"Peevishly" Quotes from Famous Books
 ... Madam heartily; then, recalling the business in hand, she added peevishly: "Well, stop talking now ...
— Quin • Alice Hegan Rice
... Washington, General Jackson, Isaac Watts de Spain," retorted Jeffries peevishly. "Don't you know the ...
— Nan of Music Mountain • Frank H. Spearman
... was one of neither honour nor emolument, and it was voluntarily taken up, and peevishly laid down, on the first trifling provocation. With the ship's allowance, no being, less than an angel, could have given satisfaction. The division of beef and pork into as many parcels as there were ...
— Frank Mildmay • Captain Frederick Marryat
... lungs, my new step-brother had no scruples about asserting himself loudly and peevishly at all hours of the day and night; rending the air with prolonged and impatient screams that wounded the sensitive mother's heart deeply, and irritated the rest of the household ...
— The Doctor's Daughter • "Vera"
... ye with it, now that you have found it?" demanded Dick, peevishly; for he was beginning to feel sleepy, and knew that many a weary mile must yet be walked before he could hope ...
— Two Gallant Sons of Devon - A Tale of the Days of Queen Bess • Harry Collingwood
... it may, does not change every hour according to his Lordship's varying humour. He is not a pipe for Fortune's finger, or for his Lordship's Muse, to play what stop she pleases on. Why should Lord Byron now laud him to the skies in the hour of his success, and then peevishly wreak his disappointment on the God of his idolatry? The man he writes of does not rise or fall with circumstances: but "looks on tempests and is never shaken." Besides, he is a subject for history, ...
— Lectures on the English Poets - Delivered at the Surrey Institution • William Hazlitt
... don't keep bothering me when I'm trying to tell you a story," Carl complained peevishly. "You know what I ...
— Carl and the Cotton Gin • Sara Ware Bassett
... begging to go to your bed," the woman answered, peevishly. "You've spoiled him, Mr. Mostyn. He wants to do it every night. He is getting worse ...
— The Desired Woman • Will N. Harben
... thing, Ruth Stuart," returned her cousin, a little peevishly. "You don't understand. Does she, Barbara? Ruth has so much money she simply cannot realize what it means to try to make a good appearance on a small allowance, especially here in Washington where one goes ...
— The Automobile Girls At Washington • Laura Dent Crane
... a little peevishly, "the one I came to, then. It was this: that if we could find to whom Eleanore Leavenworth felt she owed her best duty and love, we should discover the man ...
— The Leavenworth Case • Anna Katharine Green
... anything rather than a provincial accent. It lives entirely in the surfaces of things, and, as the surface of life is frequently rough and prickly, it is frequently uncomfortable. At such times it peevishly darts out its little sting, like a young snake angry with a farmer's boot. It is amusing to watch it venting its spleen in papers the bourgeois never read, in pictures they don't trouble to understand. John Bull's indifference to the 'new' criticism ...
— Prose Fancies • Richard Le Gallienne
... a mistake," she said peevishly, turning in with him to a small room they used as a breakfast-room. "I have been waiting all this time for Lady Langton, and she, I find, has been waiting for me. I'm now going round to take her up. Oh, I have secured that ...
— Elster's Folly • Mrs. Henry Wood
... peevishly. "I know what I'm doing, and if you obey me I'll not be scalded but an instant; for then I'll resume my own form. Remember that I'm a fairy, and fairies can't be killed so easily ...
— Twinkle and Chubbins - Their Astonishing Adventures in Nature-Fairyland • L. Frank (Lyman Frank) Baum
... bewilderment consulted with a man of law. And the lawman answered a little peevishly, by reason of the fact that age had impaired his digestive organs, and he said, "But of course you are a lewd fellow if you have been suspected of ...
— Taboo - A Legend Retold from the Dirghic of Saevius Nicanor, with - Prolegomena, Notes, and a Preliminary Memoir • James Branch Cabell
... been butting into your affairs now?" demanded Nolan peevishly, and though the girls laughed, there was no laughter in his eyes and no ...
— Eve to the Rescue • Ethel Hueston
... you peevishly threw it to her; and her will is it should be so return'd. If it be worth stooping for, there it lies in your eye; if not, be it his that ...
— Twelfth Night; or, What You Will • William Shakespeare [Hudson edition]
... quickly that Janetta, taken by surprise, could not stop him. She tried to follow, but she was too late: he had rushed off, leaving the hall-door open, and a draught of cold air was ascending the stairs and causing her stepmother peevishly to remark that Janetta's visitors were really intolerable. "Who was it, this time?" she asked of her second daughter Georgie, who was standing at the window—the mother and her girls being assembled in Mrs. Colwyn's bedroom, her favorite resort on ...
— A True Friend - A Novel • Adeline Sergeant
... paper very peevishly, and was about to crumple it, apparently to throw it in the fire, when a casual glance at the design seemed suddenly to rivet his attention. In an instant his face grew violently red—in another as excessively pale. For some minutes he continued to scrutinize the drawing minutely where he ...
— The Short-story • William Patterson Atkinson
... make himself acquainted with every smell within twenty yards. He turned over a snail that sat—round and striped like a peppermint bull's-eye—on the short grass, he patted a little beetle that pushed its way across a world of disproportionate size, and then, by peevishly pulling the end of his whip which hung from Mr. Russell's pensive hand, he suggested that the pursuit should continue. So they walked to the crest of wood that stands at the top of the Ring, a compressed tabloid forest, fifty yards from side to side, as round ...
— This Is the End • Stella Benson
... growled the young man peevishly. "Lord, I never dreamed I could get so sick of white skies and what you call fresh air. You farmers go to bed every night praying for rain, and you get up in the morning still praying, and what's the result? Nothing except a whiter sky ...
— Quill's Window • George Barr McCutcheon
... I can't tell you," said Mr. Heron, almost peevishly. "Family affairs, he said. And now he has gone to South America. I don't ...
— Under False Pretences - A Novel • Adeline Sergeant
... look'd I back unto the times hence flown To praise those Muses and dislike our own— Or did I walk those Paean-gardens through, To kick the flowers and scorn their odours too— I might, and justly, be reputed here One nicely mad or peevishly severe. But by Apollo! as I worship wit, Where I have cause to burn perfumes to it; So, I confess, 'tis somewhat to do well In our high art, although we can't excel Like thee, or dare the buskins to unloose Of thy brave, ...
— The Hesperides & Noble Numbers: Vol. 1 and 2 • Robert Herrick
... between the hill-crests and the clouds that spread green and heavy across the sky. I could see the lower fringes of the clouds working and writhing in the wind, but not a sound or a breath was in the air about me. Around me over my roof flew the night-hawks. They were crying peevishly and skimming close to the chimneys, not rising, as usual, to ...
— Roof and Meadow • Dallas Lore Sharp
... somewhat peevishly. "Please let me alone, Uncle, I'll be all right in a minute. Don't any of you bother about me, I'll follow you at my leisure. When I get used to paddling again I'll very soon overtake you even if you have a ...
— The Campfire Girls at Camp Keewaydin • Hildegard G. Frey
... writhing under the exasperating tucker. Maggie would certainly have torn it off, if she had not been checked by the remembrance of her recent humiliation about her hair; as it was, she confined herself to fretting and twisting, and behaving peevishly about the card houses which they were allowed to build till dinner, as a suitable amusement for boys and girls in their best clothes. Tom could build perfect pyramids of houses; but Maggie's would never bear the laying on the roof. It was always so with the things ...
— Journeys Through Bookland, Vol. 7 • Charles H. Sylvester
... trouble," she said peevishly. "I did the best I could for him. Now I can't afford to look after him. I thought of ...
— Helena • Mrs. Humphry Ward
... that THAT MAN kept me in?" she went on peevishly. "Haven't you sense enough to know that he suspects something, and follows me everywhere, dogging my footsteps every time the post comes in, and even going to the post-office himself, to make sure that he sees all my letters? ...
— Openings in the Old Trail • Bret Harte
... would tell us their source and let us help develop it," Satterfield said peevishly, "instead of doling out a handful of crystals every Tenday, there wouldn't be any need of action. Homeside feels they're just letting us have some ...
— Traders Risk • Roger Dee
... Mr. Arithmetic at Jericho!" cried Matty peevishly; "his goods are so heavy—so uninteresting; they make no show; I won't plague myself ...
— The Crown of Success • Charlotte Maria Tucker
... to say next. The doctor had told him that the money he expected would be forthcoming—he resigned himself in patience to await the latter's pleasure. For a moment he glanced at Duvall, however. "You should not have taken it from me," he said, peevishly. ...
— The Ivory Snuff Box • Arnold Fredericks
... said the monarch; "and the muffins of course spoiled!" and he sat down to breakfast very peevishly. Ah, King Louis Philippe, that shot cost thee more than a window-pane—more than a plate of muffins—it cost thee a fair kingdom and fifty millions ...
— Burlesques • William Makepeace Thackeray
... deuce!" he went on peevishly. "We've been trying our utmost to keep it secret. Unless we're quick, there'll be a rush of adventurers from all parts of the world before we can secure the options. Happily the despatch is vague. They don't know all the facts. If they did——" Lowering his voice ...
— The Mask - A Story of Love and Adventure • Arthur Hornblow
... take?" I exclaimed peevishly. But indeed I did not mean to be peevish, nor did I know quite what I said, I was so miserable. Richard sighed as he turned away and answered some question of ...
— Richard Vandermarck • Miriam Coles Harris
... going back of my word, am I, master?" demanded Jones peevishly. "A pack of wenches going ashore with tubs and kettles and bales and such gear is not ...
— Standish of Standish - A story of the Pilgrims • Jane G. Austin
... the taste of water, if I live to be a hundred," the great man was saying peevishly. "To save my soul I can't understand why the Lord made anything so ...
— The Romance of a Plain Man • Ellen Glasgow
... days, simply went gravely about the myriad tasks that awaited her, directing the stupid Bele, helping the white haired Margot, sitting proudly at the head of the table smiling across at a black eyed old gentleman who muttered and fumbled peevishly at his food or quite forgot to eat at all until she coaxed him. She always smiled at dinner; one should smile at dinner even though one feels very, very sad. And after dinner one must make an attempt to give a querulous old man his game ...
— Little Miss By-The-Day • Lucille Van Slyke
... to expostulate. "Now, Lucile—" he began peevishly. The Beaubien held up a hand. Gannette glowered and sank down in his chair ...
— Carmen Ariza • Charles Francis Stocking
... announced the word concurro to his amanuensis, the scribe, imagining from the sound that the six first letters would give the translation of the verb, said "Concur, sir, I suppose?'' to which the Doctor peevishly replied, "Concur—condog!'' and in the edition of 1678 "condog'' is printed as one interpretation of concurro. Now, an answer to this story is that, however odd a word "condog'' may appear, it will be found in Henry Cockeram's English Dictionarie, first published in ...
— Literary Blunders • Henry B. Wheatley
... half scornfully, half peevishly. "I came not here to talk of you, but of my nephew. Why did he ...
— The Suitors of Yvonne • Raphael Sabatini
... for you, John," she said peevishly. "Mr. Bagley told me you were somewhere in the ...
— The Lion and The Mouse - A Story Of American Life • Charles Klein
... Shenstone's retirement on every occasion, and therefore often went to the principal points of view, without waiting for anyone to conduct them regularly through the whole walks. Of this Mr. Shenstone would sometimes peevishly complain." ...
— A History of English Romanticism in the Eighteenth Century • Henry A. Beers
... cheese,' the stranger answered peevishly, 'nor lentil porridge. And what is this I smell, my friend?' he continued, beginning suddenly to sniff with vigour. 'I swear I ...
— A Gentleman of France • Stanley Weyman
... velvet with heavy Venetian lace, and the younger in black silk, with old Honiton. Neither of them did much towards enlivening the conversation. Mrs. Ramshorn, whose dinner had as yet gained in interest with her years, sat peevishly longing for its arrival, but cast every now and then a look of mild satisfaction upon her nephew, which, however, while it made her eyes sweeter, did not much alter the expression of her mouth. Helen improved, as she fancied, the arrangement of a few green-house flowers in an ugly ...
— Thomas Wingfold, Curate • George MacDonald
... unearned mercies; and then, how, if we set our hearts on anything which we have not got, forget all that we have already, and begin entreating God to give us something which, if we had, we know not whether it would be good for us; like children crying peevishly for sweets, after their parents have given them all the wholesome food they need. Ah! that we would offer to God more frankly the sacrifice of thanksgiving! So we should do God justice, by confessing all we ...
— All Saints' Day and Other Sermons • Charles Kingsley
... thought, that it is as one who peevishly resents the improvements made in mechanical and other departments of knowledge, we dwell upon these particulars. We are quite awake to the fact that the world turns round, and although the consequence ...
— The Lost Hunter - A Tale of Early Times • John Turvill Adams
... anything," he grumbled peevishly. "Ah, there you are, Grant. I want to see whether we can make anything of this. Let me have a little graphite, ...
— The Grell Mystery • Frank Froest
... like to know what you want to keep it for," Sam said peevishly, and, with the suggestion of a sneer, he added, "I s'pose you think somebody'll pay about a hunderd dollars reward or something, on account ...
— Penrod and Sam • Booth Tarkington
... peevishly exclaimed "OLD CONNECTICUT." "It would serve you right if they bayonetted you;" and she added emphasis to her expostulation by planting her chignon between ...
— Punchinello, Volume 2, No. 37, December 10, 1870 • Various
... about that to-morrow," said Mark peevishly. "This hurts horribly. I say, don't say anything to my father about my fighting alongside that young Darley. I was obliged ...
— The Black Tor - A Tale of the Reign of James the First • George Manville Fenn
... until I am dead," returned Mr. Raymond peevishly. "It was nothing—nothing at all. All that occurred I will tell you, since I was foolish enough to speak of it in the first instance. James said he wanted Helen to be much with you. 'You know how those childish intimacies end,' I replied to him—'in deep attachment ...
— Lippincott's Magazine, Vol. 22, August, 1878 • Various
... presence. My lord sat silent at his dinner, drinking greatly, his lady opposite to him, looking furtively at his face, though also speechless. Her silence annoyed him as much as her speech; and he would peevishly, and with an oath, ask her why she held her tongue and looked so glum, or he would roughly check her when speaking, and bid her not talk nonsense. It seemed as if, since his return, nothing she could do or ...
— Henry Esmond; The English Humourists; The Four Georges • William Makepeace Thackeray
... peevishly. 'How do you know I am old? Not so old as you think, friend, perhaps. As to being ill, you will find many young people in worse case than I am. More's the pity that it should be so—not that I should be strong and hearty ...
— The Old Curiosity Shop • Charles Dickens
... Be quiet, [peevishly withdrawing it.] And down she sat; a gentle palpitation in the beauty of beauties indicating a mingled sullenness and resentment; her snowy handkerchief rising and falling, and a sweet ...
— Clarissa, Volume 4 (of 9) - History Of A Young Lady • Samuel Richardson
... conclusion of his despatch Nicias peevishly complains of the exacting temper of the Athenians, and their readiness to blame anyone but themselves if anything untoward occurred. Whatever may be the truth of the general charge, it was most ill-timed and ungrateful in his own case. Towards him, at least, the conduct of his fellow- ...
— Stories From Thucydides • H. L. Havell
... studied—tried comfort, and fancied it relaxed her—tried rebuke, and that made it worse; tried the showing her Francois de Sales' admirable counsel to Philothee, to be 'doux envers soi,' and saw she appreciated and admired it; but she was not an atom more douce envers soi when she had next spoken peevishly. ...
— The Pillars of the House, V1 • Charlotte M. Yonge
... peevishly, for she had had whisky enough only to make her cross, and turned away, muttering however in an undertone, but not too low for Janet to hear, "but there's nae mony wee Sir Gibbies, or the warl' wadna be sae ...
— Sir Gibbie • George MacDonald
... number nine foot!" he replied, peevishly. "I want to get back to civilization and set an excavating party with pickaxes ...
— The Clicking of Cuthbert • P. G. Wodehouse
... enough, sometimes," returned Aunt Sally, peevishly. "That's when she got angry with ...
— Jessica, the Heiress • Evelyn Raymond
... said the thin Santa Claus peevishly. "Mebby you noticed I didn't say nothing when you spoke about that padlock being busted? Mebby you noticed how careful I looked over your chicken coop, and how I looked over the fence into the next yard? Well, I won't fool you. I ain't no chicken-yard inspector, and ...
— The Thin Santa Claus - The Chicken Yard That Was a Christmas Stocking • Ellis Parker Butler
... replied Everett a trifle peevishly. "Shortly after Mr. Bince was made assistant general manager a new rule was promulgated, to the effect that all salaries and wages were to be considered as confidential and that no one but the assistant general ...
— The Efficiency Expert • Edgar Rice Burroughs
... nonsense, Violet," cried Mrs. Tempest peevishly. "Who said I had changed my mind? I am as devoted to Conrad as he is to me. I should be a heartless wretch if I could throw him over at the last moment. But this has been a most agitating day. Your unkindness is ...
— Vixen, Volume II. • M. E. Braddon
... her if I ever am so," said the poor Italian, with all his natural gallantry. Many a good wife, who thinks it is a reproach to her if her husband is ever 'out of spirits,' might have turned peevishly from that speech more elegant than sincere, and so have made bad worse. But Mrs. Riccabocca took her husband's proffered hand affectionately, and said with ...
— The International Monthly, Volume 3, No. 2, May, 1851 • Various
... keeping up a gruff talk, but a more unreasonable lot of men, he said afterwards, he had never been with. They were snug enough there, out of harm's way, and not wanted to do anything, either; and yet they did nothing but grumble and complain peevishly like so many sick kids. Finally, one of them said that if there had been at least some light to see each other's noses by, it wouldn't be so bad. It was making him crazy, he declared, to lie there in the dark waiting for the blamed hooker ...
— Typhoon • Joseph Conrad
... would let a fellow know what time you were coming," Arthur said, rather peevishly, but with an attempt at a smile. "I didn't expect you till evening, so I was having a shack before dressing. I ...
— A Monk of Cruta • E. Phillips Oppenheim
... can't talk as well when you stand," insisted Mrs. Graves, peevishly. "Frederick! What's happened to you since your father died? That squatter girl's turned your head. I know it. She's completely ...
— The Secret of the Storm Country • Grace Miller White
... protested almost peevishly. "Please not to suggest by pitying her that I have not represented there a fine, big, strong thing, built to stand up under anything! I could slay, with pleasure, at any time"—he diverged, carried away by a long-standing disgust,—"the pestiferous asses who call my ...
— Aurora the Magnificent • Gertrude Hall
... like this arrangement," McVay broke out peevishly. "Suppose, for the sake of argument, that I did forget,—that I put my hand on your shoulder—a very ...
— The Burglar and the Blizzard • Alice Duer Miller
... sir," he said, peevishly. "My lady's got her hands full enough. We chaps know how to manage with clean water, fresh bit o' linen, and keep quiet in the sunshine, and natur' does all the rest. We're getting on ...
— The Young Castellan - A Tale of the English Civil War • George Manville Fenn
... the opinion of this butterfly to me? yet its sarcasm stung me: what was Clotilde to me? yet I involuntary wished the Marquis de Montrecour at the bottom of the Channel; or what knew I of French tastes, or cared about trousseaux? yet, at that moment, I peevishly determined to take no more rambles in the direction of the Emigrant cottages, and to return to town at once, and see what sort of absurdity a French marriage present looked at my first step in ...
— Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine, Volume 54, No. 334, August 1843 • Various
... mass of dust and rocket fumes which cut off all sight of everything else. Then there was a crunching crash, and the engineer swore peevishly to himself. He cut the rockets ...
— Sand Doom • William Fitzgerald Jenkins
... see why we all should stay because you choose to doctor an old donkey," said Herbert peevishly. "Come along, Lizzie and Carry; if you don't come at once we'll lose the best part of the ...
— Carry's Rose - or, the Magic of Kindness. A Tale for the Young • Mrs. George Cupples
... pounds in the Bank, mother, that grandma left me. Father can have that if it would be any use." She had made the offer with an effort, for Dorothy liked to have a hundred pounds of her own. What little girl would not? But her mother answered peevishly: "It would be no more use than if you offered him a halfpenny. Don't ...
— The Empire Annual for Girls, 1911 • Various
... from him." Peevishly, she exclaimed: "Don't talk to me about this thing. Why can't you leave me alone? I'm miserable enough, ...
— The Easiest Way - A Story of Metropolitan Life • Eugene Walter and Arthur Hornblow
... John want to live in such a place for?" said Lillie, peevishly. "There are plenty of servants to be got in New York; and that's the only place fit to live in. Well, it's no affair of mine! Tell John he married me, and must take care of me. He must settle it some way: I shan't trouble my ...
— Pink and White Tyranny - A Society Novel • Harriet Beecher Stowe
... said the inventor peevishly, "why do you tack on these petty details to my grand conception? It is the idea I want to sell; other people can use it. Now, will the government ...
— The Galaxy - Vol. 23, No. 1 • Various
... Ravenswood, raising his head peevishly, "you had forborne so early a jest, Mr. Hayston; it is really no pleasure to lose the very short repose which I had just begun to enjoy, after a night spent in thoughts upon fortune far ...
— Bride of Lammermoor • Sir Walter Scott
... fretfully repulsed; then Dr. Lavendar made a sign, and Simmons laid his thin old hand on it, and Benjamin Wright gave a contented sigh. After a while he opened that one eye again, and looked at Dr. Lavendar; "Isn't it cus-customary on such occasions, to—admonish?" he said, peevishly; "you ain't doing your ...
— The Awakening of Helena Richie • Margaret Deland
... rather peevishly, "I wanted no additional illustration of the instability of fortune though I would thank thee, Sir Hakim, for the choice of a steed for me, would the jade but stumble so effectually as at once to break my neck and ...
— The Talisman • Sir Walter Scott
... selfish jealousy, and went away in a pet. The father, on every side true to his character, came out and pleaded with him to enter and share the common joy. Hereupon the true character of the soi-disant model son is revealed; he peevishly casts it in his father's face, as a reproach, that he had never provided such a feast for his ...
— The Parables of Our Lord • William Arnot
... soothing tones, evidently pointing out my presence. The woman fixed on me her large eyes, luminous with fever. I stepped nearer. "Is there anything I can do for you?" I inquired in French. "No one can do anything for me except God and the blessed Virgin," she replied peevishly, "and they are punishing me for my sins. Yes, for my sins," she went on, raising her voice and speaking in a rambling delirious way, "because I have consorted with infidels and blasphemers. Vassili was good to me; we ...
— A Girl Among the Anarchists • Isabel Meredith
... trinkets, &c., were now begged for; but it was explained that such things were private property belonging to the Sit (lady). "The Sit! the Sit! the Sit!" the young cub peevishly exclaimed; "everything that is worth having seems to ...
— Ismailia • Samuel W. Baker
... toward the chairs, and eying the Iroquois with that curiosity with which one eyes a new species of animal. Next his gaze fell upon Brother Jacques, whose look, burning and intense, aroused a sense of impatience in the marquis's breast. "Monsieur," he said peevishly, "have not the women told you that you are too handsome ...
— The Grey Cloak • Harold MacGrath
... like the set-up in town," Red was saying peevishly. "That smooth mouthpiece is asking too darn many questions. He's always asking Simpson about things in the past. If you hadn't got Sim that family history to study, he'd been behind bars a dozen ...
— Ralestone Luck • Andre Norton
... felt as if he could walk for ever. Automobiles whirred past, hooting peevishly, but he heeded them not. Dogs trotted out to exchange civilities, but he ignored them. The poison in his blood drove ...
— Uneasy Money • P.G. Wodehouse
... (peevishly).—"Without doubt. You have had gratified ambition, a great career. Envy you! who would not? Your own objects in life fulfilled: you coveted distinction,—you won it; fortune,—your wealth is immense; the restoration of your ...
— What Will He Do With It, Complete • Edward Bulwer-Lytton
... Captain, a trifle peevishly. "Can you not understand that in my own way I am serving my country. You have called me a brigand. But you might say the same of General Dumouriez himself. How many ...
— The Trampling of the Lilies • Rafael Sabatini
... me himself?" said Lady Otway, peevishly, blaming her servants for not living up to ...
— Night and Day • Virginia Woolf
... of his soul, that he would never forget the affront on this side of death's door. The inevitable increase of dignity which communicated itself to the manners of my whole household did the rest; and if my wife held her head high, never was pride more peevishly retorted. Like the performers in a pillory, we seemed to have been elevated only for the benefit ...
— The Mirror of Literature, Amusement, and Instruction, Vol. 12, - Issue 348, December 27, 1828 • Various
... informed us with a grin, that this sort of "fine rain" often lasted for a fortnight. Sometimes we passed little villages built in damp holes, where trees, cottages, women scampering backwards and forwards peevishly on domestic errands, big boys with empty sacks over their heads and shoulders, gossiping gloomily against barn walls, and ill-conditioned pigs grunting for admission at closed kitchen doors, all looked soaked through and through together. Nothing, in short, could be ...
— Rambles Beyond Railways; - or, Notes in Cornwall taken A-foot • Wilkie Collins
... bon le regarder?" he said, peevishly. "If it must come, it will come. Or is it the poor cardinal you pity? That was a good name they invented for him, ...
— Sunrise • William Black
... welcome him, and several voices were raised to ask what he would have, and several hands were busy with bottle and glass to serve him; but I knew a smoking tumbler of brandy-and-water would comfort him best, and had nearly prepared it, when he peevishly pushed it ...
— The Tenant of Wildfell Hall • Anne Bronte
... said the old Duke. But the Prime Minister again shook his head and turned the subject. With all his timidity he was becoming autocratic and peevishly imperious. Then he went to Lord Cantrip, and when Lord Cantrip, with all the kindness which he could throw into his words, stated the reasons which induced him at present to decline office, he was again ...
— The Prime Minister • Anthony Trollope
... he said peevishly; "it's worse than the heat. Do you know what's happened? The chief has saddled Old Signal Corps on me. Yes, sir, I've got to take his old pet, the major, on the city staff. It seems he's succeeded in losing what little property he had—the chief told me some ...
— The Escape of Mr. Trimm - His Plight and other Plights • Irvin S. Cobb
... rainbow touches the ground, they used to announce at times, in language which terrified old Mr. Leigh. One day, indeed, as Eustace entered his father's private room, after his usual visit to the mill, he could hear voices high in dispute; Parsons as usual, blustering; Mr. Leigh peevishly deprecating, and Campian, who was really the sweetest-natured of men, trying to pour oil on the troubled waters. Whereat Eustace (for the good of the cause, of ...
— Westward Ho! • Charles Kingsley
... That question could not but arise in her mind, though, for very reverence she dared not put it to her mother; and with it arose the recollection of her mother's strange silence about the matter. Why had she put away the subject, carelessly, and yet peevishly, when it was mentioned? Yes. Why? Did her mother know anything? Was she—? Grace dared not pronounce the adjective, even in thought; dashed it away as a temptation of the devil; dashed away, too, the thought which had forced itself on her too often ...
— Two Years Ago, Volume I • Charles Kingsley
... the ship, who heard her stir, came to offer her some refreshment; and she, who formerly received every offer of kindness or civility with pleasure, now shrunk away disgusted: peevishly she desired him not to disturb her; but the words were hardly articulated when her heart smote her, she called him back, and requested something to drink. After drinking it, fatigued by her mental exertions, ...
— Mary - A Fiction • Mary Wollstonecraft
... She took no heed of that, and indeed little heed of them. To tell the truth, she was ashamed to confess, but it was the truth, she felt rather tired of them that evening. Their affair deserved every laudatory epithet, except that of interesting; so she declared peevishly within herself as she tried to join in conversation with them. It was no use. They talked on, and in justice to them it may be urged that they were fully as bored with Mary as she was with them; so naturally their talents did not shine their brightest. ...
— The Secret of the Tower • Hope, Anthony
... with his hands, as if warding off something hostile from him; his mind appeared to be tormented by evil thoughts. Thus he behaved during the course of one whole morning. Finally he sat down to his work-table; but he soon leapt up again peevishly and looked out of the window, saying moodily and earnestly, 'I wish after all that Henrietta of England had worn my ornaments.' These words struck terror to my heart. Now I knew that his warped mind was again enslaved by the abominable spectre of murder, and that the voice ...
— Weird Tales, Vol. II. • E. T. A. Hoffmann
... playing at backgammon with the high-priest, and who came every October to converse with Solomon, though she did not understand a word of Hebrew, hearing the noise, came running out of her dressing-room; and seeing the king with a squalling child in his arms, asked him peevishly, if it became his reputed wisdom to expose himself with his bastards to all the court? Solomon, instead of replying, kept singing, "We have a little sister, and she has no breasts;" which so provoked the Sheban princess, that ...
— Hieroglyphic Tales • Horace Walpole
... a good hour," repeated Mrs. Ellis. "It is now six o'clock, and it wanted three minutes to five when he left. I do hope he won't forget that I told him half black and half green—he is so forgetful!" And Mrs. Ellis rubbed her spectacles and looked peevishly out of the window as she concluded.—"Where can he be?" she resumed, looking in the direction in which he might be expected. "Oh, here he comes, and Caddy with him. They have just turned the corner—open the door and let ...
— The Garies and Their Friends • Frank J. Webb
... just now?" he growled peevishly, without looking up. "Confound you and your mother! What did she want? What ...
— Almayer's Folly - A Story of an Eastern River • Joseph Conrad
... grave little bow, and vanished into the house. But here, I regret to say, her lady-like calm also vanished. She upbraided her mother peevishly for obliging her to seek the escort of Mr. Briggs in her necessary exercise, and flung herself with an ...
— Jeff Briggs's Love Story • Bret Harte
... on his favourite subject, was delighted with the condescension of the beautiful and stately listener, and did not notice that she was scarcely listening; did not notice also that Mrs. Heron was looking discontented and sniffing peevishly, and that Isabel's face wore an expression of jealousy and resentment. The fact was, that the poor man had quite forgotten the other young woman—and the other ...
— At Love's Cost • Charles Garvice
... the marshal peevishly; 'take my word for it, it was not the wine, but those six months in the damp dungeon at Ingolstadt that gave me the ...
— The Young Carpenters of Freiberg - A Tale of the Thirty Years' War • Anonymous
... the love-making of his characters. 'Halbert kicked Jim's shins under the table, and whispered: "You've lost your money, old fellow!"' when Sam Buckley, flushed and happy, rejoined his friends in the sitting-room at Garoopna, after proposing to Alice in the garden. Jim Brentwood had peevishly bet his friend that the lovers would go on shilly-shallying half their lives; but Halbert, with keener vision, had foreseen the very hour of their betrothal, and made a bet of five pounds on the event. More comical ...
— Australian Writers • Desmond Byrne
... peevishly, "that the bad manners of these crop ears will spoil the very heathens themselves at last. Whoever heard of an Indian before who refused drink ...
— The Knight of the Golden Melice - A Historical Romance • John Turvill Adams
... preceded me," peevishly murmured Ostermann. "Well, well, we can afford once more to yield the precedence to him. To-day he—to-morrow I! My turn ...
— The Daughter of an Empress • Louise Muhlbach
... invaluable stone, with which the greatest monarch on earth might have been proud to adorn his palace. Especially the man with spectacles, who had sneered at all the company in turn, now twisted his visage into such an expression of ill-natured mirth that Matthew asked him rather peevishly what he himself meant to do with ...
— Twice Told Tales • Nathaniel Hawthorne
... Adventure in industrial enterprise is the business man's great monopoly. His impetus is not due to his desire to create wealth but to exploit it, and he secures its creation by "paying men off." Commonly he is peevishly expectant that those he pays off will have a creative intention toward the work he pays them to do, although in the scheme of industry which he supports the opportunity provided for such intention is negligible. An efficiency engineer ...
— Creative Impulse in Industry - A Proposition for Educators • Helen Marot
... with our stay at Aldborough," he broke out, peevishly. "You know as well as I do, Lecount, it all depends on you. Mrs. Lecount has a brother in Switzerland," he went on, addressing himself to the captain—"a brother who is seriously ill. If he gets worse, she will have to go the re to see him. I can't accompany ...
— No Name • Wilkie Collins
... the friendly move,' observed the last-named gentleman, rubbing his knees peevishly, 'one of my objections to it is, that it ...
— Our Mutual Friend • Charles Dickens
... down to dinner with M. de Cussy when the negro who waited on them announced Captain Blood. Peevishly M. de Rivarol bade him be admitted, and there entered now into his presence a spruce and modish gentleman, dressed with care and sombre richness in black and silver, his swarthy, clear-cut face scrupulously ...
— Captain Blood • Rafael Sabatini
... been running high, their faces showed it, but just then a silence reigned as though the disputants were weary, and the king leaned back in his chair, passing his hand to and fro across his forehead. He looked up, and seeing the bishop, asked peevishly: ...
— The Brethren • H. Rider Haggard
... ain't so much what a woman really spinds," said Jimmy, peevishly, as he shoved the money into his pocket, and pulled on his mittens. "It's what you know she would spind if ...
— At the Foot of the Rainbow • Gene Stratton-Porter
... himself what emotion produced this wild unrest. After laying his flute aside, he took up Livy, which lay always upon his writing-table, and tried to read a chapter; but the letters danced before his eyes, and his thoughts wandered far away from the old Roman. He threw the book peevishly aside, and, folding his arms, walked rapidly ...
— Berlin and Sans-Souci • Louise Muhlbach
... very well," said Madison, peevishly, "but I realize the necessity,—and that the papers should be read as extensively in Virginia as here. I will write a few, and more ...
— The Conqueror • Gertrude Franklin Atherton
... a wry face and pushed the door peevishly; it shut with a spring, and no mortal power or ingenuity could now ...
— It Is Never Too Late to Mend • Charles Reade |
