England -- Social life and customs -- Fiction; Orphans -- Fiction; Uncles -- Fiction; Young women -- Fiction
"Edwy's rather bucked at driving you," said Edred. "He's going to
pretend it's a Roman chariot. You'll be awfully bucked too," he added
confidently to his cousin. "It's rather hard cheese we've got your
luggage, because it will make a squash. I say, why shouldn't we leave it
here?"
"Oh no, please," Jasmine protested.
"Right-o," said Edred. "But it would be quite safe here on the kerb. You
see, Ethel and I wanted to drive, and if you left your luggage here we
could come back and fetch it."
Jasmine, however, was firm in her objection to this plan, and at that
moment a fat boy of about fifteen, whose voice was at its breaking
stage, was seen standing up in a governess-cart shouting what Jasmine
recognized as the correct language of a Roman charioteer from _The Last
Days of Pompeii_. She asked the other two which cousin this was.
"I say, don't you know?" Edred exclaimed in incredulous surprise.
"That's old Edwy, only we call him Why, and we call me Because, and we
call Ethelred Ethel."
"No we don't, so shut up," contradicted Ethelred.
"Well, he looks like a girl, doesn't he, Cousin Jasmine?"
Jasmine was spared the embarrassment of a reply by Edwy's pulling up
with the governess-cart.
"Did you win?" both the younger brothers asked eagerly.
Edwy nodded absently; his whip had coiled itself round a lamp-post.
Greetings between herself and this third cousin over, Jasmine was
invited to get in and recommended to sit well forward and not get
tangled up with the reins. Her box was placed opposite her, and the
younger boys mounted.
"Good Gum," Edwy exclaimed with contempt. "We can't race anything with
this load, can we?"
Jasmine, perceiving the narrow High Street of Silchester winding before
her, was thankful for the news.
"I tell you what we could do," Edred suggested. "We could pretend that
it was three chariots, and that we were all three driving one against
the other."
Edwy considered this offer for a moment, then "Right-o" he agreed
calmly, and off they went. It might have been less dangerous if Edwy had
raced another cart as originally intended, because with the convention
they were then following both his younger brothers had to have a hand on
the reins. They also had to have a turn with the whip. The extraordinary
thing to Jasmine was that this reeling progress down the High Street did
not seem to attract a single glance. She commented on the public
indifference, and the boys explained that the natives were used to them.
"Monday and Tuesday were much worse than we are," said Edred.
"Monday and Tuesday?"
"Edmund and Edgar. The pater was only a Canon Residentiary in those
days. He's been Dean for six years now. He's the youngest Dean that ever
lived. Or the youngest Dean alive; I forget which. Then he was Regius
Professor of Anglo-Saxon at Oxford."
"The youngest Dean that ever lived in Silchester, you ass," interposed
Edwy with a gruff squeak.
"Oh well, it's all the same, and ass yourself!"
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account