The Youth of Parnassus, and Other StoriesSmith, Logan Pearsall
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The Youth of Parnassus, and Other Stories
Smith, Logan Pearsall
Short stories; University of Oxford -- Fiction
Buller and Antrobus would be in London, he told himself, and Philpotts,
most likely, and they would belong to the same club, where they would go
on Sunday mornings to smoke and read the sporting papers. He would work
tremendously hard, of course, spending laborious nights over his books,
but he would also go out a great deal into society. He would not be
dissipated--he didn't care much for that--but still he would not be
Puritanical either. He meant to be moral and steady, and at the same
time he would enjoy the pleasures of a man of the world. But he would be
always kind and popular; people in fashionable society would say that
William Waters was such a good fellow, and in the Park ladies would
smile at him from their carriages, and smart young men would walk with
him arm in arm. And he would live well; but still he would save money,
and would soon pay off his Oxford bills, and send money to his father.
For he would always be very kind to his people, having his sisters to
visit him, helping them to marry well (he himself meant to marry someone
for love who was very rich), and sometimes he would give up parties at
country houses in order to pay them visits at home. How his fur coat and
knowledge of the great world would impress all the neighbours!
"But I must get up," Waters said to himself, remembering how he was to
go and see his tutor and talk over plans. And after luncheon Buller was
going to drive them out, three of them, with his tandem to Woodstock.
And thinking vaguely of this drive, and of some new clothes that he
meant to wear, Waters was just falling off to sleep again, when his
bull-dog came rushing up the stairs, and began to whine and scratch at
the door. Rousing himself, Waters jumped up, and went with a call of
affection to the door to let Lo-Ben in.
After he had bathed and dressed himself in his new fresh-smelling
clothes, the young man sauntered into the sitting-room of his lodgings,
and rang the bell for breakfast. The day was bright; Waters felt
wonderfully fresh and well; there were pleasant aches in his arms and
legs as he moved, for the whole of the day before he had been rowing on
the river.
After breakfast he was just sitting down to smoke his pipe comfortably,
when, looking at his watch, he snatched up his cap and rusty gown, and
started out towards College. By Jove! what a day it was! He walked along
through the sunshine, smiling to himself, while Lo-Ben barked and
bounced from side to side. It was a good world, Waters thought a good
world, and now he was really going to enjoy it.
As Waters was tying up Lo-Ben in the College porch, he was seized on
suddenly from behind.
"Come along, fat William," they cried, pulling and pushing him along,
"we're going to have a little game--you must take a hand."
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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