The Double Life Of Mr. Alfred BurtonOppenheim, E. Phillips (Edward Phillips)
General
The Double Life Of Mr. Alfred Burton
Oppenheim, E. Phillips (Edward Phillips)
Detective and mystery stories
"I do not know," he answered, a little wearily, "and yet nothing seems
to be able to alter the way I feel about it. It seems as though we were
committing sacrilege. Your father and Mr. Bomford, and now this man
Bunsome, are entirely engrossed in the commercial side of it. If it
were to be a gift to the world, a real philanthropic enterprise, it
would be different."
"The world wasn't made for philanthropists, dear," she reminded him.
"We are only poor human beings, and in our days we have to eat and drink
and love."
"If only Mr. Bomford--" he began--
She laid her fingers warningly upon his arm. Mr. Bomford was coming
across the lawn towards them. "If you go off alone with him," Burton
whispered, "I'll get back the beans and swamp the enterprise. I swear
it."
"If you leave us alone together," she answered softly, "I'll never speak
to you again."
She sprang lightly to her feet.
"Come," she declared, "it is chilly out here to-night. We are all going
back into the drawing-room. I am going to make you listen while I
sing."
Mr. Bomford looked dissatisfied. He was flushed with wine and he spoke
a little thickly.
"If I could have five minutes--" he began.
Edith shook her head.
"I am much too cold," she objected. "Besides, I want to hear Mr.
Bunsome talk about the new discovery. Have you found a title for the
food yet?"
She walked rapidly on with Burton. Mr. Bomford followed them.
"We have decided," he said, "to call it Menatogen."
CHAPTER XXV
DISCONTENT
Burton gave a little start of surprise as he entered Mr. Waddington's
office. Seated on the chair usually occupied by clients, was Ellen.
"My dear Burton," Mr. Waddington exclaimed, with an air of some relief,
"your arrival is most opportune! Your wife has just paid me a visit.
We were discussing your probable whereabouts only a moment ago."
"Rooms all shut up," Ellen declared, "and not a word left behind nor
nothing, and little Alfred come down with a messenger boy, in such a
mess as never was!"
"I hope he arrived safely?" Burton inquired. "I found it necessary to
send him home."
"He arrived all right," Ellen announced.
"You found a change in him?" Burton asked.
"If you mean about his finicking ways, I do find a change," Ellen
replied, "and a good job, too. He's playing with the other boys again
and using those silly books to shoot at with a catapult, which to my
mind is a sight more reasonable than poring over them all the time. I
never did see a man," she continued, with a slow smile, "so taken aback
as Mr. Denschem, when he came to take him to the museum yesterday.
Little Alf wouldn't have nothing to do with him at any price."
Burton sighed.
"I am afraid," he said politely, "that you may have been inconvenienced
by not hearing from me on Saturday."
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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