"Yes, sir," continued Mr. Dunlop; "like that party in Shakespeare, who
drew a dial from his poke, and said it was just ten, and in an hour
it would be eleven, I've just looked at my watch and find that in ten
minutes it will be one o'clock, at which hour, by express permission
of her Majesty's Ministers, signed and sealed at a Cabinet Council, of
which Mr. Arthur Helps was clerk, the gentlemen of H.M. Stannaries are
permitted on Saturdays to--to cut it. That is the reason, odd as it may
seem, why I like Saturday afternoon. Mr. Tennyson, I believe, knew some
parties who found out a place where it was always Saturday afternoon.
Mr. W. Dunlop presents his compliments to the Laureate, and would be
obliged for an introduction to the said place and parties."
"And what are you going to do with yourself to-day, Billy?"
"I am going, sir, if I may so express myself without an appearance of
undue vanity, where Glory waits me. But I am prepared to promise, if
it will afford any gentleman the smallest amount of satisfaction, that
when Fame elates me, I will at once take the opportunity of thinking of
THEE!"
"And where is Glory at the present moment on the look-out for you,
William?"
"Glory, sir, in the person of Mr. Kemp, the Izaak Walton of the day,
will be found awaiting me in a large punt, moored on the silver bosom
of the Thames, off the pleasant village of Teddington, a vessel
containing, item two rods, item groundbait and worms for fishing, item
a stone-jar of--water! A most virtuous and modest way of spending the
afternoon, isn't it? I wish I could think it was going to be spent
equally profitably by all!" and Billy Dunlop made a comic grimace in
the direction of Paul Derinzy, and then assuming a face of intense
gravity, took his hat off a peg, nodded, and vanished.
"Well, goodbye, my dear boys," said Mr. Courtney, coming out from
behind the partition where the washing-stand was placed--it was a point
of honour among the men to ignore his performance of his toilette--with
his wig tightly fixed on and poodled up under his glossy hat, with his
close-fitting lavender gloves, and with a flower in the button-hole
of his coat; "_au revoir_ on Monday. I'm going down to dear Lord
Lumbsden's little place at Marlow to blow this confounded dust out of
me, and to get a little ozone into me, to keep me up till I get away
to Scotland. _Au revoir_!" and the old boy kissed his fingertips, and
shambled away.
"What are you going to do this afternoon, old man?" asked George
Wainwright, pulling off his coat preparatory to a wash, of Paul
Derinzy, who had been sitting silent for the last ten minutes, now
nervously plucking at his moustache, now referring to his watch, and
evidently in a highly nervous state.
"I don't know exactly, George," Paul replied, without looking up at his
friend. "I haven't quite made up my mind."
"Going to play tennis?"
"No, I think not."
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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