The Works of Robert Louis Stevenson - Swanston Edition, Vol. 20Stevenson, Robert Louis
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The Works of Robert Louis Stevenson - Swanston Edition, Vol. 20
Stevenson, Robert Louis
French -- England -- Fiction; Prisoners of war -- Fiction
"My Viscount?" said he. "Well, sir, I _did_ say it; and now that I've
seen you, I say it again!"
I could not refrain from smiling at this outburst, and the rascal caught
me in the mirror and smiled to me again.
"I'd say it again, Mr. Hanne," he said. "I know which side my bread's
buttered. I know when a gen'leman's a gen'leman. Mr. Powl can go to
Putney with his one! Beg your pardon, Mr. Anne, for being so familiar,"
said he, blushing suddenly scarlet. "I was especially warned against it
by Mr. Powl."
"Discipline before all," said I. "Follow your front-rank man."
With that we began to turn our attention to the clothes. I was amazed to
find them fit so well: not _a la diable_, in the haphazard manner of a
soldier's uniform or a ready-made suit; but with nicety, as a trained
artist might rejoice to make them for a favourite subject.
"'Tis extraordinary," cried I: "these things fit me perfectly."
"Indeed, Mr. Anne, you two be very much of a shape," said Rowley.
"Who? What two?" said I.
"The Viscount," he said.
"Damnation! Have I the man's clothes on me, too?" cried I.
But Rowley hastened to reassure me. On the first word of my coming the
Count had put the matter of my wardrobe in the hands of his own and my
cousin's tailors; and on the rumour of our resemblance, my clothes had
been made to Alain's measure.
"But they were all made for you express, Mr. Anne. You may be certain
the Count would never do nothing by 'alf: fires kep' burning; the finest
of clothes ordered, I'm sure, and a body-servant being trained
a-purpose."
"Well," said I, "it's a good fire, and a good set-out of clothes; and
what a valet, Mr. Rowley! And there's one thing to be said for my
cousin--I mean for Mr. Powl's Viscount--he has a very fair figure."
"O, don't you be took in, Mr. Anne," quoth the faithless Rowley: "he has
to be hyked into a pair of stays to get them things on!"
"Come, come, Mr. Rowley," said I, "this is telling tales out of school!
Do not you be deceived. The greatest men of antiquity, including Caesar
and Hannibal and Pope Joan, may have been very glad, at my time of life
or Alain's, to follow his example. 'Tis a misfortune common to all; and
really," said I, bowing to myself before the mirror like one who should
dance the minuet, "when the result is so successful as this, who would
do anything but applaud?"
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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