"Lamely" Quotes from Famous Books
 ... state, are at last taken up; the latter, who having removed his papers, had sent for them back, thinking the danger over, is committed to the Tower, on discoveries from them; but, alas! these discoveries go on but lamely.(904) One may perceive who is not minister, rather than who is. The Opposition tried to put off the suspension of the Habeas Corpus -feebly. Vernon (905) and the Grennvilles are the warmest: Pitt and Lyttelton went away without voting.(906) My father has exerted himself most amazingly - the ...
— The Letters of Horace Walpole, Volume 1 • Horace Walpole
... into pity. Yet he had no illusions as to the man before him—a man of inferior morale and weak will, incapable, indeed, of the clever brutalities by which the wicked flourish; incapable also of virtues that must, after all, be tolerably common, or the world would run much more lamely than it does. Straight, honorable, unselfish fellows—Lankester knew scores of them, rich and poor, clever and slow, who could and did pass the tests of life without flinching; who could produce in any society—as politicians or green-grocers—an impression of uprightness and power, ...
— The Testing of Diana Mallory • Mrs. Humphry Ward
... wanted at home on business of some sort," Damaris replied, as she felt a little lamely. She was displeased, worried by Henrietta. It was difficult to choose her words. "He has been away for a long time, you see. I think he has been beautifully unselfish in giving up so much of his ...
— Deadham Hard • Lucas Malet
... father, and your mother, who was ill, died with the shock, because they refused to go to Zululand whither Dingaan had ordered that they should be taken. So seeing that you were travelling here I came to rescue you, lest you should fall into their hands, and," he added lamely, ...
— The Ghost Kings • H. Rider Haggard
... thought, and then pulled himself up. "That is—I don't think a man would have to be in love with her to see that," he ended lamely. "I thought they were ...
— The Wishing-Ring Man • Margaret Widdemer
... off lamely. He was confused, painfully conscious of his inarticulateness. He had felt the bigness and glow of life in what he had read, but his speech was inadequate. He could not express what he felt, and to himself he likened himself to a ...
— Martin Eden • Jack London
... Third Reading moved, and debate lamely set on foot again. WALTER LONG, who has greatly helped BONAR LAW in his successful management of Bill, set good example by moving Third Reading without additional word of comment or argument. Example thrown away. More last words spoken under embarrassing accompaniment ...
— Punch, or the London Charivari, Volume 150, February 2, 1916 • Various
... of the inquiries I made I found that the lady in question was greatly attached to the dead man," replied Fetherston rather lamely. ...
— The Doctor of Pimlico - Being the Disclosure of a Great Crime • William Le Queux
... "This," I began lamely, "is a present from our housekeeper, Gloriana, to your granddaughter. She asked me to deliver it into ...
— Bunch Grass - A Chronicle of Life on a Cattle Ranch • Horace Annesley Vachell
... heartily grateful to the gallant Skirmisher for this diversion in my favour. I answered him, I fear, somewhat lamely; but he kept the conversation up, and presently one or two others joined in and so the difficulty, whatever it might have been, was bridged over—bridged over, but not repaired. A something, an awkwardness, ...
— Stories by English Authors: England • Various
... Church has done all that is possible for the people," Father Ricardo began lamely. "The Church has always taught, for one thing, that the labourer is worthy of ...
— The Heavenly Twins • Madame Sarah Grand
... stamped, and want love's majesty, To strut before a wanton ambling nymph;— I, that am curtailed of this fair proportion, Cheated of feature by dissembling nature, Deform'd, unfinish'd, sent before my time Into this breathing world, scarce half made up And that so lamely and unfashionable That dogs bark at me as I halt by them;— Why I, in this weak, piping time of peace, Have no delight to pass away the time, Unless to see my shadow in the sun, And descant on mine own deformity. And therefore, ...
— The Critics Versus Shakspere - A Brief for the Defendant • Francis A. Smith
... the interruption, confessed a little lamely: "No, I haven't. I haven't—as it turns out. But I might have—if it wasn't for—" He paused a moment; sadly said, "Anyway, just as I thought I'd got her, ...
— Once Aboard The Lugger • Arthur Stuart-Menteth Hutchinson
... said, "I did. And I liked it. Mother, things have changed a lot in twenty years. Sometimes I think that here, in this house, you don't realize that—" she struggled for a phrase—"that things have changed," she ended, lamely. "The social order, and that sort of thing. You know. Caste." She hesitated. She was young and inarticulate, and when she saw Grace's face, somewhat frightened. But she was not old Anthony's granddaughter for nothing. "This ...
— A Poor Wise Man • Mary Roberts Rinehart
... hesitating before Philura Rice. Then she drew her massive figure to its full height, and again bent the compelling light of her gold-rimmed glasses full upon the small person of her kinswoman. "What—er—I do not understand," she began lamely. "Where did you obtain the money for ...
— The Transfiguration of Miss Philura • Florence Morse Kingsley
... They are——" He pauses. What are they? What are his thoughts of her at all hours, all seasons? "They are always kind," says he, lamely, in a low tone, looking at the carpet. That downward glance condemns him in her eyes—to her it is but a token of his ...
— A Little Rebel - A Novel • Margaret Wolfe Hungerford
... prepared in our Normal Schools, correspond to but Dr. Cook's three items; nay, that instead of exceeding, they fall greatly short of these. The certificate of character which the young candidates bring to the institution answers but lamely to the item 'life;' the amount of secular instruction imparted to them within its walls answers but inadequately to the item 'literature;' while the modicum of theological training received, most certainly not equal to a four years' ...
— Leading Articles on Various Subjects • Hugh Miller
... to be foolish with happiness than foolish with misfortune, better to dance awkwardly than walk lamely. So learn, I pray you, my wisdom, ye higher men: even the worst thing ...
— Thus Spake Zarathustra - A Book for All and None • Friedrich Nietzsche
... times you are quite different to—to what you are at others," stumbled Peggy lamely. It wasn't just what she wanted to say, but as she told herself it expressed ...
— The Girl Aviators on Golden Wings • Margaret Burnham
... since to see Kenney's new piece, 'The Alcaid.' It went off lamely, and the Alcaid is rather a bore, and comes near to be generally thought so. Poor Kenney came to my room next evening, and I could not have believed that one night could have ruined a man so completely. I swear to you I thought at first it was a flimsy suit of clothes ...
— Atlantic Monthly, Vol. 10, No. 61, November, 1862 • Various
... sat close behind him, and men knew that Mr Bott was a distinguished member of Mr Palliser's party, whatever that party might be. Lord Cinquebars moved the Address, and I must confess that he did it very lamely. He was once accused by Mr Maxwell, the brewer, of making a great noise in the hunting-field. The accusation could not be repeated as to his performance on this occasion, as no one could hear a word ...
— Can You Forgive Her? • Anthony Trollope
... in some wonder. He hadn't know that Lounsbury was so well acquainted with the topography of the region. Stranger still, the man started at his glance, flushing nervously. "I heard some one say that Gray Lake was beyond Grizzly River," he explained lamely. "By all means make it ...
— The Snowshoe Trail • Edison Marshall
... settlement o' Columbia, an' I c'n tell you that it ain't to be beat anywheres in the country. I'd say it is the best land your fa—er—ahem!" The speaker was seized with a violent and obviously unnecessary spell of coughing. "Somethin' must ha' gone the wrong way," he explained, lamely. "Feller ort to have more sense'n to try to swaller ...
— Viola Gwyn • George Barr McCutcheon
... strength, and guided my unwonted footsteps through the mazes of that new wonderland in which I had awakened, and from whose lips I learnt the first words that I spoke of the strong and stately English speech in which I am striving so lamely and imperfectly to write down the story of my ...
— The Romance of Golden Star ... • George Chetwynd Griffith
... and held his head lower to hide it. "To—to—the picture looks so funny this way," he said lamely, and then, to his great relief, the maid said dinner was ready, and he escaped any further embarrassment for the moment. But only ...
— Paul the Courageous • Mabel Quiller-Couch
... wounded half-breed were seriously hurt, and in a week both were well again—the one going lamely about his business and the other ...
— The Spoilers of the Valley • Robert Watson
... certainly had not been concerted: however, a majority, shrunk to thirteen, frightened them out of the small senses they possess. Heaven, Earth, and the Treasury, were moved to recover their ground to-day, when the question was renewed. For about two hours the debate hobbled on very lamely, when on a sudden your brother rose, and made such a speech[1]—but I wish anybody was to give you the account except me, whom you will think partial: but you will hear enough of it, to confirm anything I can say. Imagine fire, rapidity, argument, knowledge, wit, ridicule, grace, ...
— Letters of Horace Walpole - Volume I • Horace Walpole
... be greatly dark, The moving why they do it; And just as lamely can ye mark How far perhaps ...
— Library of the World's Best Literature, Ancient and Modern, Vol. 7 • Various
... suddenly, averting his eyes like a child caught in a wrong act, "That talk we had was so queer—I mean it was as if—don't you know?—as if we were—well, sort of the same at heart. I mean, of course, if he hadn't been German. War is queer," he continued, lamely, raising his cropped head and looking off at the horizon. "Awfully queer," he murmured, watching a dark cloud steal across the water, tarnishing all ...
— Four Days - The Story of a War Marriage • Hetty Hemenway
... the stern faced Scotchman with flushed cheeks. Then the words of the hand-bill seemed to burn into her brain. "He's—he's—if he were a common cowpuncher Mr. Colston would never have made him foreman," she concluded lamely. ...
— Prairie Flowers • James B. Hendryx
... awakened once from a faint by a wheeze close in his ear. The wolf leaped lamely back, losing its footing and falling in its weakness. It was ludicrous, but he was not amused. Nor was he even afraid. He was too far gone for that. But his mind was for the moment clear, and he lay and considered. The ship was no more than four miles away. He could see it ...
— Love of Life - and Other Stories • Jack London
... "Oh!" he said lamely. "Thank you, Miss Cohen; I'll make a memorandum of it." He went over to the commercial agency book and scanned three or four pages with an unseeing eye. Then he repaired to the sample room, where Abe sat ...
— Abe and Mawruss - Being Further Adventures of Potash and Perlmutter • Montague Glass
... begin his apostrophe to empty air. The arrival of the belated spectre in the middle, with a jerk that made him nod all over, was the last accident in the chapter, and worthily topped the whole. It may be imagined how lamely matters went ...
— Lay Morals • Robert Louis Stevenson
... come, Aunt Pike," said Kitty lamely. She felt absolutely incapable at that moment of giving any reason why Betty had absented herself, so she ...
— Kitty Trenire • Mabel Quiller-Couch
... can help you," she concluded, a little lamely. "I want to help—the people. Of course, we Americans believe that a people ought to choose their own rulers—but where that isn't possible, the next best thing is to give them the best available. I should be proud to help ...
— Affairs of State • Burton E. Stevenson
... for an interest does a merchant like Scharley got to hear such things," Klinger protested lamely. "Honestly, I was ashamed for your partner's sake to hear such a ...
— Elkan Lubliner, American • Montague Glass
... better, and so cries out, 'Lord, help mine unbelief' (Mark 9:24). The man that feared God desired to fear him better, saying, 'I desire to fear thy name' (Neh 1:11). But these desires failed, as to the performance of what was begun, so that they were forced to come off but lamely, as to their faith and fear they had; yet the desires were true, good, and such as was accepted of God by Christ; not according to what they had not, but as to those good motions which they had. Distinguish then the desires of the ...
— The Works of John Bunyan • John Bunyan
... was faces. They were what discoursed to you, told the veracious story of lives and emotions—not lamely, as words do, mingling the trivial with the significant, but altogether perfectly. It ...
— Aurora the Magnificent • Gertrude Hall
... is absolutely nothing I can do to help you, Mr. Henderson," Saunders said, lamely. "Of course, I mean in regard to this particular matter. If you are in want, however, and any reasonable amount would be of service to you—why, on my own account ...
— The Desired Woman • Will N. Harben
... to be at home to-morrow," he said. "It looks as if she'd gone for—for the present," he ended lamely, put down his hat and went into the east room and took up his ...
— The Prisoner • Alice Brown
... above in clouds do sit, Mocking our poor apish wit, That so lamely with such state Their high glory imitate. No ill can be felt but pain, ...
— Lyrics from the Song-Books of the Elizabethan Age • Various
... beginning to be sensible of this convenience, have here and there registred and printed some few Centuries, yet for the most part they are set down very lamely and imperfectly, and, I fear, many times not so truly, they seeming, several of them, to be design'd more for Ostentation then publique use: For, not to instance, that they do, for the most part, omit those Experiences ...
— Micrographia • Robert Hooke
... he said, rather lamely. "Although I do not understand now how we could ever become enemies. Surely, that is not ...
— The Case and The Girl • Randall Parrish
... with daylight, and having found himself obliged to rest his horse, he had turned aside to—-. And here he recollected just in time that Cis was in every one's eyes save his father's, his own sister, and lamely concluded "to take a draught of water," blushing under his brown skin as he spoke. Poor fellow! the Queen, even while she wished him in the farthest West Indian isle, could not help understanding that strange doubt and dread that come over the mind at the ...
— Unknown to History - A Story of the Captivity of Mary of Scotland • Charlotte M. Yonge
... individualist, a pronounced egoist, could not "fall in." Even in his simple field—one concerned chiefly with but the outward flourishes—the big machine irked and embarrassed him. He withdrew. When an imperial prince was publicly "received," with ceremonies that mingled old-world formalities (however lamely followed) and local inspirations (however poorly disciplined), the moving event went off with no help of his: I believe he even smiled at ...
— On the Stairs • Henry B. Fuller
... time he had regained his, feet the two men had disappeared into the thick shadows of the spruce forest. Aldous whirled toward the third man, whom he had seen fall. He, too, had disappeared. A little lamely old Donald brought himself to his ...
— The Hunted Woman • James Oliver Curwood
... murmured lamely, wondering why girls always wanted to go back and stir up dogs that had gone comfortably ...
— The Fortieth Door • Mary Hastings Bradley
... gently scan your brother man, Still gentler sister woman; Though they may gang a kennin' wrang To step aside is human: One point must still be greatly dark, The moving why they do it: And just as lamely can ye mark How far, perhaps, they ...
— Poems with Power to Strengthen the Soul • Various
... set traps for the rats of the hold. The starving seamen begged to be marooned. They would risk Spanish cruelty to escape starvation. Hawkins landed {139} three-quarters of the remnant crews either in Yucatan or Florida. Then he crept lamely back to England, where ...
— Vikings of the Pacific - The Adventures of the Explorers who Came from the West, Eastward • Agnes C. Laut
... him, then, it will be because I truly—-" She paused, halted at the great word. "Because I truly do admire and care for him," she substituted, somewhat lamely. ...
— Harriet and the Piper - (Norris Volume XI) • Kathleen Norris
... me, Nell!" said Sir Denis, lamely. "Ah! there's the bell! And a good thing, too. I couldn't eat my lunch to-day for old Grogan of the Artillery. He's a man with a grievance. It soured my wine and spoilt my food. Well, well, Robin, if you're under Nelly's protection you may do what you like—join ...
— Mary Gray • Katharine Tynan
... should say," he began, "that time is the rate at which we live—the speed at which we successively pass through our existence from birth to death. It's very hard to put intelligibly, but I think I know what I mean," he finished somewhat lamely. ...
— The Girl in the Golden Atom • Raymond King Cummings
... sober! And—oh, now I got it!" Bill's voice was full of elation. "You was goin' to kiss the bride—that was it, it was you goin' to kiss her, and she slap—no, by hokey, she didn't slap you, she just—or was it Rock, now?" Doubt filled his eyes distressfully. "Darn my everlastin' hide," he finished lamely, "there was some kissin' somew'ere in the deal, and I mind her cryin' afterwards, but whether it was about that, or—Say, Sandy, what was it Ford was lickin' the preacher for? Wasn't it for ...
— The Uphill Climb • B. M. Bower
... tired-eyed out of a house. It is astounding to think that he is human like myself. He and I are actors in the same play, yet ignorant of each other's lines. But I may guess at his part. He is frightened. He looks furtively toward me. And he walks rather lamely. Aha, a fornicator! He has left a warm bed, illegally occupied for the night. A woman in a rumpled night dress moaned under him. The plot is simple. How pleasing it was for a moment. She came so close. She was like an incredibly intimate secret. He gasped physiological ...
— Fantazius Mallare - A Mysterious Oath • Ben Hecht
... distantly, if somewhat lamely. "You'll excuse me mentioning it, Miss Heritage, as it's only in your own interests, but I believe it's considered the proper thing when you're addressed by—by Royalty, don't you know, to throw ...
— In Brief Authority • F. Anstey
... he said. He continued to stare at Chatfield much as he might have, stared at the Sphinx if she had been present—and in the end he could only think of one word. "Well?" he asked lamely. "Well?" ...
— Scarhaven Keep • J. S. Fletcher
... know—' He stopped short, and then added quietly, 'Well, will you accept all that as an apology? The very scrubbiest sackcloth made, and the grittiest ashes on the heap....I didn't mean to get worked up,' he ended lamely. ...
— Trent's Last Case - The Woman in Black • E.C. (Edmund Clerihew) Bentley
... I think she is very sore and angry; there are a hundred reasons. I think no one has—has faced her before. She has been obeyed too much. And—and I think that if I stay I may be able—I may be some good," she ended lamely. ...
— The King's Achievement • Robert Hugh Benson
... ran against something when I wasn't looking," he explained lamely. Then he added eagerly: "I did not know that you were on this gallery. First time I've put up at a hotel in years." ...
— Parrot & Co. • Harold MacGrath
... instantly that her remark was an unfortunate one. "Well," she said rather lamely, "because my absence will relieve her of the responsibility of ...
— The House of Whispers • William Le Queux
... inconstancy of women: I find nothing of it among the ancients; not so much as the name Cressida once mentioned. Shakespeare, (as I hinted) in the apprenticeship of his writing, modelled it into that play, which is now called by the name of "Troilus and Cressida," but so lamely is it left to us, that it is not divided into acts; which fault I ascribe to the actors who printed it after Shakespeare's death; and that too so carelessly, that a more uncorrected copy I never saw. For the play ...
— The Works of John Dryden, Vol. 6 (of 18) - Limberham; Oedipus; Troilus and Cressida; The Spanish Friar • John Dryden
... know what had become of you," she exclaimed. "We feared that you had got lost in the quicksands of the river." And then, with a sudden flush, she added, somewhat lamely, "We are all so glad that Uncle James has ...
— The Candidate - A Political Romance • Joseph Alexander Altsheler
... see,—well, in fact, they're ill," he completed lamely. Why didn't some one help him out, the doctor fumed inwardly, instead of letting him be the one to ...
— Blue Bonnet's Ranch Party • C. E. Jacobs
... He said he found his own mind failing him at points. There would come over him a sense of fear—intellectual fear—and weakness, a sense of something else, quite alien to Space, thwarting him. Of course he could only describe his impressions very lamely, for they were purely of the mind, and he had no material peg to hang them on, so that I could realise them. But the gist of it was that he had been gradually becoming conscious of what he called 'Presences' in his world. They had no effect on Space—did not leave footprints in its corridors, ...
— The Moon Endureth—Tales and Fancies • John Buchan
... wasn't just one thing that was wrong, but everything—everything. She asked him if he had ever known a case that resembled Arthur's. No, he thanked Heaven that he hadn't. Could he advise her what to do? Lamely he suggested a tutor, and then, as an afterthought, ...
— The Tragic Bride • Francis Brett Young
... liar, too," declared Peter venomously, permitting his fair features to darken with the blackest of looks. Was she flirting with him? "A man who never told the truth in his life. A bad, bad man," he finished lamely. ...
— Peter the Brazen - A Mystery Story of Modern China • George F. Worts
... book. We also learn from Lady Newdegate's volume that Miss Fitton, during her girlhood, was pestered by the attentions of a middle-aged admirer, a married friend of the family, Sir William Knollys. It has been lamely suggested by some of the supporters of the Pembroke theory that Sir William Knollys was one of the persons named Will who are alleged to be noticed as competitors with Shakespeare and the supposititious 'Will Herbert' for 'the dark lady's' favours in the sonnets (cxxxv., cxxxvi., and perhaps ...
— A Life of William Shakespeare - with portraits and facsimiles • Sidney Lee
... appearance a small and despicable link in the chain of Nature, yet, if lost, would make a lamentable chasm. For, to say nothing of half the birds, and some quadrupeds, which are almost entirely supported by them, worms seem to be the great promoters of vegetation, which would proceed but lamely without them, by boring, perforating, and loosening the soil, and rendering it pervious to rains and the fibres of plants, by drawing straws and stalks of leaves and twigs into it, and, most of all, by throwing up such infinite numbers of lumps of earth called worm-casts, which, being their excrement, ...
— The Natural History of Selborne, Vol. 2 • Gilbert White
... she went on lamely. "I suppose a gopher peering from its hole in the ground would disturb me sooner ...
— The Return of Blue Pete • Luke Allan
... she was not a clever economist. Where many women on the Marsh would have thrown themselves into an orgy of retrenchment—ranging from the dismissal of a dairymaid to the substitution of a cheaper brand of tea—she made no new occasions for thrift, and persevered but lamely in the old ones. She was fond of spending—liked to see things trim and bright; she hated waste, especially when others were guilty of it, but she found a positive ...
— Joanna Godden • Sheila Kaye-Smith
... clear enough," he replied lamely. He made a pretense of rereading the letter, but only detached phrases penetrated to his consciousness. His imagination was in rebellion against the curbing to which he strove to subject it. When he had borne his answer ...
— A Hoosier Chronicle • Meredith Nicholson
... doorway. She was in dark furs wrapped about her, but in the instant I could see how ill she was and how broken. She came a step or so towards me and then stopped short, and so we stood, shyly and awkwardly under Guy and Tarvrille's eyes, two yards apart. "You see," she said, and stopped lamely. ...
— The Passionate Friends • Herbert George Wells
... him with the children at breakfast, and Walter, discouraged by his cold look, faltered lamely through his story, while Captain Cuttle laid on the table the money, the watch, the spoons and the sugar-tongs, offering them to help pay the debt. Mr. Dombey was astonished at his strange appearance and indignant at being annoyed by such an ...
— Tales from Dickens • Charles Dickens and Hallie Erminie Rives
... pedigree," he explained lamely; "champion stock, imported." His temper again slowly got the better of his wisdom. "What if I did pay two hundred dollars for him?" he demanded; "it's harmless, ain't it? I'd a sight better do that than some other ...
— Mountain Blood - A Novel • Joseph Hergesheimer
... continued, blundering along somewhat lamely,—"You don't hate me very much, and you don't like me very much. I'm just an ordinary man to you. Therefore you're bound to be perfectly impartial, because what I do is a matter of 'personal' indifference to you. That's why your criticism will be so ...
— The Treasure of Heaven - A Romance of Riches • Marie Corelli
... matter of competence either, is it? I mean, one can easily understand that Mr. Wyatt is proud of being your...." He stopped lamely. ...
— Christopher Hibbault, Roadmaker • Marguerite Bryant
... admitted the aunt lamely, "but I don't think they would have run quite so fast to her help if they had ...
— Beasts and Super-Beasts • Saki
... true, again his mind made its comparisons between the bluegrass girl and sweet Madge Brierly. "There's no danger that Woodlawn will have any other mistress than my dear Aunt 'Lethe for many a long year," he concluded rather lamely. ...
— In Old Kentucky • Edward Marshall and Charles T. Dazey
... began lamely, "I can't say 'zactly ez hit's any pusson's jes yit. But hit's gwine be mine when de ...
— Miss Mink's Soldier and Other Stories • Alice Hegan Rice
... beggar is aware of me and the innumerable lies to which I lamely submit. I am the public to him—one of a herd of identical faces drifting by. And this beggar has perfected a technique of attack. It is his duty to sit on the pavement and lay for me and hit me with a slapstick labeled platitude and soak me over the head with ...
— A Thousand and One Afternoons in Chicago • Ben Hecht
... you we meant no great harm," continued Spouter. "We were only going to have a little fun among ourselves and with our fellow-cadets—that is, mostly," he added somewhat lamely, as he remembered what had been said about placing some of the snowballs in the ...
— The Rover Boys at Big Horn Ranch - The Cowboys' Double Round-Up • Edward Stratemeyer
... do much to serve you. I would gladly help you, see you through any difficulty by the way, but I'm afraid I must draw the line at active partnership," I answered a little lamely under her mocking eyes. Once more, as suddenly as before, she ...
— The Passenger from Calais • Arthur Griffiths
... Phrygian river, Meander. He promenades if he walks in a public place, as for pleasure or display. He prowls if he moves about softly and stealthily, as in search of prey or booty. He hobbles if he jerks along unevenly, as from a stiff or crippled condition of body. He limps if he walks lamely. He perambulates when he walks through, perhaps for observation or inspection. (Perambulates is of ...
— The Century Vocabulary Builder • Creever & Bachelor
... and asking one of the masters how he reconciled the death of a kid like that, whom everybody loved, with his conception of an all-wise and all-merciful God. He answered, it has always seemed to me very lamely, that if we didn't believe that all was for the best, in this best of all worlds, we ...
— We Three • Gouverneur Morris
... wouldn't like to look at them," Evelyn retracted, embarrassed by so many laughing eyes upon her. "But if they were there, I just couldn't help looking, could I?" she finished, lamely. ...
— Lucile Triumphant • Elizabeth M. Duffield
... of a sudden. There was his shyness again, so lamely come upon him that it colored his face. And the halting boyishness of the request had warmed Cecille's face too; warmed her through and through. She knew an impulse to hug his head to her breast, a very mature and ...
— Winner Take All • Larry Evans
... England in case the Grass threatened. She asked nothing for herself, she said, being quite content to accept whatever fate Providence had in store for her, but, would I take her daughter and family along on the Sisyphus? They would be quite useful, she added lamely. ...
— Greener Than You Think • Ward Moore
... of redress, self-obtained, it is true, but to be taken into account in estimating the reparation which the British Government "acknowledged to have been originally due."[195] To the request for explanation Monroe replied lamely, with a statement which can scarcely be taken as other than admitting the punitive character of the proclamation. "There certainly existed no desire of giving a preference;" but,—"Before, this aggression it ...
— Sea Power in its Relations to the War of 1812 - Volume 1 • Alfred Thayer Mahan
... he hesitated. For some reason he could not bear to say he was an utter stranger to the lonely girl. "No, only a friend," he finished. "A—a—kind of neighbor!" he added, lamely, trying to explain the situation ...
— The Witness • Grace Livingston Hill Lutz
... her, and she stammered some commonplace expression of pleasure, and he replied almost as lamely, then turned to the mother. "I hope you have forgiven me for my action of last night?" Then again to Viola. "I only intended to touch your arm. I trust you suffered no ...
— The Tyranny of the Dark • Hamlin Garland
... very nice chap—I think the best of the lot," he began, with assumed jocularity; then, seeing Cecily's eyes suddenly fixed on him, he added, somewhat lamely, "the padre! There were also two women in a ...
— The Bell-Ringer of Angel's and Other Stories • Bret Harte
... checked herself on the verge of saying, "I don't think he has," as she suddenly realised what image was called up by the mention of Rachel's possible husband—"but she might marry some one who hasn't," she ended lamely. ...
— The Arbiter - A Novel • Lady F. E. E. Bell
... with the leather but ten yards from the north goal, and a great murmuring sigh of relief went up from the seats and from along the side-lines when the whistle sounded. Then the Hillton players, pale, dirty, half defeated, trotted lamely off the field and around the corner of the stand to the little weather-beaten shed which served for dressing room. And the blue-clad team trotted joyfully down to their stage, and there, behind the canvas protections were rubbed down and plastered ...
— The Half-Back • Ralph Henry Barbour
... see," explained the other lamely, "I didn't exactly want to work on the Cross-Triangle, ...
— When A Man's A Man • Harold Bell Wright
... and shoved his way castle-wards, "he can scarcely mean to have my head. For he was all day with my father at his elbow, and at the worst I shall have another chance of seeing"—he did not call the beloved by her Christian name even to himself, so he compromised by adding somewhat lamely—"her." ...
— The Black Douglas • S. R. Crockett
... consulting him with regard to a matter she had decided upon; and it was, the sale of The Crossways. She said that it would have gone to her heart once; she supposed she had lost her affection for the place, or had got the better of her superstitions. She spoke lamely as well as bluntly. The place was hers, she said; her own property. Her husband ...
— The Shaving of Shagpat • George Meredith
... He had forgotten for the moment that the suggestion to follow Percival had come from him. But after a moment's reflection he answered lamely: ...
— The Hero of Garside School • J. Harwood Panting
... to realize," I said lamely. "Doesn't a little whiff of it ever eddy around somehow, and ...
— The House of Pride • Jack London
... Only when first I came you seemed quite pleased that I should be at the Cottage. But now—lately—" She broke off lamely. It was difficult to put the thing into words. There was nothing, actually, that he had done or left undone. It was a matter of atmosphere—an atmosphere of chilly indifference of which she was acutely conscious in his presence and which made her ...
— The Vision of Desire • Margaret Pedler
... with enthusiasm, the disconcerting thought came suddenly that perhaps her statement might not be accurate. No such thought had ever suggested itself to him before, and it now filled him with guilty confusion. He met the clear, honest gaze of her eyes for a moment, then he stammered lamely: ...
— In the Midst of Alarms • Robert Barr
... to write," he said, "or at least try to write. I think I can make a living at it. It's worth trying. There's nothing else, you see," he added, a little lamely. ...
— People of Position • Stanley Portal Hyatt
... gently scan your brother Man, Still gentler sister Woman; Tho' they may gang a kennin wrang, To step aside is human: One point must still be greatly dark, The moving Why they do it; And just as lamely can ye mark, How far ...
— Robert Burns - Famous Scots Series • Gabriel Setoun
... feet from him and looked at him without saying a word. "I ... I brought your dog back," he said lamely. "I found him in the back ...
— The Servant Problem • Robert F. Young
... she cried, her eyes brilliant with excitement. "Oh, tell me! I—" She faltered under his surprised stare, and went on rather lamely: "You see, I—we have been immensely interested in the Zariba Dam. The reports all describe it as an extraordinary work of engineering. And so we have been curious to learn ...
— Out of the Depths - A Romance of Reclamation • Robert Ames Bennet
... the business part of the town and turned down Main Street, considering with himself what turn to make next. His head bent in meditation, he passed along lamely, his hands in the pockets of his torn trousers, where there was nothing, not even the thickness of a dime, to cramp his finger-room. Pausing in the aimless way of one who has no unfinished business ahead of him, he looked around, ...
— Claim Number One • George W. (George Washington) Ogden
... and looked at Olive, but she would not meet his eye; she led by the hand the little girl, who kept asking, "Is this the house where papa lives?" with the merciless iteration of a child. Halleck dragged lamely after the Squire, who had mounted the steps with unnatural vigor; he promptly found his way to the clerk's office, where he examined the docket, and then returned to his party triumphant. "We are in time," he said, and he led them on up into ...
— A Modern Instance • William Dean Howells
... regiment of bangomen who led. "And ours a Christian Navy," added he Who sailed a thunder-junk upon the sea. Better they know than men unwarlike do What is an army and a navy, too. Pray God there may be sent them by-and-by The knowledge what a Christian is, and why. For somewhat lamely the conception runs Of a brass-buttoned Jesus ...
— Shapes of Clay • Ambrose Bierce
... "Why," he said, lamely, "it is easily apparent, the difference between the American and the Englishman." Then, as though a bright idea had come to him, "The English never engage in conversation with strangers while ...
— Arms and the Woman • Harold MacGrath
... unfailing sense of the cardinal points of the compass which a seaman acquires in earliest youth, or not at all. Somewhere in that direction the German fleet was presumed to be skulking. "It's different," he ended a little lamely. ...
— A Tall Ship - On Other Naval Occasions • Sir Lewis Anselm da Costa Ritchie
... asked, lamely. One had to say something or turn back. Joan felt like crying. Then suddenly ...
— The Shield of Silence • Harriet T. Comstock
... I'd ... I'd jump—" In the midst of her passionate declaration Pixie drew herself up, shot a frightened glance, and concluded lamely, "I'd ... be very ...
— The Love Affairs of Pixie • Mrs George de Horne Vaizey
... the strange infatuation of the major's wife, and these had warranted, in his opinion, warning words to his senior subaltern in refusing that gentleman's request to ride with Angela. "I object to any such attentions—to any meetings whatsoever," said he, but sooner than give the real reason, added lamely, "My daughter is too young." Now he thought he saw impending duty in his sister's somber eyes and poise. He knew it when she began by rolling her r's—it was so like their childhood's spiritual guide and mentor, MacTaggart, ...
— An Apache Princess - A Tale of the Indian Frontier • Charles King
... there," returned the lad eagerly. "I should be glad to have your opinion of"—he hesitated, and then finished lamely, "of the Jacobis, I mean. You are such a judge of character, and all that ...
— Herb of Grace • Rosa Nouchette Carey
... her time to recover herself,' I said, rather lamely. 'Gladys is very sensitive; she is more delicately organised than most people; her feelings are unusually deep. She has had a severe shock; it will not be ...
— Uncle Max • Rosa Nouchette Carey
... spirited face and challenging eyes, a great calm came suddenly over him, and from it emerged his own dominant spirit which the girl instantly felt. She had meant to tease, badger, upbraid, domineer over him, but the volley of reproachful questions that were on her petulant red lips dwindled lamely ...
— The Heart Of The Hills • John Fox, Jr.
... coat of last year's cut, listen to his half whimsical account of how he "came to the Cape in 1852, with a black coat eleven years out of fashion, and Mrs. Livingstone and the children half naked." You who shudder at the tale of a starving child in the papers, and lamely wonder why the law allows such things, read his recital of the sufferings of his wife and little ones during the days without water under a tropic sun, and of the splendid heroism of the mother who did not ...
— Masterpieces of Negro Eloquence - The Best Speeches Delivered by the Negro from the days of - Slavery to the Present Time • Various
... myself say, as it were automatically, "for anything," and then added, feeling the declaration was lamely insufficient, "and everything." ...
— Three John Silence Stories • Algernon Blackwood
... Indian privations[545] and Holmes had been forced to concede, although only at the eleventh hour, the Indian claim to some consideration. He had arbitrarily shared tribal quota of supplies, bought with tribal money, with white troops and had lamely excused himself by saying that he had done it ...
— The American Indian as Participant in the Civil War • Annie Heloise Abel
... job the next morning," lamely. "We seemed to be getting along together fine so I—— Shucks, I was just afraid to have him go! That's the flat truth of it. And you told me to keep him, if I could. So I set him to checking up the stock in the storeroom and put him on keepin' time for the squad up here. He's ...
— Then I'll Come Back to You • Larry Evans
... Fleche," said I lamely. "I assure you it is utterly impossible for him to come. But believe me, I am wholly yours for whatever service you desired of him. You can see that I have come from him." I took from my pocket her note, and held it out. I then told her my name and parentage, and begged her ...
— The Bright Face of Danger • Robert Neilson Stephens
... Grinnell's star back, but Mack fancied he noted an attempt on Frank's part to conceal his real feelings. "Maybe," Frank added, rather lamely, "he's moving you up ...
— Interference and Other Football Stories • Harold M. Sherman
... to tell which was the more startled for a moment—man or bird. But Mother Nomer did not fly far. She fell back to the roof some distance from her precious babies and fluttered pitifully about, her wings and tail spread wide and dragging as she moved lamely. She did not look like a part of the pebbly roof now. She showed plainly, for she was moving. She looked like a wounded bird, and the man, thinking he must have hurt her in some way, followed her to pick her up and see what the trouble was. Three times he ...
— Bird Stories • Edith M. Patch
... Friendship to the unfortunate Earl of Essex. It was to that Noble Lord that he Dedicated his Venus and Adonis, the only Piece of his Poetry which he ever publish'd himself, tho' many of his Plays were surrepticiously and lamely Printed in his Lifetime. There is one Instance so singular in the Magnificence of this Patron of Shakespear's, that if I had not been assur'd that the Story was handed down by Sir William D'Avenant, who was probably very well acquainted ...
— Some Account of the Life of Mr. William Shakespear (1709) • Nicholas Rowe
... it all different now that he held this check in his hand? These sixteen thousand dollars were not the same dollars which he had extorted from close-fisted Nature. Each of those had come so lamely, was such a symbol of sweat and aching muscles, that to spend one was like parting with a portion of himself, but this new, almost incredible fortune, had come without a turn of his hand, without an hour's labor. To Martin, the distinction was sharp ...
— Dust • Mr. and Mrs. Haldeman-Julius
... explained to you by those in greater authority than myself, you are wanted at the house where—" I could not help stammering under the light of her melancholy eyes—"where I saw you once before," I lamely concluded. ...
— The Filigree Ball • Anna Katharine Green
... over there and cheer her up sometimes? was the question he checked just as it trembled on his lips. Some brief inspiration of discretion warned him that that was ground too sacred for his blundering intrusion. "She seems downright lonely," he concluded, somewhat lamely and suggestively. "I don't think Mrs. Davies is cut out for this kind of army life. Here comes Langston now." He needn't have made that announcement. Mrs. Cranston was watching, waiting for him, and she glanced quickly to see where Miss Loomis was. That young ...
— Under Fire • Charles King
... cause in the hall this very night, who befriended you," she went on rather lamely and inadequately having checked herself ...
— The Eagle of the Empire - A Story of Waterloo • Cyrus Townsend Brady
... seated, and then continued, hastily: "But thet ain't neither here ner there. A baby was born arter a time, an' while he was young the sad-faced mother sickened an' died. Cap'n Wegg give her a decent fun'ral an' went right on smokin' his pipe an' sulkin', same as ever. Then he—he—died," rather lamely, "an' Joe—thet's the boy—bein' then about sixteen, dug out 'n' run away. We hain't ...
— Aunt Jane's Nieces at Millville • Edith Van Dyne
... lamely it seemed, however. The editor said that it read amateurish, and he felt he would have to make a change. Carl made for some files where all the daily papers were kept, and read and re-read the yellowest ...
— An American Idyll - The Life of Carleton H. Parker • Cornelia Stratton Parker
... lamely and laboriously translated into the vernacular by Squanto, Winslow wiped his brow and wished that it consisted with his dignity to throw off his armor and stretch himself upon the pine needles at his ...
— Standish of Standish - A story of the Pilgrims • Jane G. Austin
... just now when he entered the Exchange? No, this was not likely to be the reason, since he had been full as much embarrassed that first day of my seeing him there, when he had given his order for Lady Baltimore so lamely that the girl behind the counter had come to his aid. And what could it have been that he had begun to tell her to-day as I was leaving the place? Was the making of that cake again to be postponed on account of the General's precarious health? ...
— Lady Baltimore • Owen Wister
... I was much in love with the line of action thus lamely defended. To the contrary, it seemed to me then a cowardly and unworthy course; but I had chosen it, and I ...
— In the Valley • Harold Frederic
... my own room, deeply musing on the state of' things, when a chaise stopped at the rails; and I saw Mr. Fairly and his son Charles alight, and enter the house. He walked lamely, and seemed not yet recovered from his late attack. Though most happy to see him at this alarming time, when I knew he could be most useful, as there is no one to whom the queen opens so confidentially upon her affairs, I had yet a fresh stair ...
— The Diary and Letters of Madam D'Arblay Volume 2 • Madame D'Arblay
... was weaned and raised on bean soup—and liverwurst," interjected Adolph Kunkel in the lull which followed, and immediately squirmed under Mrs. Symes's blazing eyes. "Of course," he added lamely, "we et ...
— The Lady Doc • Caroline Lockhart
... Gazette had actually perpetrated the folly of publishing side by side Imperial Edicts and Presidential Mandates—the first for Chinese eyes, the second for foreign consumption. Never before even in China had such a farce been seen. A rapid perusal of the Mandate of Cancellation will show how lamely and poorly ...
— The Fight For The Republic in China • Bertram Lenox Putnam Weale
... from my own life may illustrate the point. In building a number of houses, I had occasion often to use the word studding, but on every occasion, I forgot the word and always had to end lamely by saying "those pieces of timber that go up and down." Each time the builder supplied the word, but the next time it was no more accessible. Finally, the reason came to me. One day when I was a little child ...
— Outwitting Our Nerves - A Primer of Psychotherapy • Josephine A. Jackson and Helen M. Salisbury
... his tongue to say that he would not have her so; but he checked himself, and said, lamely enough: "Perhaps you will be like ...
— Between The Dark And The Daylight • William Dean Howells
... from a possible charge of neglect; nor could Mrs. Baines stoop to assure her sister that she was incapable of preferring such a charge. And the sheer, immense criminal folly of Sophia could not even be referred to: it was unspeakable. So the interview proceeded, lamely, clumsily, inconsequently, leading ...
— The Old Wives' Tale • Arnold Bennett
... bewilderment. Then he lamely apologized for the trouble he had caused, and tried to thank ...
— Heart of the Sunset • Rex Beach
... has made havoc with the sense here, which can only be guessed at from the context. Perhaps for go we should read God, in allusion to the woman's protestations. Yet even then the passage reads but lamely.] ...
— A Select Collection of Old English Plays, Vol. VIII (4th edition) • Various
... wise men—who brought gifts to the Babe in the manger. They invented the art of giving Christmas presents. Being wise, their gifts were no doubt wise ones, possibly bearing the privilege of exchange in case of duplication. And here I have lamely related to you the uneventful chronicle of two foolish children in a flat who most unwisely sacrificed for each other the greatest treasures of their house. But in a last word to the wise of these days let it be said that of all who give gifts these ...
— Short Stories of Various Types • Various
... spectacles in the literary world more lamentable than to view a successful author, in his second appearance before the public, limping lamely after himself, and treading tediously and awkwardly in the very same round, which, in his first effort, he had traced with vivacity and applause. We would not be harsh enough to say that the Author of 'Waverley' is in this ...
— Guy Mannering, or The Astrologer, Complete, Illustrated • Sir Walter Scott
... Adair. Gilfoyle laughed poorly at her quip. He was surprised to learn from her that Anita Adair was already a sensation among the film stars. He had not chanced to read the pages where her press-matter had celebrated her. He defended himself from the jealousy of Miss Clampett very lamely; for the luscious beauty of his Anita, her graphic art, and her sway over the audience rekindled his primal emotions to ...
— We Can't Have Everything • Rupert Hughes
... to be a horny-handed, skeptical, worldly brood. Why had they imported the cult of Eulalia from Spain; why had they chosen for their patroness a mawkish suffering nonentity, so different from those sunny goddesses of classical days? He concluded, lamely, that there was an element of the child in every Southerner; that men, refusing to believe what is improbable, reserve their credulity for what is utterly impossible; in brief, that the prosaic sea-folk of Nepenthe were like everybody else in possessing a grain of stupidity in their composition—"which ...
— South Wind • Norman Douglas
... remarks a little lamely, Bud Morgan hastened to say, "You fellows have the idea now,—-and mark my word: the Otters are ...
— The Boy Scouts of the Geological Survey • Robert Shaler |
