London again! Muddy, drizzly, foggy London, London, with its well filled
omnibuses tearing along the streets, more dangerous than the chariots of
Rome, London, with its bustling thoroughfares, with its traffic blocked
at the corners by the raised white gloved hand of the policeman, London,
with the four wheeled growler piled high with luggage, and the dashing
hansom whirling along, missing the wheels of other vehicles by half an
inch, while its occupant sits serenely smoking, or motioning his
directions to his cabman with an umbrella; London, with its constantly
moving procession of every sort of wheeled carriage, from the four-horsed
coach to the coster barrow. London, London, London, London! the name
seemed to ring in John Kenyon's ears as he walked briskly along the
crowded pavement towards the City. The roar of its busy streets was the
sweetest music in the world to him, as it is to every man who has once
acquired the taste for London. Drink of the fountain of Trevi, and you
will return to Rome. Drink of the roar and the bustle of London, and no
other metropolis in the world, can ever satisfy the city-hunger in you
again. London is London, and John Kenyon loved its very disadvantages as
he strode along the streets.
He called at the office of George Wentworth, took that young man with
him, and together they went to the place where the adjourned meeting of
the London Syndicate was to be held. There were questions to be asked of
the two young men, and the directors couldn't quite see why the reports
had been so suddenly precipitated upon them, before the arrival of the
experts they had sent out. So they had merely read the documents at the
former meeting and adjourned until such time as the two young men could
appear in person. Most of the directors were there, but, though Kenyon
looked anxiously among them, he did not see the face of old Mr.
Longworth. Questions were asked Kenyon about the position of the mines,
about their output, and such other particulars as the directors wished
to know. Then Wentworth underwent a similar examination. He pointed out
the discrepancies which he had found in the accounts. He showed that
there was an evident desire on the part of the owners of the different
mines to make it appear that the properties paid better than they
actually did, and he answered in a clear and satisfactory way all the
questions asked him. The chairman thanked the young men for the evident
care with which they had done their work, and the meeting then went into
a private session to consider what action should be taken respecting the
mines. When the two friends got out of the building, Kenyon said:
'Well, thank goodness that is over and done with. Now, George, what have
you to suggest with reference to the mica-mine?'
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account