_The C.O.G._ Well, I told him he was a rich man compared to me. He
said, "I only get thirty shillings a week, Sir." "Ah," I said, "but
look at your expenses, compared to mine. What would _you_ do if you
had to spend eight hundred a year on your children's education? I
spend that--every penny of it, Sir.
_His Opp. N. (utterly uninterested)._ Do you indeed?--dear me!
_C.O.G._ Not that I grudge it--a good education is a fortune in
itself, and as I've always told my boys, they must make the best of
it, for it's all they'll get. They're good enough lads, but I've had
a deal of trouble with them one way and another--a _deal_ of trouble.
_(Pauses for some expression of sympathy--which does not come--and he
continues:)_ There are my two eldest sons--what must they do but fall
in love with the same lady--the same lady. Sir! _(No one seems to care
much for these domestic revelations--possibly because they are too
obviously addressed to the general ear.)_ And, to make matters worse,
she was a married woman--_(his principal hearer looks another way
uneasily)_--the wife of a godson of mine, which made it all the more
awkward, y'know. (His Opposite Neighbour _giving no sign, the_ C. O.
G. _tries one Passenger after another.)_ Well, I went to him--(here he
fixes an old Lady, who immediately passes up coppers out of her glove
to the_ Conductor)--went to him, and said--_(addressing a smartly
dressed young Lady with a parcel, who giggles)_--I said, "You're a man
of the world--so am I.
Pages:
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
31