"Apologetic" Quotes from Famous Books
 ... Gallagher stopped growling at each other when the priest spoke. Dr. O'Grady sat upright in his chair and bent his head towards the door. There was a moment's silence in the room and a very faint, as it were an apologetic, knock was heard at ...
— General John Regan - 1913 • George A. Birmingham
... we feel so apologetic for the voice of the piazza? All popular government, even in the limited form of a constitutional monarchy such as Italy, is a rough, uncertain affair. "The House of Savoy rules by executing the will of ...
— The World Decision • Robert Herrick
... the desperate rising of the Jews, which sealed their national doom throughout the Diaspora. At least he did not survive to describe it. His last work that has come down to us is the Life, which is an apologetic pamphlet, perversely self-vilifying, in which he sought to refute the accusation of his rival Justus of Tiberias, that he had taken a commanding part in the war against the Romans in Galilee, and had been the guiding spirit ...
— Josephus • Norman Bentwich
... to any company, but not yours in particular." "Has someone else a prior claim?" he smilingly asked. "Believe me, Miss Sherwood," he added, in an apologetic tone, "I am not ...
— Miss Dexie - A Romance of the Provinces • Stanford Eveleth
... the Iago of Mohun, and the Cassio of Hart. Now, was this Mrs. Hughes, who had been a member of Killigrew's company from the first, the Desdemona on whose behalf, nine years before, Mr. Thomas Jordan wrote his apologetic prologue? It seems not unlikely. At the same time it must be stated that there are other claimants to the distinction. Tradition long pointed to Mrs. Betterton, the wife of the famous tragedian, as the first ...
— A Book of the Play - Studies and Illustrations of Histrionic Story, Life, and Character • Dutton Cook
... him did not leave me unimpressed. He was a tall, stately man, distinguished in appearance, and of a serious and calm temperament. He gave me to understand, in a touching, almost apologetic manner, that the essence of his education and of his aversion from the new tendencies in music, had its origin in the first impressions he had received on hearing, as a very young boy, Mozart's Magic Flute, a work which was quite new at that time, and which had a great influence ...
— My Life, Volume I • Richard Wagner
... at once too fascinated by the story and puzzled by his host's manner of telling it to maintain his apologetic attitude. ...
— The Great Impersonation • E. Phillips Oppenheim
... driver was bending over me, and had introduced his hand into one of my pockets; but the incident ended without serious consequences. When I caught the delinquent hand, and demanded an explanation from the owner, he replied, in an apologetic, caressing tone, that the night was cold, and he wished to warm his fingers; and when I advised him to use for that purpose his own pockets rather than mine, he promised to act in future according to my advice. More than once, it is true, ...
— Russia • Donald Mackenzie Wallace
... Podtyagin having thought of an apologetic phrase which would satisfy the passenger without lowering his own dignity, walks into the carriage. "Sir," he addresses the invalid. "Listen, sir. ...
— The Schoolmaster and Other Stories • Anton Chekhov
... Dickenson's understanding, but not their full extent. His hands dropped to his lap, and he looked up, gazing round in a strangely bewildered way, his lower lip quivering, and his voice sounding pathetically apologetic. ...
— The Kopje Garrison - A Story of the Boer War • George Manville Fenn
... her father. Her detractors pronounced her utterly destitute of natural affection; and even her eulogists, when they spoke of the way in which she had discharged the duties of the filial relation, were forced to speak in a subdued and apologetic tone. Nothing therefore could be more unfortunate than that she should a second time appear unmindful of the ties of consanguinity. She was now at open war with both the two persons who were nearest to her in blood. Many who thought that her conduct towards ...
— The History of England from the Accession of James II. - Volume 4 (of 5) • Thomas Babington Macaulay
... was very apologetic. "I just stumbled a teeny bit. You see I'm in such a hurry because Miss Thorley's going to take me to the lake and I must carry Jenny Lind downstairs and tell Aunt Kate and be at the front door in a jiffy." She would have darted on ...
— Mary Rose of Mifflin • Frances R. Sterrett
... Pyecroft. "It is our duty to speak frankly, and to make due inquiry into the propriety of such relations. However, since you say so, I am sure the affair is strictly correct." His voice softened, became nobly apologetic. "No harm has been meant, and if any offense has been felt, I assure you ...
— No. 13 Washington Square • Leroy Scott
... showed that she took this as an apologetic allusion to his reduced condition, and in his haste to correct this impression he added: "If I regretted anything in my other life, it would certainly be a gallop on a day like this; but I chose my trade deliberately, and I've never been sorry ...
— The Fruit of the Tree • Edith Wharton
... willing should be administered to them. If slavery was ordained of God to the Hebrews, it must, therefore, have been benevolent. If we start with the doctrine that 'Slavery is the sum of all villanies,' no wonder that we find it necessary to use extenuating words and a sort of apologetic, protecting manner of treating the divine oracles. After all it is evidently hard work, with many anti-slavery men to maintain that reverence for the Old Testament and that confidence in God which they feel are required ...
— The Sable Cloud - A Southern Tale With Northern Comments (1861) • Nehemiah Adams
... Christian theology probably heightens the appeal of the system to those who are most at home in a new faith as they discover there the familiar phrases of their older faith, but it weakens the fundamental Christian Science apologetic. I think, however, we ought justly to recognize this as simply an inevitable aspect in the transition of Christian Science from the orthodox faith and experience of historic Christianity to a faith and experience of ...
— Modern Religious Cults and Movements • Gaius Glenn Atkins
... chair, and was looking into the fire while the two men were speaking. She had done what she was told to do, and was waiting quietly for what was to come next. Her quick ear, however, caught, in the tones of John Petersham, an apologetic tone when speaking of her grandfather, and she was ...
— With Wolfe in Canada - The Winning of a Continent • G. A. Henty
... moment Cardo was speechless with astonishment, but not for long, for, in answer to Valmai's apologetic, "Oh! Cardo, it's me; it's only me, whatever!" she was folded in his arms, and pressed so close to his heart that her breath came and went in a gasp half of fright and ...
— By Berwen Banks • Allen Raine
... lean gentleman with a sallow, clean-shaven face and an apologetic, almost frightened ...
— Thelma • Marie Corelli
... the day the wind freshened again, and, in obedience to his previous orders, Jake was awakened, the man at the helm saying in an apologetic tone: ...
— The Search for the Silver City - A Tale of Adventure in Yucatan • James Otis
... mostly careless, Miss Ross,' she explained in an apologetic manner; 'and Hannah is no better than the rest, so I always wash up mother's china myself. It would worry me more than I am already if a cup ...
— Lover or Friend • Rosa Nouchette Carey
... sir,' said the captain, in an apologetic undertone, 'since 'tis her brother, and she's all alone, 'tis only nater to wait a minute, now he's in sight. Suppose, now, you were a young woman, as might be, and had a brother, like this one, and you stood of an evening upon this here wild lonely shore, like her, why you'd ...
— Desperate Remedies • Thomas Hardy
... pompous, very stiff, and yet apologetic. He considered the whole affair in which he had become ...
— The Devil's Paw • E. Phillips Oppenheim
... to his feet. In less than two minutes he reappeared and approached Harry with an apologetic smile. "Would you excuse me a couple minutes, Harry?" he asked. "I got to run over to the grocer for a box of soap powder. Our girl threw ...
— Abe and Mawruss - Being Further Adventures of Potash and Perlmutter • Montague Glass
... indignant letter is dated Nov. 23, 1710. It produced an apologetic reply from the Archbishop (Nov. 30, 1710), who represented that the letter to Southwell was a snare laid in his way, since if he declined signing it, it might have been interpreted into disrespect to the Duke of Ormond. Of the bishops King said, "You cannot do yourself ...
— The Journal to Stella • Jonathan Swift
... help it, indeed I could not," answered Dicky in an apologetic tone; "you did look ...
— Salt Water - The Sea Life and Adventures of Neil D'Arcy the Midshipman • W. H. G. Kingston
... out that he was a detective fresh from Dublin, who had taken it into his head that she was Stephens, and was most apologetic, as well as crestfallen, at ...
— The Reminiscences of an Irish Land Agent • S.M. Hussey
... and persons in high places during the opening period of the Christian aera; or Tacitus in his "History" gives us a very wrong account of them; his views of them are, if not favourable, lenient or apologetic: they do not seem to have had the vices and faults of most men; Tacitus has otherwise successfully thrown a veil over them. Were the whole truth known, it might be found that there is a shameful exaggeration of the ...
— Tacitus and Bracciolini - The Annals Forged in the XVth Century • John Wilson Ross
... the dining-room was cleared for dancing, so that the guests might feel freedom and gaiety in the air. And, indeed, presently, a couple began sawing up and down over the polished boards, in the apologetic manner peculiar to hotel guests. Then three pairs of Italians suddenly launched themselves into space—twirling and twirling, and glaring into each other's eyes; and some Americans, stimulated by their precept, began airily backing and filling. Two of the 'English Grundys' with ...
— Forsyte Saga • John Galsworthy
... William Adolphus's attitude was less apologetic than it had been before marriage; he had made Victoria mother to a fine baby, and claimed the just credit. He was jovial, familiar, and, if I may so express myself, brotherly to the last degree. Happily, however, he interpreted his more assured position as enabling ...
— The King's Mirror • Anthony Hope
... I don't think I ought ter let anybody talk to him," said Small in an apologetic tone. "I don't see why Sarge always gives ...
— Three Soldiers • John Dos Passos
... mission to his Excellency," was the apologetic reply. "I am sorry to have caused displeasure to ...
— The Great Impersonation • E. Phillips Oppenheim
... scraps of Miss Burn's day-by-day log, smuggled out of the workhouse. Miss Burns is so gifted a writer that I feel apologetic for using these scraps in their raw form, but I know she ...
— Jailed for Freedom • Doris Stevens
... last six words of the book tell you that "His smile was good to see." And naturally he wouldn't have been smiling like that if he had not been enfolding the heroine in his strong arms. But before this happy moment we had a lot to get through. Miles on recovery had told the properly apologetic Germaine that she must never, never let anybody else know about the dagger business, and she said she wouldn't. Personally, if I had been Germaine, I should have done the same. Later in life, reflecting upon this injunction, and discovering ...
— Punch or the London Charivari, Vol. 147, October 21, 1914 • Various
... feinted in an absent-minded manner, made swift and confusing circles with his left hand, and hit Bill Wrenn on the aforesaid bloody nose, which immediately became a bleeding nose. Bill Wrenn felt dizzy and, sitting on a grain-sack, listened amazedly to the Cockney's apologetic: ...
— Our Mr. Wrenn - The Romantic Adventures of a Gentle Man • Sinclair Lewis
... in such an apologetic tone," replied Malcolm. "If you knew how my soul abhors picnics and water-parties! It is really too delightful to know that I may enjoy your society in peace for three whole days. By the bye, ...
— Herb of Grace • Rosa Nouchette Carey
... not unlike the days that had gone before. There was the same apologetic rush in the morning, the same monotonous succession of buyers and near-buyers at the counter, the same glitter and sparkle and chatter—the youth, and love, and laughter. Then at night ...
— The Tangled Threads • Eleanor H. Porter
... wheels grating on the gravel at the front door, and Maurice's voice, subdued and apologetic, she pushed her chair away from the table, rushed through the pantry and up the back stairs. She didn't know why she fled. She only knew that she couldn't face Eleanor, who would sit with Maurice while he bolted a supper for which—though ...
— The Vehement Flame • Margaret Wade Campbell Deland
... man in Prencess Anne. He's the richest. He's the freest. He never courted no other gal. He ain't got no quar old women runnin' of him down—caze Misc Somers is dreffle afraid of him!" This last remark seemed apologetic and ...
— The Entailed Hat - Or, Patty Cannon's Times • George Alfred Townsend
... been so much occupied my lad," the merchant said, in a kind of apologetic tone, "as to have entirely forgotten my promise to you. But I will see about it. Come ...
— The Lights and Shadows of Real Life • T.S. Arthur
... cloud had passed from old Fog's face, and he drew up his chair confidentially. 'You see how it is,' he began in an apologetic tone; 'that child is the darling of my life, and I could not resist taking those things for her; she has so few books, and she likes those little ...
— Castle Nowhere • Constance Fenimore Woolson
... along down the road, deeply preoccupied in his forthcoming sermon, there came from out of a hole, situated somewhere between the grizzled fringe of hair that marked Bud's whiskers and the grizzled fringe above that marked his eyebrows, a piping, apologetic voice that sounded like the first few rasps of an old rusty saw; but to the occupant of the buggy it ...
— The Bishop of Cottontown - A Story of the Southern Cotton Mills • John Trotwood Moore
... should have made a grievous mistake. It is true that I afterwards experienced a good many stormy days in the United States, and found that the predominant weather in all parts of the country was, to judge from my apologetic hosts, the "exceptional;" but none the less I revelled in the bright blue, clear, sunny days with which America is so abundantly blessed, and came to sympathise very deeply with the depression that sometimes overtakes the American exile during his sojourn on our fog-bound coasts. ...
— The Land of Contrasts - A Briton's View of His American Kin • James Fullarton Muirhead
... on through their basket of clams, and now the last were sputtering on the stove. The work had been done almost in silence, for though the excitement now and then made Reuben break into a low whistle of some tune or other, he always checked himself the next moment with a very apologetic look. For the rest, if he had not done all the work himself, it certainly was not his fault. Now, watching quietly the opening shells of that last ...
— Say and Seal, Volume I • Susan Warner
... wrote the preface is uncertain. It is apologetic enough for one of her supporters, but has some indications that she chose the first word should be ...
— Anne Bradstreet and Her Time • Helen Campbell
... at heart an unkind woman, and something in the benignant expression of grandpa's face, or in the apologetic tone of his voice, mollified her somewhat, and without further comment she stood waiting for his next remark. It was a most unfortunate one, for though as free from weakness as most of her sex, Mrs. Noah was terribly sensitive as to her age, ...
— Aikenside • Mary J. Holmes
... remarked Lucy Warner. Helen's dimples deepened. "You don't say much, Luciferous, but what you say is amazin'. I hadn't the slightest intention of ranking my respected pardner, Jeremiah, as an animal friend. With this apologetic explanation, I shall insist that you ...
— Marjorie Dean, College Sophomore • Pauline Lester
... was uttering his apologetic preamble, the prisoners fastened their eyes on him with much interest; but when he alluded to the apprehended attack, the gaze of two of them became more keenly attentive, and, before he concluded, they exchanged furtive glances of deep meaning. ...
— The Pilot • J. Fenimore Cooper
... responsibility alone. Weakness in this respect manifests itself very early. Many a child is so absorbed in his teacher as not to know when he knows a thing until the teacher's approval is given. In some schools probably half of the pupils ten to twelve years of age fall into such a halting, apologetic frame of mind, that they would scarcely risk a meal on the accuracy of any statement that they make. In comparison, the boy who won't study, who plays hookey on warm spring days in spite of his teacher's warnings, and who otherwise defies his teacher, is to be ...
— How To Study and Teaching How To Study • F. M. McMurry
... no name," remarked the grim voice from the interior of the house. And the mild, apologetic glance of the child in my face completed a mental appraisement of ...
— Such is Life • Joseph Furphy
... silence to a matter-of-fact disclosure of Wilfrid's proceedings. In the commencement her attention had marked itself by a slight elevation of the brows; at the end she was cold and rather disdainful. Observation of her face had the result of confirming her brother in the apologetic tone. He was annoyed at perceiving that ...
— A Life's Morning • George Gissing
... fine a fall as usual in Kentucky," said Dick, in an apologetic tone to Warner and Pennington. "It's been so dry that the leaves are falling too early, and the reds, the yellows and the ...
— The Sword of Antietam • Joseph A. Altsheler
... princess gathered them up tenderly and faced him, blazing with resentment. He returned a twisted smile, an apologetic shrug. ...
— Red Masquerade • Louis Joseph Vance
... persons in the office, when Ned bolted into it. These were the operator, the American consul, and Hans! The German grinned in an apologetic way ...
— Boy Scouts on Motorcycles - With the Flying Squadron • G. Harvey Ralphson
... and claims his divine parentage. The man of masterly mind is perforce an Egotist. When he speaks he says, "Thus saith the Lord." If he did not believe in himself, how could he make others believe in him? Small men are apologetic and give excuses for being on earth, and reasons for staying here so long, and run and peek about to find themselves dishonorable graves. Not so the Great Souls—the fact that they are here is proof ...
— Little Journeys to the Homes of the Great, Volume 6 - Subtitle: Little Journeys to the Homes of Eminent Artists • Elbert Hubbard
... Day committee has a meeting," announced Rachel in apologetic tones. "But don't mind me, if the rest can ...
— Betty Wales Senior • Margaret Warde
... a few pounds he will watch this she-devil, and that yellow thief, Ram Lal, for me. My only danger is in their coming together. I'll get a note to him early." Seizing his chit-book, he dashed off in a frankly apologetic way a few lines. "There! That'll do! Not too much!" He read his lines with a ...
— A Fascinating Traitor • Richard Henry Savage
... Dicky was a trifle afraid, also, of his mother's verdict, for his attitude was elaborately apologetic as he explained his invitation ...
— Revelations of a Wife - The Story of a Honeymoon • Adele Garrison
... not in love, my dear young man," said the Cavaliere, with his hand on his heart and an apologetic smile, "so much the better. But let me entreat you, as an affectionate friend, to keep a watch on your emotions. You are young, you are handsome, you have a brilliant genius and a generous heart, but—I may say it almost with authority—Christina is ...
— Roderick Hudson • Henry James
... knife thrower had but lately arrived in the country. The youth carried with him none of the earmarks of his trade, unless it might be that quiet, steady gaze that seemed to search the soul. His voice was soft and drawling, his manner almost apologetic. In the smile that came and went was something sweet and sunny, in his bearing a gay charm that did not advertise the recklessness that bubbled from his daredevil spirit. Surely here was an easy victim upon whom to vent his spleen, ...
— Bucky O'Connor • William MacLeod Raine
... out walking with me one day T.D.'s name came up and she said in a slightly altered voice: 'He told me he loved me!' It was a word seldom used by her except in jest. I threw a startled look at her and caught an inquisitive and apologetic look in return, such a strange and touching glance that I saw I had not yet understood her,—there was an enigma somewhere. When, bit by bit, she told me her life, I understood, or thought I understood, that strange childlike glance in this young woman steeped ...
— Studies in the Psychology of Sex, Volume 4 (of 6) • Havelock Ellis
... A favourite piece of apologetic juggling is that of first demolishing Atheism, Pantheism, Materialism, &c., by successively calling upon them to explain the mystery of self-existence, and then tacitly assuming that the need of such an explanation is absent in the case of Theism—as though the attribute ...
— A Candid Examination of Theism • George John Romanes
... induce her to be less wasteful and reckless. But the girl was developing a certain sense of justice, and she rather doubted her right to insist. Devoted as Kate was to Mr. Middleton, and attached, in an apologetic, shame-faced way, to her mistress, overworked and unpaid, save for the sums Elsie forced upon her, how could she demand that Kate be more scrupulous about details? It would seem that she had all she could ...
— Elsie Marley, Honey • Joslyn Gray
... offence that girls feel when their elders make them the subject of comment with their contemporaries. "Well, I'll leave you to discuss it alone. I'm going to Ellen," she said, the young man vainly following her a few paces, with apologetic ...
— Henry James, Jr. • William Dean Howells
... performance, might he doubtful. But at the time of its composition it is enclosed in a letter to an unnamed friend, who seems to have been expressing his surprise that the Cambridge B.A. was not settling himself, now that his education was complete, to a profession. Milton's apologetic letter is extant, and was printed by Birch in 1738. It intimates that Milton did not consider his education, for the purposes he had in view, as anything like complete. It is not "the endless delight of speculation," but "a religious advisement how best to undergo; ...
— Milton • Mark Pattison
... of the party, Mr. West. I'm thinking," said Neal, the indignation in his voice giving way to a sudden apologetic softness, ...
— Queed • Henry Sydnor Harrison
... biggish house, though 'tis a cottage compared to Balmoral of course; but it's lying empty, and it would be convenient to have it used, and I'm going there myself to-night, and if you'd condescend for the next few months'——said Sykes, with much clearing of his throat and apologetic coughs. ...
— Sarah's School Friend • May Baldwin
... artistically, seeming all the while reluctant and apologetic, the visitor proceeded to plant in Samson's mind an exaggerated and untrue picture of Horton's contempt for him and of Horton's resentment at the favor ...
— The Call of the Cumberlands • Charles Neville Buck
... silence takes the place of conversation at the outset, and young Piet occasionally coughs in an apologetic manner. When he does sum up sufficient courage, the moon has travelled a considerable distance; but then Piet is not so sentimental as to make any ...
— The Boer in Peace and War • Arthur M. Mann
... though suddenly rousing himself, he turned to her, and said in an apologetic tone: "I fear, Enid, I've treated you rather—well, rather uncouthly. I apologise. I was thinking of something else—a somewhat ...
— The Doctor of Pimlico - Being the Disclosure of a Great Crime • William Le Queux
... the future will be a Jewish formula—Character, not Creed. The provincial period of Judaism is over though even its Dark Ages are still lingering on in England. It must become cosmic, universal. Judaism is too timid, too apologetic, too deferential. Doubtless this is the result of persecution, but it does not tend to diminish persecution. We may as well try the other attitude. It is the world the Jewish preacher should address, not a Kensington congregation. Perhaps, when the Kensington congregation sees the ...
— Children of the Ghetto • I. Zangwill
... suddenly stiff-legged as Lerumie made a low, hissing, menacing noise. Aft, at the wheel, he found a black steering, and, near him, the mate keeping the watch. Just as the mate spoke to him and stooped to pat him, Jerry whiffed Skipper somewhere near at hand. With a conciliating, apologetic bob of his tail, he trotted on up wind and came upon Skipper on his back, rolled in a blanket so that only his head ...
— Jerry of the Islands • Jack London
... timid and apologetic; he is no longer upright; he dares not say "I think," "I am," but quotes some saint or sage. He is ashamed before the blade of grass or the blowing rose. These roses under my window make no reference to former roses or to better ones; they are for what they are; they exist with God ...
— Essays • Ralph Waldo Emerson
... training into the general education of the country is a topic upon which I could not have spoken, without some more or less apologetic introduction, a few years ago. But upon this, as upon other matters, public opinion has of late undergone a rapid modification. Committees of both Houses of the Legislature have agreed that something must be done in this direction, and have ...
— Lay Sermons, Addresses and Reviews • Thomas Henry Huxley
... he intensely disliked the alternative of a few hours in the train. Nevertheless, he accepted Prime Ministers as he accepted railway trains—as part of a system which he, at least, was not the revolutionist sent on earth to destroy. So he telephoned to March, asking him, with many apologetic curses and faint damns, to take the boat down the river as arranged, that they might meet at Willowood by the time settled; then he went outside and hailed a taxicab to take him to the railway station. There he paused ...
— The Man Who Knew Too Much • G.K. Chesterton
... "How pleased Octavia will be to hear it! Did she, indeed?" Then, warned by a chilliness, and lack of response, in her ladyship's manner, she modified her delight, and became apologetic again. "These young people are more—are less critical than we are," she ...
— A Fair Barbarian • Frances Hodgson Burnett
... apologetic," said the doctor drily, as he came in a minute later and took his place. "Here have I been preaching to this boy about the hardships of our life, and our rough fare, and— humph! French ham, new-laid eggs, coffee, cream, honey, ...
— First in the Field - A Story of New South Wales • George Manville Fenn
... was the family conviction that Nicholas had involved them in disgrace, that Mary glanced up fiercely, and her mother gave an apologetic cough. ...
— Tiverton Tales • Alice Brown
... unexplained errands, this time without excusing himself. He got back while Janet was still engaged upon the article. When she looked up he was standing beside the fire looking down at her. There was something new in his face, a look half lugubrious, semi-humorous, apologetic. ...
— The Wrong Woman • Charles D. Stewart
... hung her head a little, and then she said, in a sort of apologetic way, "Well, teacher, it may not seem so, but really it is necessary for me. You see, I get thinking about something, and I can't stop thinking about it until I have told ...
— Harper's Young People, May 11, 1880 - An Illustrated Weekly • Various
... and reached the Garth next afternoon. John let him in and after taking his mackintosh remarked: "Mr. and Mrs. Featherstone are out, but Miss Featherstone is at home; I will let her know you have arrived." Then he paused and added in a half-apologetic tone: "I hope you had a ...
— Carmen's Messenger • Harold Bindloss
... oneself under the plea of; excuse &c (vindicate) 937; lend a color to; furnish a handle &c n.; make a pretext of, make a handle of; use as a plea &c n.; take one's stand upon, make capital out of, pretend &c (lie) 544. Adj. ostensibly &c (manifest) 525; alleged, apologetic; pretended &c 545. Adv. ostensibly; under color; under the plea, under the pretense of, under the ...
— Roget's Thesaurus of English Words and Phrases: Body • Roget
... of parents, scoutmasters, and other adults. Since 1913, when the book was first published, it has been my privilege to receive from these so many letters of warm appreciation that it seems needless to retain the apologetic preface which I then wrote. The object which I had in view at that time was the hastening of a supremely important reform. I have to-day the very deep joy of knowing that my words have carried conviction to many adults and have given ...
— Youth and Sex • Mary Scharlieb and F. Arthur Sibly
... like a day out of Scripture!" he exclaimed in a tone that was half-apologetic; then raising his walking-stick he leisurely swept it into space. "There's hardly another crop, I reckon, between here ...
— The Deliverance; A Romance of the Virginia Tobacco Fields • Ellen Glasgow
... fault of longueurs makes itself felt in Tolla: and indeed the author seems to have been conscious of it, and confesses it in an apologetic Preface to the editions after the first. But this does not form the chief ground of accusation against it. Nor, certainly, do the facts, as summarised in a note, justify any serious charge of plagiarism,[419] though the celebrated Buloz seems for once to ...
— A History of the French Novel, Vol. 2 - To the Close of the 19th Century • George Saintsbury
... "they manage to keep the letter of the law—sometimes. But that is just a caution to save their own necks. It's the spirit of the law that they violate. But we are getting away from the point," he added, pulling himself up short with an apologetic smile toward Mrs. Nelson. "We were speaking of this Peter Levine. My summing up of him is ...
— The Outdoor Girls in the Saddle - Or, The Girl Miner of Gold Run • Laura Lee Hope
... a rare chance to study human types. Books hold nothing within their covers so grotesque and so pathetic, so inexplicable and so queer as the folks that jostle one another on the streets! There is the precise female who nips along in a little apologetic way, as though there was an impropriety in the very act of locomotion for which she would fain atone. From the crown of her head to her boot tips she is proper, stupid and decorous, but too much of her company would prove to endurance ...
— A String of Amber Beads • Martha Everts Holden
... waited upon the steps were strangers. They were very nice looking and quite young—a man and a woman very perfectly dressed. The man took a piece of paper out of his pocketbook and handed it to her with an agreeable apologetic courtesy. ...
— The Head of the House of Coombe • Frances Hodgson Burnett
... ha? eh? upon an honest frown of inquiry plucked an answer out of Willoughby that was meant to be humourously scornful, and soon became apologetic under the Doctor's ...
— The Shaving of Shagpat • George Meredith
... less improbable, as the person to whom Chettle is most apologetic excels in a quality or profession, which is contrasted with, and is not identical with, "his facetious grace in writing"—a parergon, or " bye-work," in his case. Whoever this person was, he certainly ...
— Shakespeare, Bacon and the Great Unknown • Andrew Lang
... Dutch-cheese at ten o'clock in the evening had been rather frequently commented on by the dimpled shoulders of Miss Bella. Indeed, the modest Dutchman himself seemed conscious of his want of variety, and generally came before the family in a state of apologetic perspiration. After some discussion on the relative merits of veal-cutlet, sweetbread, and lobster, a decision was pronounced in favour of veal-cutlet. Mrs Wilfer then solemnly divested herself of her ...
— Our Mutual Friend • Charles Dickens
... hesitatingly, with an apologetic side glance at the big crayon portrait. But Jane was entirely convinced. She was average human; therefore, she believed what she wished ...
— The Conflict • David Graham Phillips
... exploit generally. And this is perhaps as convenient a place as any to discuss that undertone of deprecation which runs through all the voluminous discourse in defense or in laudation of athletic sports, as well as of other activities of a predominantly predatory character. The same apologetic frame of mind is at least beginning to be observable in the spokesmen of most other institutions handed down from the barbarian phase of life. Among these archaic institutions which are felt to need apology are comprised, with others, the entire existing system of the ...
— The Theory of the Leisure Class • Thorstein Veblen
... flow of talk of the coffeeshop variety. At the end of his first sentence any fool would have known that he had been put up to quiz Abdul Ali, in order that Abdul Ali might have an excuse to justify himself. He attacked him very mildly, with much careful hedging and apologetic gesture, on the ground that possibly the Damascene was ignoring their interests while urging them to take action that ...
— Jimgrim and Allah's Peace • Talbot Mundy
... courage failed him: he dared not launch the new thought boldly. He wrote a grovelling preface, endeavouring to excuse Copernicus for his novel idea, and in this he inserted the apologetic lie that Copernicus had propounded the doctrine of the earth's movement not as a fact, but as a hypothesis. He declared that it was lawful for an astronomer to indulge his imagination, and that this was what ...
— History of the Warfare of Science with Theology in Christendom • Andrew Dickson White
... glided into the apartment. Turning quickly, Ermentrude recognized Madame Keroulan. Before she could orient herself that lady took her by both hands, and uttering apologetic words, forced the ...
— Visionaries • James Huneker
... followed, however, by an apologetic cough and the somewhat forced and conventional remark: "You find the place changed, ...
— Dark Hollow • Anna Katharine Green
... of this result he was a little anxious and apologetic. The messengers, he said, had mistaken his intention. He had only meant to recommend his friends, and not to forbid the company to elect any other. But once again Englishmen had fought a ...
— This Country Of Ours • H. E. Marshall Author: Henrietta Elizabeth Marshall
... compelled him to take the bold course. With an apologetic smile he said, "Well, that's the last subject I could imagine you'd give to any of us at First Church. Your young people and ours have hardly been aware of each other, and it seems queer that you should ask me to make an address ...
— John Wesley, Jr. - The Story of an Experiment • Dan B. Brummitt
... infinitely courteous and apologetic. He had been very anxious about her. Why had she been so unkind as to leave, and without ...
— The Grey Wig: Stories and Novelettes • Israel Zangwill
... coolness to Mitchell, and be stand-offish, as though it had been all his fault, or to be lavishly apologetic, was the question. Bruce could not make up his mind which attitude to take. In a way, it was all the Mitchells' fault. They oughtn't to have given him a verbal invitation. It was rude, Bohemian, wanting in good form; it showed an absolute and complete ...
— Tenterhooks • Ada Leverson
... romantically perched above the torrent. Two courteous and elegant finanzieri, mere boys, were sitting wrapped in their military cloaks and reading novels in the sun as we drove up. Though they made some pretence of examining the luggage, they excused themselves with sweet smiles and apologetic eyes—it was a ...
— Sketches and Studies in Italy and Greece, Complete - Series I, II, and III • John Symonds
... follow me. No loud talking, please; light no matches. You understand why I am so strict?" said the guide in an apologetic tone. ...
— Grace Harlowe's Overland Riders on the Great American Desert • Jessie Graham Flower
... very indignant and expressed my feelings to the Induna in no measured terms. He on his part was most apologetic, and explained that what he did he was obliged to do "by the King's orders." Also he let it slip that he was seeking for a certain "evil-doer" who, it was thought, might be with me without my knowing his real character, and ...
— She and Allan • H. Rider Haggard
... was overfond of the bottle, and in spite of the prohibition laws of his State, he proved himself a blessed example and warning by a too frequent and unmistakable intoxication in public. He was gentle and even apologetic in his cups, but he was clearly a "slave of rum" and his mission ...
— The Panchronicon • Harold Steele Mackaye
... beautiful phrase will you find in the Martin Renards; I've cut 'em out, every one. I may have ceased to worship, but I've profaned no temple.... And think what I might have done—what they all do! They deal out the slush, but with an apologetic glance at the Art Shades; you know the style!—'Oh, Harrison; he does that detective rubbish, but that's not Harrison; if Harrison liked to drop that he could be a fine artist!'—I haven't done that. I haven't run with the hare and hunted with the hounds. I am just Harrison, ...
— Widdershins • Oliver Onions
... English of his Scotch. Can it be done? A Yorkshireman— could he do it? A Lancashire man (Waugh)? I hardly think so. The Ayrshire dialect has a Schwung and a confidence that no-English county can pretend to. Our dialects are apologetic things, half-ashamed, half-insolent. Burns has no doubts, and for his audience unhesitatingly demands the universe. . ...
— From a Cornish Window - A New Edition • Arthur Thomas Quiller-Couch
... apologetic, and in ninety-nine cases out of a hundred Urrea would have contented himself with an impatient word or two. But he was in a most vicious temper. Perhaps he had been rebuked by Santa Anna for allowing the ...
— The Texan Scouts - A Story of the Alamo and Goliad • Joseph A. Altsheler
... loose, he was detected carrying off the cream-jug from the table, holding it upright with both hands, and trying to move off on his hind limbs. He gave the jug up without spilling a drop, all the time making an apologetic chuckle he often used when found out in any mischief, and which always meant, "I know I have done wrong, but don't punish me; in fact, I did not mean to do it—it was accidental." Whenever, however, he saw he was going to be punished, he would change his tone to a shrill, threatening note, ...
— Journeys Through Bookland, Vol. 6 • Charles H. Sylvester
... will you consider it impertinence if I ask you whether it was about your past life? I know it is impertinent; but oh, Sir, I have my reasons." Her voice changed suddenly to the humblest and most apologetic accent. ...
— The Cryptogram - A Novel • James De Mille
... his friend then proceed to diagnose the patient's condition—which they agree is that of "a frenzied child of grace," and so the poem ends. To one of its last stanzas Crabbe attached an apologetic note, one of the most remarkable ever penned. It exhibits the struggle that at that period must have been proceeding in many a thoughtful breast as to how the new wine of religion could be somehow accommodated to ...
— Crabbe, (George) - English Men of Letters Series • Alfred Ainger
... no! The silliness I can assure you is all mine. I can't tell you how entirely apologetic——Ridiculous fix. And after I had persuaded you ...
— The Wife of Sir Isaac Harman • H. G. (Herbert George) Wells
... construction to put upon his action. It was the general agreement also that there was a singular absence of anything bitter or complaining in what the man had said. He had, throughout, spoken in a mild, apologetic tone, almost as if he were one of the congregation seeking for light on a very ...
— In His Steps • Charles M. Sheldon
... that he became quite apologetic, thinking he was asking too much, and quickly began to sing the praises of his mount. I at once disabused him of the idea by telling him that I couldn't give him less than L7 10s., which might help him a little towards his getting an animal that would pull his car ...
— The Chronicles of a Gay Gordon • Jose Maria Gordon
... committee as to site and probable extent of the structure. This concession to my conscience comforted me greatly, and I prepared for my journey with a lightness that was almost buoyancy. The chairman and two of the committee met me at the junction. They were most deprecatory and apologetic, and mentioned with evident sorrow the absence of several of the members which might cause a postponement of the conference until the following day. I bore up under this ...
— The Romance of an Old Fool • Roswell Field
... gleam of rare fun lit up his pale, vague eyes. "Can't you see him dodging past Saint Peter through the pearly gates" ("I was brought up a Methodist," he added in apologetic explanation), "trotting along the alabaster streets sniffing about for her among all the Shining Ones, listening for her voice amid the sound of the harps, and when he finds her, hallelujahing with that little bark that was for her ...
— From a Bench in Our Square • Samuel Hopkins Adams
... the passage; Mr. B——, the owner of the house, entered with an apologetic smile. "I am afraid that there has been a mistake, sir," he said. "Mr. A—— is not dead, as the servant informed you; it is the gentleman who lives on the floor above, who has been an invalid for some time, who is dead; ...
— The Silent Isle • Arthur Christopher Benson
... unaccountably strange, had, on her reduced scale, an almost Gothic grotesqueness; but the final effect of one's sense of it was an amenity that accompanied one's steps like wafted gratitude. More flurried, more spasmodic, more apologetic, more completely at a loss at one moment and more precipitately abounding at another, he had never before in all his days seen any maiden lady; yet for no maiden lady he had ever seen had he so promptly conceived a private enthusiasm. Her eyes protruded, her chin receded and her nose ...
— Some Short Stories • Henry James
... of looking ahead with an apologetic laugh as though it was an amiable weakness of his. He turned from such abstruse matters and furnished Lewisham with the particulars of the college diplomas, and proceeded to other possibilities. "There's private tuition," he ...
— Love and Mr. Lewisham • H. G. Wells
... departments can not receive attention; under such circumstances something has to go. Mrs. Fosdyke's attention went, rightly enough, to the children; there were no graces of management left for the household—there couldn't be; that was one reason why she never invited company any more. She felt apologetic even before her sister. ...
— The Wit and Humor of America, Volume VIII (of X) • Various
... not to trouble you with my affairs," she said presently, in an apologetic tone, "but you remember what I told you when you so kindly allowed me to travel with ...
— The Count's Chauffeur • William Le Queux
... were followed by Mr. Rogers' entire person, and Mr. Rogers, having thus made good his entrance, stood blinking, with an apologetic laugh. "You'll excuse me—but I took it for granted the door was barred, and seeing a glimmer of light in ...
— Major Vigoureux • A. T. Quiller-Couch
... minute, please, Mr. Oak," said a voice from a hidden speaker. It was Ravenhurst, and he actually sounded apologetic. "You mustn't blame Mr. Feller; those are my standing orders, and I failed to tell Mr. Feller to make an exception in your case. ...
— A Spaceship Named McGuire • Gordon Randall Garrett
... baroness was, yet these words pierced her heart. She turned with a piteous, half apologetic air to Edouard and Aubertin. "Gentlemen," said she, "she has been foolish, not guilty. Heaven pardons the best of us. Surely a mother may forgive her child." And with this nature conquered utterly; and she held out her arms, wide, wide, as ...
— White Lies • Charles Reade
... for though he hardly knew Mascarin, and utterly despised Beaumarchef, he trembled before the oily Tantaine, for in him he recognized a being who would stand no nonsense. He therefore began in an apologetic tone,— ...
— Caught In The Net • Emile Gaboriau
... his pipe, mixed a whisky-and-soda, and picked up a book, when a knock at his outer door sent him to open it and to find Gandam standing in the lobby. Gandam glanced at him with a smile which was half apologetic and half triumphant. ...
— The Chestermarke Instinct • J. S. Fletcher
... the baronet, and his quick eyes noted a half-empty decanter on the table. Fairfield was palpably nervous and ill at ease. He was plainly distrustful of his visitor's purpose. The detective was apologetic and good-humoured. ...
— The Grell Mystery • Frank Froest
... seemed immediately to acquire a style unlike that of anyone else. Everything is described with a zest that carries the reader along, and this manner is even extended to things that are not worth describing. But he was always slightly apologetic with pen in hand, never permitting himself the professional air, or giving a full challenge to criticism by disclaiming the privileges of a ...
— George Du Maurier, the Satirist of the Victorians • T. Martin Wood
... you will continue to see it. The nouveau riche of the new Plutocratic type comes thrusting among you, demonstrating that sometimes quite obtrusively. You begin by feeling sorry for his servants and then apologetic to your own. You cannot "go it" as the rich Americans and the rich South Africans, or prosperous book-makers or rich music-hall proprietors, "go it," their silver and ivory and diamonds throw light on your own. And among other things you discover you are not nearly so dependent on the numerous ...
— New Worlds For Old - A Plain Account of Modern Socialism • Herbert George Wells
... urbane and apologetic, and promised such impartial punishment both for the persons who inspired the outrage and for those who actually carried it out, that Mr. Fenshawe deferred to the morrow the stern protest he meant to register against von Kerber's detention. It was quite true, as Stump ...
— The Wheel O' Fortune • Louis Tracy
... formula heard always in the campaign against colored officers was: Negroes cannot command. This formula was sent forth with every kind of variation, from the fierce fulminations of the hostile Southern press, to the more apologetic and philosophical discussions of our Northern secular and religious journals. To be sure, every now and then, there were exhibitions of impatience against the doctrine. Not a few newspapers had little tolerance for the nonsense. ...
— The Colored Regulars in the United States Army • T. G. Steward
... coming. They hardly ever seem to do more than sip, so perhaps the black and yellow insects get the rest. There's an English butler, and it would make your heart bleed, or else you'd want to howl, if you saw his agonized, apologetic look whenever you, as a British person, knowing about other ways of running a house, happened ...
— Winnie Childs - The Shop Girl • C. N. Williamson
... c. 59 with Dio, xxxvii. 39). The Jugurtha of the same author is in an exactly similar way designed partly to expose the pitifulness of the oligarchic government, partly to glorify the Coryphaeus of the democracy, Gaius Marius. The circumstance that the adroit author keeps the apologetic and inculpatory character of these writings of his in the background, proves, not that they are not partisan treatises, but that they ...
— The History of Rome (Volumes 1-5) • Theodor Mommsen
... a pleasant-faced, white-haired, elderly lady, evidently a woman of fashion and of culture, who bent forward from her seat with a kindly, half-apologetic smile. ...
— The Herapath Property • J. S. Fletcher
... a hammock chair not far from the drawingroom window. The voices of Miss Lentaigne and his uncle reached him, the one high-pitched and firm, the other, as he imagined, apologetic and deprecatory. The sound of them, the words being indistinguishable, was somewhat soothing. Frank felt as the poet Lucretius did when from the security of a sheltered nook on the side of a cliff he watched boats ...
— Priscilla's Spies 1912 • George A. Birmingham
... watched, an apologetic-looking youth appeared in the door of the office and handed Hawkins an ...
— Mr. Hawkins' Humorous Adventures • Edgar Franklin
... father," said the boy, the color struggling back into his pale cheeks, and an apologetic, bashful smile lighting his clear eyes. "Neither; but oh! such a gross, lethargic toad! And ...
— Frontier Stories • Bret Harte
... mother were continuously being forced upon Nelson in one way or another, but he seems to have stood firm, in an apologetic way, to the instructions laid down by himself, that no women were to go to sea aboard his ship; for, having been a party to the embargo, it would have been impossible for him to make her an exception. He anticipates, as her other lovers had done, that she can be very angry, like ...
— Drake, Nelson and Napoleon • Walter Runciman |
