Adventure stories; Imaginary places -- Fiction; Kings and rulers -- Fiction; London (England) -- Fiction; Love stories
He lighted a cigarette. "Tell me, Aunt Fanny," he pleaded. "There
is no pleasure in blackening the family name unless one hears what
the family says about it."
"The family," remarked Lady Jocelyn, "has a good deal to say about
it. They consider that not only are you wasting your own life in the
most deplorable manner, but that your methods of amusing yourself are
calculated to bring a certain amount of discredit upon your more
distinguished relatives. Henry attributes it chiefly to the
demoralizing effect of wealth; Laura thinks that you were born with
naturally low tastes."
"They're both right," observed Tony placidly. "I am what Guy calls
'a menace to my order.' That's a jolly way for one's secretary to
talk to one, isn't it?"
"It's the only way dear Guy can talk, and after all I daresay he is
telling the truth."
"I am sure he is," said Tony. "Guy is quite incapable of telling
anything else." He paused. "Was Henry referring to any recent
atrocity?"
"I think your choice of friends is what distresses him chiefly. He
said that your more intimate acquaintances appear to consist of
prize-fighters and chauffeurs."
Tony laughed good-humouredly. "I do a bit of motor racing, you know.
I suppose that's what he meant by chauffeurs. As for
prize-fighters--well, somebody must have been telling him about Bugg."
"About what?" inquired Lady Jocelyn mildly.
"Bugg," repeated Tony. "'Tiger' Bugg. He's a youthful protégé of
mine--a boxer. In about three years, when he's grown a bit, he'll be
champion of England."
Lady Jocelyn's good-humoured face wrinkled up into a whimsical smile.
"Dear Tony," she said. "Your conversation is always so stimulating.
Tell me some more about Mr. Tiger Bugg. What a name! It sounds like
some kind of American butterfly."
"Oh, he spells it with two g's," said Tony. "It's a very good name
in the East End of London. There have been Buggs in Whitechapel for
generations."
"So I have always understood," replied Lady Jocelyn. "How did you
come across this particular branch of the family?"
"It was at a boxing club off the Stepney High Street. It's a
blackguard sort of place run by a Jew named Isaacs. He gets in the
East End street boys, and they fight each other for nothing in the
hope that some boxing promoter will see them and give them a chance.
Well, one night when I was there they put up this boy Bugg against a
fellow who was big enough to eat him--a chap who knew something about
the game, too. Bugg was hammered nearly silly in the first round,
but he came up for the second and popped in a left hook bang on the
point that put the big chap to sleep for almost ten minutes. It was
one of the prettiest things I've ever seen."
"It sounds delightful," said Lady Jocelyn. "Go on, Tony."
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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