FREE BOOKS

Author's List




PREV.   NEXT  
|<   94   95   96   97   98   99   100   101   102   103   104   105   106   107   108   109   110   111   112   113   114   115   116   117   118  
119   120   121   122   123   124   125   126   127   128   129   130   131   132   133   134   135   136   137   138   139   140   141   142   143   >>   >|  
But she was listening with all her might, and as the uproar died down again she caught the accents of a man's voice attempting a speech. "My friends," it was saying, still lifting itself higher against the good-humoured interruptions, "my very good friends--impossible not to be gratified--expression of good will--venture to say, on the whole-- thoroughly enjoyable afternoon. My sister"--(interruptions and cheers for Miss Sally)--"my sister begs me to say--highly gratified--spirit of the thing--but, if I may plead, some degree of fatigue only natural-- won't misunderstand if I ask--disperse--quietly as possible--eh? Oh, yes, 'God save the King,' by all means--much obliged, reminder-- thank you--yes, certainly." Thereupon the band played the National Anthem, and the throng, after yet another outbreak of cheering, dispersed. Followed a silence in the darkness under the platform, broken only by the distant thudding bass of the roundabout's steam organ; and then between the boards there sounded a liquid chuckle, much like a blackbird's, and a woman's voice said-- "Come, my dear brother, say it out! The Countess has gone; everybody has gone--she must have stampeded 'em, by the way--and as the Jew said, when a thunderstorm broke on the picnic, 'Here's a fuss over a little bit of ham!' Well, my dear, there has always been this about Sally-- a man can swear before her _sans gene_. So, to give you a start, how did they take it?" "If after these years I didn't know you to be incorrigible--" growled the voice of Sir Elphinstone. "'For ladies of all ages,' the bills said." "'Ladies!'" "I am quoting your own bill--I'll bet a fiver, too, that you drafted it. Anyway, I'm rising forty--though I'd defy 'em to tell it by my teeth. And since they passed me for a lady--oh, Elphinstone, it _was_ a lark! And I never thought I had the wind for it. You remember Kipling--you are always quoting that young man--" 'The dun he fled like a stag of ten, but the mare like a barren doe.' "Well, that's how it was: 'Like a barren doe,' I give you my word." "My dear Sally!" "Shameless, was it? My dear Elphinstone, you've only to bill it, and I'll do Lady Godiva for 'em next year--at _my_ time of life. But if you don't like Kipling, what do you say to this?" 'For really this was a remarkable Ham, A twenty-pound solid Imperial Ham, And old Mrs. Liddicott Tucked up her petticoat--' "Which rem
PREV.   NEXT  
|<   94   95   96   97   98   99   100   101   102   103   104   105   106   107   108   109   110   111   112   113   114   115   116   117   118  
119   120   121   122   123   124   125   126   127   128   129   130   131   132   133   134   135   136   137   138   139   140   141   142   143   >>   >|  



Top keywords:

Elphinstone

 

sister

 

quoting

 
Kipling
 
barren
 

interruptions

 
friends
 

gratified

 

Anyway

 

drafted


Ladies
 

incorrigible

 

growled

 

ladies

 

remember

 
Shameless
 

Godiva

 

remarkable

 

Tucked

 
petticoat

Liddicott

 
twenty
 

Imperial

 

passed

 

thought

 

rising

 

degree

 
fatigue
 

spirit

 

cheers


afternoon

 

highly

 

natural

 

misunderstand

 

disperse

 

quietly

 

enjoyable

 

accents

 

caught

 

attempting


speech

 

listening

 

uproar

 

lifting

 

expression

 

venture

 
impossible
 

higher

 

humoured

 

obliged