"Clasp" Quotes from Famous Books
 ... the two portraits back in the album and locked the clasp with a little key. Then, after a long pause, laying her hand on Philippe's arm, she said to him, in words that corresponded strangely with ...
— The Frontier • Maurice LeBlanc
... the faces of each of the youths grow deadly pale; there comes into their eyes an ominous glitter; their hands each clasp the butt of a revolver, and ...
— Deadwood Dick, The Prince of the Road - or, The Black Rider of the Black Hills • Edward L. Wheeler
... bird worked his sweet will upon his prostrate enemy, and at the end of it the man began to feel very much as though his earthly career was closed. Just as things were growing faint and dim to him, however, he suddenly saw a pair of white arms clasp themselves round the ostrich's legs from behind, and heard ...
— Jess • H. Rider Haggard
... no more, but her face lighted up, and he saw her hands softly clasp themselves, as if she were thanking God over again. Then his own head bent forward, and he made a great effort with the oars, but it was only to hide the smile ...
— The Old Countess; or, The Two Proposals • Ann S. Stephens
... me!" Henley tried to take her hand, but she drew it from his clasp stiffly and stared sharply into his face. "Dixie, you said, not many days back, that me and you understood one another perfectly, and that nothing would ever change our feelings. I can't make out what you are driving at in all this roundabout palaver, but I know I'm just pine-blank ...
— Dixie Hart • Will N. Harben
... Nishadha! thither; he will teach Great subtlety in numbers unto thee, Exchanging this for thine own matchless gift Of taming horses. From the lordly line Descended of Ikshvaku, glad and kind The King will be; and thou, learning of him His deepest act of dice, wilt win back all, And clasp again thy Princess. Therefore waste No thought on woes. I tell thee truth! thy realm Thou shalt regain; and when the time is come That thou hast need to put thine own form on, Call me to mind, O Prince, and tie this cloth Around thy body. Wearing it, thy shape Thou shalt resume." Therewith ...
— Hindu Literature • Epiphanius Wilson
... called. There was no answer, but he was suddenly seized about the neck by a pair of unseen arms and kissed by unseen lips twice in fierce succession, and before he could turn and clasp the girl she was laughing softly in the next room, with a barred door between them. Clayton waited patiently ...
— A Mountain Europa • John Fox Jr.
... an incomparable dignity—a dignity which had the effect of shutting me up like a clasp-knife and making me feel a decided inferior—and a poor show at that. There was such a gracious simplicity and honesty in it, too, such self-respecting knowledge of herself and her position, that I could be neither ...
— The Lady of the Shroud • Bram Stoker
... I, 'thing of evil!—prophet still, if bird or devil! By the heaven that bends above us—by that God we both adore!— Tell this soul with sorrow laden, if, within the distant Aidenn, It shall clasp a sainted maiden whom the angels name Lenore,— Clasp a rare and radiant maiden whom the angels name ...
— Four Famous American Writers: Washington Irving, Edgar Allan Poe, • Sherwin Cody
... come Hardanapalus, to exhibit feats Of chamber prowess. Montemalo yet O'er our suburban turret rose; as much To be surpass in fall, as in its rising. I saw Bellincione Berti walk abroad In leathern girdle and a clasp of bone; And, with no artful colouring on her cheeks, His lady leave the glass. The sons I saw Of Nerli and of Vecchio well content With unrob'd jerkin; and their good dames handling The spindle and the flax; O happy they! Each ...
— The Divine Comedy, Complete - The Vision of Paradise, Purgatory and Hell • Dante Alighieri
... He longed to clasp her in his arms; but it flashed upon him with an inspiration from topmost Olympus that, all unwittingly, she had bound herself ...
— A Son of the Immortals • Louis Tracy
... feet, drew a clasp-knife from the pocket of his trousers, snapped it open, and slashed through the cords about ...
— Ruth Fielding on the St. Lawrence - The Queer Old Man of the Thousand Islands • Alice B. Emerson
... Club. But the attack did not succeed. Something went wrong. They began to fear that the lady correspondent had given them the wrong dope. For, although three months had passed, and they had played golf together until they were as loath to clasp a golf club as a red-hot poker, they knew no one, and no one knew them. That is, they did not know the Van Wardens; and if you lived at Scarboro and were not recognized by the Van Wardens, you were not to be found ...
— The Red Cross Girl • Richard Harding Davis
... whispered Tom, then strode into the house. He entered his partner's room, gripping the slumber-seized Hazelton with a strong clasp. ...
— The Young Engineers on the Gulf - The Dread Mystery of the Million Dollar Breakwater • H. Irving Hancock
... in the eyes and were silent a minute; but while the hand next the window held hers, the other one stole out farther to clasp her. He was too much absorbed in that gaze to notice anything beyond it; but Mildred was suddenly aware of steps and a voice in the adjoining room. Tims and Mr. Fitzalan, in the course of a conscientious survey of all the pictures on the walls, had reached this point in their progress. ...
— The Invader - A Novel • Margaret L. Woods
... eye Able to tempt a great man—to serve God; A pretty hanging lip, that has forgot now to dissemble. Methinks this mouth should make a swearer tremble, A drunkard clasp his teeth, and not undo 'em To suffer wet damnation to run through 'em. Here's a cheek keeps her color let the wind go whistle; Spout, rain, we fear thee not: be hot or cold, All's one with us; and is not he absurd, Whose fortunes are upon their faces set That fear no other ...
— The Age of Shakespeare • Algernon Charles Swinburne
... apartment and saw an old slipper lying on the floor, and very naturally proceeded to kick it aside with his foot, a ghost-like figure would immediately start up before him, and if he retreated from it and took his seat in a chair, a couple of arms would immediately clasp him in, so that it would be impossible to disengage himself without ...
— Smeaton and Lighthouses - A Popular Biography, with an Historical Introduction and Sequel • John Smeaton
... doubled, and Catinat searched: a psalm-book with a silver clasp and a letter addressed to "M. Maurel, called Catinat," were found on him, leaving no doubt as to his identity; while he himself, growing impatient, and desiring to end all these investigations, acknowledged that he was Catinat and ...
— Celebrated Crimes, Complete • Alexandre Dumas, Pere
... come and say he loved her. That was all. That was at once the beginning and the end. Her dreams led up to that and stopped. Not by so much as a hand clasp did they pass ...
— The Breaking Point • Mary Roberts Rinehart
... his arms around me, in a close, protecting clasp, while Boris pawed my skirts, and cried over me in loving, honest dog fashion, and licked my wet cheek with his affectionate tongue. I slipped my arm around the big dog's neck, and clung to the two of them. And it seemed to me that while ...
— A Woman Named Smith • Marie Conway Oemler
... of the world. There is no safety on the earth to-day For any sacred thing, or clean, or fair; Nor can there be, until men rise and slay The hydra-headed monster in his lair. War! horrid War! now Virtue's only friend; Clasp hands with War, and battle to ...
— Hello, Boys! • Ella Wheeler Wilcox
... tender vows, your peaceful kisses, They scarce outlived the moment's breath; But now we clasp immortal blisses Of passion proved ...
— Atlantic Monthly, Vol. XI., February, 1863, No. LXIV. • Various
... on the subject of Christian charity, but I must say that in the case you refer to, I think you accuse yourself unduly. We are not to part company with our common sense because we want to clasp hands with the Love that thinketh no evil, and we can not help seeing that there are few, if any, on earth without beams in their eyes and foibles and sins in their lives. The fact that your friend repented and confessed his sin, entitled him to your forgiving ...
— The Life and Letters of Elizabeth Prentiss • George L. Prentiss
... tiny fingers a spasmodic clasp, and said: "Quick, we must get them in!" She put the banknotes inside the sheets of paper, then hastily placed both in the envelope and ...
— The Judgment House • Gilbert Parker
... diamonds to correspond. From the ribbon of the Most Noble Order of the Garter was suspended a most splendid George, set in brilliants; the ribbon itself was confined on the left shoulder by a diamond clasp. The queen also wore the garter as an armlet, the motto being formed of diamonds. The infant prince had a robe and mantle of Honiton lace over white satin, with a cap to correspond. The Princess Royal, the ...
— The History of England in Three Volumes, Vol.III. - From George III. to Victoria • E. Farr and E. H. Nolan
... the amorous death-fires, gleaming ruddy, Clasp him close. Down sinks the quivering body, While through harmless flames immortal flying Shoots the ...
— Chambers's Edinburgh Journal, No. 419, New Series, January 10, 1852 • Various
... ignominious shackles which the ages have riveted upon them! [Loud applause.] How apropos it is, then, that the women from all nations meet on the free soil of France to give to the world their declaration of rights. To-day we clasp hands and pledge hearts to the sacred cause of woman's emancipation. To-day we meet to thank France for the grand women whose lofty utterances come echoing and reechoing to us through the corridors of time, and to thank her for her great men who have been the beacon lights ...
— History of Woman Suffrage, Volume III (of III) • Various
... from which came a very savoury smell of cooking, as the door opened, and a round, fat, rosy-cheeked woman, of about fifty years of age, looked out inquiringly. She came a step or two nearer the door, as Meg's friend beckoned to her with a clasp-knife he ...
— Little Meg's Children • Hesba Stretton
... she! your daughter; my betrothed! my brain whirled round and round— I rushed into the chapel— a bier— a coffin— it inclosed your daughter! my betrothed, my happiness, my life! I sprang towards it— I extended my arms to clasp it, what followed I know not; I was at peace, I was happy, I had ceased to feel: but oh! the barbarians, they restored me to sense, and twas only to the sense of misery! (he falls ...
— The Mirror of Taste, and Dramatic Censor - Vol. I. No. 3. March 1810 • Various
... a clasp, composed of two large emerald bosses set with curious antique gems, when she played Brunnhilde. The necklace of gem intaglios, in gold Etruscan filigree settings, he had given her for her Elsa—more than her Elsa was worth. For Elizabeth ...
— Evelyn Innes • George Moore
... turned inward, partly covering the row of flies, and the surrounding glands were secreting copiously. The other edge remained flat and unaltered. Then he stuck a fly to the middle of the leaf just below its tip, and soon both margins infolded, so as to clasp the object. Many other and varied experiments yielded similar results. Even pollen, which would not rarely be lodged upon these leaves, as it falls from surrounding wind-fertilized plants, also small seeds, excited the same ...
— Darwiniana - Essays and Reviews Pertaining to Darwinism • Asa Gray
... my dear girl. I have promised never more to interfere between your father and you, if this my most earnest application succeed not. I expect you down, love. Your father expects you down. But be sure don't let him see any thing uncheerful in your compliance. If you come, I will clasp you to my fond heart, with as much pleasure as ever I pressed you to it in my whole life. You don't know what I have suffered within these few weeks past; nor ever will be able to guess, till you come to be in my situation; ...
— Clarissa, Volume 1 (of 9) • Samuel Richardson
... two towards her, his first impulse being to clasp her in his arms; but, as she stood motionless before him, draped in a long grey peignoir that swept the ground, there was something about her that repelled him, so that he stood staring ...
— The Dark House - A Knot Unravelled • George Manville Fenn
... thee, Virgin Mother, Still clasp thy Son, and in His eyes Seek Heaven's own light that in them lies. Though narrow shed His might confineth, Though low in manger He reclineth, Bright on His ...
— Yule-Tide in Many Lands • Mary P. Pringle and Clara A. Urann
... human beings had digged it. While the crows were pottering around down there, a mass of gravel fell from one side. They rushed up to it, and had the good fortune to find amongst the fallen stones and stubble—a large earthen crock, which was locked with a wooden clasp! Naturally they wanted to know if there was anything in it, and they tried both to peck holes in the crock, and to bend up the clasp, but ...
— The Wonderful Adventures of Nils • Selma Lagerlof
... his talk, Foker, on the other hand, so bland and communicative on most occasions, was entirely mum and melancholy when he danced with Miss Amory. To clasp her slender waist was a rapture, to whirl round the room with her was a delirium; but to speak to her, what could he say that was worthy of her? What pearl of conversation could he bring that was fit for the ...
— The History of Pendennis, Vol. 2 - His Fortunes and Misfortunes, His Friends and His Greatest Enemy • William Makepeace Thackeray
... and merry banter of the young man to his more serious elder brother, who stood by his side, waiting for her greeting. She held out her hand to him, and he took it, bowing respectfully, but holding it warmly in a clasp that brought a deepened colour to the ...
— Grace Darling - Heroine of the Farne Islands • Eva Hope
... and stood within his arms, her eyes down-drooped, her face all tears and smiles, and he folded her within his strong clasp and stooping, ...
— Lo, Michael! • Grace Livingston Hill
... averted head, awaiting some outcry of gladness, surrendering herself to the quick clasp of strong arms. But no outcry came, and no arms clasped. She glanced up, and met a stricken look ...
— Jaffery • William J. Locke
... out of him, and it was only the senseless body we received, while in his arms, and held so tightly in his death grip, that she could not be removed, was a little three-year-old girl. We afterwards learnt that when the heavy sea struck the boat, Ned was seen to snatch up the child and clasp it firmly in his arms. And now both were dead. Ours was a sorrowful home that night; my mother's grief was something awful to see, and such as I never wish to witness again, and over which I will ...
— Leslie Ross: - or, Fond of a Lark • Charles Bruce
... strong enough to clasp Psyche's neck, and the tired face brightened beautifully as the child exclaimed, ...
— Kitty's Class Day And Other Stories • Louisa M. Alcott
... lower part being shaped to the body, while the upper part representing the head and arms could be lifted off in one piece. The shoulders are covered with a network in relief, the meshes of which are painted blue on a yellow background. The Queen's hands are crossed over her breast, and clasp the crux ansata, the symbol of life. The whole mummy-case measures a little over nine feet from the sole of the feet to the top of the head, which is furthermore surmounted by a cap, and two long ostrich-feathers. The appearance is not so much that of a coffin as of one of those ...
— History Of Egypt, Chaldaea, Syria, Babylonia, and Assyria, Volume 4 (of 12) • G. Maspero
... Was always tender, e'en to tears, With sympathies, whose sacred art Made holy all thy cherished years; But love, whose speechless ecstasy Had overborne the finite, now Throbs through thy being, pure and free, And burns upon thy radiant brow. For thou those hands' dear clasp hast felt, Where still the nail-prints are displayed; And thou before that face hast knelt, Which wears the scars ...
— Catharine • Nehemiah Adams
... heavy heart, Walter assisted the other to remove the post. He had grown very fond of Ritter in the few days they had been together. He admired him for his bravery and the cheeriness and sweetness of his disposition under trials and suffering. He gave the outlaw's hand a long, friendly clasp ...
— The Boy Chums in the Forest - or Hunting for Plume Birds in the Florida Everglades • Wilmer M. Ely
... bank of flowers, in contemplation of the glorious scene, was the soul of her so fondly loved. Beautiful vision! The sight lends to his steps the fleetness of an antelope; he bounds forward, and is soon at her side. Into his arms she flies, and though they clasp but thin air, embrace but her resemblance, yet the doing so gives a hundred times the joy it could have done, when his spirit was clogged with the grossness of mortality, and he folded to his ...
— Traditions of the North American Indians, Vol. 1 (of 3) • James Athearn Jones
... clasp. "Pig-hog," he went on, "behold, I pull your nose! There! Also, I flap your face! One! two! I do not waste a good clean card on you, but I will give you satisfaction when you like—after you come ...
— Till the Clock Stops • John Joy Bell
... low moan of anguish and despair. She took his arm in her hands. Dudleigh did not withdraw it. Even at that moment of horror it seemed sweet to him to see these signs of feeling on her part; and though he did not know what it was that she had in her mind, he waited, to feel for a moment longer the clasp of ...
— The Living Link • James De Mille
... hand from his somewhat too tenacious clasp. Something in his manner puzzled as well as ...
— The Pawns Count • E. Phillips Oppenheim
... dreamlike the God takes Wing And soars to his own skies, while Psyche strives To clasp his foot, and fain thereon would cling, ...
— Spare Hours • John Brown
... everything blotted from his mind but the sight of her white, grief-stricken face. He took both her hands in his warm clasp. ...
— The Secret House • Edgar Wallace
... and faster it flowed, until the solid mass fell in a foaming cataract, and swept in a torrent across the cave. I followed the retreating wall through the seething water at its foot. Thinner and thinner grew the dividing mass; nearer and nearer came the form of my Mary. 'I shall yet clasp her,' I cried; 'her dead form will kill me, and I too shall be inclosed in the friendly ice. I shall not be with her, alas! but neither shall I be without her, for I shall depart into the lovely nothingness.' Thinner and thinner ...
— Wilfrid Cumbermede • George MacDonald
... came to the house to live, she met him with a warm clasp of the hand, and with a smile of so much radiance and sweetness, that for a time he must have been proud of her on Phil's behalf; and so dazzled that he could not yet see those things for which, on the same behalf, he must ...
— Philip Winwood • Robert Neilson Stephens
... when light and twilight meet,— Behind, our broken years; before, the deep Weird wonder of the last unfathomed sleep,— A little while I still would clasp thee, Sweet, A little while, ...
— The Home Book of Verse, Vol. 2 (of 4) • Various
... ties and affections of home. In the awful night with which his story opens the loss of Creusa, the mocking embrace in which the dead wife flies from his arms, form his farewell to Troy. "Thrice strove I there to clasp my arms about her neck,"—everyone ...
— Stray Studies from England and Italy • John Richard Green
... thou hast not felt the chain; But though 'tis yet unmingled joy, I may not see those smiles again, Nor clasp thee to ...
— The Liberty Minstrel • George W. Clark
... said, quietly. But the quietness gave way suddenly to fierceness, as little lightning flashes yield in a few seconds to the violent magnificence of storm. Seizing her in his arms with a clasp that would have been brutal if it had not been so sweet, he whispered, "You're home to ...
— The Side Of The Angels - A Novel • Basil King
... hand-clasp between the conductor and brakeman, and then the latter started on the perilous journey he had been ordered to undertake. It was no easy task to maintain a footing on the rounded roofs of those express cars as they were hurled on through the night at the rate ...
— Cab and Caboose - The Story of a Railroad Boy • Kirk Munroe
... farther, and panting at his own adventurousness in the face of his aunt's authority, climbed up on to her knees. Her welcoming arms hindered any protest. He nestled happily, fingering the axe head, the ivory studs in her girdle, the ivory clasp at her throat, the plaits of fair hair; rubbing his head against the softness of her fur-clad shoulder, with a child's full confidence in the kindness ...
— The Were-Wolf • Clemence Housman
... himself, that care and thought for others had lifted him above the murk of his own despair. He was as alert, interested, and ready to talk, as ever he used to be. As she plied him with questions she longed in some tangible way to show her quickened sympathy and gladness. She wanted to clasp his hand, to touch his arm, to smile up into his eyes. But she was proud; and then she feared to break the ...
— Joyce's Investments - A Story for Girls • Fannie E. Newberry
... window. Mr. Kendal, who was holding the little inanimate form in his arms for the doctor to examine, looking up as she entered, cast on her a look of mute, pleading, despairing agony, that was as the bitterness of death. She sprang forward herself to clasp her child, and her husband yielded him in broken-hearted pity, but at that moment the little limbs moved, the features worked, the eyes unclosed, and clinging tightly to her, as she strained him to her bosom, the little fellow proclaimed himself alive by ...
— The Young Step-Mother • Charlotte M. Yonge
... had been forced to clasp his arms around the neck of his frantic steed at the time, smiled at the impossibility of such a thing ...
— The Outdoor Chums After Big Game - Or, Perilous Adventures in the Wilderness • Captain Quincy Allen
... seemed as if Juve had been awaiting this very action; for, at the precise moment Vagualame held out his hand, the detective extended his, and prolonged the hand-clasp as if he never meant to let go—a ...
— A Nest of Spies • Pierre Souvestre
... answer in words—prayed for an explanation—with an intensity of distress in voice and manner, that no one whose ears were not stopped with a stronger feeling could have been deaf to; but Mrs. Rossitur would not raise her head, nor slacken in the least the clasp of the fingers that supported it, that of themselves in their relentless tension spoke what no words could. Fleda's trembling prayers were in vain, in vain. Poor nature at last sought a woman's relief in ...
— Queechy • Susan Warner
... shoulders, and there mildly shaking them, or clasping them with a slight pressure and letting them drop,—styles savoring of affectation. The impulse prompting the handshake,—that of getting together in intimate personal greeting,—is accomplished when the clasp is ended, and vigorous and prolonged shaking, or special pressure, or continued holding of the ...
— The Etiquette of To-day • Edith B. Ordway
... roof," he wound up, "under the Sipiagin's roof, there are no Jacobins and no spies, only honest, well-meaning people, who, once learning to understand one another, would most certainly clasp each ...
— Virgin Soil • Ivan S. Turgenev
... upon, Cold bed to sleep in: Good-bye. While you clasp, I must be gone For all your weeping: I ...
— Goblin Market, The Prince's Progress, and Other Poems • Christina Rossetti
... the revolver back into the bag and shut the clasp with a click, "And now I think, Mr. Bannister, that I'll not detain you any longer. We understand each ...
— Wyoming, a Story of the Outdoor West • William MacLeod Raine
... weeks which followed, were, first, a series of dim pictures of a hurried journey, partaking of the nature of a flight from some impending danger. Her father, she remembered, held her almost constantly against his breast, while they were on this journey, so tightly that the clasp of his strong arms was, sometimes, almost painful, and watched continually from carriage windows, from the deck of a small vessel, and, afterwards, from the windows of a railway train, when they paused at stations in the pleasant English country, ...
— The Old Flute-Player - A Romance of To-day • Edward Marshall and Charles T. Dazey
... crying incessantly from hunger and fear. Another, who had chains round her neck and bare limbs, had an only daughter about fifteen years of age, who was a cousin of the dead lad, and the betrothed wife of his father. The girl clung to her mother, weeping piteously. Sometimes she would come and clasp "Ma's" feet, beseeching her to help her, or waylay the chiefs, and offer herself in servitude for life in exchange for her ...
— Mary Slessor of Calabar: Pioneer Missionary • W. P. Livingstone
... point found resistance, by the saving intervention of my half-crown! The clasp gave way with the violence of the blow, and shutting made a deep ...
— The Adventures of Hugh Trevor • Thomas Holcroft
... arms, to clasp the tender girl to his bosom; but, fearful of herself, she avoided him, and fled along the path, like one terrified with the apprehension of pursuit. The young man paused a moment, half inclined to follow; ...
— The Wing-and-Wing - Le Feu-Follet • J. Fenimore Cooper
... any special system, it has the great advantage of being our one approach to an indication of the general muscular tone of the body, as indicated both in its grasp and in the poses it assumes at rest. The patient with a limp and nerveless hand-clasp, whose hand is inclined to lie palm upward and open instead of palm downward and half-closed, is apt to be either seriously ill, or not in a position to make much of a fight against the ...
— Preventable Diseases • Woods Hutchinson
... ivory side, You clasp the golden head; Fools, fools, who chatter and sing, You have taken the sign of a terrible thing, You have drunk down God with your beeswing, And broken ...
— Young Adventure - A Book of Poems • Stephen Vincent Benet
... and they alternate with the upper ones. The leaves, as may be inferred from the specific name, are lance-shaped, 2in. to 6in. long, smooth and entire; they are attenuated to the stems, which they more or less clasp. The habit of the plant is much branched, but only slightly at base; it becomes top-heavy from the numerous shoots near the top, which cause it to be procumbent; otherwise this subject would rank with tall growers. It is one of the most useful flowers, ...
— Hardy Perennials and Old Fashioned Flowers - Describing the Most Desirable Plants, for Borders, - Rockeries, and Shrubberies. • John Wood
... same as his. She questioned him, with the simple desire to learn what he could tell her. Her hands were very hard, so constant had been her dealing with the rough facts of this life; but the hard hand was firm in its clasp, and ready with its helpfulness. Her eyes were open, and very clear of dreams. There was room in them for tenderness as well as truth. Her voice was not the sweetest of all voices in this world; but it had the ...
— Atlantic Monthly Volume 6, No. 34, August, 1860 • Various
... in, sir, out of curiosity," the young man said, in a strange nasal twang, the heritage of years of outdoor preaching; "I hoped to hear of one more good work begun in this den of iniquity and to clasp hands ...
— A Prince of Sinners • E. Phillips Oppenheim
... hung, amid the dark foliage, like dull-burning lanterns. A crescent of diamonds twinkled in the warm blackness of her hair. She wore a collar of pearls round her throat, and a long rope of pearls that descended to her waist, and was then looped up and caught at the bosom by an opal clasp. A delicate perfume, like the perfume of violets, came and went in the air near her. She held a great fluffy fan of white feathers in one hand, and in the other carried loose her long white gloves; and gems sparkled ...
— The Lady Paramount • Henry Harland
... the window-ledge and dare not come down to a gallant fireman who stood ready to receive him at great personal peril. In the midst of shrieks and cries and shouts of encouragement, Edward, a practised gymnast, saw a chance. He ran up the ladder like a cat, begged the fireman to clasp it tight; then got on his shoulders and managed to grasp the window-sill. He could always draw his own weight up by his hands: so he soon had his knee on the sill, and presently stood erect. He then put his left arm inside the window, collared the old fellow with his right, ...
— Hard Cash • Charles Reade
... little ducky, dovey, doggieboy, your swallow, your little jackdaw, your little tootsie wootsie sparrowkin: (opening his mouth) make a reptile of me and let me have a double tongue in my mouth; throw a chain of arms around me; clasp me close around ...
— Amphitryo, Asinaria, Aulularia, Bacchides, Captivi • Plautus Titus Maccius
... in all the New World, to have been the pet shrine of the Great Mother herself. She fashioned it with loving hands. She shut it in with a mighty barrier of mighty mountains to keep the mob out. She gave it the loving clasp of a mighty river, and spread broad, level prairies beyond that the mob might glide by, or be tempted to the other side, where the earth was level and there was no need to climb; that she might send priests from her shrine to reclaim Western wastes or let the weak or the unloving—if ...
— The Little Shepherd of Kingdom Come • John Fox
... words, and Lucia, who had listened to every one with the feeling that so many knives were being plunged through and through her heart, slipped down from her resting-place, and crouched on the floor, hiding her face and stifling the sobs that shook her whole body. She longed to cry out, to clasp her arms round her mother, to struggle, with all the force of her great love, against this fate; and yet, so well had she understood, so clearly she remembered, even through her agony, the need for quietness, that she kept a force upon herself like iron, ...
— A Canadian Heroine, Volume 2 - A Novel • Mrs. Harry Coghill
... down to a sitting position on the footboard and reached to the end for a huge pork pie and a clasp knife which lay beside a tin can. "I'll go on with my supper," said he; then noticing a wistful, hungry look in the child's eyes, "Have a ...
— The Fortunate Youth • William J. Locke
... you younger men, to rambles through South Boston farms, and land at "South End" sold by the acre. Always comes the old conservative admonition, "Wait!"—yes, wait till the great sea-wall makes City Point of Castle Island,—wait till the now extended arms of Boston clasp Brookline to the bosom of the metropolis,—wait till private avarice and easy legislation, acting intermittently, deface the shore and basin of Charles River,—wait till the dense and ever growing population, bursting from its narrow bounds, spreads itself in streets laid out ...
— Parks for the People - Proceedings of a Public Meeting held at Faneuil Hall, June 7, 1876 • Various
... that is not the word, brother; he's the beauty of the world. Women run wild at the sight of Tawno. An earl's daughter, near London—a fine young lady with diamonds round her neck—fell in love with Tawno. I have seen that lass on a heath, as this may be, kneel down to Tawno, clasp his feet, begging to be his wife—or anything else—if she might go with him. But Tawno would have nothing to do with her. 'I have a wife of my own,' said he, 'a lawful Rommany wife, whom I love better than the whole world, jealous though she ...
— Lavengro - The Scholar, The Gypsy, The Priest • George Borrow
... so sure about." The old farmer took out a large clasp-knife and, paring his thumb-nail, continued, somewhat loftily: "I presume that is as the lady of the house commands. Some favors blue, but there's a many as is great hands for red. I see a house ...
— The Best Short Stories of 1919 - and the Yearbook of the American Short Story • Various
... gone far down the street when a familiar figure met his eye, no other than that of Lucas Hansen, his brother's old master, walking along with a pack on his back. Grown as Stephen was, the old man's recognition was as rapid as his own, and there was a clasp of the hand, an exchange of greeting, while Lucas eagerly asked after his dear ...
— The Armourer's Prentices • Charlotte Mary Yonge
... the lay of religion's sway, Where a hundred creeds clasp hands And shout in glee such a symphony ...
— The Complete Works • James Whitcomb Riley
... implored you, comrade, you were wrathful. Were the King here, we had not borne such damage. Nor should we blame those with him there, his army." Says Oliver: "Now by my beard, hereafter If I may see my gentle sister Alde, She in her arms, I swear, shall never clasp you." AOI. ...
— The Song of Roland • Anonymous
... love shall burn In her pressed cheek and cherishing hands; And from the living spirit of love that stands Between her lips to soothe and yearn, Each separate breath shall clasp me round in turn And loose my ...
— Appreciations, with an Essay on Style • Walter Horatio Pater
... arts of war: he wielded in his clasp the ruddy-flashing wood, and victoriously with noble stroke made their fallen ...
— The Danish History, Books I-IX • Saxo Grammaticus ("Saxo the Learned")
... out toward the imaginary Aix, the ill-fated grammar was forgotten, it slipped from her loosened clasp, flew through the air and struck the elder Catt a heavy ...
— Tabitha at Ivy Hall • Ruth Alberta Brown
... his head, his left arm brought round in front of him almost at right angles to his body and his right stretched wide out in line with his shoulders. From time to time he makes little efforts to bring these outstretched arms farther round, as if to clasp and enfold the British position at Modder River, and it is with the special object of observing and reporting on these movements that our scouting is carried on. This is now attended to by fifteen of us only, under Chester Master, the rest of the corps, with the ...
— With Rimington • L. March Phillipps
... and as Melicent turned it about and looked critically at the neatly written address, it was not without a hope that the reading of it might furnish her a moment's diversion. She did not faint. The letter did not "fall from her nerveless clasp." She rather held it very steadily. But she grew a shade paler and looked long into the fire. When she had read it three times she folded it slowly and carefully and locked ...
— At Fault • Kate Chopin
... fighting with diverse kinds of weapons, have all been despatched by me to the other world with these arms of mine that resemble a pair of iron clubs. Verily, these are those two arms of mine, looking like maces of iron, and invincible by foes, coming within whose clasp the sons of Dhritarashtra have all met with destruction. These are those two well-developed and round arms of mine, resembling a pair of elephantine trunks. Coming within their clasp, the foolish sons of Dhritarashtra have all met with destruction. Smeared with sandal-paste and deserving ...
— The Mahabharata of Krishna-Dwaipayana Vyasa, Volume 4 • Kisari Mohan Ganguli
... are danger signals. A long protestation might have meant nothing: in this short, sufficient negative Mrs. Mortimer recognized the boy's sincerity. A little thrill of pride and shame, and perhaps something else, ran through her. The night was hot and she unfastened the clasp of her cloak, breathing a trifle quickly. To relieve the silence, ...
— Frivolous Cupid • Anthony Hope
... we stood and talked and they only held the closer as we started climbing the long, hot dusty hill to the Little House by the Side of the Road. But in the long climb not once did the sturdy little legs lag or the small arm drag on my strength. The clasp was one of equality and ...
— The Heart's Kingdom • Maria Thompson Daviess
... the giddy man draws near to the margin of a gulf. She drew back from me a little as I came; but her eyes did not waver from mine, and these lured me forward. At last, when I was already within reach of her, I stopped. Words were denied me; if I advanced I could but clasp her to my heart in silence; and all that was sane in me, all that was still unconquered, revolted against the thought of such an accost. So we stood for a second, all our life in our eyes, exchanging salvos of attraction ...
— The Works of Robert Louis Stevenson, Volume XXI • Robert Louis Stevenson
... one fine day God the Father stood forth in the round, most comely to behold." So skilful was Cellini in this art that he "bossed up in high relief with his punches some fifteen little angels, without even having to solder the tiniest rent!" The fastening of the clasp was decorated with "little snails and masks and other pleasing trifles," which suggest to us that Benvenuto was a true son of the Renaissance, and that his design did not equal ...
— Arts and Crafts in the Middle Ages • Julia De Wolf Addison
... the watchful eye of Myla, the bereft monkey. And in her eagerness to see the better she descended to the lower branches and leaned far out over the ridge of the windfall. How the actions of the cub reminded her of those of her own little one! And how she longed to clasp the small form in her arms! To feel it near her breast and to stroke its silky fur. The mother-love was strong in Myla and her loss still caused her ...
— The Black Phantom • Leo Edward Miller
... put on his imperial robes; his mantle of white and blue flowed over his shoulders, held together by its rich clasp of the green chalchivitl. The same precious gem, with emeralds of uncommon size, set in gold, profusely ornamented other parts of his dress. His feet were shod with the golden sandals, and his brows covered with the Mexican diadem, resembling in ...
— The Story of Extinct Civilizations of the West • Robert E. Anderson
... handwriting by. The Captain found himself in a tantalising position. He gave Paul some more brandy, laid down the packet of letters, and turned to the portfolio. It was large and official in appearance, and it had an ingenious clasp which baffled Dieppe. With a sigh he cut the leather top and ...
— Captain Dieppe • Anthony Hope
... with the defective eyes glared fiercely at him. Her judgment wavered two ways. Her first inclination was to hold that the fellow was jibing at her covertly, and she followed her original impulse far enough to clasp a neighboring sugar-bowl in a large, capable hand. A second and more merciful thought entered her brain and stole slowly through it, like a faint echo in a ...
— The Night Horseman • Max Brand
... I think our dead, If they could come back with the living, Would clasp warm hands o'er hostile lands, ...
— Poems of Sentiment • Ella Wheeler Wilcox
... dress of his Order, is before the altar; and on either side is a row of small red-skinned children listening with exemplary decorum, while, with a cheerful, smiling face, he teaches them to kneel, clasp their hands, and sign the cross. All the principal members of this zealous community are present, at once amused and edified at the grave deportment, and the prompt, shrill replies of the infant catechumens; while their parents in the crowd grin delight at the gifts of beads and trinkets with ...
— The Jesuits in North America in the Seventeenth Century • Francis Parkman
... tone was like the clasp of the arm, and Max glowed anew. By a swift, emotional effort, he conjured up the longings that had preyed upon him in his self-imposed solitude—conjured them for the sheer joy of ...
— Max • Katherine Cecil Thurston
... property as if to verify his words—a brown leather pocketbook with a silver clasp. Priscilla gazed from it to its owner in startled silence. Her heart was beating almost to ...
— The Swindler and Other Stories • Ethel M. Dell
... however, she could count the remainder of the term by days instead of weeks, and her fancy was busy painting in rainbow colours a picture of her arrival, first at the station, where perhaps her father would meet her, and then at the dear, well-known door, where her mother would be waiting to clasp her in the warmest hug, and all the younger ones would be watching eagerly to welcome her back again. It was such an enthralling prospect that Patty's eyes shone whenever she thought about it, and she sometimes executed a ...
— The Nicest Girl in the School - A Story of School Life • Angela Brazil
... were six, and he but one. They had all clasp-knives; and he had only an old penknife that would be sure to double up or break off if a blow ...
— Foul Play • Charles Reade
... while it was so distant, or put her rather at such a distance, that all Pitt's newly aroused feelings were stimulated to the utmost, both by the charm and by the difficulty. How exquisite was this soft dignity and calm! but to the man who was longing to be permitted to clasp his arms round her it ...
— A Red Wallflower • Susan Warner
... inch he peels the black sleeve from the white round arm. Hundreds of times must he have seen those fair arms, bare to the shoulder, sparkling with jewels; but never before has he seen their wondrous beauty. He longs to clasp them round his neck, yet is fearful lest his trembling fingers touching them as he performs his tantalising task may offend her. Anne thanks him, and apologises for having given him so much trouble, and he murmurs ...
— John Ingerfield and Other Stories • Jerome K. Jerome
... raised his cap, and bowed with unaffected grace. Dolores nodded and caught his hand in her vigorous clasp. ...
— Out of the Primitive • Robert Ames Bennet
... flowers, blossoming bushes and grasses, that make up at least half of one's pleasant reminiscences of such places. How much more interesting to find an old tomb or quaint "brass" under the temple of a wild rosebush or in the firm clasp of an ivy-root than to walk up to it and read the inscription newly scraped and cleaned by the voluble attendant who volunteers to show you the place! The great elms by Overton Church and the half-timbered and thatched houses crowding up to its gates somewhat make up for ...
— Lippincott's Magazine of Popular Literature and Science, October, 1877, Vol. XX. No. 118 • Various
... realization. What he, too, had instinctively seen in the child was now to be summoned forth; and the vague, half-understood motive which had impelled him to take the abandoned babe from Badillo into the shelter of his own great heart would at length be revealed. The man's joy was ecstatic. With a final clasp of the priest's hand, he rushed from the house to plunge into the work in ...
— Carmen Ariza • Charles Francis Stocking
... run towards the well. She was in front of him and barred the passage, but at the same moment she felt two hands clasp her waist, and the breath of two lips that sought her lips and that murmured, "You love me still, since you do ...
— Samuel Brohl & Company • Victor Cherbuliez
... peace with the world when this war is over, to be able to grasp once more the hands of those now our enemies, but how can any American clasp in friendship the hand of Germans who approve this and the many other outrages that have turned the conscience of the world ...
— Face to Face with Kaiserism • James W. Gerard
... soon with hurried steps, the crew Rush'd prattling on, for William flew, Clasp'd by the frighted fair: Swifter than shafts, or than the wind, While struck from earth fire flash'd behind, ...
— Translations of German Poetry in American Magazines 1741-1810 • Edward Ziegler Davis
... unattended, save by the single page who drew aside the hangings, King Robert entered. He had doffed the armor in which we saw him first, for a plain yet rich suit of dark green velvet, cut and slashed with cloth of gold, and a long mantle of the richest crimson, secured at his throat by a massive golden clasp, from which gleamed the glistening rays of a large emerald; a brooch of precious stones, surrounded by diamonds, clasped the white ostrich feather in his cup, and the shade of the drooping plume, heightened perhaps by the advance of evening, somewhat obscured his ...
— The Days of Bruce Vol 1 - A Story from Scottish History • Grace Aguilar
... Oh, come forth, 415 Fond wretch! and know thyself and him aright. Clasp with thy panting soul the pendulous Earth; As from a centre, dart thy spirit's light Beyond all worlds, until its spacious might Satiate the void circumference: then shrink 420 Even to a point within our day and night; And keep ...
— The Complete Poetical Works of Percy Bysshe Shelley Volume I • Percy Bysshe Shelley
... your right arm, and clasp the upper part tightly with your left hand, then work the elbow joint strongly back and forth, you can feel something under your hand draw up, and then lengthen out again, each ...
— Child's Health Primer For Primary Classes • Jane Andrews
... comfort, his cheery conversation, even the sight of him when he was too busy to talk, were strangely pleasant. She realized why she had made him take the harder way in helping her down from the rock and the knowledge was disconcerting. She had been afraid to trust herself to the clasp of his arms, but not because of any ...
— The Long Portage • Harold Bindloss
... it up by replacing the other half of the bread, and then taking out his handkerchief spread it upon his knee and tied the loaf tightly therein. Then for a moment or two he hesitated about taking the knife, but finally concluding that the clasp knife in his pocket would do, he laid the blade on the table, gave his tea a final stir, gulped down the basinful, tucked the loaf in the handkerchief under his left arm, his hat very much on ...
— The Adventures of Don Lavington - Nolens Volens • George Manville Fenn
... touch upon her. His crazy fingers tried to unbutton the clasp of the belt and holster. But he could secure neither while she fought him. He pinioned her at length with his knee. His fingers secured a fistful of the cylinders from her girdle, and he opened the ...
— O. Henry Memorial Award Prize Stories of 1920 • Various
... feet, Elate, or slow with sorrow, Thy pencil paints the changing form; And here clasp hands The ...
— Song-waves • Theodore H. Rand
... Mr. Carrington," and Betty's fingers tingled with his masterful clasp long after ...
— The Prodigal Judge • Vaughan Kester
... me. To my father I spoke of her; to her of him; and never pleasurably. This I am forced to say, or you cannot understand my story. Would to God I could tell another tale! Would to God I had such memories as other men have of a father's clasp, a mother's kiss—but no! my grief, already profound, might have become abysmal. Perhaps it is best as it is; only, I might have been a different child, and made for myself ...
— The Golden Slipper • Anna Katharine Green
... toward her, and looked down quickly at his clasp-knife and the stick he was whittling. It was growing very ...
— The Mystery of Witch-Face Mountain and Other Stories • Charles Egbert Craddock
... cases two churches of different sects have united and worshipped in one congregation. But the causes of such unity are frequently far from gratifying. In D——the Methodists and Primitive Methodists clasp hands and join forces because they can thus make one preacher do the work which two formerly performed. In K——the Baptists and Presbyterians unite because the thirteen members of one church and the seven ...
— The Heart-Cry of Jesus • Byron J. Rees
... any man who bears the name of Stuart. Had I not a mission here which cannot be neglected, I might myself be tempted to hie westward with ye, and put these grey hairs of mine once more into the rough clasp of a steel headpiece. For where now is the noble castle of Snellaby, and where those glades and woods amidst which the Clancings have grown up, and lived and died, ere ever Norman William set his foot on English soil? A man of trade—a man who, by the sweat of his half-starved ...
— Micah Clarke - His Statement as made to his three Grandchildren Joseph, - Gervas and Reuben During the Hard Winter of 1734 • Arthur Conan Doyle
... and tended and caressed me—and Judith only in all the world!—as once you did that boy you spoke of. Ah, madam, and does not sorrow sometimes lie awake o' nights in the low cradle of that child? and sometimes walk with you by day and clasp your hand—much as his tiny hand did once, so trustingly, so like the clutching of a vine—and beg you never to be friends with anything save sorrow? And do you wholeheartedly love those other women's boys—who ...
— The Certain Hour • James Branch Cabell
... suffrage cause by setting foot in polygamous Utah, but this was of no moment to her, for she saw the crying need of the right kind of missionary work among Mormon women, "no Phariseeism, no shudders of Puritanic horror, ... but a simple, loving fraternal clasp of hands with these struggling women" to encourage them ...
— Susan B. Anthony - Rebel, Crusader, Humanitarian • Alma Lutz
... not even rise as he uttered the threat; no man present, Trent least of all, expected that which followed. The Irishman's hand rose suddenly from below the table, an open clasp-knife balanced on the palm; there was a movement swift as conjuring; Trent started half to his feet, turning a little as he rose so as to escape the table, and the movement was his bane. The missile struck him in the jugular; he fell forward, and his blood flowed among ...
— The Wrecker • Robert Louis Stevenson and Lloyd Osbourne
... took out was a small square case covered with dark purple velvet. The tiny clasp was almost rusted away and yielded easily. I gave a little cry of admiration. Aunt Winnifred bent over ...
— Lucy Maud Montgomery Short Stories, 1902 to 1903 • Lucy Maud Montgomery
... of the two met in a strong, steady clasp, then Madge began the story of her discovery in the attic of the secret drawer and its contents, and of how the vow she had made that day had been broken in what promised to be the ...
— Madge Morton's Secret • Amy D. V. Chalmers
... air in which they sat, by the high cold delicate room, by the world outside and the little plash in the court, by the First Empire and the relics in the stiff cabinets, by matters as far off as those and by others as near as the unbroken clasp of her hands in her lap and the look her expression had of being most natural when her eyes were most fixed. "You count upon me of course for something really ...
— The Ambassadors • Henry James
... cab should take us round to the gardens at the back. I carried on my chain a key which would admit us to these and unlock the small gate between them and the kitchens. This plan of action so delighted Horrex that for a moment I feared he was going to clasp my hands. ...
— Two Sides of the Face - Midwinter Tales • Arthur Thomas Quiller-Couch
... tenderness such as she felt for no man besides. It was the nearest approach to love her nature was capable of, and she used to listen to him with more than complacency, while she let her hand linger in his warm clasp while the electric fire passed from one to another and she looked into his eyes, and spoke to him in those sweet undertones that win ...
— The Golden Dog - Le Chien d'Or • William Kirby
... stunned. Idly his hand slid forward across the table. It encountered and closed upon her wrist. Instantly she struggled to be free, whereupon mechanically he tightened his clasp. She made a desperate effort to do something. His other hand sought hers. It grasped one of the three bottles, and even as he determined this fact, she tried again to hurl it to the ground. Frustrated, she relaxed her grip, and ...
— The Leopard Woman • Stewart Edward White et al
... neck, pulled a thin white cap over his ashen face, and then stooped, and securely tied his feet together. The pinioning of the arms, which had been done in the cell, allowed his hands, from the elbows downward, sufficient freedom to clasp on his breast a crucifix, which ever and anon, as he spoke aloud the responses of the litany, the poor young fellow seemed to press closer and closer ...
— The Dock and the Scaffold • Unknown
... you were afraid of crushing it, until you discovered she had a firm little grip all her own. It surprised and amused you, that grip, as does a baby's unexpected clutch on your patronizing forefinger. As Jo felt it in his own big clasp, the strangest thing happened to him. Something inside Jo Hertz stopped working for a moment, then lurched sickeningly, then thumped like mad. It was his heart. He stood staring down at her, and she up at him, until ...
— One Basket • Edna Ferber
... formed themselves into a ring that surrounded the entrance, and through this ring each guest was forced to pass in at one end and out at the other in initiation to Wellington. Jane was chosen to form one "clasp" of the circlet, with two tall seniors at her side. She gave the welcoming pass-word for the juniors, and in her hand ...
— Jane Allen: Junior • Edith Bancroft
... things to be changed without resistance, but this last indignity was too much. She fought, and kicked, and cried, and pushed at the woman with her tiny hands. Poor baby! They were far too small and weak to be of any use. In no time the friendly little clog, with its glistening clasp and bright toe, was gone, and in its place there was an ugly broken-out boot which had once belonged to Bennie. Her work done, Seraminta put the child on the ground and gave her a hard crust to play with. Baby immediately threw it from her with all her ...
— A Pair of Clogs • Amy Walton |
