The Gem CollectorWodehouse, P. G. (Pelham Grenville)
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The Gem Collector
Wodehouse, P. G. (Pelham Grenville)
Humorous stories; Jewel thieves -- Fiction
"Thank you _so much_," she said, taking the reins from him. "Oh,
Dandy, you naughty old thing."
Jimmy looked at her flushed, smiling face, and uttered an exclamation
of astonishment. The girl was staring at him, open-eyed.
"Molly!" he cried.
"Jimmy!"
And then a curious feeling of constraint fell simultaneously upon them
both.
CHAPTER V.
"How are you, Molly?"
"Quite well, thank you, Jimmy."
A pause.
"You're looking very well."
"I'm feeling very well. How are you?"
"Quite well, thanks. Very well, indeed"
Another pause.
And then their eyes met, and at the same moment they burst out
laughing.
"Your manners are _beautiful_, Jimmy. And I'm so glad you're so well!
What an extraordinary thing us meeting like this. I thought you were
in New York."
"I thought you were. You haven't altered a bit, Molly."
"Nor have you. How queer this is! I can't understand it."
"Nor can I. I don't want to. I'm satisfied without. Do you know before
I met you I was just thinking I hadn't a single friend in this
country. I'm on my way to stay with a man I've only known a few days,
and his people, whom I don't know at all, and a bunch of other guests,
whom I've never heard of, and his uncle, who's a sort of human icicle,
and his aunt, who makes you feel like thirty cents directly she starts
to talk to you, and the family watchdog, who will probably bite me.
But now! You must live near here or you wouldn't be chasing horses
about this road."
"I live at a place called Corven Abbey."
"What Corven Abbey? Why, that's where I'm going."
"Jimmy! Oh, I see. You're Spennie's friend. But where is Spennie?"
"At the abbey by now. He went in the auto with his uncle and aunt."
"How did you meet Spennie?"
"Oh, I did a very trifling Good Samaritan act, for which he was unduly
grateful, and he adopted me from that moment."
"How long have you been living in England, then? I never dreamed of
you being here."
"I've been on this side about a week. If you want my history in a
nutshell, it's this. Rich uncle. Poor nephew. Deceased uncle. Rich
nephew. I'm a man with money now. Lots of money."
"How nice for you, Jimmy. Father came into money, too. That's how I
come to be over here. I wish you and father had got on better
together."
"Your father, my dear Molly, has a manner with people he is not fond
of which purists might call slightly abrupt. Perhaps things will be
different, now."
The horse gave a sudden whinny.
"I wish you wouldn't do that sort of thing without warning," said
Jimmy to it plaintively.
"He knows he's near home, and he knows it's his dinner time. There,
now you can see the abbey. How do you like it?"
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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