'What I didn't like,' said Lady Willow, with as near an approach to
severity as the kindly woman could assume, 'was your calling him
Lord Freddie.'
'Oh, that's his phrase, too! He says everybody calls him Lord Freddie.
But come along, and I'll call him Lord--Frederick--Bingham,' with a voice
of awe and appropriate pauses between the words. 'He always seems so
trivial compared with his name; he reminds me of a salesman at a remnant
counter, and I don't wonder everybody calls him Lord Freddie. I'm afraid
I'm a disappointed woman, Lady Willow. I suppose the men have retrograded
since armour went out of fashion; they had to be big and strong then to
carry so much hardware. Of course it makes a difference to a man whether
his tailor cuts him a suit out of broadcloth or out of sheet iron. Yes,
I begin to suspect that I've come to England several centuries too late.'
Lady Willow was too much shocked at these frivolous remarks to make any
reply, so, attempting none, she went to her room to prepare for her trip
to the City.
Leaving Lady Willow in the hansom, Jennie entered the bank and got the
white notes, generally alluded to in fiction as 'crisp,' stuffing them
with greater carelessness than their value warranted into her purse. She
took from this receptacle of her wealth a bit of paper on which was
written an address, and this she looked at for some moments before
leaving the bank. On reaching the hansom, she handed up the slip of paper
to the driver.
'Do you know where that is?' she asked.
'Yes, miss; it is just round the corner.'
'Well, drive to the opposite side of the street, and stop where I can see
the door of No. 23.'
'Very good, miss.'
Arriving nearly opposite No. 23, the driver pulled up. Jennie looked
across at the doorway where many hurrying men were entering and leaving.
It was a large building evidently filled with offices; the girl drew a
deep breath, but made no motion to leave the hansom.
'Have you business here, too?' asked Lady Willow, to whom the City was an
unknown land, the rush and noise of which were unpleasantly bewildering.
'No,' said Jennie, with a doleful note in her voice, 'this is not
business; it is pleasure. I want to sit here for a few minutes and
think.'
'But, my dear child,' expostulated Lady Willow, 'you can't think in this
babel; besides, the police will not allow the hansom to stand here unless
one of us is shopping, or has business in an office.'
'Then, dear Lady Willow, do go shopping for ten minutes; I saw some
lovely shops just down the street. Here are five pounds, and if you see
anything that I ought to have, buy it for me. One must think now and
then, you know. Our thoughts are like the letters we receive; we need to
sort them out periodically, and discard those that we don't wish to keep.
I want to rummage over my thoughts and see whether some of them are to be
abandoned or not.'
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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