FREE BOOKS

Author's List




PREV.   NEXT  
|<   23   24   25   26   27   28   29   30   31   32   33   34   35   36   37   38   39   40   41   42   43   44   45   46   47  
48   49   50   51   52   53   54   55   56   57   58   59   60   61   62   63   64   65   66   67   68   69   70   71   72   >>   >|  
he inn was a beauty, and I liked the look of it. Perhaps Benny's new manner disarmed me; he was as mild as milk just then, and as affable as a commercial with a sample in his bag. When he appeared again he had the landlord with him, and he told me he was going to stop. "Get a good dinner into you, lad, and then come and talk to me," he said, putting a great paw on my shoulder, and leering apishly. "We mayn't go to bed to-night, after all, for, to tell you the truth, I don't like the colour of their sheets. You wouldn't mind sitting up, I daresay, not supposing--well, that there was a ten-pound note hanging to it?" I opened my eyes at this. "A ten-pound note, sir?" "Yes, for robbing you of your bed. Didn't you tell me you were a wonder at night driving. Well, I want to see what stuff you're made of." I did not answer him, and, after talking a lot about my cleverness and the way the car had run, he went in and had his dinner. What to make of him or his proposal I knew no more than the dead. Certainly he had done nothing which gave me any title to judge him, and a man with a job to serve isn't over-ready to be nice about his masters, whatever their doings. I came to the conclusion that he was just a dotty old boy who had gone crazy over some girl, and that he was driving out by night to see her. All the talk about Watford and his letters was so much jibarree and not meant for home consumption; but, in any case, it was no affair of mine, nor could I be held responsible for what he did or what he left undone. This was the wisest view to take, and it helped me out afterwards. He made a good dinner, they told me, and drank a fine bottle of port, kept in the cellars of the house from the old days when gentlemen drove themselves to Newmarket, and didn't spare the liquor by the way. It was half-past ten when I saw him again, and then he had one of the roly-poly cigars in his mouth and the ten-pound note in his hand. "Britten," he said quite plain, "you know why I've come down here?" "I think so, sir." "_Chercher les femmes_, as they say in Boolong--I'm down here to meet the girl I'm going to marry." "Hope you'll find her well, sir." "Ah, that's just it. I shan't find her well if her old father can help it. Damn him, he's nearly killed her with his oaths and swearing these last two months. But it's going to stop, Britten, and stop to-night. She's waiting for this car over at Fawley Hill, wh
PREV.   NEXT  
|<   23   24   25   26   27   28   29   30   31   32   33   34   35   36   37   38   39   40   41   42   43   44   45   46   47  
48   49   50   51   52   53   54   55   56   57   58   59   60   61   62   63   64   65   66   67   68   69   70   71   72   >>   >|  



Top keywords:

dinner

 

driving

 
Britten
 

wisest

 

undone

 

bottle

 

swearing

 

responsible

 

helped

 

waiting


jibarree
 

letters

 

Watford

 

Fawley

 

months

 

killed

 

affair

 

consumption

 

cigars

 

Boolong


Chercher

 

femmes

 

gentlemen

 

father

 

liquor

 

Newmarket

 

cellars

 

shoulder

 

leering

 
apishly

colour

 
sheets
 

supposing

 

hanging

 

opened

 

daresay

 

wouldn

 

sitting

 

manner

 

disarmed


Perhaps

 

beauty

 

affable

 

putting

 

landlord

 

appeared

 

commercial

 
sample
 

conclusion

 

masters