"Portiere" Quotes from Famous Books
 ... all, sir. Thank you, sir. Good day, sir." And having once more slid down telescope-wise into her scanty petticoats, the old woman departed. At the same moment Madame de Cintre came in by an opposite door. She noticed the movement of the other portiere and asked Newman ...
— The American • Henry James
... tossed it into the garden and closed the window, the portiere of the library was drawn aside, and her maid approached, followed by a female figure draped in a shawl and wearing a ...
— At the Mercy of Tiberius • August Evans Wilson
... social-ambitionitis. But calm yourself. It's not so bad as it seems when you've got the right doctor. I've practiced for thirty years among Endbury ladies. They can't spring anything new on me. I've taken your mother through doily fever induced by the change from table-cloths to bare tops, through portiere inflammation, through afternoon tea distemper, through art-nouveau prostration and mission furniture palsy, not to speak of a horrible attack of acute insanity over the necessity for having her maids wear caps. I think you can ...
— The Squirrel-Cage • Dorothy Canfield
... flickering shadows and fingers of light into the dark recesses of the antechamber. The air was tainted with the smell of iodine, carbolic, and various antiseptics; but the door leading into the Princess' bedroom was closed, and the portiere also drawn across it. Young Tremont, whose thoughts had wandered from his reading, guessed rightly that Ivan's mind was fixed on what was passing beyond that door. Of the meditations of the girl, the daughter of his patient, ...
— The Genius • Margaret Horton Potter
... adroitly, and fluttered the music at a piano just beyond the half-drawn portiere ...
— The Henchman • Mark Lee Luther
... held out his hand in silence. The heavy portiere dropped noiselessly behind the son, and he went up the wide, curving stairway ...
— The Unknown Quantity - A Book of Romance and Some Half-Told Tales • Henry van Dyke
... They had listened for swish of skirts or fall of slender feet upon the stairway, but there had not been a sound. They saw the reason as she halted at the entrance, lifting with one little hand the costly Navajo blanket that hung as a portiere. In harmony with the glossy folds of richly dyed wool, she was habited in Indian garb from head to foot. In two black, lustrous braids, twisted with feather and quill and ribbon, her wealth of hair hung over her shoulders down the front of her slender form. A robe of ...
— A Daughter of the Sioux - A Tale of the Indian frontier • Charles King
... of musk, and its intolerable secrecy, was no longer endurable. He felt cramped and confused in mind and muscle. He stood for a second to straighten his limbs; then he turned, and, moving directly forward, passed through the portiere. ...
— The Masquerader • Katherine Cecil Thurston
... were growing chilly. Joyce picked up a book and tried to read, but found herself looking towards the door fully as often as at the page before her. Presently she set her teeth together and swallowed hard, for there was a rustling in the hall. The portiere was pushed aside and madame swept into the room in a dinner-gown ...
— The Gate of the Giant Scissors • Annie Fellows Johnston
... future deputy of Brittany," said Camille Maupin, smiling, as Calyste raised the tapestry portiere,—"punctual ...
— Beatrix • Honore de Balzac
... practically the same manner as the San Carlos Apache, but the Chippewas covered their frame with layers of birch bark held in place by ropes stretched over it as shown in Fig. 32. The door to their huts consisted of a blanket portiere. ...
— Shelters, Shacks and Shanties • D.C. Beard
... two doors to the parlour, and Katherine went by way of the library one, over which a portiere was hanging. Her hand was lifted to draw it back when she heard ...
— Lucy Maud Montgomery Short Stories, 1907 to 1908 • Lucy Maud Montgomery
... in a room adjoining the apartment which Canova had used as his studio in the casino of Villa Borghese, when he was startled by a heavy step in the room which he had supposed unoccupied. Throwing aside the portiere he instantly recognised from report the imposing figure which confronted him. On a lesser man so gorgeous a costume as the one which now dazzled the astonished eyes of the secretary would have suggested the mountebank; ...
— Romance of Roman Villas - (The Renaissance) • Elizabeth W. (Elizbeth Williams) Champney
... over all the pictures on the walls: Leda with the swan, and the bathing on the shore of the sea, and the odalisque in a harem, and the satyr, bearing a naked nymph in his arms; but suddenly a small printed placard, framed and behind glass, half covered by a portiere, attracted his attention. It was the first time that it had come across Lichonin's eyes, and the student with amazement and aversion read these lines, expressed in the dead, official language of police stations. There with shameful, businesslike coldness, were mentioned all possible ...
— Yama (The Pit) • Alexandra Kuprin
... loved Effi; hence his clear conscience did not require him to make any special effort to show it. It had almost become a rule with him to retire from his wife's room to his own when Frederick brought the lamp. "I have a difficult matter yet to attend to." With that he went. To be sure, the portiere was left thrown back, so that Effi could hear the turning of the pages of the document or the scratching of his pen, but that was all. Then Rollo would often come and lie down before her upon the fireplace rug, as much as to say: "Must just look after you again; nobody ...
— The German Classics Of The Nineteenth And Twentieth Centuries, Volume 12 • Various
... The portiere was raised again. A huge white Targa entered. I seemed to recognize him as one of the genii of ...
— Atlantida • Pierre Benoit
... portiere was raised, and the gypsy appeared on the threshold of the chamber, blushing, confused, breathless, her large eyes drooping, and not daring to ...
— Notre-Dame de Paris - The Hunchback of Notre Dame • Victor Hugo
... stood at the hall entrance to the drawing-room. I saw something that gleamed like polished metal in his uplifted hand. Then he fell back and disappeared. It seemed as though some invisible force behind the portiere had taken sudden and irresistible possession of him. What did I care. I went forward and into the room, absolutely empty save for an upright cabinet of mahogany placed on a central pedestal. It was tall enough to conceal a person standing behind it, but it was not the Lady Allegra ...
— The Gates of Chance • Van Tassel Sutphen
... back a silken portiere up-stairs and flung open a door, the scene that greeted Keith was one that made him agree that Norman was fully justified. A yellow-haired boy was rolling on the floor, kicking up his little pink legs in ...
— Gordon Keith • Thomas Nelson Page
... falling body he had already reached the doorway and torn aside the heavy portiere. It was a sleeping-room he looked into, a room of medium size with two windows and an ornate bed of the Empire style set sidewise against the farther wall. There were electric lights upon imitation candles which were grouped in sconces against the ...
— Jason • Justus Miles Forman
... could hear the distant dying swish of silk, the rustling of the portiere, and then, with a flick, the lights came up again. Half-blinded by the sudden illumination Steel fumbled his way to the door and into the street. As he did so Hove Town Hall clock chimed two. With a cigarette between his teeth David ...
— The Crimson Blind • Fred M. White
... new dress suit, I observed, had lost all semblance to an article of clothing; they had covered me, as I lay upon the couch, with a torn portiere. ...
— Mr. Hawkins' Humorous Adventures • Edgar Franklin
... direct rays reached the corners of the apartment. A Persian rug lay in the center, and took the fullest light. There were no sharp edges of shadow, but instead there was a softly graduated penumbra, deepening into murk. Straight across was a doorway with a portiere, beyond was another, and still farther, a third, all made visible in silhouette by the light in a fourth room, seen as at ...
— Double Trouble - Or, Every Hero His Own Villain • Herbert Quick
... parka of silver fox and the mukluks I bought of the Esquimau girl at Valdez that we never could get as far as the assembly room. He waited with Elizabeth in the car while we two crept up the stairs. The door was open, and we stood almost screened by that portiere of Indian leather, peeping in. Mr. Tisdale was telling the ptarmigan yarn—it's wonderful the power he has to hold the interest of a crowd of men—and the chance was too good to miss. We stole on up the steps to the gallery,—no one noticed ...
— The Rim of the Desert • Ada Woodruff Anderson
... do." Mostyn's own words seemed to him to come from the heavy folds of the portiere ...
— The Desired Woman • Will N. Harben
... I had portiere on the brain when I wrote you last? I thought I had just caught the disease. I am very fond of needle-work, but for years have nearly abandoned it, because I could not thread my needle. But the portiere is made with a large worsted ...
— The Life and Letters of Elizabeth Prentiss • George L. Prentiss
... as he stooped and kissed her. He wrung the doctor's hand again in passing, and abruptly turned to leave the room. It was a long room to cross. Kemp and Ruth followed with their eyes the small, slightly stooped figure of the old man passing slowly out by himself. As the heavy portiere fell into place behind him, the doctor turned to Ruth, still seated in ...
— Other Things Being Equal • Emma Wolf
... etait repandu. Une nuit qu'il se rendait de Berkeley a Londres, sa voiture fut arretee par un seigneur de grande route qui, passant sa tete a la portiere, lui dit: "N'etes-vous ...
— Collections and Recollections • George William Erskine Russell
... and ring gently, in the Rue Chatrain, at the iron grating of a private residence which rears its brick facade and slate roofs in the clearing of a sunny park. A servant lets me in. Monsieur de Frechede is absent, but Madame is at home. I wait for a few seconds in a salon; the portiere is raised and an old lady appears. She has an air so affable that I am reassured. I explain to her in a few words who ...
— Sac-Au-Dos - 1907 • Joris Karl Huysmans
... she peered so into everything that was his, searching him out. He went into the parlour and returned with a bundle of brownish linen. Carefully unfolding it, he spread it on the floor. It proved to be a curtain or portiere, beautifully stencilled with ...
— Sons and Lovers • David Herbert Lawrence
... lock. Still it was not like Hatton to leave things in disorder behind him, even if he were to take McLean at his word. No! It wasn't Hatton, unless something very unforeseen had suddenly called him away. Stepping quickly back into the room he felt a draught of cool air, and saw that the portiere that hung between the two rooms was bulging slightly toward him. Instantly he stepped into his bedroom, where all was dark, struck a match, and saw, the moment its flash illumined surrounding objects, that the one door he generally ...
— 'Laramie;' - or, The Queen of Bedlam. • Charles King
... then a long and heavy silence, into which there finally broke the pealing of the various clocks striking the hour. When all were still again and Violet had drawn aside the portiere, it was to see the old man on his knees, and between her and the thin streak of light entering from the hall, the figure of the doctor hastening ...
— The Golden Slipper • Anna Katharine Green
... like all the others. The other three ladies were each seated at an embroidery frame in the embrasures of the windows. I was much impressed, particularly with the large pieces of work that they were undertaking, a portiere, covers for the billiard-table, bed, etc. It quite recalled what one had always read of feudal France, when the seigneur would be off with his retainers hunting or fighting, and the chatelaine, left alone in the chateau, spent ...
— Chateau and Country Life in France • Mary King Waddington
... a growing embarrassment in her manner as de Valence came closer to her, remembering, for so she must, that we could hear every word through the portiere. She collected herself bravely; de ...
— The Black Wolf's Breed - A Story of France in the Old World and the New, happening - in the Reign of Louis XIV • Harris Dickson
... started violently. So long accustomed to associate it with one person, she forgot for the instant that another bore it now. As she rose, startled and expectant, through the portiere held back by the servant there entered a man whose sharp dissimilarity to the image in her mind made her catch ...
— A Manifest Destiny • Julia Magruder
... if you insist,' he said. 'I've a Persian rug that will almost cover us both, and I'll share this pillow with you. Then, here's a single portiere—not very warm—and two New York Heralds and a Sunday Times that will help out. But, in fact, I'd rather not entertain you to-night. I'd rather you'd go out and walk the street, or sleep in the Park. I couldn't sleep a wink myself with you alongside of me, ...
— The Grain Ship • Morgan Robertson
... and its sparkling fountain, and in two or three minutes came to a deep archway veiled by a portiere of some rich stuff woven in russet brown and gold,—this curtain my guide threw back noiselessly, showing a closed door. Here he came to a standstill and waited—I waited with him, trying to be calm, though my mind was in ...
— The Life Everlasting: A Reality of Romance • Marie Corelli
... the Ducal Palace: a window (L.C.) looks out on a view of Padua by moonlight: a staircase (R.C.) leads up to a door with a portiere of crimson velvet, with the Duke's arms embroidered in gold on it: on the lowest step of the staircase a figure draped in black is sitting: the hall is lit by an iron cresset filled with burning tow: thunder and lightning outside: the time ...
— The Duchess of Padua • Oscar Wilde
... to announce you to his excellency," said the footman, and slipped behind the portiere. He ...
— LOUISA OF PRUSSIA AND HER TIMES • Louise Muhlbach
... Duke of Vallombreuse bowed with studied deference and politeness to his noble guest, and lifting the heavy portiere of tapestry that hung over the door opening into his dressing-room, passed through it and vanished. But a very few moments had elapsed when the Chevalier de Vidalinc joined the marquis, and they lost no time in coming to an understanding as to the conditions of the duel. As a matter of course, ...
— Captain Fracasse • Theophile Gautier
... stood there, a shadow darkened the doorway and with a leap of the heart I jumped behind a portiere. Then, as the shadow remained and knowing that in any event I was trapped, I threw open the door. Gottlieb, with wild eyes peering out of a haggard face, stood before me. Without a moment's ...
— The Confessions of Artemas Quibble • Arthur Train
... to the portiere and drew it back for her to pass. As she turned to thank him she glanced up at the hand that held the portiere. It trembled violently. Her eyes, a moment ago dark under her bent forehead, darted ...
— The Immortal Moment - The Story of Kitty Tailleur • May Sinclair
... the switch. A portiere rustled, and a young man approached his bed—a short, thin, pale, fair ...
— Hugo - A Fantasia on Modern Themes • Arnold Bennett
... one is not a poet, must he then suffer and enjoy in silence? When he puts aside the leafy portiere and enters the cool green paradise of the trees, must he be dumb? Slowly, almost solemnly, we walked up the beautiful road with its carpet of dead leaves. It was as silent of man's ways as if he were not within a thousand miles, and we had all the enjoyment of the deep forest, with the comforting ...
— Little Brothers of the Air • Olive Thorne Miller
... all over and the girls were in their own rooms, Kit stepped to Helen's door for an extra match, and found her standing before the mirror, a long green velvet portiere draped around her shoulders, and a strip of gold braid banding her hair. She turned around with quick ...
— Kit of Greenacre Farm • Izola Forrester
... snacking the mosquito door behind her. There was the companion bang of a door being hooked below, old Calamity keeping watch as usual and only turning in, when she heard Eleanor going to bed. Eleanor waited till all was quiet. Then, she drew the burlap portiere across the mosquito door, and lighted her candle, and began writing,—writing what? Was it some dildo of oriental song she had read in Europe; was it the burden of some Indian chant stirring vaguely in her unconscious blood; ...
— The Freebooters of the Wilderness • Agnes C. Laut
... it against my cheek, I turned toward the portiere of the library, and as chance would have it, making a misstep when my head was swimming, I went plunging forward into the folds of this curtain. Because of this I found myself sitting flat upon the hardwood floor, gibbering like an idiot at the dim light which showed the bookcases ...
— The Blue Wall - A Story of Strangeness and Struggle • Richard Washburn Child
... a plush portiere that reached clear down to the ground, and over each ear was tied a long-handled ...
— The Bobbsey Twins in the Country • Laura Lee Hope
... moment a portiere opened at the side of my back parlor, and Mrs. Chataway, voluminously appearing, mysteriously beckoned me. I followed her into the dreariest hall I think I ever saw even in a New York boarding-house. There the landlady frankly ...
— The Whole Family - A Novel by Twelve Authors • William Dean Howells, Mary E. Wilkins Freeman, Mary Heaton Vorse, Mary Stewart Cutting, Elizabeth Jo
... the safe—using the memorandum of its combination which he had jotted down in her presence—he saw her pause, freeze to a pose of attention, then turn to stare directly at the portiere that hid him. And for an eternal second she remained kneeling there, so still that she seemed not even to breathe, her gaze fixed and level, waiting for some sound, some sign, some tremor of the curtain's ...
— The Lone Wolf - A Melodrama • Louis Joseph Vance
... watched her disappear. Afterwards, with a curious sense of unreality, he remained quite still, his eyes still fixed upon the portiere through which she ...
— A Lost Leader • E. Phillips Oppenheim
... stood there he did not know, but presently he was aroused by the sound of footsteps. He listened. Some one—the rustling of a dress—was approaching the room. He slipped the note into the book and replaced the volume on the pedestal, and quickly stepped behind the portiere curtains. ...
— Nell, of Shorne Mills - or, One Heart's Burden • Charles Garvice
... door and drew the portiere aside and looked into the hall. There was no one there. He searched every corner of the hall and of the dining-room at its end, and then returned to the parlor, but it was still empty. And then occurred the most strangely unaccountable event ...
— The Water Ghost and Others • John Kendrick Bangs
... in silence. He had not suspected her of so much intellect. He glanced about the apartment, at the cheap portiere flung over the sofa; at the gaudy sofa cushions, two of which bore the names and colours of certain colleges. The gas log was almost hidden by dried palm leaves, a cigarette stump lay on the fender; on the mantel above were several photographs of men and at the ...
— The Crossing • Winston Churchill
... general gave his directions and the black nodded and strode to a portiere, jerking it down, which he wrapped about Ryder's ...
— The Fortieth Door • Mary Hastings Bradley
... remain to form the fringe at the bottom. Before tying the last row of knots, slip a colored glass bead over each set of cords, then make the knot so as to hold the bead in place. These beads are an ornament, apart from giving weight to the portiere to make it hang well. Trim the fringe evenly, slip the portiere from the foundation holder, and it is ready ...
— Construction Work for Rural and Elementary Schools • Virginia McGaw
... door was open to all who had enjoyed the honor of being presented to her. The courtiers stood in groups and conversed in light whispers over the on-dits of the day, and turning their eyes from time to time to the portiere of purple velvet which separated them from the boudoir of the signora; from that point must the sun rise to ...
— Berlin and Sans-Souci • Louise Muhlbach
... Split had drawn it off, pillows and all, and she flew up-stairs, carrying Kate in her wake to help her pull down a portiere which she intended ...
— The Madigans • Miriam Michelson
... he. "not only has La Voisin been arrested, but her private papers have been seized." So saying, he bowed again and disappeared behind the portiere. ...
— Prince Eugene and His Times • L. Muhlbach
... my mouth, but I could have laughed when I realized that it was the cat. A fire was burning in this new room, and again the air was heavy with tobacco smoke. Holmes entered on tiptoe, waited for me to follow, and then very gently closed the door. We were in Milverton's study, and a portiere at the farther side showed the entrance ...
— The Return of Sherlock Holmes • Arthur Conan Doyle
... hand, Jenny," he said. "You'll win your game." And after he had resumed the reading of his paper he looked over the top of it once or twice in furtive admiration of her as she sat between him and the dark portiere, which set her form in relief against the rich background and made her seem a picture to the fond eyes of her husband. He reflected that perhaps after all managing church fairs and running sewing societies was no bad training ...
— The Faith Doctor - A Story of New York • Edward Eggleston
... swiftly to a portiere hanging by slender rings from the full height of the lofty room, and at her bidding St. George followed her. She pushed aside the curtain, revealing a huge cave of the dark, a room whose walls were ...
— Romance Island • Zona Gale
... Scott and her nieces. That appalling yell effectually awakened the entire occupants of the hut; and whilst they were sitting up on their pallets, rubbing their eyes and wondering what the terrible sound might portend, the portiere was pushed aside and the professor, bearing a hand-lamp, unceremoniously made his appearance before them with an earnest request that they would dress with all speed and join him on the outside of the hut, where he would await them, the hour of ...
— The Log of the Flying Fish - A Story of Aerial and Submarine Peril and Adventure • Harry Collingwood
... but he pretended not to see them, being disposed for some reason to grant my request. Taking advantage of the momentary hesitation that ensued, I made them all three my most conciliatory bow, and said as I retreated behind the portiere: ...
— That Affair Next Door • Anna Katharine Green
... led the way to a room of which the floor, inlaid and waxed, was rugless. The windows were not curtained, they were shuttered. In the centre was a grand and a bench. Afar, at the other end, masking a door, was a portiere, the colour of hyacinth. Near it, were two unupholstered chairs; one, white; the other, black. Save for these, save too for a succession of mirrors and of lights, the room was bare. In addition, it was spacious, a long oblong, ceiled high with light frescoes, ...
— The Paliser case • Edgar Saltus
... attention, and they would have left the place as unceremoniously as they had entered it if they had not caught glimpses of richness which promised an interior of uncommon elegance, behind the half-drawn folds of a portiere at the further end of ...
— The Circular Study • Anna Katharine Green
... presage of disaster. Back of his chair was a fireplace, above this, a mirror. Once—it was but yesterday—while with his back to his desk, day-dreaming, he had seen her in the mirror. She stood in the doorway, a hand resting lightly against the portiere. There was no smile on her face. The ...
— The Voice in the Fog • Harold MacGrath
... A tall figure that had crept unperceived through the open hall door, and had lurked unseen in the shadow of the portiere, suddenly dashed into the room, and took his wife's rigid form into his arms. "Magdalene!—love—wife! It is Herbert! Look up, my darling!—I am here! I am holding you!" But there was no response. Magdalene's face was like the face of ...
— Not Like Other Girls • Rosa N. Carey
... portiere and the laughing group, silenced by the energy of his announcement, saw Edward himself reflected in a mirror that Margaret had set up on a chair. They all laughed, but it was uneasy laughter, and Tom tried to reassure his brother by ...
— Ethel Morton's Holidays • Mabell S. C. Smith
... hard, rugged face of his old friend, he knew that he must nerve himself for a shock. Alas! His surmise was only too correct. They entered the main room of the house together, Peters in the rear. Drawing aside from the entrance to the room a portiere—Peters had already visited the room—Pym passed in, Peters remaining on the outer side of the curtained doorway, that he might prevent others from following, or even from viewing the young friend who was now to receive one of the ...
— A Strange Discovery • Charles Romyn Dake
... attention, as I also ran the danger of doing by opening the door, which was all but closed, and to whose handlings I was unaccustomed. Again, quick as lightning, I bethought me of the hiding-place between the locked door to my husband's dressing-room and the portiere which covered it; but I gave that up, I felt as if I could not reach it without screaming or fainting. So I sank down softly, and crept under the table, hidden, as I hoped, by the great, deep table-cover, ...
— The Grey Woman and other Tales • Mrs. (Elizabeth) Gaskell
... my dear," laughed Mrs. Knapp. "Sit down, children. I must see to Mr. Carter, who is lost by the portiere and will never be ...
— Blindfolded • Earle Ashley Walcott
... their room and with his arm advanced to open it, he faltered. On the flight of stairs below the head of the girl who had been locking up appeared. His arm fell. He thought, "I'll wait till she is gone"—and stepped back within the perpendicular folds of a portiere. ...
— Tales of Unrest • Joseph Conrad
... moment he was occupied; and when his back was turned I whisked Lady Monica out of the ball-room, past the decorated staircase in the square hall, and to the room at the end of the corridor. There I pushed aside a portiere ...
— The Car of Destiny • C. N. Williamson and A. M. Williamson
... daughter and her cousins conversed for some time on what had happened during the protracted separation, as well as on domestic affairs and their private feelings, when Chia Cheng likewise advanced as far as the other side of the portiere, and inquired after her health, and the Chia consort from inside performed the homage and other conventionalities (due ...
— Hung Lou Meng, Book I • Cao Xueqin
... ours, and as for eatin' in the kitchen, why, we don't need to. Just see how warm it is! The frost hasn't even nipped the banana leaves over there in the square. And Buddy can pull the table out on the big back gallery, an' we'll hang papa's old gray soldier blanket for a portiere to keep the Quinettes from lookin' in; and, Sisty, you can write the invitations ...
— Solomon Crow's Christmas Pockets and Other Tales • Ruth McEnery Stuart
... was watching the ice-cream begin to melt, the portiere was again lifted and the maid re-entered, leading a fat, fuzzy dog. She led him by a beautiful blue satin ribbon, and he blundered along in a haphazard sort of way ...
— Divided Skates • Evelyn Raymond
... himself as they returned to the drawing-room. In all that had gone before, he had been a victim of circumstances. He had an uncomfortable conviction that his position now was not wholly unlike that of an impostor. But as he pushed aside the portiere he beheld a pair of blue eyes which, he flattered himself, betrayed an expression of pleased expectancy—and ...
— A Border Ruffian - 1891 • Thomas A. Janvier
... side the two went down the slope, slid and slipped and couldn't stop themselves, till they were below the landmark. Looking up, they saw that a piece of soiled canvas or a skin, held down with a drift-log, fell from under the sled, portiere-wise from the top of the terrace, straight down to the sheltered level, where the camp fire had been. Coming closer, they saw the curtain was not canvas, but ...
— The Magnetic North • Elizabeth Robins (C. E. Raimond)
... the narrow hall, she drew aside the curtain before the door of mademoiselle's consulting-room, and stood aside for Hayden to enter, letting the portiere fall noiselessly behind him. But Robert instead of advancing and taking a chair, although there was none to invite him to do so, for the room was empty, stood transfixed ...
— The Silver Butterfly • Mrs. Wilson Woodrow
... portiere. The languid Marchmont draped himself in a corner, and put the fat little meerschaum to his lips. A clear, jocund sound, a mere thread of music, as from the pipe of some hidden faun, penetrated the room. The notes trembled, paused, and fell to ...
— The Nest Builder • Beatrice Forbes-Robertson Hale
... odour they wafted into the room. Altogether it was an apartment suited to a skilled artisan earning high wages. From the room we are now in, branched on one side a small but commodious kitchen; on the other side, on which the door was screened by a portiere, with a border prettily worked by female hands—some years ago, for it was faded now—was a bedroom, communicating with one of less size in which the children slept. We do not enter those additional rooms, but it may be well here to mention ...
— The Parisians, Complete • Edward Bulwer-Lytton
... shade; awning &c (cover) 223; parasol, sunshade, umbrella; chick; portiere; screen, curtain, shutter, blind, gauze, veil, chador, mantle, mask; cloud, mist, gathering. of clouds. umbrage, glade; shadow &c 421. beach umbrella, folding umbrella. V. draw a curtain; put up a shutter, close a shutter; veil &c v.; cast a shadow ...
— Roget's Thesaurus of English Words and Phrases: Body • Roget
... I lifted the 'portiere' the girl jumped up briskly and regarded me with a touch of haughtiness, meant, I think, to hide a slight confusion. To compare small things with great, Diana must have worn something of that look at sight of Actaeon. M. Charnot did not ...
— Serge Panine • Georges Ohnet
... went out and led them in. When they ascended the steps of the main apartment, a young waiting-maid raised a red woollen portiere, and as soon as they entered the hall, they smelt a whiff of perfume as it came wafted into their faces: what the scent was they could not discriminate; but their persons felt as if they were ...
— Hung Lou Meng, Book I • Cao Xueqin
... inner chamber, my darling!" Eldon called back, as he threw down the folds of the portiere and rushed headlong ...
— Idle Hour Stories • Eugenia Dunlap Potts
... arras portiere over a doorway to the right of the fireplace. That was her bedroom! Dare he peep in? That was her little bed. Would the housemaid catch him if he slipped in and left a kiss on her pillow? By the mirror was a grotesque little china monster with his mouth full of hat-pins. ...
— The Romance of Zion Chapel [3d ed.] • Richard Le Gallienne
... with one sweep of his advancing arm Durkin tore the heavy portiere from its curtain-rings, and he stood before them, in the flat white ...
— Phantom Wires - A Novel • Arthur Stringer
... editor could answer they heard the door leading into the apartment open and close, and some one stepping quickly across the hall to the room in which they stood. The entrance to the room was hung with a portiere, and as the three men paused in silence this portiere was pushed back, and a young lady stood in the doorway, holding the curtains apart with her two hands. She was smiling, and the smile lighted a face that was inexpressibly ...
— Cinderella - And Other Stories • Richard Harding Davis
... through the intercourse of the early Portuguese traders and missionaries with the East Indies, is the brief mention by Margaret S. Burton of a very elaborate old quilt now in a New York collection: "My next find was a tremendous bed quilt which is used as a portiere for double folding doors. It formed part of a collection of hangings owned by the late Stanford White. He claimed there were only four of its kind in existence, and this the only one in America. It is valued at $1,000. ...
— Quilts - Their Story and How to Make Them • Marie D. Webster
... her half bare arm, she brushed aside a portiere and disappeared. A crashing chord rolled out from a piano behind ...
— McClure's Magazine, Vol. XXXI, No. 3, July 1908. • Various
... came before Mrs. O'Brien. If so, walk in," he answered, moving the portiere aside for the other ...
— Other Things Being Equal • Emma Wolf
... the other, "it's not so near London! But come in and have something, won't you?" And he held aside the reed portiere that screened ...
— The Best Short Stories of 1917 - and the Yearbook of the American Short Story • Various
... The portiere was thrust aside and an elderly lady entered the room, seating herself quietly at the window, and, after a single glance at the form upon the couch, beginning to embroider patiently upon some work she took from a silken bag. ...
— Aunt Jane's Nieces • Edith Van Dyne
... kissed him fervently on the hand and forehead. As he passed through the exit Haydn turned to take a last look at those who were standing and waving their farewells, and as he did so he raised his hands as if in the act of blessing them. The next moment the heavy portiere fell, and Haydn passed for ...
— Story-Lives of Great Musicians • Francis Jameson Rowbotham
... has ever played me dirt can stay here while I stay." Sinclair, with a hand on the portiere, was moving from the doorway into the room. McCloud in a leisurely way rose, though with a slightly flushed face, and at that juncture Marion ran into the room and spoke abruptly. "Here is the silk, Mr. Sinclair," she exclaimed, handing to him a package she had not finished ...
— Whispering Smith • Frank H. Spearman
... him when he thrust aside the portiere to announce that a Monsieur de Garnache, from Paris, was below, demanding to see the Lord Seneschal at once upon an ...
— St. Martin's Summer • Rafael Sabatini
... the living room through an arch in which a portiere, made of small pieces of bamboo ...
— Ted Strong's Motor Car • Edward C. Taylor
... in the cozy corner the school-teacher had made with a portiere and some cushions, and I saw she was about ready to break down and cry. I went over to her and took her hand, for she was my own niece, although she didn't suspect it, and I had never had a ...
— The Case of Jennie Brice • Mary Roberts Rinehart
... dark-brown pool of its own substance; a propped-up bit of mirror, jagged of edge; a piece of comb; a rhinestone breastpin; a bunion-plaster; a fork; spoon; a sprouting onion. Yet all of this somehow lit by a fall of very coarse, very white, and very freshly starched lace curtains portiere-fashion from the door, looped back in great curves from the single window, and even skirting stiffly and cleanly ...
— Humoresque - A Laugh On Life With A Tear Behind It • Fannie Hurst
... individual choice of the Ambassador of the time, is now in the old Palazzo del Drago on the corner of the Via Venti Settembre and the Via delle Quattro Fontane. The street floor, like all the old palaces, is not used for living purposes. The portiere, the guards, the corridors, and approaches to the staircases monopolize this space. The piano nobile is the residence of the beautiful and lovely Principessa d'Antuni, the youthful widow of the Principe who was himself a grandson of Marie Christine, the Queen of Spain. The young Princess ...
— Italy, the Magic Land • Lilian Whiting
... rest, good Mere des Seraphins," replied Amelie, to whom the portiere was well known. "We desire to leave the world and live henceforth with the community in the service and adoration of our blessed Lord, and to pray for the sins of others as well ...
— The Golden Dog - Le Chien d'Or • William Kirby
... to me. I looked at the faded damask curtains; at the mantelpiece with its gilded clock and two side-pieces, Louis Seize at his worst, considered good enough for a bedroom; at the drapings of the enormous bed; at the portiere covering the door of Sir Samuel's dressing-room; at the kaleidoscopic claret-and-blue figures on the carpet; in fact, at everything within reach of my eyes ...
— The Motor Maid • Alice Muriel Williamson and Charles Norris Williamson
... the divan, and tip-toed to the doorway, pushed the heavy hanging aside just enough to permit her to pass through. The portiere dropped heavily behind her, ...
— Princess Polly's Playmates • Amy Brooks
... boudoir," he wrote, "described an easy and graceful semicircle, while the opposite side was perfectly square, and in the centre glistened a mantelpiece of white marble and gold. The entrance was through a side door, hidden by a rich portiere of tapestry, and facing a window. Within the horseshoe curve was a genuine Turkish divan, that is to say, a mattress resting directly upon the floor, a mattress as large as a bed, a divan fifty feet in circumference and covered with white cashmere, ...
— Honor de Balzac • Albert Keim and Louis Lumet
... a piece of small wire, as shown in Fig. 4. The cross cords are woven in as shown in Fig. 5. As many of these cross cords can be put in as desired, and if placed from 6 to 12 in. apart, a solid screen will be made instead of a portiere. The twisted cross cords should be of such material, and put through in such manner that they will not be readily seen. If paper beads are used they can be colored to suit and hardened by varnishing. The first design shown is for using bamboo. The cords are knotted ...
— The Boy Mechanic: Volume 1 - 700 Things For Boys To Do • Popular Mechanics
... street, however, a gay carriage with high-stepping gray horses, a chasseur with knife and feathers, and a coachman in a modest livery on a hammer-cloth resplendent with yellow fringes and embroideries, drew up at our door: a pretty hand was laid upon the portiere and a voice cried, "Amy! Amy! ...
— Lippincott's Magazine of Popular Literature and Science, Vol. XXVI., December, 1880. • Various
... swinging portieres that have appeared have a handsome swinging crane fastened to the wall near the ceiling, upon which a portiere or curtain is suspended. This can then be swung back against the wall or swung out to make a cozy corner or to shut off one portion of a room from another. These swinging portieres can in many cases be ...
— Social Life - or, The Manners and Customs of Polite Society • Maud C. Cooke
... retired. Only Frederick and Rollo followed the master of the house as he took his wife into his sitting room and study. Effi was as much surprised here as she had been in the hall, but before she had time to say anything, Innstetten drew back a portiere, which disclosed a second, larger room looking out on the court and garden. "Now this, Effi, is your room. Frederick and Johanna have tried to arrange it the best they could in accordance with my orders. I find it quite tolerable and should ...
— The German Classics Of The Nineteenth And Twentieth Centuries, Volume 12 • Various
... snatched a portiere that had been used in one of the tableaux and left upon the floor, and wrapped it closely around the burning paper, beating it with her hands and doing her utmost to smother the cruel flames. "Don't be afraid, dear," she said to the girl, who, after that one half-crazed ...
— Katherine's Sheaves • Mrs. Georgie Sheldon
... room, and in the wide hall doorway stood a man, who was quite evidently a waiter. He was white-faced and staring-eyed, and he fairly hung on to a portiere for support, as he ...
— Vicky Van • Carolyn Wells
... bureau at which Vivien Warren is seated. The walls are mainly covered with book-shelves well filled with consultative works on many diverse subjects. There is another series of shelves crowded with neat, green, tin boxes containing the papers of clients. A dark green-and-purple portiere partly conceals the entry into a washing place which is further fitted with a gas stove for cooking and cupboards for crockery and provisions. At the opposite end of the room is a door which opens into a small bedroom. The fireplace in the main room is ...
— Mrs. Warren's Daughter - A Story of the Woman's Movement • Sir Harry Johnston
... raw morning, but the portiere at the Victoria had told them the sun would be out presently and the day become more genial. Indeed, the sun did come out, but only to give a discouraged look at the landscape and retire again. During this one day ...
— Aunt Jane's Nieces Abroad • Edith Van Dyne
... the morning he heard a few soft notes struck on the piano. At that hour the sound was most unusual. He listened. The Flower Music of "Parsifal." With a swiftness that left the astonished butler staring after him, he darted toward a door. In a moment he had torn the portiere aside and had crossed the polished floor of the music room. Miriam was seated at the piano, her fingers resting on ...
— Ainslee's, Vol. 15, No. 5, June 1905 • Various
... gift today?" he laughed. "A golden goose, a magic ring, or a beautiful Cinderella hidden behind the curtain?" and he poked at the portiere playfully. "But you have the appearance of conspirators. Is it ...
— Paradise Garden - The Satirical Narrative of a Great Experiment • George Gibbs |
