England, Northern -- Fiction; Fathers and sons -- Fiction; Jews -- Fiction
But a new hero had crossed the Atlantic. He was in soul much more
turbulent than the heroes of the conservative school. His morals,
purely, be it understood, in order to achieve a virtuous end, were even
more elastic. The terror of his name was even more astounding. But
all his villainous qualities were kept strictly below the surface,
though, of course, his assistants were as coarse-grained and
blasphemous as tradition demanded. His manners were so exquisite that
hotel-keepers did not presume to ask for the payment of their bills.
When he slipped from his chambers to undertake a midnight escapade, he
would insert into one pocket his revolver, into another a
silver-mounted bottle of hair-oil. Whilst his minions were grappling
with the objects of his displeasure and bullet shots ripped across the
shack, he would lift the wick of the lamp in order to manicure his
nails. His speech was so full of gracious evasions that--that, in
short, he completely captured Philip's heart.
Here was a mode of making artistic capital out of those very qualities
of the young men in Angel Street which so revolted him, whilst at the
same time he would himself accentuate those features of aloof
refinement for which they had dubbed him "bouncer," a word particularly
repugnant to him, accentuate them actually amid deference and applause.
How, then, was a reversal of the Angel Street relationships to be
effected? Philip hardly knew. His first discovery was the gratifying
fact that on a certain non-physical plane the "gang" regarded him with
a measure of positive awe. Not only was he the son of his father, but
he had the Kabbalistic faculty of uttering rhymes, a faculty which
influenced them precisely as a barbarian village might be influenced by
a medicine-man's incantations. His uprising against Barney had not
been barren of result, though the fierce splendour of it had been
mitigated somewhat by the parental sequel.
But most of the battle was won when, by a stroke of fortune, Philip,
for whom a new hat was long overdue, was supplied with a sample of the
head-gear associated with captaincy from time immemorial. His new hat
was dowered with a shiny peak and a ribbon splendid with the legend
"H.M.S. IMMACULATE," and when pressed slantwise over Philip's left eye
gave him an air of authority not generally associated with his small
face. A certain calm persuasive eloquence, assisted by a number of
"alleys," both "blood" and "conker," vastly advanced his cause. He
read, finally, certain convincing passages from the career of the Dandy
Dave by which not only was Philip Massel's claim to be his European
representative rendered incontrovertible, but it was proved also that
any actual immersion of his own person in the filth of affairs was as
unbecoming to Philip's new dignity as to the dignity of Dandy Dave.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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