precious time

\
"I _should_ have thought," said Fanny, after a pause of recollection and exertion, "that every woman must have felt the possibility of a man's not being approved, not being loved by some one of her sex at least, let him be ever so generally agreeable. Let him have all the perfections in the world, I think it ought not to be set down as certain that a man must be acceptable to every woman he may happen to like himself. But, even supposing it is so,
allowing Mr. Crawford to have all the claims which his sisters think he has, how was I to be prepared to meet him with any feeling answerable to his own? He took me wholly by surprise. I had not an idea that his behaviour to me before had any meaning; and surely I was not to be teaching myself to like him only because he was taking what seemed

precious time

It was a picture which Henry Crawford had moral taste enough to value. Fanny's attractions increased--increased twofold; for the sensibility which beautified her complexion and illumined her countenance was an attraction in itself. He was no longer in doubt of the capabilities of her heart. She had feeling, genuine feeling. It would be something to be loved by such a girl, to excite the first ardours of her young unsophisticated mind! She interested him more than he had foreseen. A fortnight was not enough. His stay became indefinite. ¡¡¡
¡ William was often called on by his uncle to be the talker. His recitals were amusing in themselves to Sir Thomas, but the chief object in seeking them was to understand the reciter, to know the young man by his histories; and he listened to his clear, simple, spirited details with full satisfaction, seeing in them the proof of good

precious time

were to receive ordination in the course of the Christmas week. Half his destiny would then be determined, but the other half might not be so very smoothly wooed. His duties would be established, but the wife who was to share, and animate, and reward those duties, might yet be unattainable. He knew his own mind, but he was not always perfectly assured of knowing Miss Crawford's. There were points on which they did not quite agree; there were moments in which she did not seem propitious; and though trusting altogether to her affection,
so far as to be resolved--almost resolved-- on bringing it to a decision within a very short time, as soon as the variety of business before him were arranged, and he knew what he had to offer her, he had many anxious feelings, many doubting hours as to the result. His conviction of her regard for him was sometimes very strong; he could look back on a long course of encouragement, and she was as perfect in disintereste

precious time

It was not a reckless manner, the manner in which he said these words aloud under the fast-sailing clouds, nor was it more expressive of negligence than defiance. It was the settled manner of a tired man, who had wandered and struggled and got lost, but who at length struck into his road and saw its end. ¡¡¡¡Long ago, when he had been famous among his earliest competitors as a youth of great promise, he had his father to the grave. His mother had died, years before. These solemn words, which had been read at his father's grave,
arose in his mind as he went down the dark streets, among the heavy shadows, with the moon and the clouds sailing on high above him. "I am the resurrection and the life, saith the Lord: he that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live: and whosoever liveth and believeth in me, shall never die."

precious time

'My dear,' said Mr. Micawber, 'Britannia must take her chance. I am bound to say that she has never done much for me, and that I have no particular wish upon the subject.' ¡¡¡¡'Micawber,' returned Mrs. Micawber, 'there, you are wrong. You are going out, Micawber, to this distant clime, to strengthen, not to weaken, the connexion between yourself and Albion.' ¡¡¡¡'The connexion in question, my love,' rejoined Mr. Micawber, 'has not laid me, I repeat, under that load of personal obligation, that I am at all
' ¡¡¡¡'Micawber,' returned Mrs. Micawber. 'There, I again say, you are wrong. You do not know your power, Micawber. It is that which will strengthen, even in this step you are about to take, the connexion between yourself and Albion.' ¡¡¡¡Mr. Micawber sat in his elbow-chair, with his eyebrows raised; half receiving and half repudiating Mrs. Micawber's views as they were stated, but very sensible of their foresight.

precious time

¡¡¡¡'I suppose this unfortunate fowl was born and brought up in a cellar,' said my aunt, 'and never took the air except on a hackney coach-stand. I hope the steak may be beef, but I don't believe it. Nothing's genuine in the place, in my opinion, but the dirt.' ¡¡¡¡'Don't you think the fowl may have come out of the country, aunt?' I hinted. ¡¡¡¡'Certainly not,' returned my aunt. 'It would be no pleasure to a London tradesman to sell anything which was what he pretended it was.' ¡¡¡¡I did not venture to controvert this opinion, but I made a good supper, which it greatly satisfied her to see me do. When the table was cleared, Janet assisted her to arrange her hair, to put on her nightcap, which was of a smarter construction than usual ('in case of fire',
my aunt said), and to fold her gown back over her knees, these being her usual preparations for warming herself before going to bed. I then made her, according to certain established regulations from which no deviation, however slight, could ever be permitted, a glass of hot wine and water, and a slice of toast cut into long thin strips. With these accompaniments we were left alone to

precious time

I had had no sleep for forty-eight hours. I was wet and chilled to the marrow, till I felt more dead than alive. My body was stiff from exertion as well as from cold, and my aching muscles gave me the severest torture whenever I used them- and I used them continually. And all the time we were being driven off into the northeast,
directly away from Japan and toward bleak Bering Sea. ¡¡¡¡And still we lived, and the boat lived, and the wind blew unabated. In fact, toward nightfall of the third day it increased a trifle and something more. The boat's bow plunged under a crest, and we came through quarter full of water. I baled like a madman. The liability of shipping another such sea was enormously increased by the water that weighed the boat down and robbed it of its buoyancy. And another such sea meant the end. When I had the boat empty again I was forced to take away

precious time

'The phenomenon of life, Hump,' he girded at me. 'Stay and watch it. You may gather data on the immortality of the soul. Besides, you know, we can't hurt Johnson's soul. It's only the fleeting form we may demolish.' ¡¡¡¡It seemed centuries, possibly it was no more than ten minutes, that the beating continued. And when Johnson could no longer rise, they still continued to beat and kick him where he lay. ¡¡¡¡'Easy, Johansen; easy as she goes,' Wolf Larsen finally said. ¡¡¡¡But the beast in the mate was up and rampant, and Wolf Larsen was compelled to brush him away with a back-handed sweep of the arm, gentle enough, apparently, but which hurled Johansen back like a cork, driving his head against the wall with a crash. He fell to the floor, half stunned for the moment, breathing heavily and blinking his eyes in a stupid sort of way. ¡¡¡¡'Jerk open the doors, Hump,' Larsen commanded. ¡¡¡¡I obeyed, and the two brutes picked up the senseless man like a sack of rubbish and hove him clear up the companion-stairs, through the narrow doors, and out on deck. Louis, his boat-mate, gave a turn of the wheel and gazed imperturbably into the binnacle.

precious time

¡¡¡¡Tess retreated upstairs, and beheld casually that the beds had been shifted, and new arrangements made. Her old bed had been adapted for two younger children. There was no place here for her now. ¡¡¡¡The room below being unceiled she could hear most of what went on there. Presently her father entered, apparently carrying a live hen. He was a foot-haggler now, having been obliged to sell his second horse, and he travelled with his basket on his arm. The hen had been carried about this morning as it was often carried, to show people that he was in his work, though it had lain, with its legs tied, under the table at Rolliver's for more than an hour. ¡¡¡¡`We've just had up a story about--' Durbeyfield began, and thereupon related in detail to his wife a discussion which had arisen at the inn about the clergy, originated by the fact of his daughter having married into a clerical family. `They was formerly styled "sir", like my own ancestry,' he said, `though nowadays their true st

precious time

a little of the working of a flour-mill, having an idea that he might combine the use of one with corn-growing. The proprietor of a large old water-mill at Wellbridge - once the mill of an Abbey - had offered him the inspection of his time-honoured mode of procedure, and a hand in the operations for a few days, whenever he should choose to come. Clare paid a visit to the place, some few miles distant, one day at this time, to inquire particulars, and returned to Talbothays in the evening. She found him determined to spend a short time at the Wellbridge flour-mills. And what had determined him? Less the opportunity of an insight into grinding and bolting than the casual fact that lodgings were to be obtained in that very farmhouse which, before its mutilation, had been the mansion of a branch of the d'Urberville family. This was always how Clare settled practical questions; by a sentiment which had nothing to do with them. They decided to go immediately after the wedding, and remain for a fortnight, instead of journeying to towns and inns.

precious time

you too much in front of your mother."
　　"Oh no," said Bridget,"we don't want Mummy to hear aboutit. She gets in such a frightful state about things and she'dgo and tell everyone. I mean, if Elvira doesn't want thingslike this to be known…”
　　"First of all," saidChief-Inspector Davy, "I want to know about a box ofchocolates in Italy. I gather there was some idea that a box was sent to her which mighthave been poisoned."
　　Bridget's eyes openedwide. "Poisoned," she said. "Oh no. I don't think so. At least…”
　　"There was something?"
　　"Oh yes. A box of chocolates came and Elvira dideat a lot of them and she was rather sick that night. Quite ill."

precious time

An aide ran up to him. "The Rebel fleet is closing, sir." "Concentrate all fire in that sector," he answered distractedly. A console on thefar wall burst into flame. "The fighters in the superstructure are eluding our defense system, Commander.Shouldn't we—" "Flood sectors 304 and 138. That should slow them up." He arched hiseyebrows at the aide. This made little sense to the aide, who had cause to wonder at the commander'sgrasp of the situation. "But sir…" "What is the rotation factor to firing range on the Endor Moon?" The aide checked the compuscreen. "Point oh two to moon target, sir.Commander, the fleet—" "Accelerate rotation until moon is in range, and then fire on my mark." "Yes, sir." The aide pulled a bank of switches. "Rotation accelerating, sir.

precious time

device of strange design, wires trailing from it at one end, symbols etched into its flatsurface. He connected the wires end to a tubular, smooth handle, pulled through anorganic-looking connector, locked it in place with another tool. He motioned to ashadow in the corner; the shadow moved toward him. Tentatively, the obscure form rolled closer to the robed figure. "Vrrr-ditdweet?" the little R2 unit questioned timidly as it approached, pausing when it wasjust a foot from the shrouded man with the strange device. The shrouded man motioned the droid nearer still. Artoo-Detoo scooted the lastdistance, blinking; and the hands raised toward his domed little head. The fine sand blew hard over the dunes of Tatooine. The wind seemed to comefrom everywhere at once, typhooning in spots, swirling in devil-winds here, hoveringin stillness there, without pattern or meaning.

precious time

Lando looked longingly over his shoulder as he and Han began to walk acrossthe landing platform, followed by Leia, Threepio and Chewbacca. "That won't beeasy, my friend," Lando said regretfully. Then he turned to Han. "What bring you here anyway?" "Repairs." Mock panic spread across Lando's face. "What have you done to my ship?" Grinning, Han glanced back at Leia. "Lando used to own the Falcon," heexplained. "And he sometimes forgets that he lost her fair and square." Lando shrugged as he conceded to Han's boastful claim. "That ship saved mylife more than a few times. It's the fastest hunk of junk in the galaxy. What'swrong with her?" "Hyperdrive." "I'll have my people get to work on it right away," Lando said. "I hate thethought of the Millennium Falcon without her heart."
The group crossed the narrow bridge that joined the landing area to the city—andwere instantly dazzled by its beauty. They saw numerous small plazas ringed by

precious time

But then he heard a voice, a very distant-sounding voice, fighting its waythrough the crackling noise. "Nice of you guys to drop by. Hope we didn't get youup too early." Zev welcomed the characteristic cynicism in Han Solo's voice. He switched histransmitter back to the hidden Rebel base. "Echo Base, this is Rogue Two," hereported, his voice suddenly rising in pitch. "I found them. Repeat…" As he spoke, the pilot pulled in a fine-tune fix on the signals winking on hiscockpit monitor screens. Then he further reduced the speed of his craft, bringing itdown close enough to the planet's surface so that he could better see a small objectstanding out against the fleecy plains. The object, a portable Rebel-issue shelter, sat atop a snowdrift. On the shelter'swindward side was a hard-packed layer of white. And resting gingerly against theupper part of the snowdrift was a makeshift radio antenna. But a more welcome sight than any of this was the familiar human figure

precious time

Luke wished his mission were finished. His body felt nearly frozen in spite ofhis heavily padded Rebel-issue clothing. But he knew that it was his choice to bethere; he had volunteered to ride across the ice fields looking for other lifeforms. Heshivered as he looked at the long shadow he and the beast cast on the snow. "Thewinds are picking up," he thought. "And these chilling winds bring unendurabletemperatures to the plains after nightfall." He was tempted to return to the base alittle early, but he knew the importance of establishing the certainty that the Rebelswere alone on Hoth. The Tauntaun quickly turned to the right, almost throwing Luke off-balance.He was still getting used to riding the unpredictable creatures. "No offense," he saidto his mount, "but I'd feel a lot more at ease in the cockpit of my old reliablelandspeeder." But for this mission, a Tauntaun—despite its disadvantages—was themost efficient and practical form of transportation available on Hoth. When the beast reached the top of another ice slope, Luke brought the animal tohalt. He pulled off his dark-lensed goggles and squinted for a few moments, justlong enough for his eyes to adjust to the blinding glare of the snow.

precious time

Even stranger sounds surged continually from one particular place. Here laythe most impressive of those edifices, which a vanished race had raised toward theheavens. It was a temple, a roughly pyramidal structure so colossal that it seemedimpossible it could have been built without the aid of modern gravitonic constructiontechniques. Yet all evidence pointed only to simple machines, hand technology—and, perhaps, devices alien and long lost. While the science of this moon's inhabitants had led them to a dead end as far asoffworld travel was concerned, they had produced several discoveries which in certainways surpassed similar Imperial accomplishments—one of which involved a stillunexplained method of cutting and transporting gargantuan blocks of stone from thecrust of the moon. From these monstrous blocks of solid rock, the massive temple had beenconstructed. The jungle had scaled even its soaring crest, clothing it in rich greenand brown. Only near its base, in the temple front, did the jungle slide awaycompletely, to reveal a long, dark entrance cut by its builders and enlarged to suit theneeds of the structure's present occupants. A tiny machine, its smooth metal sides and silvery hue incongruous amidst theall-pervasive green, appeared in the forest. It hummed like a fat, swollen beetle as itconveyed its cluster of passengers toward the open temple base. Crossing aconsiderable clearing, it was soon swallowed up by the dark maw in the front of themassive structure, leaving the jungle once more in the paws and claws of invisiblesquallers and screechers. The original builders would never have recognized the interior of their temple.Seamed metal had replaced rock, and poured paneling did service for chamberdivision in place of wood. Nor would they have been able to see the buried layersexcavated into the rock below, layers which contained hangar upon hanger linked bypowerful elevators.

precious time

All the excitement has overloaded the circuitry in my companion here,"Threepio explained carefully. "If you don't mind, I'd like to take him down toMaintenance." "Hmmm?" One of the guards looked up indifferently and nodded to the robot.Threepio and Artoo hurried out the door without looking back. As they departed itoccurred to the guard that the taller of the two 'droids was of a type he had never seenbefore. He shrugged. That was not surprising on a station of this size. "That was too close," Threepio muttered as they scurried down an emptycorridor. "Now we'll have to find another information-control console and plug youback in, or everything is lost." The garbage chamber grew remorselessly smaller, the smoothly fitting metalwalls moving toward one another with stolid precision. Larger pieces of refuseperformed a concerto of snapping and popping that was rising toward a finalshuddering crescendo. Chewbacca whined pitifully as he fought with all his incredible strength andweight to hold back one of the walls, looking like a hirsute Tantalus approaching hisfinal summit. "One thing's for sure," Solo noted unhappily. "We're all going to be muchthinner. This could prove popular for slimming . The only trouble is itspermanence." Luke paused for breath, shaking the innocent comlink angrily. "What couldhave happened to Threepio?" "Try the hatch again," advised Leia. "It's our only hope." Solo shielded his eyes and did so. The ineffectual blast echoed mockinglythrough the narrowing chamber.

precious time

When the settled Season began to come in, as the thought of my Design return'd with the fair Weather, I was pre paring daily for the Voyage; and the first Thing I did, was to lay by a certain Quantity of Provisions, being the Stores for our Voyage; and intended in a Week or a Fortnight's Time, to open the Dock, and launch out our Boat. I was busy one Morning upon some Thing of this kind, when I call'd to Friday, and bid him go to the Sea Shore, and see if he could find a Turtle, or Tortoise, a Thing which we generally got once a Week, for the Sake of the Eggs, as well as the Flesh: Friday had not been long gone, when he came running back, and flew over my outer Wall, or Fence, like one that felt not the Ground, or the Steps he set his Feet on; and before I had time to speak to him, he cries out to me, O Master! O Master! O Sorrow! O bad! What's the Matter, Friday? says I; O yonder, there, says he, one, two, three Canoe! one, two, three! By his way of speaking, I concluded there were six; but on enquiry, I found it was but three: Well, Friday, says I, do not be frighted; so I heartned him up as well as I could: However, I saw the poor Fellow was most terribly scar'd; for nothing ran in his Head but that they were come to look for him, and would cut him in Pieces, and eat him; and the poor Fellow trembled so, that I scarce knew what to do with him: I comforted him as well as I could, and told him I was in as much Danger as he, and that they would eat me as well as him; but, says I, Friday, we must resolve to fight them; Can you fight, Friday? Me shoot, says he, but there come many great Number. No matter for that, said I again, our Guns will fright them that we do not kill; so I ask'd him, Whether if I resolv'd to defend him, he would defend me, and stand by me, and do just as I bid him? He said, Me die, when you bid die, Master; so I went and fetch'd a good Dram of Rum, and gave him; for I had been so good a Husband of my Rum, that had a great deal left: When he had drank it, I made him take the two Fowling-Pieces, which we always carry'd, and load them with large Swan-Shot, as big as small Pistol Bullets; then I took four Muskets, and loaded them with two Slugs, and five small Bullets each; and my two Pistols I loaded with a Brace of Bullets each; I hung my great Sword as usual, naked by my Side, and gave Friday his Hatchet.
When I had thus prepar'd my self, I took my Perspective-Glass, and went up to the Side of the Hill, to see what I could discover; and I found quickly, by my Glass, that there were one and twenty Savages, three Prisoners, and three Canoes; and that their whole Business seem'd to be the triumphant Banquet upon these three humane Bodies, (a barbarous Feast indeed) but nothing more than as I had observ'd was usual with them.