England -- Social life and customs -- Fiction; Orphans -- Fiction; Uncles -- Fiction; Young women -- Fiction
Jasmine's mastery of the instrument was fatal to her. Nobody else could
use it; and Lady Grant was so pleased with the effect of typewritten
correspondence upon the dignity of her charities that Cousin Edith,
deposed from whatever secretarial state was left to her, found herself
betrayed by her own purchase. Sir Hector, with what was impressed upon
Jasmine as unusual magnanimity even for Sir Hector, had invited his
niece to accompany him once more upon his afternoon walks; but the
arrival of the typewriter kept her so busy that Lady Grant began to say
'To-morrow' to these walks as her daughters said 'To-morrow' to the
links. Finally Jasmine, in a rage, decapitated the Z stop, thereby
producing such a perfect specimen of correspondence that her aunt, much
moved, announced that she really should go to the links on the very next
day, and that she herself would go with her. What happened to the
typewriter between five o'clock that evening and the following morning
was never known; but that epistle was its swan-song. Perhaps the
execution of the Z stop, on whom the others had come to rely so
completely, put too great a strain on their old bones, or perhaps
Cousin Edith in the silence of the night severed the machine's spinal
cord. Anyway, next morning, when Lady Grant, having proposed for the
fifteenth time that visit to the links, asked Jasmine if she would be so
kind as to type out a schedule of the rules of her club for Tired
Sandwichmen, Jasmine announced that the machine was no longer working.
Her aunt seemed unable to believe her, and insisted that the schedule
should be done. Jasmine showed her the first four lines, which looked
like a Magyar proclamation, and Lady Grant exclaimed, "What a waste of
L3 7s. 6d.!" Cousin Edith, whose _amour propre_ was wounded by this
imputation, observed with the bitter mildness of pale India ale:
"Not altogether wasted, May. Jasmine has learnt typewriting. I wish that
when I was young I had had such an opportunity."
"Well, perhaps we can go to the links after all," Lady Grant sighed.
"The girls always take the tram, but we'll drive in the car. I don't
think that you had better come, Edith. The last time, don't you
remember, you received that nasty blow with the ball. Hector," she
called, "you wouldn't mind if Cousin Edith gave you your lunch?"
Sir Hector bowed gallantly, and vowed that he should be delighted to be
given his lunch by Cousin Edith. He was in a good temper that morning,
for he had just been reading the obituary of a rival baronet of
medicine. Cousin Edith did her best to make Jasmine sensible of the
gratitude she owed to her aunt for this wonderful treat, and herself
came as far as the front gate, holding Spot by the collar and waving
until the car was out of sight.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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