To this semicouncil had been invited the Swedish General Armfeldt, Adjutant General Wolzogen, Wintzingerode (whom Napoleon had referred to as a renegade French subject), Michaud, Toll, Count Stein who was not a military man at all, and Pfuel himself, who, as Prince Andrew had heard, was the
mainspring of the whole affair.
That this dog and White Fang should come together was inevitable, and for a week the anticipated fight was the
mainspring of conversation in certain quarters of the town.
"I'll tell you, then," he said with heat, "I imagine the
mainspring of all our actions is, after all, self-interest.
He believed almost with devoutness in the plot which he had detected for the spoliation of Lord Wetherby's summer-house, that plot of which he held Lord Dawlish to be the
mainspring. And it must be admitted that circumstances had combined to help his belief.
This hitch in the
mainspring of the domestic machinery had a bad effect upon the whole concern, but Amy's motto was `Nil desperandum', and having made up her mind what to do, she proceeded to do it in spite of all obstacles.
So long as I confined myself to them she had a haunting fear that, even though the editor remained blind to his best interests, something would one day go crack within me (as the
mainspring of a watch breaks) and my pen refuse to write for evermore.
Perhaps this had Originally been the
mainspring of the understanding between them.
"Who, I believe, is the
mainspring of all this, I confess," said the cardinal.
It will probably now be evident that the
mainspring of the undeniable and volcanic power of 'Sartor Resartus' (and the same is true of Carlyle's other chief works) is a tremendous moral conviction and fervor.
In spite of the gulf set between us, you will still be the
mainspring of all my actions, and all the virtues are inspired by penitence and love.
Had that piquant gipsy face been at the bottom of the crime, or was it the baser
mainspring of money?
Here, in truth, lay the
mainspring of this strangely-constituted organization.