FREE BOOKS

Author's List




PREV.   NEXT  
|<   91   92   93   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   >>   >|  
im. I sat down at once and wrote begging Oscar to lunch with me the next day alone, as I had something important to say to him. He turned up in Park Lane, manifestly anxious, a little frightened, I think. "What is it, Frank?" I told him very seriously what I had heard and gave besides my impression of Queensberry's character, and his insane pugnacity. "What can I do, Frank?" said Oscar, showing distress and apprehension. "It's all Bosie." "Who is Bosie?" I asked. "That is Lord Alfred Douglas' pet name. It's all Bosie's fault. He has quarrelled with his father, or rather his father has quarrelled with him. He quarrels with everyone; with Lady Queensberry, with Percy Douglas, with Bosie, everyone. He's impossible. What can I do?" "Avoid him," I said. "Don't go about with Lord Alfred Douglas. Give Queensberry his triumph. You could make a friend of him as easily as possible, if you wished. Write him a conciliatory letter." "But he'll want me to drop Bosie, and stop seeing Lady Queensberry, and I like them all; they are charming to me. Why should I cringe to this madman?" "Because he is a madman." "Oh, Frank, I can't," he cried. "Bosie wouldn't let me." "'Wouldn't let you'? I repeated angrily. "How absurd! That Queensberry man will go to violence, to any extremity. Don't you fight other people's quarrels: you may have enough of your own some day." "You're not sympathetic, Frank," he chided weakly. "I know you mean it kindly, but it's impossible for me to do as you advise. I cannot give up my friend. I really cannot let Lord Queensberry choose my friends for me. It's too absurd." "But it's wise," I replied. "There's a very bad verse in one of Hugo's plays. It always amused me--he likens poverty to a low door and declares that when we have to pass through it the man who stoops lowest is the wisest. So when you meet a madman, the wisest thing to do is to avoid him and not quarrel with him." "It's very hard, Frank; of course I'll think over what you say. But really Queensberry ought to be in a madhouse. He's too absurd," and in that spirit he left me, outwardly self-confident. He might have remembered Chaucer's words: Beware also to spurne again a nall; Strive not as doeth a crocke with a wall; Deme thy selfe that demest others dede, And trouth thee shall deliver, it is no drede. FOOTNOTES: [11] "The Promise of May" was produced in November, 1882. CHAPTER XII
PREV.   NEXT  
|<   91   92   93   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   >>   >|  



Top keywords:
Queensberry
 

absurd

 

madman

 
Douglas
 
father
 
quarrelled
 

impossible

 

quarrels

 

Alfred

 

friend


wisest
 
lowest
 

stoops

 

friends

 

replied

 

choose

 

kindly

 

advise

 

declares

 

poverty


likens
 

quarrel

 

amused

 
Chaucer
 

trouth

 
deliver
 
demest
 

FOOTNOTES

 

November

 

CHAPTER


produced

 

Promise

 
outwardly
 
confident
 

spirit

 
madhouse
 

remembered

 

Strive

 

crocke

 

spurne


Beware

 

cringe

 
showing
 

distress

 
apprehension
 
pugnacity
 

insane

 

impression

 
character
 

triumph