English fiction -- 20th century; Humorous stories, English; Short stories, English
"I am not. This is telepathic suggestion. You think I'm in bed; I
appear to be in bed; in reality there is no bed here. Do go away--I
haven't had a wink of sleep yet."
"But, man, look at the lovely morning!"
"Simpson," I said sternly, rolling up the sleeves of my pyjamas with
great deliberation, "I have had one visitor already to-day. His
corpse is now in the candlestick. It is an omen, Simpson."
"I thought you'd like to come outside with me, and I'd show you my
swing."
"Yes, yes, I shall like to see that, but AFTER breakfast, Simpson. I
suppose one of the gardeners put it up for you? You must show me
your box of soldiers and your tricycle horse, too. But run away now,
there's a good boy."
"My golf-swing, idiot."
I sat up in bed and stared at him in sheer amazement. For a long
time words wouldn't come to me. Simpson backed nervously to the
door.
"I saw the Coronation," I said at last, and I dropped back on my
pillow and went to sleep.
. . . . . .
"I feel very important," said Archie, coming on to the lawn where
Myra and I were playing a quiet game of bowls with the croquet
balls. "I've been paying the wages."
"Archie and I do hate it so," said Dahlia. "I'm luckier, because I
only pay mine once a month."
"It would be much nicer if they did it for love," said Archie, "and
just accepted a tie-pin occasionally. I never know what to say when
I hand a man eighteen-and-six."
"Here's eighteen-and-six," I suggested, "and don't bite the
half-sovereign, because it may be bad."
"You should shake his hand," said Myra, "and say, 'Thank you very
much for the azaleas.'"
"Or you might wrap the money up in paper and leave it for him in one
of the beds."
"And then you'd know whether he had made it properly."
"Well, you're all very helpful," said Archie. "Thank you extremely.
Where are the others? It's a pity that they should be left out of
this."
"Simpson disappeared after breakfast with his golf-clubs. He is in
high dudgeon--which is the surname of a small fish--because no one
wanted to see his swing."
"Oh, but I do," said Dahlia eagerly. "Where is he?"
"We will track him down," announced Archie. "I will go to the
stables, unchain the truffle-hounds, and show them one of his
reversible cuffs."
We found Simpson in the pig-sty. The third hole, as he was planning
it out for Archie, necessitated the carrying of the farm buildings,
which he described as a natural hazard. Unfortunately, his ball had
fallen into a casual pig-sty. It had not yet been decided whether
the ball could be picked out without penalty--the more immediate
need being to find the blessed thing. So Simpson was in the pig-sty,
searching.
"If you're looking for the old sow," I said, "there she is, just
behind you."
"What's the local rule about loose pigs blown on to the course?"
asked Archie.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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