England -- Fiction; Fox hunting -- Fiction; Humorous stories; Hunting stories
'Gad!' said he, 'she's by no means a bad-looking girl' (whiff). 'Devilish
good-looking girl' (puff); 'good head and neck, and carries it well too'
(puff)--'capital eye' (whiff), 'bright and clear' (puff); 'no cataracts
there. She's all good together' (whiff, puff, whiff). 'Nice size too,'
continued he, 'and well set up (whiff, puff, whiff); 'straight as a dairy
maid' (puff); 'plenty of substance--grand thing substance' (puff). 'Hate a
weedy woman--fifteen two and a half--that's to say, five feet four's plenty
of height for a woman' (puff). 'Height of a woman has nothing to do with
her size' (whiff). 'Wish she hadn't run off (puff); 'would like to have had
a little more talk with her' (whiff, puff). 'Women never look so well as
when one comes in wet and dirty from hunting' (puff). He then sank
silently back in the easy-chair and whiffed and puffed all sorts of
fantastic clouds and columns and corkscrews at his leisure. The cigar being
finished, and the water in the foot-bath beginning to get cool, he emptied
the remainder of the hot into it, and lighting a fresh cigar, began
speculating on how the match was to be accomplished.
The lady was safe, that was clear; he had nothing to do but 'pop.' That he
would do in the evening, or in the morning, or any time--a man living in
the house with a girl need never be in want of an opportunity. That
preliminary over, and the usual answer 'Ask papa' obtained, then came the
question, how was the old boy to be managed?--for men with marriageable
daughters are to all intents and purposes 'old boys,' be their ages what
they may.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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