"Opportune" Quotes from Famous Books
 ... head are included those considerations from which a statesman concludes whether a war is proper, opportune, or indispensable, and determines the various operations necessary to attain the object ...
— The Art of War • Baron Henri de Jomini
... the high position he would have attained had the sea not claimed him so soon. All this and a good deal besides was spoken to the sorrowing parents by way of ameliorating their suffering, and also because the occasion was opportune for speaking that which they really believed would have come to pass. Little did the people or the object of their compassion think that at the very time they were saying those encouraging words destiny was fulfilling another tragedy, and the sea had again ...
— The Shellback's Progress - In the Nineteenth Century • Walter Runciman
... the wedding as exceedingly opportune for herself, bringing in as it did the settlers from the isolated ranches and outlying districts of the big county, and she meant it to serve as her ...
— The Lady Doc • Caroline Lockhart
... Hawthorne when he was about thirty-five years old. He had then published a collection of his sketches, the now famous "Twice-Told Tales." Longfellow, ever alert for what is excellent, and eager to do a brother author opportune and substantial service, at once came before the public with a generous estimate of the work in the North American Review; but the choice little volume, the most promising addition to American literature that had appeared for many years, made little ...
— Yesterdays with Authors • James T. Fields
... the court was at first very much puzzled to decide whether or not he was a spy, for every evidence brought against the prisoner was explained and made insignificant by his consummate skill in argument, and it was only by the opportune arrival of a detective with the most decided proof of his guilt, that he was condemned to death. Awtry received the sentence of the court with haughty indifference, and was led back to prison, to await death by hanging. On the morning of his ...
— The Trials of the Soldier's Wife - A Tale of the Second American Revolution • Alex St. Clair Abrams
... sat over his evening meal, Gilbert noticed that his mother had something to say. She cast frequent glances at him; her pursed lips seemed to await an opportune moment. ...
— Thyrza • George Gissing
... development of the city's shipping. But, so far as we were concerned, this was a possible joy of the future. So, one by one we descended the narrow stairway at the side of the ship, and then leaped at opportune moments to the decks of the dancing steam launches below. How it ever came to pass that each of us, ladies and all, in succession went through with this mid-air acrobatic performance without serious accident is a matter of profound wonder; but we did, ...
— An Epoch in History • P. H. Eley
... overthrower of robbers, looked at the kneeling Elsa, and knew that she was lovely, as, under the circumstances, was right and fitting, and the rescued Elsa, gazing at the hero Adrian, admitted to herself that he was handsome, also that his appearance on the scene had been opportune, not to say providential. ...
— Lysbeth - A Tale Of The Dutch • H. Rider Haggard
... never be the one to lead the multitude and accomplish by force what the Government does not believe is opportune. No! If I ever saw the multitude armed for such a purpose, I would put myself on the side of the Government. And I would fight it, for in such a mob I would not see my country. I wish for its welfare: ...
— Friars and Filipinos - An Abridged Translation of Dr. Jose Rizal's Tagalog Novel, - 'Noli Me Tangere.' • Jose Rizal
... found him well disposed for what I wanted, I entreated his most illustrious Excellency to dismiss me in a friendly spirit, so that I might not have to waste the few years in which I should be fit to do anything. As for the balance due upon my Perseus, he might give this to me when he judged it opportune. Such was the pith of my discourse: but I expanded it with lengthy compliments, expressing my gratitude toward his most illustrious Excellency. To all this he made absolutely no answer, but rather seemed to have taken my communication ill. On the following day Messer Bartolommeo Concino, ...
— The Autobiography of Benvenuto Cellini • Benvenuto Cellini
... Betty bade him a too courteous good-by, still with that abominable new air of gravely readjusting her old impressions of him. And then there was nothing to do but to go home and make ready for dinner at the Herrington's, unless he could induce Genevieve to have an opportune headache. ...
— The Sturdy Oak - A Composite Novel of American Politics by Fourteen American Authors • Samuel Merwin, et al.
... grandfather was Friedrich IV., Duke of Holstein-Gottorp and Schleswig, Karl XII.'s brother-in-law; on whose score it was (Denmark finding the time opportune for a stroke of robbery there) that Karl XII., a young lad hardly eighteen, first took arms; and began the career of fighting that astonished Denmark and certain other Neighbors who had been too covetous on a young King. This his young Brother-in-law, Friedrich of Holstein-Gottorp (young ...
— History of Friedrich II. of Prussia, Vol. XX. (of XXI.) • Thomas Carlyle
... Commissioners presumably thinking that Imperial attention would be too much engrossed with the war to notice such insignificant affairs as the throttling of the South African Blacks, seem to have decided that now or never was the opportune moment for degrading the aborigines into helots; therefore, the Chairman, finding that he could not persuade his colleagues to adopt his view of things, indited the following minority report respecting ...
— Native Life in South Africa, Before and Since • Solomon Tshekisho Plaatje
... lady," quoth Sharrkan, "she willed to do him what thou willest to do with me, and even that will not satisfy thee." She laughed at his opportune reply and they ceased not carousing till Day put out her light and Night came in darkness dight. Then she rose and went to her dormitory and slept, while Sharrkan slept in his place till morning dawned. As soon as he awoke, the hand maids came to him ...
— The Book of the Thousand Nights and a Night, Volume 2 • Richard F. Burton
... come. On consulting the programme Nan found opposite the next dance a scrawl that might be made out to be 'F. H. King;' and then she bethought herself of the young sailor. Well, he had left. That was very opportune. She would devote the time of this dance to her mother, and take her into the tea-room, and ask which of her old friends she had met, and even offer to go home with ...
— The Beautiful Wretch; The Pupil of Aurelius; and The Four Macnicols • William Black
... could not have been announced at a more opportune time. For some years the scientific world had been agog over the question whether such a form of lightning as that reported—appearing in a clear sky, and hurling literal thunderbolts—had real existence. Such cases had been reported often enough, it ...
— A History of Science, Volume 3(of 5) • Henry Smith Williams
... between the Charter adherents on one side and unorganized opponents on the other. By 1914 the issue was sharply defined. The first twenty-five years of the Charter were about to end and the insurgents realized that it was an opportune moment for a show of strength. The opposition had three plans. Some advocated the conversion of Rhodesia into a Crown Colony, others strongly urged admission to the Union of South Africa, while still another wing stood for ...
— An African Adventure • Isaac F. Marcosson
... had not the money. The physician replied, he had then no physic for him. Hereupon Aspasia departed weeping ! and holding a looking-glass on her knee, beheld her face in it, which much increased her grief. Going to rest without supping, by the reason of the trouble she was in, she had an opportune dream; a dove seemed to appear to her as she slept, which being changed to a woman, said, "Be of good courage, and bid a long farewel to physicians and their medicines: take of the dried rose of Venus garlands, which being pounded apply to the swelling." After the maid had understood ...
— Miscellanies upon Various Subjects • John Aubrey
... opportune," Barrington declared. "I wanted particularly to do something for the Hendersons. He seems very well disposed, and his influence means everything just now. Really, Ruth, I believe we are going ...
— The Malefactor • E. Phillips Oppenheim
... staring, "how opportune? this is the second time in the same morning that I am not able to ...
— Cecilia Volume 1 • Frances Burney
... could imagine, the daily cups of tea, the virtuous indignation left neither time nor place. Only, now and again, he gave Odette to understand that people maliciously kept him informed of everything that she did; and making opportune use of some detail—insignificant but true—which he had accidentally learned, as though it were the sole fragment which he would allow, in spite of himself, to pass his lips, out of the numberless other fragments of that complete reconstruction of her daily life which he carried secretly ...
— Swann's Way - (vol. 1 of Remembrance of Things Past) • Marcel Proust
... I have plenty more, but the most serious peril was to my life. Through your opportune assistance I have escaped without loss. I fully appreciate the magnitude of the service you have done me. As an evidence of it, ...
— Adrift in New York - Tom and Florence Braving the World • Horatio Alger
... part of his business career, which had been marked by risks, boldly faced, but attended by keen anxiety. Though his wife had some money, Lansing had been hampered by lack of capital, and George's money had been placed at his disposal at a very opportune time. It had enabled him to carry the rubber company over what might have proved a crisis, and thus strengthen his position as director, by purchasing sufficient shares on George's account to keep the price from falling and defeat the intrigues of a clique ...
— Ranching for Sylvia • Harold Bindloss
... so happened that Mr. Crabb, the usher, was taking a solitary walk, and had approached the scene of conflict unobserved by any of the participants. He arrived at an opportune time. Jim had managed to draw Wilkins away, and by a quick movement threw him. He was about to deal his prostrate foe a savage kick, which might have hurt him seriously, when the usher, quiet and peaceful ...
— Hector's Inheritance - or The Boys of Smith Institute • Horatio Alger
... John's Chapel was opportune. Renard, with Pembroke by his side, had just demanded the resignation of the crown by Queen Jane, and the queen, helpless but courageous, had ordered Lord Pembroke to arrest the Spaniard. Pembroke had refused to move, and at this juncture Cholmondeley stepped forward, and, advancing ...
— The World's Greatest Books, Vol. I • Various
... spite of the unsettled condition of the country—a condition which compelled them always to go armed with their trusty Marlins and Colts—and that is how they happened to be on the Real road at such an opportune time. ...
— The Broncho Rider Boys with Funston at Vera Cruz - Or, Upholding the Honor of the Stars and Stripes • Frank Fowler
... on the combat of the two adversaries. It was short. The horseman who was approaching the town fell on the stones, bedewing them with blood from a gash which laid open his skull; and the victor, coolly wiping his blade, addressed himself to Ammalat: "Your coming is opportune: I am glad that destiny has brought you in time to witness our combat. God, and not I, killed the offender; and now his kinsmen will not say that I killed my enemy stealthily from behind a rock, and will not raise upon my ...
— Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine, Vol. 53, No. 331, May, 1843 • Various
... years crept so much confusion into the mind of the student as well as of the general reader as to the identity of the Scarlet Pimpernel with that of the Gascon Royalist plotter known to history as the Baron de Batz, that the time seems opportune for setting all doubts on ...
— El Dorado • Baroness Orczy
... for any to attend, who was not perfectly virtuous. Hence it was regarded as an opportune time for the young men to satisfy themselves as to who were the ...
— Among the Sioux - A Story of the Twin Cities and the Two Dakotas • R. J. Creswell
... Canton in soft brown sheets. These are at once bleached. The brown fiber is placed in a bath of cold water and chlorate of lime. There it quietly rests till a sediment settles at the bottom of the tank. At an opportune moment the workman pours in a copious libation of boiling water. This causes the escape of the chlorine gas, which destroys all the color in the pulp. In half an hour it comes out, a mass of smoking fibers as white ...
— Scientific American Supplement, No. 363, December 16, 1882 • Various
... quite sure that he had never tasted those of Anjou!" exclaimed Walter, and at this most opportune moment Francois produced a basket of these same Anjou peaches, and some pears also, all surrounded by green leaves, as only the French know how to set them forth. We feasted on the fat things of the earth, as we made our ...
— In Chteau Land • Anne Hollingsworth Wharton
... matter of the "First Blast" in a style of real brutality. (3) It is not merely that he tells them "the garments of women do declare their weakness and inability to execute the office of man," though that in itself is neither very wise nor very opportune in such a correspondence one would think; but if the reader will take the trouble to wade through the long, tedious sermon for himself, he will see proof enough that Knox neither loved, nor very deeply respected, the women he was then addressing. In very truth, I believe these Edinburgh sisters ...
— Familiar Studies of Men & Books • Robert Louis Stevenson
... (the mother of Constantine) was said to have presented to an imaginary archbishop of her pretended birthplace, Treves." During the First Crusade the army before Antioch was only spurred on to the efforts which resulted in the capture of the city, by the opportune discovery of the Holy Lance with which the Roman soldier had pierced Christ's side while ...
— The Church and the Empire - Being an Outline of the History of the Church - from A.D. 1003 to A.D. 1304 • D. J. Medley
... measure, even if no charter at all could be set up against it. Only a sovereign reason, paramount to all forms of legislation and administration, should dictate." In this way, just a hundred years ago, the opportune reticence, the politic hesitancy of European statesmanship, was at last broken down; and the principle gained ground, that a nation can never abandon its fate to an authority it cannot control. The Americans placed ...
— The History of Freedom • John Emerich Edward Dalberg-Acton
... a woman strikes at him, which he parries. In the Rue St. Honore, a number of men in red caps surround M. Regnault-Beauceron, and decide to "string him up at the lantern"; a man in his jacket had already grabbed him from behind and raised him up, when the grenadiers of Sainte-Opportune arrive in time to set him free. In the Rue St. Louis, M. Deuzy, repeatedly struck on the back with stones, has a saber twice raised over his head. In the Passage des Feuillants, M. Desbois is pummeled, and a "snuff-box, his pocket-book, and cane" are stolen from him. In the lobbies ...
— The Origins of Contemporary France, Volume 3 (of 6) - The French Revolution, Volume 2 (of 3) • Hippolyte A. Taine
... men!" So saying, they attacked them and drove them to flight, leaving their prisoner behind, nearly as dead with joy as she was before with fear and apprehension. After returning thanks to God and her deliverers for so opportune and unexpected a rescue, she and her cousin Chastelas set off in a carriage, under the escort of their rescuers, and joined my brother, who, since he could not have me with him, was happy to have one so dear to me about him. She remained under my brother's protection as long as any danger ...
— Memoirs And Historical Chronicles Of The Courts Of Europe - Marguerite de Valois, Madame de Pompadour, and Catherine de Medici • Various
... an opportune chance to be of material benefit to the lady. Seriously we talked over her affairs. I found them pretty well entangled. We discussed the young Grand Duke. I gradually persuaded her that there was no hope of a ...
— The Secrets of the German War Office • Dr. Armgaard Karl Graves
... who settled in Selangor at the beginning of the eighteenth century under a Goa chief, who was succeeded by Sultan Ibrahim, an intense hater and sturdy opponent of the Dutch. He attacked Malacca, looted and burned its suburbs, and would have captured it but for the opportune arrival of a Dutch fleet. He surprised the Dutch garrison of Selangor by night, routed it, and captured all its heavy artillery and ammunition, but was afterward compelled to restore his plunder, and acknowledge himself a vassal of the Dutch East India ...
— The Golden Chersonese and the Way Thither • Isabella L. Bird (Mrs. Bishop)
... exercise, when the child has recognized the differences between the qualities of the objects, the teacher fixes the idea of this quality with a word. Thus, when the child has many times built and rebuilt the tower of the pink cubes, at an opportune moment the teacher draws near him, and taking the two extreme cubes, the largest and the smallest, and showing them to him, says, "This is large"; "This is small." The two words only, large and small, are pronounced several times in succession with strong ...
— Dr. Montessori's Own Handbook • Maria Montessori
... nekasxeme, tutkora. Opera opero. Opera-glass lorneto. Opera-house operejo. Operate (surgery) operacii. Operate funkcii. Operatic opera. Operation operacio. Operative metiisto. Operative agebla. Operetta opereto. Opinion, to be of an opinii. Opium opio. Opponent kontrauxulo. Opportune gxustatempa. Opportunity okazo. Oppose kontrauxmeti, kontrauxbatali. Opposed to, to be kontrauxstari. Opposite (in opposition) kontrauxa. Opposite facing) kontrauxe. Opposition kontrauxmeto—ado. Oppress subpremi. Oppressor tirano, subpremanto. ...
— English-Esperanto Dictionary • John Charles O'Connor and Charles Frederic Hayes
... position, and immediately came into action against the Mexican infantry which had turned our flank. The 2d Kentucky regiment, and a section of artillery under Captain Bragg, had previously been ordered from the right to re-enforce our left, and arrived at a most opportune moment. That regiment, and a portion of the 1st Illinois, under Colonel Hardin, gallantly drove the enemy, and recovered a portion of the ground we had lost. The batteries of Captains Sherman and Bragg were in position on the plateau, and did ...
— The Medallic History of the United States of America 1776-1876 • J. F. Loubat
... respective literary shades, went forth preaching peace and good will between the Saxons on the one side of the Atlantic and their so-called American cousins on the other. With an audacity the most barefaced and unaccountable, upon every possible occasion, opportune or otherwise, they wore the olive branch at their button-hole, and described in periods the most eloquent, the identity of blood and interests which characterized both nations, and which it were heinous to ignore. Notwithstanding that ...
— Ridgeway - An Historical Romance of the Fenian Invasion of Canada • Scian Dubh
... our banner the revolutionary watchword, 'Abolition of the wage system.'" In their use of the strike, the I.W.W. accordingly oppose conciliation or arbitration of any kind, and whether or not they gain their point, they go back to work with the intention of striking again at the next opportune time. This policy has been formulated by the I.W.W. in the following words: "Strike; win as much as possible; go back to work; recuperate; strike again... whatever concessions from capitalism the workers secure, sooner or later they ...
— Problems in American Democracy • Thames Ross Williamson
... talk," repeated Bucky, with drawling mockery. "Sure he will, general. There's several things he's awful curious to know. One of them is how you happen to be Johnnie-on-the-spot so opportune." ...
— Bucky O'Connor • William MacLeod Raine
... the mariners had an encounter with a monstrous bear, in which one of them very nearly perished. The animal became furious from its wounds; leaping against a seaman, about to pierce it with his lance, it threw him down, and, but for the opportune interposition of another, would have ...
— Thrilling Narratives of Mutiny, Murder and Piracy • Anonymous
... river they had a good supply of corn, and stored away quite a quantity in a cache. They found it, on their return, in good condition, and it furnished them with a very opportune supply. They were surprised to see how rapidly the corn in the fields matured. Fields were passed on the 29th of March, where the tender blades were just sprouting from the ground. And now, in less than four weeks, the corn was fit to roast. They were told that, in fifty days from planting, ...
— The Adventures of the Chevalier De La Salle and His Companions, in Their Explorations of the Prairies, Forests, Lakes, and Rivers, of the New World, and Their Interviews with the Savage Tribes, Two Hu • John S. C. Abbott
... on a mere walk. He decided to follow her and only join her when she had gone some way. She walked with her head bent, walked slowly and with no looking about her. Presently it was plain that she meant to enter the wood. This was opportune. But he lost sight of her as soon as she passed among the trees. He quickened his pace; saw her turning off the main path among the copses. In his pursuit he got astray; he must have missed her track. Suddenly he was checked by the sound of ...
— Demos • George Gissing
... could not have expected to find in works carried on in the bush, and under such varied circumstances of distraction and anxiety as had followed Lieutenant Grey's footsteps: though terribly worn and ill, our opportune arrival, and the feeling that he was among those who could appreciate his exertions, seemed already to operate in his recovery. Upon an old and tattered chart, that had indeed done the state some service, we attempted to settle the probable course of the Glenelg, the knotty question ...
— Discoveries in Australia, Volume 1. • J Lort Stokes
... beloved by his father as I was by mine, he should not now perhaps have cause—here he was interrupted by a sigh, the tear rushed into his eye, suppressed the dictates of his grief, and the time being opportune, desired me to relate the passages of my life, which my uncle had told him were manifold and surprising. I recounted the most material circumstances of my fortune, to which he listened with wonder and attention, ...
— The Adventures of Roderick Random • Tobias Smollett
... and said, "To-day is not a very opportune day; I would rather have them to-morrow evening. Do send in some to-morrow.[88] It need not be of so many colors." So saying, he smiled a little, and sharp Koremitz soon understood what he meant. And this he accordingly did on the ...
— Japanese Literature - Including Selections from Genji Monogatari and Classical - Poetry and Drama of Japan • Various
... advantage of this odd but opportune melting. He placed his arm around her shoulders. She tried to escape it, but with a coy, shy movement, half hysterical, half girlish, unlike her usual stony, moral precision. "Yes, Joan," he repeated, laughingly, "but whose fault is it? Not HIS, remember! And I firmly believe he ...
— The Argonauts of North Liberty • Bret Harte
... heart, and when a spasm of pain attacked the shaggy head resting on her arm, she wept in sympathetic agony. Could Peg be persuaded to allow the dog to stay? She would promise to earn an extra penny to buy food for this new friend. At this opportune moment Mrs. Grandoken ...
— Rose O'Paradise • Grace Miller White
... life, in order to enjoy those blessings. When he had thus disposed his soldiers, he encouraged them to fight by the following speech, which he made to them: "O my fellow soldiers, no other time remains more opportune than the present for courage and contempt of dangers; for if you now fight manfully, you may recover your liberty, which, as it is a thing of itself agreeable to all men, so it proves to be to us much more desirable, by its affording ...
— The Antiquities of the Jews • Flavius Josephus
... Another story strangely opportune in its title, which was however chosen many months ago, is With Nelson in the North by Hector Boffin (Arrow and Long-i'-th'-bow). Its appeal to the patriotic reader will be further enhanced by the interesting news that the ...
— Punch or the London Charivari, Vol. 147, October 21, 1914 • Various
... region. Years passed by, and this pledge was not redeemed. The British ministry opposed redeeming the pledge. But Washington did not forget the claim of his old associates in the hardships and perils of war. He took the matter in hand, and seized upon an opportune moment to carry out his purpose. He even performed a journey to the Ohio to select the best land possible for his deserving comrades. The opportune moment he chose for his journey is described as ...
— From Farm House to the White House • William M. Thayer
... of the maritime towns had compelled Eric of Brunswick to raise the siege of Bremen, and on his retreat had defeated him near Drakenberg with a heavy loss. But victories belated or premature do not turn the scale against an opportune success. The sole result of the battle was to delay the Landgrave's surrender a little longer. Philip had sworn to die like a mad-dog before he would surrender his fortresses, but he yielded ultimately without a blow. He found ...
— The Great Events by Famous Historians, Volume 9 • Various
... Rajah had altered during his absence. The civil war or rebellion which had, in the first instance, forced the governor to reside in Sar[a]wak, was not yet quelled. The rebels, indeed, were within thirty miles of the rajah, and threatening an immediate attack. Nothing could be more opportune than the return of Mr Brooke at this critical moment. Muda Hassim begged his ancient friend not to desert him in his extremity, and appealed to his honour, as a gentleman from England, whether it would be fair to suffer him to be vanquished by ...
— Blackwoods Edinburgh Magazine, Volume 59, No. 365, March, 1846 • Various
... first, just tell me how you are progressing with the painting I ordered of you. Perhaps you have already with you some sketch of it? It would be peculiarly pleasant to me, for on the day after to-morrow I give a fete in my palace at Berlin, and it would be quite opportune if I could then lay the sketch before the dear Electoral Prince, who is to honor the fete with his presence. He is a connoisseur, and interests himself greatly in such things. Say, then, how comes on your sketch, and can it ...
— The Youth of the Great Elector • L. Muhlbach
... wind-driven spray, I approached the brink of the precipice overlooking the mouth of the ice cone, but I was almost suffocated by the drenching, gusty spray, and was compelled to seek shelter. I searched for some hiding-place in the wall from whence I might run out at some opportune moment when the fall with its whirling spray and torn shreds of comet tails and trailing, tattered skirts was borne westward, as I had seen it carried several times before, leaving the cliffs on the east side and the ice hill bare in the sunlight. I had not long to wait, for, as if ordered ...
— The Yosemite • John Muir
... development now beginning in that ancient empire and the marked progress and increased commercial importance of Bulgaria, Roumania, and Servia make it particularly opportune that the possibilities of American commerce in the Near East should receive ...
— State of the Union Addresses of William H. Taft • William H. Taft
... of about forty paces, which we judged to be beyond wooden spear-throw, we rested upon our paddles to see what would happen. All the crowd of islanders had rushed to the lake edge where they stood staring at us stupidly. Bastin, thinking the occasion opportune, lifted the hideous head of the idol which he had carefully washed, and began to preach on the downfall of "the god ...
— When the World Shook - Being an Account of the Great Adventure of Bastin, Bickley and Arbuthnot • H. Rider Haggard
... in her wild-rose beauty, her longing for pretty clothes and city ways, and yet so capably pro by this opportune father who appeared to foresee the moment ...
— Merton of the Movies • Harry Leon Wilson
... in a certain clergyman's family where she had lived as nursemaid in her younger days; and my imagination was fired by dreams of soup-cans, coal-clubs, linsey petticoats comforting the rheumatic limbs of aged women, opportune blankets in winter, Sunday-school classes, ...
— A Flat Iron for a Farthing - or Some Passages in the Life of an only Son • Juliana Horatia Ewing
... of the brother of Cambyses, was a circumstance that greatly promoted the success of the undertaking. In addition to all these general advantages, the cruelty of Cambyses was the means of furnishing them with a most opportune occasion for putting their ...
— Darius the Great - Makers of History • Jacob Abbott
... was as true as ever to his genius while he lolled on a divan and emitted a series of reflexions that were even more ingenious than opportune. Nick walked up and down the room, and it might have been supposed from his manner that he was impatient for his friend to withdraw. This idea would have been contradicted, however, by the fact that subsequently, ...
— The Tragic Muse • Henry James
... The question was opportune; flimsily stretched across in front of the attacking party and about shoulder high were some copper wires, and about equally spaced below were others. It could be seen that these offered no serious check, ...
— Radio Boys Loyalty - Bill Brown Listens In • Wayne Whipple
... the tales are agonizingly tragic, the Abbot scarcely less so in its main event, and Ivanhoe deeply wounded through all its bright panoply; while even in that most powerful of the series, the impossible archeries and axestrokes, the incredibly opportune appearances of Locksley, the death of Ulrica, and the resuscitation of Athelstane, are partly boyish, partly feverish. Caleb in the Bride, Triptolemus and Halcro in the Pirate, are all laborious, and the first incongruous; half a volume of the Abbot is spent ...
— The Crown of Wild Olive • John Ruskin
... man. He was very ceremonious and polite, but distant. Then, in some way, came up the fact that I had been trying to get a cab to take me back to barracks, and then Lascelles declared that nothing could be more opportune. He had secured a carriage and was just going down with Monsieur. They had des affaires to transact at once. He took me aside and said, 'In proof that you accept my amende, and in order that I may make to you my personal apologies, you must accept my ...
— Waring's Peril • Charles King
... clambered up by the bowsprit shrouds. Some of the men in the other boats, seeing what he was doing, followed his example. They were unnoticed. A fierce fight was raging on the quarter-deck, and the shouting was prodigious. When some thirty men were gathered Will led the way aft. Their arrival was opportune, for the attacking party, under the lieutenant, had been vastly outnumbered by the pirates, and although fighting stoutly, had been penned against the bulwark, where with difficulty ...
— By Conduct and Courage • G. A. Henty
... for observation when the sunlight falls upon them in such a manner as to exhibit strongly contrasted lights and shadows. It is impossible to observe the moon satisfactorily when it is full, for then no conspicuous shadows are cast. The most opportune moment for seeing any particular lunar object is when it lies just at the illuminated side of the boundary between light and shade, for then the features are brought out ...
— The Story of the Heavens • Robert Stawell Ball
... him believe that the rest of the committee were trying, from motives of blackmail, to prevent any report of the bill. The bill was reported without further protest, and the threatened riot did not come off, partly, said Roosevelt, "because of the opportune production of the chair-leg." But the young fighter found that he was no farther along: the bill slumbered soundly on the calendar, and nothing that he could do availed to secure consideration of it. At last the ...
— Theodore Roosevelt and His Times - A Chronicle of the Progressive Movement; Volume 47 in The - Chronicles Of America Series • Harold Howland
... your practised romancers thus to reveal my plot at the beginning, and yet, with all I have told, you will never guess in what mysterious guise, yet so subtly that it seemed a breath of wind had but fluttered a leaf of paper, the enemy we feared was struck with such opportune paralysis. ...
— Romance of Roman Villas - (The Renaissance) • Elizabeth W. (Elizbeth Williams) Champney
... no time, and as soon as the thing was suitable and opportune, he paid a visit to the lord treasurer of his majesty. He had then the satisfaction to exchange a piece of paper, covered with very ugly writing, for a prodigious number of crowns, recently stamped with the effigies of his very ...
— Ten Years Later - Chapters 1-104 • Alexandre Dumas, Pere
... come at last, and it is for the country to decide whether the South is to be allowed to secede, or to remain strengthened by their slaves, planting and warring against us until our own resources becoming exhausted, Europe can at an opportune moment intervene. But will that be the end? Will not Russia revenge the Crimea by aiding us—will not Austria be dismembered, France on fire, Southern Europe in arms, and one storm of anarchy sweep over the world? It is all possible, should we persevere in fighting the enemy with one ...
— The Continental Monthly, Vol. 2, No 3, September, 1862 - Devoted to Literature and National Policy. • Various
... Scotia Seminary, at Concord, North Carolina. Later the teachers at Oak Hill aided and encouraged others to attend these and other christian institutions of learning established elsewhere by our Freedmen's Board. The present is an opportune time for noting the results, in the way of increased happiness and added usefulness to these young people by one or more years of special training ...
— The Choctaw Freedmen - and The Story of Oak Hill Industrial Academy • Robert Elliott Flickinger
... the east hall, and took position on the staircase. He turned just in time to parry Colden's sword, which the major had picked up and made shift to hold in his wrapped-up, wounded hand. Harry saw that an opportune stroke might send the sword from his enemy's numb and weakening grasp, and his heart swelled with anticipated triumph, until he heard Colden's ...
— The Continental Dragoon - A Love Story of Philipse Manor-House in 1778 • Robert Neilson Stephens
... my espial, Cornwallis was speaking, and I drew back to listen, well enough content to be in earshot. For if my good angel had timed my coming I could not have arrived at a more opportune moment. ...
— The Master of Appleby • Francis Lynde
... had made Emerson Crawford a present of a carload of Herefords he could not have been more pleased than he was at the result of the Jackpot crew's night adventure with the Steelman forces. The news came to him at an opportune moment, for he had just been served notice by the president of the Malapi First National Bank that Crawford must prepare to meet at once a call note for $10,000. A few hours earlier in the day the cattleman ...
— Gunsight Pass - How Oil Came to the Cattle Country and Brought a New West • William MacLeod Raine
... on earth for you, Gabriella," said George suddenly. "I wonder if you would make a sacrifice for me if I asked it?" From his face as he looked down on her it was evident that he was not speaking from impulse, but that he had seized an opportune moment. ...
— Life and Gabriella - The Story of a Woman's Courage • Ellen Glasgow
... worn-out soul the freshness of hers,—pouring her spirit into the sweet caresses which met with no response. Presently she raised her head to the level of the king's, clasping him softly in her arms; then she lay still, her face hidden on that suffering breast, watching for the opportune moment to ...
— Catherine de' Medici • Honore de Balzac
... far, however, the opportune moment for a formal rejection of the Limerick Treaty had not arrived. But when Parliament met in 1697 it was deemed prudent to carry out the instruction of the Bishop of Meath, that no faith should be kept with Catholics. The Articles of Limerick ...
— History of the Catholic Church from the Renaissance • Rev. James MacCaffrey
... "camel" was hastily improvised, by the aid of which the two vessels were dragged across the bar. Hardly had the second brig made the passage in safety, when the British fleet appeared in the offing. Tradition says that the opportune absence of the enemy's fleet was caused by a public banquet to which the citizens of Port Dover had invited Commodore Barclay and his officers. While the dinner was going merrily on, the Americans ...
— The Naval History of the United States - Volume 1 (of 2) • Willis J. Abbot
... borrowings by small States. We decided that each of the great allied countries should contribute a portion of every loan made to the small States who were either in with us now or prepared to come in later on, that the responsibility should be divided between the three countries, and that at an opportune moment a joint loan should be floated to cover the advances either already made, or to be made, to these countries outside the three great allied countries. That was the only exception we made in respect of joint loans. Up to the present very considerable ...
— New York Times Current History: The European War, Vol 2, No. 1, April, 1915 - April-September, 1915 • Various
... modell, which pleases me more and more. At this till 8 o'clock, and so we sat in the office and staid all the morning, my interest still growing, for which God be praised. This morning I got unexpectedly the Reserve for Mr. Cooper to be maister of, which was only by taking an opportune time to motion [it], which is one good effect of my being constant at the office, that nothing passes without me; and I have the choice of my own time to propose anything I would have. Dined at home, and to the office again at my business all the afternoon till night, and so to supper and ...
— Diary of Samuel Pepys, Complete • Samuel Pepys
... Under my cottage-roof, had gladly come From the wild sea a cherished Visitant; [5] 55 And with the sight of this same path—begun, Begun and ended, in the shady grove, [6] Pleasant conviction flashed upon my mind [7] That, to this opportune recess allured, He had surveyed it with a finer eye, 60 A heart more wakeful; and had worn the track [8] By pacing here, unwearied and alone, [A] In that habitual restlessness of foot That haunts the Sailor measuring [9] o'er and o'er His short domain ...
— The Poetical Works of William Wordsworth, Vol. III • William Wordsworth
... very opportune. I was looked for for sometime, and letters were about being despatched for me.... I have the honor of being one-half of the building committee, Professor Chamberlain being the other moiety, and we are commencing operations. ...
— The History of Dartmouth College • Baxter Perry Smith
... against the Catholics. He had voted silently against Canning's motion in June, and although he had spoken against a previous motion of Grattan, he had done so mainly on the ground that the time was not opportune, and had expressly guarded himself against giving any positive pledge. He was now, however, obliged to take a more prominent part, and for the next six years he was the chief support of the anti-Catholic party in Parliament. His part was a very difficult one, for he had to encounter Grattan, ...
— Historical and Political Essays • William Edward Hartpole Lecky
... with the Pope, and on the demand of Clement VI Charles agreed to hand Rienzi over to the papal court on condition that his life should be spared. In 1352 Rienzi was conveyed to Avignon and thrust into prison. He owed his life perhaps less to the Emperor's request than to the opportune death of Clement VI in ...
— The Great Events by Famous Historians, Volume 07 • Various
... challenged Hernando to settle their quarrel by single combat. But his prudent adversary had no desire to leave the issue to such an ordeal; and the affair was speedily terminated by the death of Alvarado himself, which happened five days after the challenge. An event so opportune naturally suggested the suspicion ...
— History Of The Conquest Of Peru • William Hickling Prescott
... Valentina's way to insist that the entire garrison, with the exception of one single sentinel—and this only at Francesco's very earnest urging—should attend the morning service. Like an inspiration it came to him that such a half-hour as that would be a most opportune season in which to throw open the gates of Roccaleone to the besiegers. The following Wednesday was the feast of Corpus Christi. ...
— Love-at-Arms • Raphael Sabatini
... not hurt, but she was shaken and out of breath, and Julian's caresses were not altogether opportune. Still she did not seem to be vexed by them. Perhaps they were too rare to be unwelcome. She let him creep into bed beside her, and lay with her arm round him as if he were still a baby at her breast, and then for a time they slept together, mother and child, ...
— A True Friend - A Novel • Adeline Sergeant
... the age when it was first advanced, had the inspiration of genius. It was most opportune. The Bishop of Rome would soon have been reduced to the condition of other metropolitans had his dignity rested on the greatness of his capital. He now became the interpreter of his own decrees,—an arch-pontiff ...
— Beacon Lights of History, Volume IV • John Lord
... thankful for one thing: I understand that a more opportune time in which to fill our probation has never been known on the earth. The Gospel exists there in its fulness, and the time of utter spiritual darkness has gone. The race is strong and can give us sound bodies. Now, if ...
— Added Upon - A Story • Nephi Anderson
... was well aware that Miss Eustis would not for one moment consider him—unless she had to. He proposed to so arrange affairs that she had to. Naturally, he looked to his private secretary to help him bring about this desirable end. And at this opportune moment fate played into his hands in a manner that left Mr. Hunter's assent a ...
— Slippy McGee, Sometimes Known as the Butterfly Man • Marie Conway Oemler
... in his estimate alike of ally and enemy. Above all came that cruelest stab—what would Wratislaw think of it? He had disgraced himself in the eyes of his friend. He who had made a fetish of competence had manifestly proved wanting; he who had loved to think of himself as the bold, opportune man, had shown himself formal ...
— The Half-Hearted • John Buchan
... service. True, I betray'd Orodes, but with cause, He struck me, like a sorry abject slave, And still withheld from giving what he'd promis'd. Fear not Arsaces, believe me, he shall Soon his Quietus have—But, see, he comes,— What can this mean? Why at this lonely hour, And unattended?—Ha! 'tis opportune— I'll in, and stab him now. I heed not what The danger is, so I but have revenge, Then ...
— The Prince of Parthia - A Tragedy • Thomas Godfrey
... the idealization of a hopeless cause to lead them into trouble solely for trouble's sake. So it was that when my father of blessed memory saw that King Charles I and his favorites were determined to wreck the state, themselves, and their friends, he fell ill of the gout at an opportune moment, which made it necessary for him to hasten to Germany to take the cure ...
— The Touchstone of Fortune • Charles Major
... the tops of houses—while each occupant tries to vie with his neighbour in this sort of loyalty, till there seems almost to be hypocrisy in it. 'Stars and Stripes' everywhere, and on all occasions, opportune and inopportune. The main public place in New York is half filled by ugly wooden sheds, used as military store rooms and barracks, and, every now and then, with a frequency which is startling, are the head-quarters of all sorts of Volunteer regiments— American, Irish, German, Dutch, ...
— Canada and the States • Edward William Watkin
... be opportune if you would be pleased to advise Mr Borrow that, convinced of the inutility of his efforts for propagating here the translation in the vulgar tongue of Sacred Writings without the forms required by law, he would do much better in making use of his talents in some other class of scientifical or ...
— The Life of George Borrow • Herbert Jenkins
... adapted to the deliberate wishes of the people, as to supersede and overshadow the Assembly, with its perilous tumult and its prolonged sterility. He had proposed some such measure early in May, when it was rejected, and he did not insist. But now the policy unwisely postponed was clearly opportune. Secret advice came from liberal public men, urging the danger of the crisis, and the certainty that the Assembly would soon hurry to extremes. Mirabeau himself deplored its action, and Malouet had reason to expect a stouter resistance to the revolutionary argument and the sudden ...
— Lectures on the French Revolution • John Emerich Edward Dalberg-Acton
... Just recently I wrote to the Victorian Minister who had charge of the Preferential Voting Bill in the Victorian Parliament to ask him to consider the merits of effective voting; but, like most other politicians, the Minister did not find the time opportune for considering the question of electoral justice for all parties. I remained in Victoria to spend a month with my family and friends after Mrs. Young returned to Adelaide. The death of my dear brother John, whose sympathy and help had always meant so much to me, shortly after my return, ...
— An Autobiography • Catherine Helen Spence
... be useful with advance guards, rear guards, outposts, raids, and in battle. The last use, novel as it is, will be most important of all. The flanks of the division can be secured by this organization, relieving reserves of this duty; it will give a stiffening to the line of support, and at every opportune occasion will be pushed into action on the firing line. The moral effect of its presence will be very great; it will be able to render valuable assistance by its fire (over the charging line) in many cases. Last, ...
— The Gatlings at Santiago • John H. Parker
... these conditions the Political Director announced that he would ask the minister if it appeared to him opportune to communicate to the press a short note in a ...
— The Story of the Great War, Volume I (of 8) - Introductions; Special Articles; Causes of War; Diplomatic and State Papers • Various
... being grateful for this opportune supply of ways and means for murder. Castaldo calls the bilbo a "fated aspic," upon the edge of which his "eye-balls crack to look," and makes a raving exit from the stage, to a roaring laugh from ...
— Punch, or the London Charivari, Volume 1, Complete • Various
... mackintosh, had announced her intention of going out to join in some demonstration which had to do with the upholding of the rights of her fellow-sisters, and had only been dissuaded therefrom by the opportune arrival of tea ...
— The Hawk of Egypt • Joan Conquest
... sustained Amber. He was now on the edge of collapse and showed it plainly. But two circumstances aided him to recover his grip upon himself: Quain's compassionate consideration in forbearing to press his story from him, and Doggott's opportune appearance with a pot of coffee, steaming and black. Two cups of this restored Amber to a condition somewhat approaching the normal. He lit a cigarette and ...
— The Bronze Bell • Louis Joseph Vance
... Mr. Mathews, while eagerly anticipated, could not have fallen on a less auspicious day. Aunt Tish, the arbiter of the Opp household, had been planning for weeks to make a visit to Coreyville, and the occasion of an opportune ...
— Mr. Opp • Alice Hegan Rice
... when Mme. Bondaine and her two daughters were away from home over night, Bondaine and the girl had a hot dispute; that that night, while in the library, Ygerne Bellaire shot her guardian; that he would in all probability have died had it not been for the opportune presence of Marc Lemarc, even the household servants being out; that that night Ygerne Bellaire left New Orleans and had not been heard of since ...
— Wolf Breed • Jackson Gregory
... Rosser's regiment was most opportune. By an immediate sabre charge he drove back the enemy's advance upon their main body in the town of Aldie. Having relieved the pressure on the pickets, Rosser stationed his sharpshooters, under Capt. R.B. Boston, on the right of the Snickersville road, where ...
— History and Comprehensive Description of Loudoun County, Virginia • James W. Head
... he had disposed of his goose to Mrs. Norris (who snapped it up eagerly, and paid him well, its opportune arrival saving her the great mortification of giving her friends a fish dinner), he sought out old Adam Standish, the acknowledged sportsman ...
— Sara, a Princess • Fannie E. Newberry
... perverse, the danger of the simple, demand that such fancies, altogether absurd though they are, should—since they borrow the mask of science—be refuted by true science." Wherefore the Pope thanked Dr. James for his book, "so opportune and so perfectly appropriate to the exigencies of our time," and bestowed on him the apostolic benediction. Nor was this brief all. With it there came a second, creating the author an officer of the Papal Order of St. Sylvester. The cardinal archbishop assured the delighted physician that such ...
— History of the Warfare of Science with Theology in Christendom • Andrew Dickson White
... after midnight, with very great pain; for though his spirits were much spent and his body dead, a-lay above two hours in departing" (Lieutenant of the Tower to Salisbury, December 23, 1605, "State Papers, Domestic," James I., xvii. 56). Tresham's death, being so opportune for Monteagle, if not for Salisbury, has been attributed to poisoning; but Stowe's "Annals" (1615, p. 880) states it to have been occasioned by strangury, though giving the date of his death incorrectly as November 22. Ten years later ...
— The Identification of the Writer of the Anonymous Letter to Lord Monteagle in 1605 • William Parker
... more opportune than Uchida's reappearance, or more welcome than his proposed assistance. Mata, indeed, hastened to give a whole koku of rice to the poor in thank-offering that one sensible person besides herself was now implicated in the ...
— The Dragon Painter • Mary McNeil Fenollosa
... I not had two bishops at my feet? The Duke of Ichar, and Don Fernan Nunez; And is it thus a faithful wife you treat? I wonder in what quarter now the moon is: I praise your vast forbearance not to beat Me also, since the time so opportune is— Oh, valiant man! with sword drawn and cocked trigger, Now, tell me, don't you cut a ...
— The Works of Lord Byron, Volume 6 • Lord Byron
... foresters, who took care of me, and afterwards wished to make me his wife. I was too much disgusted with him and his way of life to consent; and, after many threats, he would at last have killed me, but for the opportune arrival of a young man who happened to be passing, and rescued me from his hands. That young man has since become my husband. We have been searching for you, and have now happily ...
— Hindoo Tales - Or, The Adventures of Ten Princes • Translated by P. W. Jacob
... toward the portraits, and other picturesque details of a room which was worthy the attention of a connoisseur; but he felt that the moment was not opportune for indulging in artistic contemplation, and that he must leave the ...
— Gerfaut, Complete • Charles de Bernard
... besides, counteracted by Lady Malmaison's influence. It is needless to say that Archibald was immensely proud of the compliment (as he considered it), and took care to celebrate his distinction at all times and places, opportune or otherwise—seeming, indeed, to think and talk of little else. It is not probable that he fully comprehended the significance of the matter, as he was certainly far from perceiving its ironic aspect; nevertheless, his dull brain received more ...
— Archibald Malmaison • Julian Hawthorne
... Billy's friends. I never knew such a person for discovering friends at the most opportune times. He never wants anything but what a friend turns up. Did you find him wandering about, or did he ...
— The Burglar and the Blizzard • Alice Duer Miller
... sell them or have a good reason for not doing it. I often walk back to a man's desk and find him intently at work over something; I would gladly back out if I could, and risk the coming in later at a more opportune time. But he has seen me, probably cusses to himself, hopes I am selling something he doesn't keep, so he can cut me off at once, and then takes my card ...
— A Man of Samples • Wm. H. Maher
... heart-breaking feeling that she was now lost, indeed. It was no mystery, any longer, that the slave girl must have listened at the open door, and have cunningly contrived that her master should appear at such time as seemed most opportune for her purposes. And how must every unconscious action, every innocent saying have been noted down in the tablets of that crafty mind! What explanation, indeed, could be given of those trivial caresses now so surely magnified and distorted into ...
— The Continental Monthly, Vol. 6, No 4, October, 1864 - Devoted To Literature And National Policy • Various
... to Sally herself, but if that were not possible, then Mrs. Halliday was certainly the next best confidante. Besides, being the closest relative of Sally's it was only fitting and proper that she should be told certain facts. Sooner or later she must know and now seemed a particularly opportune time. Don rose and moved his chair ...
— The Wall Street Girl • Frederick Orin Bartlett
... favourable weather, till far into the night, as they joined unbidden in a chorus, which hushed, or rather turned to music, the noise of their chipping. It was hardly noise at all, even in the night-time. Now and again Brother Apollyon descended nimbly to surprise them, at an opportune moment, by the display of an immense strength. A great cheer exploded suddenly, as single-handed he heaved a massive stone into its place. He seemed to have no sense of weight: "Put there by the devil!" ...
— Miscellaneous Studies: A Series of Essays • Walter Horatio Pater
... their intended place by the quantity of ice which had fixed itself there. Within twenty minutes after our arrival, the whole body of ice again came in, entirely closing up the shore, so that our moving proved most opportune. ...
— Three Voyages for the Discovery of a Northwest Passage from the • Sir William Edward Parry
... visit was, indeed, opportune. The clothing of both Mr. Fogg and Fix was in rags, as if they had themselves been actively engaged in the contest between Camerfield and Mandiboy. An hour after, they were once more suitably attired, and with Aouda returned to the ...
— Around the World in 80 Days • Jules Verne
... the consideration of the subject not only interesting but opportune. "These are the times that try men's souls." It is a time of sifting, when men of all nations in civilization in these critical days are again testing the value even of those political institutions which have the sanction of the past. Society is in a state of ...
— The Constitution of the United States - A Brief Study of the Genesis, Formulation and Political Philosophy of the Constitution • James M. Beck
... oratione tum ea, quae ad religiones pertinebat, maxime dicitur; sed rem dubiam decrevit vox opportune missa, quod, cum senatus post paulo de his rebus in curia Hostilia haberetur, cohortesque ex praesidiis revertentes forte {5} agmine forum transirent, centurio in comitio exclamavit: 'Signifer, statue signum; ...
— Helps to Latin Translation at Sight • Edmund Luce
... a logical mind. He knew that Granny's story had not been finished, and he wanted all of it. At the first opportune moment he asked ...
— The Soul of a Child • Edwin Bjorkman
... have been more opportune than this for the encouragement of our Lord. On earth He had found incredulity among His best friends; incapacity to see why He should die; indifference to His object here. He now meets with those who, with breathless interest, await His death ...
— How to become like Christ • Marcus Dods
... Butler. Tea with Harrison. Walk with Gaskell. Wine with Hamilton, more of a party than I quite liked or expected. Altogether my mind was in an unsatisfactory state, though I heard a most admirable sermon from Tyler on Bethesda, which could not have been more opportune if written on purpose for those who are going into the schools. But I am cold, timid, and worldly, and not in a healthy state of mind for the great trial of to-morrow, to which I know I am utterly and miserably unequal, but which I also know will ...
— The Life of William Ewart Gladstone, Vol. 1 (of 3) - 1809-1859 • John Morley
... not want his daughter to succeed him in the title. His announcement about the previous marriage strikes me as just a little too opportune. Where are the proofs?" ...
— The Moon Rock • Arthur J. Rees
... as possible, and I earnestly request you to give most conscientious attention to the revision of the last proofs. Any alterations, corrections, and additions must be made entirely in accordance with my directions, so that the definitive publication, which it would be opportune to begin at once in your paper, may satisfy us and rightly fulfill the aim we have in view. If therefore your time is too fully occupied to give you the leisure to undertake these corrections, ...
— Letters of Franz Liszt, Volume 1, "From Paris to Rome: - Years of Travel as a Virtuoso" • Franz Liszt; Letters assembled by La Mara and translated
... the Neutral Powers. It is the old story of "hold me back, don't let me get at him." One thing, however, is certain, that the capture of Bazaine, the disaster at Bourget, the row at the Hotel de Ville, the Prussian cannon on the heights of Meudon, and the opportune arrival of Thiers, have made this population as peaceful to-day, as they were warlike ...
— Diary of the Besieged Resident in Paris • Henry Labouchere
... whole history of Monsieur G—, his horse-whipping, the opportune appearance of Colonel Jervis, and all the curious ...
— Valerie • Frederick Marryat
... appointments, and the like; and if we do not at once get what we ask for, let us try what bullying and intimidation can do—aspiring ultimately to substitute a representative for a monarchical form of government, and having secured this, wait the opportune moment for driving the foreigner into the sea. Thus a change which, to be successful, would require the gradual education of the people for generations, is to be forced on at once; and "if constitutional means are not sufficient to achieve our ambition, why not try what unconstitutional ...
— Indian Unrest • Valentine Chirol
... crevice and broke the butt of his rifle. He was safe, however, from immediate danger; at least he thought so, and resolved he would remain where he was till his pursuers should abandon their search. On examining the place which had afforded him so opportune a refuge, he perceived it was a spacious natural cave, having no other entrance than the hole or aperture through which he had fallen. He thanked Providence for this fortunate discovery, as, for the future, he would have a safe place to conceal his skins and provisions while trapping; but as he ...
— Monsieur Violet • Frederick Marryat
... time have contributed to make Mr. Seeley's book, in one sense at least, singularly opportune, and have given to a philosophical study the actuality of a political pamphlet. The history of the struggle between England and France for Canada and for India acquires new point at a moment when the old rivalries are again too likely to be awakened in Madagascar, in Oceania, and in more ...
— Critical Miscellanies (Vol. 3 of 3) - Essay 9: The Expansion of England • John Morley
... Isabel in a tone of deep earnestness, "I should not have asked you to sing, had I known the harm it might possibly do you, indeed I would not, and though annoyed beyond measure at having to give up the anthem, I am very glad that Dr. Heathfield's opportune visit prevented you running such a risk, for had any serious consequences ensued, I alone should ...
— Isabel Leicester - A Romance • Clotilda Jennings
... her ready to fight, if fight he must on this question. He had chosen an opportune time to tell it, but he meant to do as he wished about those hogs and the land and whatever else they possessed. He hated to open a discussion, but he did not hate to continue one after he had made the plunge. He had feasible reasons for ...
— The Wind Before the Dawn • Dell H. Munger
... sublimation of Yankee wit as Lowell was of Yankee humor and human nature, and he made of witticism a study; polished, refined, and prepared his "bons mots", and, at the best moment, led the conversation round to the point at which it was opportune to fire them off. He had a large medical knowledge of human nature and intellectual pathology, but I could never realize that he was a physician; I should not have trusted myself to his doctoring. As with Longfellow, his family affections were ...
— The Autobiography of a Journalist, Volume I • Stillman, William James
... and swords and gold lace, I maintained my innocence and heard Jack Herriott, on his opportune arrival, pour forth in weird, but fluent, Italian an account of me that must have surrounded me in the eyes of all present with a golden halo, and that firmly established me in their minds as the probable next President of the United States. Thanks to these exaggerations and ...
— The Firefly Of France • Marion Polk Angellotti
... was deeply shocked by this reminiscence. Involuntarily he glanced up and around to see if there were any trace of those opportune levin-flashes and thunderbolts which, in the "Acta Sanctorum," were wont so often to cut short the loose talk of the scoffer. The autumn sun streamed down as brightly as ever, and the peaceful red path still wound in front of them through the rustling, yellow-tinted forest, Nature ...
— The White Company • Arthur Conan Doyle
... known to his Majesty, or he did not wish to reply, M. Lemarrois received no answer. In order to settle the matter he conceived the idea of addressing himself to me, entreating me to present his petition at an opportune moment. I did this, and had the happiness to succeed; and in consequence M. Lemarrois obtained an audience with such gratifying results that a short time after he obtained ...
— The Memoirs of Napoleon Bonaparte • Bourrienne, Constant, and Stewarton
... was to denounce the maid at once, and have her discharged; but the time was not opportune, so she waited until ...
— Aunt Jane's Nieces at Work • Edith Van Dyne
... a word or a thought for poor Mr. Hepworth, to whose watchfulness was really due the fact of Dr. Martin's opportune assistance. And too, if Mr. Hepworth had not seen the first signs of Patty's loss of consciousness, her fall from the high pedestal might have proved ...
— Patty's Summer Days • Carolyn Wells
... systematic endeavor after mutual improvement. The Junto was created as a school of philosophy, morality, and politics; and this purpose it actually served for many years. Some of the questions read at every meeting of the Junto, with a pause after each one, would be curiously opportune in such a society at the present day. For example, No. 5, "Have you lately heard how any present rich man, here or elsewhere, got his estate?" And No. 6, "Do you know of a fellow-citizen ... who has lately committed an error proper for us to be warned against and avoid?" When a ...
— Four American Leaders • Charles William Eliot
... should charge on the strand, Horace Vere through the upper downs, and Cecil along the margin of the beach. Balen rode slowly through the heavy sand, keeping his horses well in wind, and at the moment he touched the beach, rushed with fury upon the enemy's foot near the battery. The moment was most opportune, for the last shot had been fired from the guns, and they had just been nearly abandoned in despair. The onset of Balen was successful: the Spanish infantry, thus suddenly attached, were broken, ...
— The Rise of the Dutch Republic, 1555-1566 • John Lothrop Motley
... Russell's illness I assisted Mr. Bingham, and after his recovery I continued this assistance in other ways. Mr. Bingham has perhaps intrusted me with more responsibility than was in every respect wise—certainly with more than he realised. I was enabled to give him some opportune help on the occasion of the last inspection, and this gave me a ...
— The Strange Cases of Dr. Stanchon • Josephine Daskam Bacon
... underbrush, wire fences (the famous military trochas) and Spanish daggers jabbing them in side at every step. For a while the situation was serious. The decisive blow of the attack seems to have been struck at an opportune moment, and the ...
— The Colored Regulars in the United States Army • T. G. Steward
... public excitement continued unabated, the Lieutenant-Governor resolved upon a step which was little calculated to allay it. This step was the dissolution of the existing Parliament. He and his advisers, sworn and unsworn, believed that the time was opportune for a general election. If the numerical majority of the Opposition in the Assembly were reversed, the Government could afford to laugh at what they called "low-bred democracy." Such a reversal, it was thought, might now be effected. ...
— The Story of the Upper Canada Rebellion, Volume 1 • John Charles Dent |
