England -- Social life and customs -- 20th century -- Fiction; Social classes -- England -- Fiction
"And what has this to do with Clarehaven?" asked Dorothy.
"Wait a bit. Wait a bit. I'm changing gears at this moment, and if you
interrupt I shall jam. You see, my notion was that Tony should buzz down
to Brighton with us and ... well ... there's a nasty corner here.... I
told you, didn't I, that the only way with hard-hearted little girls is
to make them jealous? And the proof of the pudding, as they say, is in
the eating, what? Anyway, no sooner did Queenie hear I'd eloped with an
amorous blonde than we made it up. Look here, the road's clear now, so
let's be serious. Tony's madly in love with you. It's no use telling me
you're a good little girl, because look round you. Where's the evidence?
I mean to say, your salary's six pounds a week. So, I repeat, where's
the evidence? You may dream that you dwell in marble halls on six pounds
a week, but you can't really do it."
"If Lord Clarehaven has sent you here to insult me," said Dorothy, "he
might at least have had the courage to come and do it himself."
"You're taking this very unkindly. On my word of honor I assure you,
Doodles, that Tony's trip to Brighton ended in talk. I know this,
because I heard them. In fact, I summoned the night porter and asked him
to stop the beehive next door."
"This conversation is not merely insulting," said Dorothy, "it's very
coarse."
"I see you're prejudiced, Doodles. Now Queenie was also prejudiced; in
fact, at one point she was so prejudiced that she jabbed me with a comb.
But I calmed her down and she gradually began to appreciate the fact
that not only is there a silver lining to every cloud, but that there is
also a cloud to most silver linings. Bored with mere luxury, she
realized that a good man's love--soft music, please--should not be
lightly thrown away; and now, to be absolutely serious for one moment,
what about commissioning me to buzz down to Devonshire and tell Tony
that there's no need for him to go chasing the okapi through equatorial
Africa?"
"All this levity may be very amusing to you, Mr. Lonsdale, but to me it
is only painful."
"Well, of course, if you're going to take my friendly little run round
the situation like that, there's nothing more to be said."
"Nothing whatever," Dorothy agreed.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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