The Loot of Cities / Being the Adventures of a Millionaire in Search of Joy (a Fantasia); and Other Stories

BEING THE ADVENTURES OF A MILLIONAIRE IN SEARCH OF JOY (A FANTASIA); AND OTHER STORIES
BY ARNOLD BENNETT AUTHOR OF “THE OLD WIVES’ TALE”
THOMAS NELSON AND SONS, Ltd. LONDON, EDINBURGH, AND NEW YORK
Pensa, lettor, se quel che qui s’inizia
non procedesse, come tu avresti
di più sapere angosciosa carizia.
Dante.

“YOU’RE wanted on the telephone, sir.”
Mr. Bruce Bowring, managing director of the Consolidated Mining and Investment Corporation, Limited (capital two millions, in one-pound shares, which stood at twenty-seven-and-six), turned and gazed querulously across the electric-lit spaces of his superb private office at the confidential clerk who addressed him. Mr. Bowring, in shirt-sleeves before a Florentine mirror, was brushing his hair with the solicitude of a mother who has failed to rear most of a large family.
“Who is it?” he asked, as if that demand for him were the last straw but one. “Nearly seven on Friday evening!” he added, martyrised.
“I think a friend, sir.”