FREE BOOKS

Author's List




PREV.   NEXT  
|<   56   57   58   59   60   61   62   63   64   65   66   67   68   69   70   71   72   73   74   75   76   77   78   79   80  
81   82   83   84   85   86   87   88   89   90   91   92   93   94   95   96   97   98   99   100   101   102   103   104   105   >>   >|  
meric laughter, and a pair of lorgnettes, reminded you of her greatness. When Kew finally disentangled himself from the company of this jolly creature, it was very late. But the voice of Anonyma arrested him on his way to bed. Her face, with a corn-coloured plait on each side of it, looked at him cautiously from a dark doorway. "Kew," said Anonyma, "I won't stand it. We must be rescued." "Nobody can remove her now without also removing Russ and Christina," said Kew. "The reconciliation has gone too far." "Then Russ must be sacrificed, and even the car," said Anonyma firmly. "Gustus and I can hire if we must. That woman must be removed. The jealous cat!" Kew began to see light. "I'll rescue you, then," he replied. "I'll think of a way in my bath." * * * * * Next morning a great noise, centring in the bathroom, overflowed through the inn. It was the noise of Kew singing joyful extracts from _Peer Gynt_. Do you remember the beginning of the end of the Hall of the Mountain King? It goes: "Bomp--chink.... Bomp--chink.... Tootle--tootle--tootle--tootle--tootle--tootle-tee.... Bomp-chink, ..." etc., etc. The way in which Kew rendered this passage, notoriously a difficult one for a solo voice, would have conveyed to any one who knew him that he had solved both his problems. Anonyma knocked on the bathroom door, and said, "Cousin Gustus's headache is still bad." Kew therefore broke into Anitra's Dance, which is more subdued. Before breakfast he and Mr. Russell and the Hound walked to the downs. The motor tour seemed to have come to a standstill. Cousin Gustus's headache could be felt all over the house. The moment Mr. Russell and Kew were out of earshot of the inn, Kew made such a violent resolve to speak that he nearly broke a tooth. "Russ," he said, "I want to get off my chest for your benefit something that has been worrying me awfully." Mr. Russell made no answer. He had got out of the habit of answering. "It's about Jay," continued Kew. "I must break to you first that Jay's 'house on the sea-front,' with all its accessories--gulls, ghosts, turrets, aeroplanes, and Friends--is one large and elaborate lie. She and I are very much alike. The only difference between us used to be her skirt, and now she has gone a good way towards discarding that. She is nowhere near the sea. She is in London. Now you, Russ, are what she and I used to call an 'Older and Wiser--'
PREV.   NEXT  
|<   56   57   58   59   60   61   62   63   64   65   66   67   68   69   70   71   72   73   74   75   76   77   78   79   80  
81   82   83   84   85   86   87   88   89   90   91   92   93   94   95   96   97   98   99   100   101   102   103   104   105   >>   >|  



Top keywords:

tootle

 

Anonyma

 

Russell

 
Gustus
 
headache
 

bathroom

 
Cousin
 

discarding

 

standstill

 

earshot


resolve
 

London

 

moment

 

violent

 

walked

 
Anitra
 

lorgnettes

 

laughter

 

breakfast

 
subdued

Before

 
accessories
 

ghosts

 

continued

 

difference

 

elaborate

 

turrets

 
aeroplanes
 

Friends

 

answering


benefit

 

answer

 

worrying

 

conveyed

 

sacrificed

 

reconciliation

 

removing

 

creature

 

Christina

 

firmly


company

 

jealous

 

removed

 

looked

 

coloured

 

cautiously

 
rescued
 

Nobody

 

remove

 

doorway