Toilers of Babylon: A NovelFarjeon, B. L. (Benjamin Leopold)
General
Toilers of Babylon: A Novel
Farjeon, B. L. (Benjamin Leopold)
Inheritance and succession -- Fiction
"I have been obliged to stop; baby woke up, and we had a happy hour
together. Now she is asleep again. She is so good, not at all fretful,
as some babies are, and when she cries (which is really not often) it
is a good healthy cry, which makes uncle say that her lungs are in
fine condition....
"I have been reading over what I have written, and I stopped at the
part where I speak of baby presently being able to walk and talk. Long
before that, my dear Kingsley, I hope that you will be with us, and
that we may be all living together. Do not think I am desirous of
urging you to any other course than that which you consider right, but
the happiness of our being together again would be so great! Is there
any chance of Mr. Seymour coming to England and settling down here,
and keeping you as his secretary at a fair salary? Then we could have
a little home of our own, and you could go to Mr. Seymour in the
morning and come home in the evening, and we should have one day in
the week to ourselves. It is not a very great deal to ask for, but if
some kind fairy would only grant it I should be supremely happy.
Surely, surely, the future must have something good in store for us!
"I have told you in my letters all about Timothy Chance, and how good
and helpful he has been. Well, my dear Kingsley, until baby came I
looked upon Timothy as my knight, my own special cavalier whom I could
depend upon for service at any hour I chose to call upon him; but I
think now that he has divided his allegiance, at least half of it
going to baby. Timothy is an extraordinary lad, and uncle has a great
opinion of him. Putting his duties in uncle's business out of the
question, and putting baby and me out of the question, Timothy seems
to have only one idea--eggs and fowls. He is now the proud owner of
four fine hens, and his spare minutes (not too many) are devoted to
them. He reads up every book he can lay hands upon that treats of
fowls, and is really very clever in his proceedings. He made me laugh
by saying: 'If fowls won't lay they must be made to lay;' and he
studies up food to coax them. It is very amusing; but Timothy is so
earnest that you cannot help respecting him, and respecting him more
because he is successful. He shows me his figures, and is really
making a profit every month. He is now drawing out plans for
constructing a movable fowl-house, in compartments, each compartment
accommodating eight fowls, and capable of being taken down and put up
again in a wonderfully short time. Uncle says the plans are as nearly
perfect as possible, and that he should not wonder if Timothy made a
fortune one of these fine days. Timothy has insisted upon my accepting
two new-laid eggs a week. Uncle and he had some words about them at
first, uncle wanting to pay for them and Timothy refusing to accept
any money; but the good lad was so hurt and took it so much to heart
that I persuaded uncle to let him have his way.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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