp-posts, but on coming to the shadow of the church-tower, ruefully took off his boots and stockings, and turned his trousers up, saying, "I'll ha'e to wade." The reason why the stories of drunken persons are often so indescribably humorous, though, no doubt, highly deplorable in a Christian ...
— At Large • Arthur Christopher Benson
... 'but I do not fight for this lady, but for a gold table with gold dolls sitting at it.' Such also was the reflection of Achard, castellan of Chaluz, looking ruefully ...
— The Life and Death of Richard Yea-and-Nay • Maurice Hewlett
... hailing the doctor as though he had been a boon companion of long standing, insisted upon his sitting down and making merry. He complied with forced grimace, but with fear and trembling; sitting on the edge of his bench; supping down heartburn with every drop of liquor; eyeing ruefully the black muzzled pistols, and cold, naked stilettos. They pushed the bottle bravely, and plied him vigorously; sang, laughed, told excellent stories of robberies and combats, and the little doctor was fain to laugh at these cut-throat ...
— Tales of a Traveller • Washington Irving
... how it is I am always getting into scrapes," the lad said half ruefully when the laugh subsided. "I am sure I don't want to get into them, colonel, and really I have never gone out of my way to do so, unless you call my march to help the Count of Mansfeld going out of my way. All the other ...
— The Lion of the North • G.A. Henty
... she interrupted ruefully. "Perhaps if I were to pay her—or him—extra wages it would be all right," she added, quickly. "We do not require ...
— A Fool and His Money • George Barr McCutcheon
... have found a better use for them than arguing," she thought ruefully, regretting the friendly Americans, as she changed the tyre by the roadside under the beam from ...
— The Happy Foreigner • Enid Bagnold
... ruefully persisted Denison. "But the safe was designed for us specially. The fellow got into it and got away, as far as I can ...
— The War Terror • Arthur B. Reeve
... dad 'ud do as much for me; but he don't seem to care a cent whether I ever learn 'em or not," said poor Shorty, ruefully. For he was pretty sure to miss two out of every three questions asked him, and Mr. Garrison thought him ...
— Bert Lloyd's Boyhood - A Story from Nova Scotia • J. McDonald Oxley
... Lena, whose open Swiss nature was either at the summit of happiness or down in the valley of despair, regarded her ruefully for a space, and after one more hug and the shedding of two large healthy tears, accompanied her out to the porch. There the Wangers were waiting and the children standing in line to be kissed—quite as ...
— The Wrong Woman • Charles D. Stewart
... my having dozed when every moment is of consequence," he explained. "And yet," he went on ruefully, "upon my soul, I cannot conjecture where ...
— A Chair on The Boulevard • Leonard Merrick
... getting a great deal," said Mr. Lyon, rather ruefully. "I'm trying to find out where. I ought to ...
— Baddeck and That Sort of Thing • Charles Dudley Warner
... replied Carthoris ruefully. "These creatures are born man-eaters. Why they have not already devoured us I cannot imagine—there!" he whispered. ...
— Thuvia, Maid of Mars • Edgar Rice Burroughs
... confessed Pocahontas, ruefully, "except a single calla. I cut my last white rosebuds and camellias to send to Nina Byrd Marion the very day before I heard about the Shirley ...
— Princess • Mary Greenway McClelland
... ruefully. "She isn't really equal to him, Pen. I misdoubted that from the first, and it's been borne in upon me more and more ever since. She hasn't mind enough." "I didn't know that a man fell in love with a ...
— Henry James, Jr. • William Dean Howells
... the room and Miss Merton turned to survey ruefully her empty purse and to read again a letter which had already arrived ...
— A Sweet Girl Graduate • Mrs. L.T. Meade
... Station, he could have disclosed his identity and that of the lady in private to awe-stricken functionaries. He might have forgiven Aristide. But Aristide had exposed him to the derision of the whole of Roussillon and the never ending wrath of Madame Coquereau. Ruefully Aristide asked himself the question: why had the Mayor not taken him into the confidence of his masquerading escapade? Why had he not told him of the pretty widow, whom, unknown to his mother, he was courting? Why had he permitted her ...
— The Joyous Adventures of Aristide Pujol • William J. Locke
... been 'very long' in that tree, I feel it," ruefully. "And I am Neil Bathurst, detective; never was anybody else, and by the by, here is this doctor; I heard him giving me a capital 'recommend;' now bid him step up and identify me," and he laughs as if he had ...
— The Diamond Coterie • Lawrence L. Lynch
... see that there was need for such a hurry," he said, ruefully, laying down his knife and fork. "I don't see there was need for any hurry, at all. Besides, of course, I want ...
— Held Fast For England - A Tale of the Siege of Gibraltar (1779-83) • G. A. Henty
... and an evidently unpleasant habit of becoming unfordable after a rain, tell the story of the abandoned trail I have been following. Whether three feet deep or thirty, the thick, muddy character of its moving water refuses to reveal, as, standing on the bank, I ruefully survey ...
— Around the World on a Bicycle Volume II. - From Teheran To Yokohama • Thomas Stevens
... until a late hour, for it was seldom that such precious moments of rest and contentment could be snatched amid the ever-recurring duties and the turmoil of war, had it not been for one of the officers who glanced ruefully at his wrist watch and then apologetically informed his host that it was his turn for night ...
— Submarine Warfare of To-day • Charles W. Domville-Fife
... have had!" said Susy Fairbairn ruefully, for all that she was a good-tempered girl and not disposed to measure her neighbor's wheat by her own bushel. But this was a special matter; for Edgar Harrowby was the pride of the place, and they took count of his doings as of their local ...
— Lippincott's Magazine, Vol. XVII, No. 99, March, 1876 • Various
... had explained the mystery of his unexpected appearance in every particular that Allan could be prevailed on to say a word about himself. When he did speak, he shook his head ruefully, and subdued the hearty loudness of his voice, with a preliminary look round to see if the ...
— Armadale • Wilkie Collins
... my fault, really," proceeded Mr. Pett. "I ought to have known better. All I thought of at the time was that it would please the child to see the poems in print and be able to give the book to her friends. She did give it to her friends," he went on ruefully, "and ever since she's been trying to live it down. I've seen her bite a young fellow's head off when he tried to make a grand-stand play with her by quoting her poems which he'd found ...
— Piccadilly Jim • Pelham Grenville Wodehouse
... because of the complicated miseries that surround me and that I choose to say nothing of.... Life is not all Beer and Skittles. The inherent tragedy of things works itself out from white to black and blacker, and the poor things of a day look ruefully on. Does it shake my cast-iron faith? I cannot say it does. I believe in an ultimate decency of things; ay, and if I woke in hell, should still believe it! But it is hard walking, and I can see my own share in the missteps, ...
— The Works of Robert Louis Stevenson - Swanston Edition Vol. 25 (of 25) • Robert Louis Stevenson
... a pity!" I said ruefully. "I didn't think the stone would make so much of a mark ...
— Devon Boys - A Tale of the North Shore • George Manville Fenn
... for me," Jim said ruefully. "What sort of a chance do you think I've got? Never mind, I'm used to ...
— A Little Bush Maid • Mary Grant Bruce
... Jerry ruefully admitted it. "One expects to dig out gold like spuds; while the real thing's enough to give you the blight. As for stopping a wages-man all my life, I won't do it. I might just as well go home and ...
— Australia Felix • Henry Handel Richardson
... admitted Joe ruefully. "I wouldn't be a bit surprised but what this was some of the work of ...
— Joe Strong The Boy Fire-Eater - The Most Dangerous Performance on Record • Vance Barnum
... arms on the side and stood ruefully watching the stairs. He was quite confident that there were head-pieces walking the earth, to which a satisfactory solution of this problem would have afforded no difficulty whatever, and he shook his own sadly, as he ...
— A Master Of Craft • W. W. Jacobs
... to live on ants," the mate said ruefully as he gave a savage slap at his leg, "it seems to me we are likely to starve, for I have seen nothing whatever to eat since we entered the wood. Even if some of the trees did bear fruit I don't see how we are going to get at it, for one ...
— With Cochrane the Dauntless • George Alfred Henty
... ruefully, not liking the prospect of interfering with beneficent Nature, "if you was to get a bag of soot, wait about till a shower was a coming on, carefully sprinkle the plant, and let the soot wash in, that might save a few here and there. Or if you were to get a can of paraffin, ...
— Punch, or the London Charivari, Vol. 99, November 15, 1890 • Various
... believe you ever intend to marry me, Charlie," Carrie said ruefully. The recent protestations of Hurstwood had given her courage ...
— Sister Carrie • Theodore Dreiser
... procession—the charmed arrivals, the happy sojourns at anchor, the reluctant departures that made Ca' Alvisi, as was currently said, a social porto di mare—is, for remembrance and regret, already a possession of ghosts; so that, on the spot, at present, the attention ruefully averts itself from the dear little old faded but once familiarly bright facade, overtaken at last by the comparatively vulgar uses that are doing their best to "paint out" in Venice, right and left, by staring signs and other vulgarities, the immemorial ...
— Italian Hours • Henry James
... it was broad daylight, and the tornado of his last sleepy moments of consciousness had diminished to the usual spasmodic rifle reports. He stood up, ruefully rubbed the spots where ammunition pouches had made dents in his person, stepped over his still sleeping cobbers and crawled through the rabbit-hole entrance into the fire-trench. There he blinked like a sleepy owl, more with surprise than anything ...
— The Tale of a Trooper • Clutha N. Mackenzie
... Thompson, echoing the doctor's question ruefully. "A pretty nice thing Horrocks and his fellows have let themselves, and us, ...
— The Story of the Foss River Ranch • Ridgwell Cullum
... heard guns; and it was reported by the last cruiser who came in before the boat left that a Spanish galleasse had run aground and had been claimed by M. Gourdain, the governor of Calais; but probably, added the shrewd-eyed man, that was just a piece of their dirty French pride. The crowd smiled ruefully; and a French officer of the boat who was standing by the gangway scowled savagely, as the lawyer passed ...
— By What Authority? • Robert Hugh Benson
... entangled in the meshes of some creeping plant. He was soon bathed in perspiration; every new sound made him jump; and with every stumble he waited and listened with beating heart, wondering if he had betrayed his presence to the enemy. He thought ruefully that his speed as a sprinter would avail him little on ground like this; he had his revolver, but that would be useless against numbers; discovery would ...
— Round the World in Seven Days • Herbert Strang
... conversation, used to ransack the premises until I found it. Eventually it became a game of skill between the hider and the seeker. I can now see the old woman's eyes over the rims of her spectacles as she laid her knitting down and ruefully regarded the development of the search. But at this game, owing to the ...
— Reminiscences of a South African Pioneer • W. C. Scully
... wiped a handful of mud off his face; if it had not been so dark Bob would have shouted at the spectacle. "I'm 'kinda sorter shuck up like,"' he quoted ruefully. "And my nose is skinned, thank you. Where's that devil of ...
— The Lure of the Dim Trails • by (AKA B. M. Sinclair) B. M. Bower
... hanging his head ruefully. "La, mother!" cried the youngest of the cousins, a square-built, ruddy, coarse-featured urchin, about Sidney's age, "La, mother, he never see a coach in the street when we are at play but he runs ...
— Night and Morning, Complete • Edward Bulwer-Lytton
... found a red flag flying at the gate, and the dusty buggies of a few real estate men tied to the young maples on the sidewalk. Upstairs Sally was sitting on a couch, in the midst of the scattered furniture, while George Bolingbroke stood looking ruefully at a pile of silver and bric-a-brac that filled the centre of ...
— The Romance of a Plain Man • Ellen Glasgow
... by the window in my room till late, looking out at the moonlight in the quiet garden, with a feeling as though I were stuffed with sawdust—a very awful feeling—and thinking ruefully of the day that had begun so brightly and ended so dismally. What a miserable thing not to be able to be frank and say simply, "My good young man, you and I never saw each other before, probably won't see each other again, and have no interests in common. I ...
— The Solitary Summer • Elizabeth von Arnim
... said the captain, looking ruefully at his hat. "It looks like a cullender; but, Moseley, your gun don't scatter well: a dozen shot have gone through ...
— Precaution • James Fenimore Cooper
... and let that matter rest. Then he looked ruefully at the two crippled horses, and set his arm round the lady, who had risen and ...
— A King's Comrade - A Story of Old Hereford • Charles Whistler
... he is," Boyne ruefully admitted. "But that doesn't make you like him any better. Well, if you won't tell Lottie, I'll give ...
— Henry James, Jr. • William Dean Howells
... hurt yourself?" Nattie asked, as she went down to where the hero of the catastrophe sat on the bottom stair, ruefully rubbing his elbow, but who now picked up his hat and the ...
— Wired Love - A Romance of Dots and Dashes • Ella Cheever Thayer
... Maya," he pleaded, half-ruefully, half-humorously. "It's just that I love you so much. It's just that I'm impatient for ...
— Rebels of the Red Planet • Charles Louis Fontenay
... my nice dunderfunk, sir; they did, sir," whined the Down Easter, ruefully holding up his pan. "Stole ...
— White Jacket - or, the World on a Man-of-War • Herman Melville
... a doughnut ruefully. "I want it, but I'm almost ashamed to eat it. I've thought such horrid things of that old Mrs. Gadsby that ...
— The Camerons of Highboro • Beth B. Gilchrist
... lost his unsold papers, and he felt ruefully in his pocket as he went down the street, pulling his rags about him as much from shame as to keep ...
— Children of the Tenements • Jacob A. Riis
... spirit that was at work within. It may be remarked in passing that he considered a moustache incompatible with effective speaking—"Why should a man hide one of the most expressive features of his face?" With regard to the still more expressive eyes, Lecky ruefully remarked that Gladstone's glance was that of a bird of prey ...
— Fifteen Chapters of Autobiography • George William Erskine Russell
... you do look miserable!" cried Mark, coming into the room and looking ruefully at her pale cheeks and the black shadows round her eyes. "And to think of you never telling after ...
— Hetty Gray - Nobody's Bairn • Rosa Mulholland
... Pilgrim had "butted in" and come along with them. He supposed Flora really could not help it, but it was pretty hard lines, all the same. For even in the range-land are certain rules of etiquette which must be observed when men and women foregather in the pursuit of pleasure. Billy remembered ruefully how a girl must dance first, last, and oftenest with her partner of the evening, and must eat supper with him besides, whether she likes or not; to tweak this rule means to ...
— The Long Shadow • B. M. Bower
... not looking forward to the actual ceremony—no man ever does; and though it was to be a war wedding, a great many people, as he was ruefully aware, had been bidden to the ceremony. But it was comfortable to know that none of the guests had been asked to go back to the house from which he and his bride were to start for Sussex at one o'clock, in the motor ...
— Defenders of Democracy • Militia of Mercy
... next time," said Bell ruefully. "I'd planned a swim. But if you'll fix some coffee while I finish up this raft, we'll get going. I don't think we're far from some place or other. I heard what sounded suspiciously like a motor boat, ...
— Astounding Stories of Super-Science, June, 1930 • Various
... the kids," admitted Charley ruefully. "But as for Jane—now, will you tell me what would become of Jane after she had reformed me? Why, she'd be bored to death. She'd be a martyr without any martyrdom. When she made me give up tobacco, she lost interest in everything for a week. ...
— Life and Gabriella - The Story of a Woman's Courage • Ellen Glasgow
... for us, I'm afraid,' said Edie ruefully. 'We don't want to go as high as that. We're very poor and ...
— Philistia • Grant Allen
... added Orme, ruefully. That she had the right to this information it never occurred to him ...
— The Girl and The Bill - An American Story of Mystery, Romance and Adventure • Bannister Merwin
... Henry, but his tone was so subdued and joyless that his uncle stared at him for a moment, and then went over to close the door. Standing with his back to it, Mr. Starkweather smiled reminiscently and a trifle ruefully, and began to peel the band from a cigar. "What's the matter? Mirabelle say ...
— Rope • Holworthy Hall
... that water's about all a fellow can get to drink in the States now," the blond man said, ruefully. "That is, of course, unless a man ...
— The Pathless Trail • Arthur O. (Arthur Olney) Friel
... right," was the reply, "anything to oblige. Well say ten altogether. If there are so many righteous men in Sodom I'll spare it. Good afternoon, Abraham, good afternoon." And the Lord was off. Abraham ruefully watched the retreating figure, perfectly assured that the Lord had got the best of the bargain, and that he himself had ...
— Bible Romances - First Series • George W. Foote
... in his own country," said Dick, ruefully, dusting his knees. "This filthy fluff will ...
— The Works of Rudyard Kipling One Volume Edition • Rudyard Kipling
... it is not one it is another," said the king, ruefully. "I hear that the Duke of Tyrconnel is mad ...
— The Touchstone of Fortune • Charles Major
... I think I see our ancient mother Caledonia, like Caesar, sitting in the midst of our senate, ruefully looking round about her, covering herself with her royal garment, attending the fatal blow, and breathing out her last with an Et ...
— The World's Best Orations, Vol. 1 (of 10) • Various
... him! I am no longer Monsieur de Bonfons," thought the magistrate ruefully, his face assuming the expression of a judge ...
— Eugenie Grandet • Honore de Balzac
... instance, an excellent tapioca pudding served on certain days; but no one was allowed to eat it. The law was that it had to be shovelled into envelopes and afterwards cast away in the playground. I do not know if the masters saw this—it was never adverted upon—and I did it ruefully enough. The consequence was that one lived hungrily in the midst of plenty, and food became the ...
— Escape and Other Essays • Arthur Christopher Benson
... she spoke, was now sitting in an arm-chair. He drew up another chair, and sat down also, having resolved, in face of the gravity of the situation, to try some of his old tactics, and some new ones as well. His first pose was to gaze into the fire ruefully for awhile, and then his fine eyes slowly filled ...
— The Beth Book - Being a Study of the Life of Elizabeth Caldwell Maclure, a Woman of Genius • Sarah Grand
... he awoke, rubbed his eyes in astonishment at the strange surroundings amid which he found himself, and after recollecting his own pet proclivity, as he ruefully surveyed ...
— The Reminiscences of an Irish Land Agent • S.M. Hussey
... about. But our hopes of becoming the fortunate occupants of any one of those charming abodes were soon dashed to the ground; for with the cards came the terms; and we found that a "very moderate rental" meant from $600 to $750 per annum. We looked at each other rather ruefully; and the ungenerous remark of "I told you so" rose to my lips. However, I did not give it utterance, but substituted the words, "Never mind, let us send for another 'Times,' and only answer those advertisements ...
— Our Farm of Four Acres and the Money we Made by it • Miss Coulton
... Yerbury. There was a brisker air on the streets, a kind of inspiring music in the whir and clatter, that spoke of food and warmth and raiment. Good feeling and sympathy had been touched; and though some of the workmen, who were harassed by back debts, looked rather ruefully at their small weekly pittance, still it was so much better than ...
— Hope Mills - or Between Friend and Sweetheart • Amanda M. Douglas
... were going to breakfast, but I did not think we should break so fast as that,' remarked Gregory, ruefully. ...
— The Continental Monthly, Vol. 3, No. 1 January 1863 - Devoted To Literature And National Policy • Various
... would have looked after Mrs. Markham; and Mrs. Brimmer wouldn't have gone with anybody that wasn't well connected. But what's the use of talking?" he added ruefully. "Nothing has happened, and nothing is going to happen. You will see yourself in San Francisco, even if you don't see ME there. You're going to a rich brother, Miss Keene, who has friends of his own, and who won't care to know a poor fellow whom ...
— The Crusade of the Excelsior • Bret Harte
... looked at his watch and wondered. He HAD announced himself—six months before; had written out at least that Chad wasn't to be surprised should he see him some day turn up. Chad had thereupon, in a few words of rather carefully colourless answer, offered him a general welcome; and Strether, ruefully reflecting that he might have understood the warning as a hint to hospitality, a bid for an invitation, had fallen back upon silence as the corrective most to his own taste. He had asked Mrs. Newsome moreover not to announce him again; he had so distinct an ...
— The Ambassadors • Henry James
... mind much being caught and carried back by the bushrangers, if they would give me a good supper," said Jack ruefully. ...
— In A New World - or, Among The Gold Fields Of Australia • Horatio Alger
... a story of the haps and mishaps of the typical boy whose purposes are good, but whose impetuosity plunges him into all kinds of mischief, as the boy himself expresses it, "before he knows it." One of the boys of this book, ruefully reflecting on the results of a boyish scrape, wishes for something like a hedge fence to keep him from running into trouble. In a manner which will be delightfully entertaining and helpful to all boys (and girls for that matter), Pansy tells us how ...
— The Bay State Monthly, Vol. II, No. 6, March, 1885 - A Massachusetts Magazine • Various
... determination to stay until the very end; but at length they too grasped their hats and started to rise. The next instant there was a clattering of chairs, followed by three startled howls, which broke upon the air and turned every face in the same direction. There in a row stood the three Chinamen, ruefully rubbing the backs of their heads, while their little almond eyes seemed to be popping out from their sockets, with surprise and with the unwonted strain upon their scalps. From the end of every pigtail dangled one of the light folding chairs ...
— In Blue Creek Canon • Anna Chapin Ray
... that doesn't mean that I can paint with it," sighed Bertram, ruefully eyeing the tiny bit of fresh color his canvas showed ...
— Miss Billy Married • Eleanor H. Porter
... he climbed the grade, once again he skidded downward, once again he went sprawling. Nor were his subsequent attempts more successful. After a final ignominious failure he sat where he had fetched up and ruefully took stock of the damage he had done himself. ...
— The Winds of Chance • Rex Beach
... was gone, Anson Drake smiled ruefully to himself and opened a secret compartment in his suitcase. From it, he removed a long strand of ...
— Heist Job on Thizar • Gordon Randall Garrett
... said the Sergeant. "He is going to have a warm, snug Christmas in a snug, warm hospital; and here's me only lorst in this bloomin' swamp, an' got to report for duty somewhere in the mornin'—Lord knows where!" he grinned ruefully at me. ...
— Current History, A Monthly Magazine - The European War, March 1915 • New York Times
... the thought of paying such a fortune for the lessons," Patricia said ruefully. "Think of spending all that money for one little half hour! And three lessons a week, too. Don't you think I might do with less, Norn? I can make it up ...
— Miss Pat at Artemis Lodge • Pemberton Ginther
... need all the aid and sympathy of Christian hearts to sustain my soul," said Mrs. Sykes, with a ruefully pious countenance, as she ...
— Eventide - A Series of Tales and Poems • Effie Afton
... the feast, but regarded it ruefully. "You oughtn't to have ordered so much, Bartley," she said. "You ...
— A Modern Instance • William Dean Howells
... a part of the price. I thought he was a square sport; but he ain't. When he got a squint at the old fiddle while Hopewell was down here playing for the dance, he was just crazy to buy it. Any old price, he said! After I got it," proceeded Joe, ruefully, "he tries to tell me it ain't worth even what I ...
— How Janice Day Won • Helen Beecher Long
... its most golden hour, wouldn't have been ashamed of you. It would of me, and if I didn't know some of the pieces your father has acquired, I should rather fear, for American City, the criticism of experts. Would it at all events be your idea," he had then just ruefully asked, "to send me there ...
— The Golden Bowl • Henry James
... give up this but all other engagements for some time to come. Who knows how long the business might detain him. He quitted his breakfast table for the adjoining writing-room, and there ruefully wrote off refusals to the Marquis, the Earl, the Bishop, and all his entertainers; and he ordered his servant to take places in the mail-coach for that evening, of course charging the sum which he disbursed for the seats to the account of the widow and the ...
— The History of Pendennis • William Makepeace Thackeray
... bitterness against him now—on the contrary, she could afford to laugh at his peculiarities. He was in a very bad humour on account of some domestic difficulties. His wife had been abusing him, and had ended by assaulting him. "She used to argey first, and then fetch the poker," he said ruefully; "but now it's the poker first, and there ain't no argeyment ...
— The Firm of Girdlestone • Arthur Conan Doyle
... sure," he said, somewhat ruefully, indicating his dinner jacket tightly constricted beneath the arms. "Already I've had to slit my waistcoat down the back. Poor old Peddle will have an apoplectic fit when he sees it. I've grown a bit since these elegant ...
— The Rough Road • William John Locke
... inquired a little ruefully. She saw, inside the glass door, a large room with what seemed like a shop counter running down the length of it; and on this counter certainly eatables were set out; she could see cups of tea or coffee, and biscuits, and pieces of pie. People were crowding to this counter, ...
— The House in Town • Susan Warner
... sucker, all right," said Dink ruefully. Then he stopped and blurted out: "Say, White, I guess it was about what I needed. I guess I'm not such a little wonder-worker, after all. I've been fresh—rotten fresh. But, say, from now on I'm holding my ear to the ground; and when it comes to ...
— The Varmint • Owen Johnson
... that, with rags and bare feet, they should suffer severely. All that they had to say and do had been learned by heart. The names and addresses of the agents of the British Government at every town had been laboriously learned before starting, and, as Peter said ruefully, it was worse than ...
— The Young Buglers • G.A. Henty
... we must get the next out. No time to lose. Come! Keep shoving the pick in, and I'll scratch the bolt down with my knife. See? It's nothing." They pull the drawer out and set it on the floor, and Roberts ruefully contemplates it. ...
— Evening Dress - Farce • W. D. Howells
... first was as obscure as what to do. Diana said of the Englishman's hat and coat, that she supposed they were to make him a walking presentment of the house he had shut up behind him. A shot of the eye at the glass confirmed the likeness, but with a ruefully wry-faced repudiation of it internally:—Not so shut up! the reverse of ...
— The Shaving of Shagpat • George Meredith
... Sylvia agreed ruefully. "I might have known Judith would manage to make me feel flat if I got wrought up about it. She hates a fuss made over anything, and she can always take you down if you make one." She remembered with a singular feeling of discomfiture ...
— The Bent Twig • Dorothy Canfield
... dispiriting tidings reached him. His messengers, coming from so obnoxious a quarter, narrowly escape imprisonment. His old congregation are coldly received, and even begin to look back again to their place of exile with regret. "My First Blast," he writes ruefully, "has blown from me all my friends of England." And then he adds, with a snarl, "The Second Blast, I fear, shall sound somewhat more sharp, except men be more moderate than I hear they are."[75] But the threat is empty; there will never be a second blast—he has had enough of that trumpet. Nay, ...
— The Works of Robert Louis Stevenson - Swanston Edition Vol. 3 (of 25) • Robert Louis Stevenson
... about this and so much about liberty, that we are in conscience forced, when our brother Philistine with whom we are meddling turns boldly round upon us and asks: Have you any light?—to shake our heads ruefully, and to let him go his own way ...
— Culture and Anarchy • Matthew Arnold
... "Several have, over the years. They underwent treatment to erase that knowledge from their mind." He stood up and came around the desk to where his son had also risen. "I may not see you again before you leave, Spence ... George, I mean," he smiled ruefully, then brightened. "But the best of luck, son, and keep in mind that you have the honor of the finest body of men in the Universe in your keeping, and always try to be worthy of ...
— Man of Many Minds • E. Everett Evans
... in the direction of the house. He was weak, and did the journey slowly. Nor did he feel comfortable. However, he was doing what he knew to be right, and, as he ruefully reminded himself, it was seldom pleasant to do one's duty. His object was simply a matter of form, but one which omitted would give Marbolt reason for saying things. Besides, in justice to Danny and himself he must ask her father's consent ...
— The Night Riders - A Romance of Early Montana • Ridgwell Cullum
... Hollis looked ruefully down at his knuckles. The skin was gashed—evidently where it had come in contact with a bone in either Dunlavey's or Yuma's jaw. He had intended to keep the story of adventure to himself. But he saw that Norton had stepped ...
— The Coming of the Law • Charles Alden Seltzer
... are fools," Mrs. Malcomson ruefully confessed. "And the 'women generally' to whom you allude as being satisfied are the women well off in this world's goods themselves, who don't think for others. The first symptom of deep thought in a woman ...
— The Heavenly Twins • Madame Sarah Grand
... myself for a couple of hundred," put in Lord Standon ruefully. "She's a beautiful creature, though, and I'd like ...
— Adrien Leroy • Charles Garvice
... gone for water," answered the miner, ruefully. "She's set on cleanin' up the cabin. I'll bet when she's finished we'll have to pan the gravel mighty careful to find even a color ...
— Bruvver Jim's Baby • Philip Verrill Mighels
... right," said David, kicking it out vigorously as he spoke. "The bone isn't quite broken, but it's very sore, and I suppose I'd have to lay up for it if I wasn't here;" and he grinned ruefully. ...
— Picked up at Sea - The Gold Miners of Minturne Creek • J.C. Hutcheson
... DJIDDENSIS), which Tom, for all his knowledge of sea things, had never before seen. Curiously examining the jaws, he laid a rude forefinger on the tesselated plate which stands in the species for teeth, and the disorganised remains, true to the ruling passion, crunched, and Tom ruefully consoled the finger for a fortnight. Hitherto his opinion, founded on contemporary experience and the traditions of his race, had been that a shark would never fight a live man. Was it not the refinement of irony that he should well nigh be deprived of the best part of a finger by a dead ...
— My Tropic Isle • E J Banfield
... had, as it were, supplemented the inexpiable wrong originally committed, and earned for himself a portion of the undying hate which was due elsewhere. "I may kill this brute some day," thought Richard, ruefully, "in spite of myself." And he resolved on the first opportunity to communicate a certain secret which was on his mind to a friendly ear; so that that at least should be utilized to the disadvantage of his foes, in case incontrollable passion ...
— Bred in the Bone • James Payn
... one is accountable for this, I guess I'm the man," he confessed, ruefully. "He told me he was afraid of this, yet I was fool enough to lose my temper and turn him around rough. It might have struck him, anyway; but my conscience doesn't let me down easy. He'll be my care till some one comes along with ...
— That Girl Montana • Marah Ellis Ryan
... have plenty of water to drink," said Robert ruefully. "You remember that time when we were on the peak, and we found the spring in ...
— The Lords of the Wild - A Story of the Old New York Border • Joseph A. Altsheler
... essentially humane a man as he must have been touched by this. The Bahnbrecher has his troubles, no doubt, but so also have those upon whose minds he is endeavouring to operate. Reinhold, one of Kant's earliest disciples, ruefully stated, according to Schopenhauer's story, that it was only after having gone through the Critique of Pure Reason five times with the closest and most scrupulous attention that he was able to get a grasp of Kant's real meaning. Now, ...
— Bergson and His Philosophy • J. Alexander Gunn
... down anybody who would go off and leave the place open. I saw the little Weed boy, but I didn't know the other two. They lit out like lightning, and I didn't care to chase them all up Main Street. I was going to the Smiths' to have a cup of tea!" Archie looked ruefully at his soiled garments and dark blue hands. "I wonder if we couldn't get Bertha to come in here. She knows the ins and outs of all these ...
— The Wide Awake Girls in Winsted • Katharine Ellis Barrett
... halting upon either side, followed the direction of his eyes with theirs. The girl gave a little, involuntary gasp, and the boy grasped Bridge's hand as though fearful of losing him. The man turned a quizzical glance at each of them and smiled, though a bit ruefully. ...
— The Oakdale Affair • Edgar Rice Burroughs
... laughed, ruefully, as he made way for her to start the engine. "My experiences have 'unsettled' my mind. And now that I've spoiled my own game, I'll tell you the rest—as much of it as I have a right to. It doesn't matter, any longer. Hade knows—or ...
— Black Caesar's Clan • Albert Payson Terhune
... way over they had sighted Delight in the new car. She had tried to turn, had backed into a ditch and was at that moment ruefully surveying a machine which had apparently sat down on its rear wheels with ...
— Dangerous Days • Mary Roberts Rinehart
... head and began muttering disconnected words. I glanced at Elisei; he was standing, his hands clasped behind his back, gazing ruefully at his master. ...
— The Diary of a Superfluous Man and Other Stories • Ivan Turgenev
... rubbed his cheek ruefully. Then he and Melite stood silent for a moment, and heard Adhelmar in the court-yard calling his men to ride forth; and ...
— The Line of Love - Dizain des Mariages • James Branch Cabell
... collapsing ruins. But Barry, from the very heart of the ruin, would cry "Here is what we must do," and his eyes would gleam with faith and resolution, and he would form a committee and act. And when he saw how the committee failed, as committees will, and how little good it all was, he would laugh ruefully and try something else. Barry, as he would tell you frankly—if you enquired, not otherwise,—believed in God. He was the son of a famous Quaker philanthropist, and had been brought up to see good works done ...
— Dangerous Ages • Rose Macaulay
... feel that he resisted for the present his desire to go on questioning Annalise, and putting his hands in his pockets sauntered away to the other end of the kitchen where Priscilla sat looking on. "I'm afraid that really was cheap of me," he thought ruefully, when he came once more into Priscilla's sweet presence; but he comforted himself with the reflection that no girl ought to be mysterious, and if this one chose to be so it was fair to cross her plans occasionally. Yet he went on feeling cheap; and when Tussie who was hurrying along with ...
— The Princess Priscilla's Fortnight • Elizabeth von Arnim
... Bertie, ruefully. She did not at all seem to realize the greater triumph of completely ...
— With the Procession • Henry B. Fuller
... Ruefully pulling on their sweaters—at least dry once more—and taking their paddles, which they had brought with them, from behind the door, they went out into the ...
— The Rival Campers Ashore - The Mystery of the Mill • Ruel Perley Smith
... which flamed and flared and died down into blackness. Some time after that, Neil Bonner roused. First he looked to see that Amos was still there, then smiled at Jees Uck and pulled himself up. Every muscle was stiff and sore, and he smiled ruefully, pressing and prodding himself as if to ascertain the extent of the ravage. Then his face went stern ...
— The Faith of Men • Jack London
... the next goes at half-past six," he remarked ruefully. "But you won't catch me waiting ...
— The Youngest Girl in the Fifth - A School Story • Angela Brazil
... of courage at all," rumbled the Cowardly Lion, greatly embarrassed. "I had the loudest voice and the most breath, that's all! You got the rough end of it." Sir Hokus looked ruefully at his armor. The back ...
— The Royal Book of Oz • L. Frank Baum
... dollars!" he said ruefully. "I've counted them one hundred and sixteen times, backwards, forwards and upside down, these last three days, and I can't get them to ...
— The Spoilers of the Valley • Robert Watson
... said the Bostonian ruefully, pointing to a pair of light calfskin boots, which were so overlaid with mud that it was hard to tell what was their original color. "I bought those boots in Boston only two weeks ago. Everybody called them stylish. Now they ...
— The Young Adventurer - or Tom's Trip Across the Plains • Horatio Alger
... Rand looked somewhat ruefully at the scrawled sheets and the ink upon his fingers. "It is a necessary paper of instructions," he said. "I was retained by the State for the North Garden murder case. It is to be tried next week—and here am I, laid ...
— Lewis Rand • Mary Johnston
... elastic-sided boots, and her rather short skirt shows a pair of gray worsted stockings. A small plaid shawl covers her shoulders. SARAH crosses and puts the nightdresses on the table, surveying the trunk ruefully. There is a knock at the outside ...
— The Atlantic Book of Modern Plays • Various
... broken a knuckle against his teeth, darn him," he observed ruefully when he was in the saddle again. "Come on, Weary. It won't take but a minute to hand a punch or two to that bug-killer, and then I'll feel better. They've both got it coming—come on!" This because Weary showed a strong inclination to take the trail and keep it to his destination. ...
— Flying U Ranch • B. M. Bower
... I had windows in my house," thought Naomi ruefully. "I would be so proud if I were Martha. But then she has no brother Ezra nor baby Jonas ...
— Christmas Light • Ethel Calvert Phillips
... and Patty looked a bit dismayed. "Kit's such a scamp," she said, ruefully, "he'll tell that ...
— Patty Blossom • Carolyn Wells |
