Mrs. Radigan: Her Biography, with that of Miss Pearl Veal, and the Memoirs of J. Madison MudisonLloyd, Nelson
General
Mrs. Radigan: Her Biography, with that of Miss Pearl Veal, and the Memoirs of J. Madison Mudison
Lloyd, Nelson
New York (N.Y.) -- Fiction; Satire; Social classes -- Fiction; Women -- Conduct of life -- Fiction
When a picture of the Duke in his Guard's uniform burst upon my eye as
I opened my paper at breakfast on the morning of his arrival, I was
panic-stricken. He was magnificent, seemed to stand about six feet six,
and wore as many decorations as one of our own Sons of the Revolution.
When I read of his achievements I was in despair. A man of action,
he. He had served in the Soudan with the Red Cross Society; had been
decorated by her Majesty for his services in the commissary department
in South Africa; had written a pamphlet on the ginger-beer evil, and
had made several speeches on that subject in the House of Lords. What
chance would a plain American real-estate agent have against a man like
this?
That afternoon I dropped in at the Bumpschuses to see him, and seeing
him, hope rose again. His Grace is possibly five feet four, partially
bald, very pale, and wears a tiny, fuzzy mustache turned upside down.
His collar was much too big for him, and seemed designed to allow him
to draw his head in like a turtle. As for his clothes, they were cut
in the English fashion, to fit a fire-plug or an upright piano. I must
say that he was very affable, and declared that everything he had seen
was "jolly little," or "jolly big," or "jolly good." For a while he
looked so small and harmless and behaved so decently all around that
I quite lost my heart to him and promised to show him the sights of
the town, the Flatiron Building, the Brooklyn Bridge, and the Clark
mansion. Then Miss Speechless pulled me over to one corner and told me
not to be so familiar with him, as he was one of the greatest men in
England. And when she got through reciting his name I was so overcome I
hardly dared speak in his presence. Fancy my clapping on the shoulder
Charles John Peter Michael Henry Edwin Reginald Clarence Angus Joseph
Fitznit, Duke of Nocastle, Marquis of Bumpshire, Earl of Duckham, Baron
Llfygntynllan, Baron McGonigle in Ireland, Knight of the Garter, the
Bath, the Fleece. When I raised my eyes again to his Grace I saw him
as in the photograph, six feet six in the uniform of the Guards; I saw
Mrs. Radigan, just in, holding his hand and calling him "Duke"; I saw
Pearl Veal in an attitude of rapt admiration and I shuddered.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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