Cord and Creese – James De Mille – He had a face of rather unusual appearance, and an air which in England is usually considered foreign. His features were regular-a straight nose, wide brow, thin lips, and square, massive chin. His complexion was olive, and his eyes were of a dark hazel color, with a peculiarity about them which is not usually seen in the eye of the Teutonic or Celtic race, but is sometimes found among the people of the south of Europe, or in the East. It is difficult to find a name for this peculiarity. It may be seen sometimes in the gipsy; sometimes in the more successful among those who call themselves ‘spiritual mediums, ‘ or among the more powerful mesmerizers. Such an eye belonged to Napoleon Bonaparte, whose glance at times could make the boldest and greatest among his marshals quail. What is it? Magnetism? Or the revelation of the soul? Or what?’You’ve not been long away, this time, ‘ I remarked as I finished my soup; forgetting momentarily, Carnacki’s dislike of being asked even to skirt the borders of his story until such time as he was ready. Then he would not stint words. ‘That’s all, ‘ he replied with brevity; and I changed the subject, remarking that I had been buying a new gun, to which piece of news he gave an intelligent nod, and a smile which I think showed a genuinely good-humoured appreciation of my intentional changing of the conversation.
关于作者
(the family used De Mill, but he wrote under De Mille, and used this name after 1865), author and professor; b. at Saint John, N.B., probably on 23 Aug. 1833, third child of loyalists Nathan Smith De Mill and Elizabeth Budd; d. at Halifax, N.S., 28 Jan. 1880, at the age of 47.
Nathan De Mill was a prosperous merchant, ship-owner, and lumberman in Saint John, N.B. He was a man of strong principles and a strict abstainer, called ‘cold-water De Mill’ by his contemporaries. He left the Church of England to become a Baptist, and was active on the board of governors of Acadia College which was chartered in 1841. James De Mille and his brothers were educated at Horton Academy, Wolfville, before continuing at Acadia. Their adventures at the academy, real or imaginary, form the substance of an excellent set of boys’ books, The ‘B.O.W.C.’ Series. Taking place in and around Minas Basin or celebrating great Maritime events such as the Miramichi fire, these adventures of the Brothers of the White Cross were published between 1869 and 1873.
James matriculated at Acadia College in 1849. The following year he and his elder brother Elisha Budd De Mill set off on a year’s travel, going by boat to Boston, overland to Quebec, and there boarding one of their father’s ships for England. They went on a walking trip in England and Scotland, crossed to France, and spent several months in Italy. The experiences of this year profoundly affected James – most of his many novels reflect a knowledge of places, people, and languages not his own – and left him with a lifelong love of Italy.
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