The Puritan Mission has civilised
him and hundreds on hundreds more, and I wish the parsons had done just
half as much.
For my own part, I think that when I am clear of The Chequers I shall go
clean away into the North Sea. If on some mad night the last sea heaves
us down, and the Loafer is found on some wind-swept beach, that will be
as good an end as a burnt-out, careless being can ask. Perhaps Jim
Billings, the rough, and I, the broken gentleman, may go triumphantly
together. Who knows? I should like to take the last flight with the
fighting nigger.
OUR PARLOUR COMPANY.
We have one room where high prices are charged. This place is kept very
select indeed, and the vulgar are excluded. I was not received very well
at first, and some of the assembly talked at me in a way which was
intended to be highly droll; but I never lost temper, and I fairly
established my position by dint of good humour. Moreover, I found out
who was the most unpopular man in the room, and earned much goodwill by
slyly administering the kind of strokes which a fairly educated man can
always play off on a dullard.
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