England -- Social life and customs -- 20th century -- Fiction; English fiction -- 20th century; Short stories, English
The Albert Edward estate was announced as specially suitable for newly
married people, and these came, in pairs, attracted by the title and by
the health statistics of the neighbourhood; a few carping critics pointed
out that the agreeable figures were due to the sparsity of the
population, but no one troubled to follow the argument. Meanwhile Mr.
Rollinson ordered that building should go on with haste to meet the
demands of would-be tenants, who, by an ingenious scheme of payments,
became in a term of years responsible owners of the property, and he only
relinquished the task when children began to arrive and the dwellings, in
consequence, showed signs of wear and tear. He then went to Finsbury
Park, and laid out the Princess Alice estate; later he proceeded to
Hammersmith, and planned and carried out the Duke of Edinburgh estate.
These houses might be exhibited at the present day, a tribute to
Rollinson’s loyalty and industry, but for the interference of borough
officials. By the time these steps were taken, Mr. Rollinson had
disengaged himself from interest in the various properties, but one can
understand the pain given by the action of the authorities to a man whose
official letter paper bore the heading, “Not for an Age, but for all
Time.”
Ernest Napoleon, the son, was born in ’43, and the event is registered at
the church in Hart Street, Bloomsbury; his father, despite activities
concerning new dwellings, preferred to reside in an older quarter of
town. Mr. Rollinson found time to take a part in public life, and I have
ascertained that he was one of 170,000 special constables sworn in at the
time of the threatened Chartist riots; unfortunately, on the day of the
meeting at Kennington Common, he was suffering from a slight headache,
and he advised his neighbour, Dr. Fennell, to order him to stay in bed.
Friendship between himself and his medical man increased as Mr. Rollinson
spoke of his fortunate investments.
“Want you to do me a great favour, George,” asked Dr. Fennell, meeting
him one day near the Museum. “My idea is that I ought very soon to be
able to retire, and cultivate a garden in the country. But progress in
my profession is slow.”
“You’re as safe as ’ouses,” remarked Mr. Rollinson,—“safe as some ’ouses,
I mean—providing you’re not fool enough to go in for speculation.”
“Speculation,” declared the doctor warmly, “is the last vice I should
indulge in. All I want you to do, the next time you see a good thing in
prospect, is just to let me come in with you. I’ve five thousand pounds
put by, and—call me ambitious, or what you will—I should like to make it
ten. Promise me you’ll do your best.”
“Can’t guarantee success, mind you!”
“My dear George,” protested the other, “give me credit for a fair amount
of common sense.”
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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