“They’re only clip earrings, you old goose.”
“I shall bite them.”
“No, Tom. Not my ears now. My dear Tom. Do forgive me. You know I love
you.”
“You’ve got the reddest lips I ever saw in a woman, Livy.”
“Oh. Do you notice women’s lips?”
“I notice yours. Almost the first thing I noticed of you was how red
your lips were. What do you put on them?”
“Nothing. You put something on them sometimes.”
“What? A gag?”
“No. Your old silly mouth that asks so many questions.”
“I’ll get you some hot water for your eyes. You must bathe them.”
“How good and tender you are to me, Tom.”
As he walked to get a jugful of hot water he muttered to himself about
her. “Bread and butter,” he repeated. “Bread and butter. A life of
bread and butter. Forty years of it, good luck. Forty years of it to
come. Batter pudding.” He met with Cammock in the alleyway; it
occurred to him to be civil. “Captain Cammock,” he said, “will you
join me in my smoking-room after dinner to-day? I’ve some Verinas
tobacco. I’d like your opinion of it.”
“Thank you, sir,” said Cammock, wondering what had caused such sudden
friendliness. “But which do you call your smoking-room?”
“That little tiny cabin just forward of the bath-room. It’s only big
enough for a few chairs and a bookshelf.”
“Oh, the after-hospital,” said Cammock. “I’ll be very pleased, sir.
But where did you speak with Verinas tobacco, Mr. Stukeley?”
“I spoke with it ashore,” said Stukeley, “of a Mr. Davis, whom I think
you know.”
“Ah,” said Cammock. “Indeed? Well. After dinner, sir.”
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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