"Diffidently" Quotes from Famous Books
 ... in great variety at merely nominal prices, including large, yellow pineapples, zapotas, mameys, pomegranates, citrons, limes, oranges, and the like. Large, ripe oranges are sold two for a penny. One timid, half-clad, pretty young girl of native blood held up to us diffidently a bunch of white, fragrant orange blossoms which were eagerly secured and enjoyed, the child could not know how much. Other Indians brought roses and various orchids, splendidly developed, which they sold for a real (twelve cents) each, with the roots bound up in broad ...
— Aztec Land • Maturin M. Ballou
... [standing up, a little diffidently.] — I've heard the priests a power of times making great talk and praises of the beauty of the saints. [Molly Byrne ...
— The Well of the Saints • J. M. Synge
... you it wasn't anything so specially interesting," protested the Traveling Salesman diffidently. "We simply got jollying a bit in the first place about the amount of perfectly senseless, no-account truck that'll collect in a fellow's pockets; and then some sort of a scorched piece of paper he had, or something, got him telling ...
— The Indiscreet Letter • Eleanor Hallowell Abbott
... "Why," Ellen explained diffidently, not wanting to enlarge on his mother's eccentricity. "She said good-bye and went out and shut the door. Then in a minute or two I looked up and saw her face against the glass.... I offered to open the door, but she shook her head and ...
— The Judge • Rebecca West
... as in every thing else, all the modern writers have merely followed James or Brenton, and I shall accordingly confine myself to examining their assertions. The former begins (vol. iv, p. 470) by diffidently stating that there is a "similarity" of language between the inhabitants of the two countries—an interesting philological discovery that but few will attempt to controvert. In vol. vi, p. 154, he mentions that a number of blanks occur in the American Navy ...
— The Naval War of 1812 • Theodore Roosevelt
... of destruction more deadly. It's not a very happy thought to think of their being used; and it's not a very stimulating one to think of their not being. In either case, it doesn't make one too pleased with one's vocation. And life seems a big enough thing," he added, a little diffidently, "to try pretty hard to get ...
— The Visioning • Susan Glaspell
... changed countenance a little at this embarrassingly direct question, and answered diffidently, "Well, sir, to be sure men is men ...
— The Lunatic at Large • J. Storer Clouston
... have to tell you some sad things," he said diffidently. "The only consolation is that it's all over now, and certain matters are, or can be, cleared and you'll have no more secrets. Nor shall I! I've had to keep this one jealously guarded for seventeen years! And I never thought it could be released as it has been, in this miserable and terrible ...
— The Paradise Mystery • J. S. Fletcher
... Rather diffidently Lily put her hand on her mother's. She gave her rare caresses shyly, with averted eyes, and she was always more diffident with her mother than with her father. Such spontaneous bursts of affection as she sometimes showed had been lavished on Mademoiselle. It was ...
— A Poor Wise Man • Mary Roberts Rinehart
... diffidently, "the fact may not seem worth mentioning in your article, but it is my experience that there is nothing which so endears a celebrity to his public as ...
— In the Mist of the Mountains • Ethel Turner
... Dillon diffidently, "how are you going to pull it off, down through the sky-light, or up ...
— Guy Garrick • Arthur B. Reeve
... any other reason why you have never admitted me to your confidence. Did it ever occur to you that perhaps I might—well, sort of dig in and help you in some way? You and Aunt Dolly have been mighty good to me and I kind of feel—— Well, you know what I mean," he finished diffidently. ...
— Every Man for Himself • Hopkins Moorhouse
... that dignity, poise, and perfect self-possession which only a toad, a giant grandmother of a toad, can exhibit. I, and all the law-breakers who followed, recognized the nine tenths involved in this instance and carefully stepped around. When the heavy things began to arrive, I approached diffidently, and half suggested, half directed her deliberate hops toward a safer corner. My feelings toward her were mingled, but altogether kindly,—as guest in her home, I could not but treat her with respect,—while my scientific soul ...
— Edge of the Jungle • William Beebe
... taking advantage of me," she protested, but quite meekly and diffidently for Annie. "I have never been even civil to you till Tom Robinson was in danger, and then I had to put all my private feelings aside on his account. Before that I was more ...
— A Houseful of Girls • Sarah Tytler
... with a start to find the door open, framing the squat figure of a man-servant, a brigand in appearance, French of the Midi; black hair grew low on his forehead; his beetling brows met over sullen shiny eyes which scanned her with a hostile gaze. Diffidently she ...
— Juggernaut • Alice Campbell
... His tone became anxious and particular. She blushed deeply, for the outbreak of which she had been guilty and which he had witnessed, then smiled diffidently. ...
— The Price of Love • Arnold Bennett
... rise to make my historic maiden speech. I am no orator, sir'; voice from Ladies' Gallery, 'Are you not, John? you'll soon let them see that'; cries of 'Silence, woman,' and general indignation. 'Mr. Speaker, sir, I stand here diffidently with my eyes on the Treasury Bench'; voice from the Ladies' Gallery, 'And you'll soon have your coat-tails on it, John'; loud cries of 'Remove that little old wifie,' in which she is forcibly ejected, and the honourable gentleman resumes his seat in ...
— What Every Woman Knows • James M. Barrie
... entreated, the doctor was persuaded to try what an invention of his own, which he spoke diffidently of, would do. So Green's leg was done up in splints for twenty-four hours, and then plaistered up. And after a bit the doctor saw so much improvement that he agreed to say nothing about it, and so Green sailed ...
— For Fortune and Glory - A Story of the Soudan War • Lewis Hough
... his turn Rust sought diffidently to penetrate the mystery surrounding Madame Gilbert, she overflowed with untruthful particulars. She resembles her master Dawson in this—it is unwise to believe one word which she wishes you to believe. Of her early life in Paris she spoke with emotion. She was the beloved ...
— The Lost Naval Papers • Bennet Copplestone
... corporal of the 94th who had volunteered for the gun team two days before. The sergeant who reported this added diffidently, "He had half a dozen of his religious mates in the team. He's a Wesleyan Methodist, sir, begging ...
— Hetty Wesley • Sir Arthur Thomas Quiller-Couch
... maintained? What is Karshish's mission in Judea? How does he show his devotion to his art? Point out instances of local color. Are they in harmony with the main current of the poem, or do they detract from the interest in the story? Why does Karshish work up to his story so diffidently? Why has the incident taken such hold upon him? What do you conceive to be his character and worth as ...
— Browning's Shorter Poems • Robert Browning
... me that Rosalie is hostess in her own cottage this month and has asked him up. I heard him speaking rather diffidently to Dysart about it, and Dysart replied that he didn't 'give a damn who went to the house,' as ...
— The Danger Mark • Robert W. Chambers
... guests, thinking of the past, approached her somewhat diffidently; but if Bela harboured any resentment, she hid it well. She was the same to all, a ...
— The Huntress • Hulbert Footner
... he was to ask Mrs. Hastings to stay a few days at the Grange, and then he looked at the girl somewhat diffidently. ...
— Hawtrey's Deputy • Harold Bindloss
... has been here," he was saying, half diffidently, still searching deep in her eyes. "He's played hob. And he's likely to return ...
— The Man From Brodney's • George Barr McCutcheon
... a grey sky. There had been rain in the night, and the trees were still dripping. Presently, however, there appeared in the laden haze a watery patch of blue: and through this crevice in the clouds the sun, diffidently at first but with gradually increasing confidence, peeped down on the fashionable and exclusive turf of Grosvenor Square. Stealing across the square, its rays reached the massive stone walls of Drexdale House, until recently the London residence of the earl ...
— Piccadilly Jim • Pelham Grenville Wodehouse
... fellow, whose clothes emphatically proclaimed him a cowboy, came diffidently up to her, tilted his hat backward an inch or so, and left it that way, thereby unconsciously giving himself an air of candor which should ...
— Lonesome Land • B. M. Bower
... sage and lava rock and sand for mile upon mile, to where the distant mountain ridges reached out and halted peremptorily the ugly sweep of it. The railroad gashed it boldly, after the manner of the iron trail of modern industry; but the trails of the desert dwellers wound through it diffidently, avoiding the rough crest of lava rock where they might, dodging the most aggressive sagebrush and dipping tentatively into hollows, seeking always the easiest way to reach ...
— Good Indian • B. M. Bower
... a place in the country," he answered diffidently. "I'm a countryman, and Phillida ...
— The Thing from the Lake • Eleanor M. Ingram
... I wanted to tell you, Mrs. Zapp—something that's happened to me. That's why I was out celebrating last evening and got in so late." Mr. Wrenn was diffidently sitting ...
— Our Mr. Wrenn - The Romantic Adventures of a Gentle Man • Sinclair Lewis
... daring. She did an unwontedly daring thing. She summoned her courage and returned the Strange Boy's stare—full. But she was embarrassed when she found herself looking away suddenly—blushing. Why couldn't she hold that gaze?—why must she blush? Had he noticed her lack of savoir-faire? More diffidently she peeped at him again to see whether he had. It seemed to her that his expression had altered. It was a subtle change; but, somehow, it made her blush again. And turn her eyes away again—more quickly than before. But there was a singing in her brain. The dark, interesting-looking Stranger ...
— Missy • Dana Gatlin
... having taken a seat at the opposite side of the fire, began somewhat diffidently to mention, that he had received a letter from the Doctor, that made him at a loss whether or not he ought to read it to the elders, as usual, after worship, and therefore was desirous of consulting Mr. Snodgrass on the subject, for it recorded, among other things, that the Doctor had been at ...
— The Ayrshire Legatees • John Galt
... "Thank you," he said diffidently, selected one, bit off the end and spat it into the corner. Zu Pfeiffer shuddered delicately; but as Birnier lighted his cigar he studied his face in the glow of the match; noted the breadth of the jaw, the width between the eyes ...
— Witch-Doctors • Charles Beadle
... it seems so important, I my sy I'm going out to Salonika next week, and that's why I want this business settled." She stopped, and as the committee remained diffidently and apprehensively silent, she went on: "It isn't as if I was the only one. Why! When we were in the retreat of the Serbian Army owver the mahntains I came across by chance, if you call it chance, another nurse that knew all ...
— The Pretty Lady • Arnold E. Bennett
... want work any time, come over to the dam; we can always use a man with a team." Johnson nodded. "After haying is done, maybe. And remember, I'm much obliged to you for looking after my little girl. I won't forget that, either." He reached up diffidently and shook hands with the engineer. Weir's ...
— In the Shadow of the Hills • George C. Shedd
... of Don Giovanni, or Tannhauser, with a face which was almost radiant. I had known him a year before it struck me that I should like to see him in his professional capacity. I told him of my desire a little diffidently, not knowing how my purpose might strike him. He responded graciously, but with an air of intrigue, laying a gentle hand upon my coat sleeve and bidding me wait. A day or two later, as we sat over our coffee, M. Cristich with an hesitating ...
— The Poems And Prose Of Ernest Dowson • Ernest Dowson et al
... opened it softly. She paused irresolutely on the threshold, Anne peering over her shoulder. Laura Atkins had left the room, but Mildred Taylor, fully dressed, sat at the window looking listlessly out. If she heard Grace's light knock she paid no attention to it. It was not until Grace said rather diffidently, "We heard you were ill and thought we'd come in to see you," that the girl at the window turned toward Grace. Her piquant little face was drawn and pale, and her eyes looked suspiciously red. She eyed Grace almost sulkily, then said slowly, "It was kind of you to come, but I shall ...
— Grace Harlowe's Second Year at Overton College • Jessie Graham Flower
... old servant hesitated, then added diffidently: "Don't you think, m'm, you'd better get to bed? You're looking ...
— The Mysterious Affair at Styles • Agatha Christie
... and novels which Forest Supervisor Ross could buy or borrow; also a double supply of smoking tobacco and a box of gum. When his tongue smarted from too much smoking, he would chew gum for comfort And he read and read, until his eyes prickled and the print blurred. But the next week he diffidently asked Ross if he thought he could get him a book on astronomy, explaining rather shame-facedly that there was something he wanted to look up. On his third trip Hank carried several government pamphlets on forestry. Which goes to prove how Jack was slowly ...
— The Lookout Man • B. M. Bower
... proofs," he said diffidently, "exacts no great mental strain, but is sufficient to—distract my mind. Work, after ...
— The Yellow Claw • Sax Rohmer
... Arthur Chester, suddenly forgetting about his headache in his anxiety to know the explanation of the five cylinders. It was a small suburban town in which they lived, and if something had gone wrong it was a matter of common interest. "Can you tell me about it?" he asked—a little diffidently, for none knew better than he that things could not always be told, and that no lips were locked tighter than Red Pepper's when the secret was not ...
— Red Pepper Burns • Grace S. Richmond
... Your letters—" he began diffidently. Where the deuce was his tongue? Was he to be tongue-tied all the evening before this Columbine, who, with the aid of her mask, was covertly laughing ...
— The Lure of the Mask • Harold MacGrath
... the world, dear aunt, is superior to mine," I suggested diffidently. "But there must be a reason surely for this extraordinary conduct on Rachel's part. She is keeping a sinful secret from you and from everybody. May there not be something in these recent events which ...
— The Moonstone • Wilkie Collins
... occurred, though he observed she talked to him with less reserve than she had formerly done, and even gave some proofs of the native goodness of her disposition, yet she scrupulously avoided naming Lady Matilda; and when he diffidently inquired of her health, a cold restraint overspread Miss Woodley's face, and she left him instantly. To Sandford it was still more difficult for him to apply; for though frequently together, they were never sociable; and as Sandford seldom disguised his ...
— A Simple Story • Mrs. Inchbald
... the writing of that letter, to the writing of those once-treasured pages of my romance, which I had now abandoned for ever! How slowly I worked; how cautiously and diffidently I built up sentence after sentence, and doubtingly set a stop here, and laboriously rounded off a paragraph there, when I toiled in the service of ambition! Now, when I had given myself up to the service of love, how ...
— Basil • Wilkie Collins
... continued the young man, diffidently, "I've been trying a new method with you. I've been endeavoring to be missed. And I'm afraid to ...
— Golden Stories - A Selection of the Best Fiction by the Foremost Writers • Various
... do not mind," she said a little diffidently, turning to her guests after she had seated herself, "I should like to have the gas lowered a trifle. It may seem a little sentimental, but I do not like to be looked at ...
— The Pagans • Arlo Bates
... to toy diffidently with a sausage, remembering, as he did so, certain diatribes of Fenn's against the food at Kay's. As he became more intimate with the sausage, he admitted to himself that Fenn had had reason. Mr Kay meanwhile pounded away in moody silence at a plate of kidneys and bacon. It was one ...
— The Head of Kay's • P. G. Wodehouse
... is exclusively his own business; and least of all where such driving is to be submitted to at the expense of pecuniary interest or burning appetite. When the dram-seller and drinker were incessantly told not in accents of entreaty and persuasion, diffidently addressed by erring man to an erring brother, but in the thundering tones of anathema and denunciation with which the lordly judge often groups together all the crimes of the felon's life, and thrusts them ...
— The Papers And Writings Of Abraham Lincoln, Complete - Constitutional Edition • Abraham Lincoln
... could buy mourning, dear," she said. "And—oh, if you knew how long I'd wanted a really blue blue suit! Only, it would have been too vivid to wear well—I always knew that—because you can only afford one every other year. And"—Phyllis rather diffidently voiced a thought which had been in the back of her mind for a long time—"if I'm going to be much around Mr. Harrington, don't you think cheerful clothes would be best? Everything in that ...
— The Rose Garden Husband • Margaret Widdemer
... suggested diffidently, "you would like to ride over, Prince? It is a good eleven miles, and you would have a chance of ...
— The Illustrious Prince • E. Phillips Oppenheim
... African coast I diffidently suggested certain steps towards regenerating our unhappy colony. For the encouragement of agriculture I proposed a tax upon small shopkeepers and hucksters, who, by virtue of sitting behind a few strings of beads or yards of calico, call themselves traders and ...
— To The Gold Coast for Gold, Vol. II - A Personal Narrative • Richard Francis Burton and Verney Lovett Cameron
... priest about it," Tim O'Meara said diffidently, out of the melancholy muteness which it ...
— Strangers at Lisconnel • Barlow Jane
... suggestion," Terniloff observed diffidently, "most of the pheasants went into that gloomy-looking ...
— The Great Impersonation • E. Phillips Oppenheim
... "Hurd," said Paul, rather diffidently, "I hope you won't be annoyed, but I have already asked my friend Ford to give notice to Pash ...
— The Opal Serpent • Fergus Hume
... how I would proceed, Madam," the ambassador objected diffidently. "It would be rather unusual, ...
— Elusive Isabel • Jacques Futrelle
... to follow the example of his pledge. "Your health," he said, and sipped diffidently at the wine, and then, ...
— The Duke's Motto - A Melodrama • Justin Huntly McCarthy
... throat diffidently, insensibly relaxing his grip the while, so that, with a slight effort, Brian was enabled to roll him on to the floor, and ...
— North, South and Over the Sea • M.E. Francis (Mrs. Francis Blundell)
... very diffidently. He looks appealingly at the professor. "I know perfectly well she might do a great deal better," says he, with a modesty that sits very charmingly upon him. "But if it comes to a choice between me and your brother, I—I think I am the better man. By Jove, Curzon," growing hot, "it's awfully ...
— A Little Rebel • Mrs. Hungerford
... has really troubled me the most," Miss Wadsworth spoke diffidently, "is a matter almost a blasphemy. Keren has a very religious turn of mind, but an unfortunate habit of saying her prayers out loud. One night, after a peculiarly trying day, she prayed that Priscilla might be forgiven for being so aggravating. Whereupon Priscilla ...
— Just Patty • Jean Webster
... eyebrows and eyelashes and broad cheekbones, in a torn sheepskin and big black felt overboots, waited till the Zemstvo doctor had finished seeing his patients and came out to go home from the hospital; then he went up to him, diffidently. ...
— The Horse-Stealers and Other Stories • Anton Chekhov
... diffidently told of Master Heatherthwayte's earnest wish to christen the child, and, what certainly biased her a good deal, the suggestion that this would secure her to ...
— Unknown to History - A Story of the Captivity of Mary of Scotland • Charlotte M. Yonge
... embarrassment, then," pursued Theron, diffidently, "that Father Forbes is a vastly broader and deeper scholar—in all these matters—than I am. How could I possibly hope to influence him by my poor arguments? I don't know even the alphabet of the language he thinks in—on ...
— The Damnation of Theron Ware • Harold Frederic
... advertising manager, lolling deep in his chair, spoke up diffidently, as soon as he ...
— The Clarion • Samuel Hopkins Adams
... me to say," The Croak diffidently remarked. "But dey do tell me dat dat McCafferty has a grudge agin Boozy, an if you wants me ter ask him ter drop in yere an hev a talk wid ...
— Tin-Types Taken in the Streets of New York • Lemuel Ely Quigg
... diffidently intimated that there was a curious but satisfactory element of safety in being last—a "fastnacht" in their language, in fact. Those in front were the ones usually hurt in railroad accidents, ...
— The Wit and Humor of America, Volume II. (of X.) • Various
... character who had appeared at the door said diffidently that Professor Mantelish had wanted to be present while his lab equipment was stowed aboard. If the professor didn't mind, things were about ...
— Legacy • James H Schmitz
... nation: he kept the idea of the League of Nations alive in an atmosphere that was charged with war. He prevented these conferences from making "a Peace to end Peace." But on the whole I feel that he is rather the shadow of great statesmanship leaning diffidently over the shoulder of political brute force than the living spirit of great statesmanship leading the moral conscience of the world away from barbarism towards nobler reason and less ...
— The Mirrors of Downing Street - Some Political Reflections by a Gentleman with a Duster • Harold Begbie
... was pushed aside and a big, steaming platter entered. It was upheld by a small boy, who stammered diffidently, "My moth-moth-mother thaid she wanted you to try thum of ...
— Good Cheer Stories Every Child Should Know • Various
... nearly ten o'clock. When we rose to go Mr. Bundercombe turned to us. "Say," he asked, a little diffidently, "would you people object to just dropping in at this Giatron's? Or will you go off somewhere by ...
— An Amiable Charlatan • E. Phillips Oppenheim
... Foster rather diffidently offered him some money, but was not surprised when the man refused the gift. Indeed, he felt that it would have jarred him had Pete taken it. The latter gave him his hand with a smile and turned back to the glen ...
— Carmen's Messenger • Harold Bindloss
... occasion upon which each had been offered, his smile of kindly appreciation, the old-world courtliness of his thanks. With loving hands she laid them down one by one, lingering over each, seeing them through a blur of tears. She was no longer conscious of Grange, as reverently, even diffidently, she opened last of all the little shabby prayer-book that her father had been wont to take with him on all his marches. She knew that he had cherished it ...
— The Way of an Eagle • Ethel M. Dell
... that there would be no chance of its being otherwise, he rushed in mad haste to get his horse. Joy was the wings which made his feet fly. He came back in quick time, a bit uncertain, riding forward slowly, diffidently, and stopped a little way from them, awaiting word. Then did Sir Launcelot ride to him and place kindly arm about the youth and ...
— In the Court of King Arthur • Samuel Lowe
... but still he was lost. He wasn't listening to the music after dinner, nor below. A deep sense of disappointment grew within her. Linda wanted to see him, hear him talk; at times a sharp hurt in the shoulder he had grasped brought him back vividly. The next day it was the same, and finally, diffidently, she approached the hotel desk. A clerk she knew, Mr. Fiske, was rapidly sorting mail, and she waited politely until he ...
— Linda Condon • Joseph Hergesheimer
... the store she said diffidently: "Mr. Hosmer, I wonder if it wouldn't be best for you to put the mill in some one else's ...
— At Fault • Kate Chopin
... lordship's pleasure,' Dr. Addington answered. 'But before he is admitted,' the physician continued diffidently and with a manifest effort, 'may I say a word, my lord, as to the position in which this places Sir ...
— The Castle Inn • Stanley John Weyman
... any hesitating or diffident way (and you know, my friend, that whatever people may say of me, I often do speak diffidently; though, when I am diffident of things, I like to avoid speaking of them, if it may be; but here I say with no shadow of doubt)—your honesty is not to be based either on religion or policy. Both ...
— Time and Tide by Weare and Tyne - Twenty-five Letters to a Working Man of Sunderland on the Laws of Work • John Ruskin
... gently, "that one does not look forward to, but beyond it." She stopped and hesitated, still watching his face, and then spoke hurriedly and diffidently:— ...
— Frances Kane's Fortune • L. T. Meade
... very diffidently, and asked if he might be allowed to take the President by the hand; after which, "Would he extend the same privilege to ...
— Luke Walton • Horatio Alger
... approached with reluctance and its description diffidently essayed. But the task has seemed mandatory as the manners of a people can not otherwise be fully understood. The stately, ceremonious intercourse of the sexes, the stiff and elaborate walk of Loudoun men and women of Colonial and post-Revolutionary times is traceable almost solely to ...
— History and Comprehensive Description of Loudoun County, Virginia • James W. Head
... and his sister and Miss Hastings drew up to the edge of the group. Young Westlake stood diffidently for two or three minutes beside Mr. Turner's chair, and then he put his hand on ...
— The Early Bird - A Business Man's Love Story • George Randolph Chester
... Mississippi. That is the story. You feel that it is exactly what Chicago, alone among cities, would have the imagination and the courage to do. Some man must have risen from his bed one morning with the idea, "Why not make the water flow the other way?" And then gone, perhaps diffidently, to his fellows in charge of the city with the suggestive query, "Why not make the water flow the other way?" And been laughed at! Only the thing was done in the end! I seem to have heard that there was an epilogue to this story, relating how certain other great ...
— Your United States - Impressions of a first visit • Arnold Bennett
... itself rosily before Garth's mind's eye; but his instinct to take care of her made him oppose it. "There is me," he said diffidently; "travelling alone with me, I mean. Even in the North a girl is obliged to consider what people ...
— Two on the Trail - A Story of the Far Northwest • Hulbert Footner
... said slowly. "Only for its associations, I presume. It was my father's instrument and he played on it a great many years. I—I think," said Hopewell diffidently, "that it has ...
— How Janice Day Won • Helen Beecher Long
... "Kidneys?" suggested this person diffidently, really anxious to detain her footsteps, although from her expression it did not rest assured that the incident was taking an ...
— The Mirror of Kong Ho • Ernest Bramah
... Q.M.S. Beddem on the other side of the road and gave him an absolutely new thrill by crossing to meet him. Asked diffidently—as diffidently as he could, that is—how many men my house would hold. Replied eight—or ten at a pinch. He gave me a surprised and beaming smile and whipped out a huge note-book. Informed him with as much regret as I could put into a voice not always under perfect control, that I had ...
— Deep Waters, The Entire Collection • W.W. Jacobs
... for you, boys," he said slowly, "and" (diffidently) "kinder sorry for myself, too. You see, I reckoned on goin' over to Skinner's to-morrow, to fill up the pork bar'l and vote for Mesick and the wagon-road. But Skinner can't let me have anything more until I've paid suthin' on account, as he ...
— In a Hollow of the Hills • Bret Harte
... extremely regardful and tender of me. All that you supposed would follow the violent letter, from him, has followed it. He has offered himself to my acceptance in so unreserved a manner, that I am concerned I have written so freely and diffidently of him. Pray, my dearest friend, keep to yourself every thing that may appear ...
— Clarissa, Volume 3 (of 9) • Samuel Richardson
... So the ignorant old lemon-seller in Zschokke's Selbstschau thought his "hidden wisdom" a mystical wonder; while the enlightened and accomplished narrator of their united stories, stands alone, in striking advance ever of his own day, when he unassumingly and diffidently puts forward his seer-gift as a simple contribution to psychical knowledge. And thus, my proposed task accomplished, my dear Archy, ...
— Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine, Volume 61, No. 380, June, 1847 • Various
... of the book," explained Thomas diffidently. "I love the pompous gallantry of these fairy chaps. How politely they used to hack each other ...
— The Voice in the Fog • Harold MacGrath
... ignored Edgar after this. He talked to George, and elicited the information that the latter meant to farm. Then he got up, followed by two of the others, and the remaining man with the English appearance turned to George diffidently. ...
— Ranching for Sylvia • Harold Bindloss
... the position. "I hold him, like that, not the least doubt of it; but the less we'll be doing for him the sooner he'll be going, and the safer we'll be! I would not be so bold as to advise," he continued diffidently, "but I'm thinking it would be no worse if you left him to be entertained by ...
— The Wild Geese • Stanley John Weyman
... diffidently interrupted. "I could ask you to take a look on my shoulder, if you please. If you are done setting bones in Mr. Hunter. I have a great pain on my shoulder from carrying ...
— The Quirt • B.M. Bower
... together and parted diffidently, he watching her flit away with sorrowful eyes, a little disturbed and puzzled at the burden he had voluntarily assumed, but never dreaming of ...
— The Quest of the Silver Fleece - A Novel • W. E. B. Du Bois
... curious visit, chatting excitedly of all the delightful results that were to come from it; rest and ease for the woman; a wheel chair and the best of surgeons for the little girl; school and college for the boy. Then, after a long minute of silence, he said something else. He said it diffidently, and with a rush of bright color to his face—he was not used to treading quite so near to ...
— The Tangled Threads • Eleanor H. Porter
... a little in conversation during the first part of the journey, but who had dropped the notion since other ideas had been inspired at Fotheringay, could not understand, and pouted the more; but Eleanor, who had been interested, and tried more in earnest, for Margaret's sake, answered diffidently and blushing deeply, 'Un petit peu, ...
— Two Penniless Princesses • Charlotte M. Yonge
... and always, as the violet yielded to the rose, I have known a fear that I had not sufficiently prized this boon of heaven whilst it was with me. Many hours I have spent shut up among my books, when I might have been in the meadows. Was the gain equivalent? Doubtfully, diffidently, I hearken what ...
— The Private Papers of Henry Ryecroft • George Gissing
... was awkwardly tugging something from his pocket. Almost diffidently he offered it to Ruth. It was ...
— Youth Challenges • Clarence B Kelland
... wanderings with the peddler! and how unlike to the diminutive, yelping curs of the settlement! Her bristling hairs smoothed themselves, the skin of her jaws relaxed and set itself about her teeth in a totally different expression; her growling ceased, and she gave an amicable whine. Diffidently the two approached each other, and in a few minutes a perfect ...
— The Watchers of the Trails - A Book of Animal Life • Charles G. D. Roberts
... to intrude upon you for more than a day or two," I remarked, a little diffidently, "but if you will really put me up for that length of time, I shall look forward to my visit with a great ...
— The Great Secret • E. Phillips Oppenheim
... to the corner, by imperceptible prescription. He had never varied his ground an inch, but had in the beginning diffidently taken the corner upon which the side of the house gave. A howling corner in the winter time, a dusty corner in the summer time, an undesirable corner at the best of times. Shelterless fragments of straw and paper got up revolving storms ...
— Our Mutual Friend • Charles Dickens
... is the first notice we have yet met with of the long-famed Patagonians; but their enormous stature in the text is very diffidently asserted. We shall have future opportunities of becoming better acquainted with these South American giants. Perhaps the original may only have said they seemed ten or eleven spans high, and some careless editor ...
— A General History and Collection of Voyages and Travels, Vol. VIII. • Robert Kerr |
