4
Three days later Mr. Alfred Jingle resumed the subject.
“I told you things were bad with Sharper. They’re worse. Much. I was there this morning. Enquired at his business place. They said their Mr. Sharper had gone out. Took a cab to Halfpenny Hole. Halfway there spotted Sharper sitting on a bank by the roadside with his bicycle beside him. Face like a tortured hyena. I got out and asked him what he was doing there.
“‘Nowhere else to go,’ he said. ‘Spring-cleaning at home. And now they’ve started spring-cleaning at the office. All my dear little children piled up on the floor in the dust.’
“Told him I didn’t know he had a family.
“‘I mean my books. Lilac morocco. At my own expense. The firm wouldn’t stick it. Decorators were sending out for more size when I left. I can’t go back there. Even if there were no spring-cleaning I couldn’t go to Jawbones. Mabel gave me a list of things to buy in Dilborough. Glass soap and soft paper. I mean soft soap and glass paper. Lots of other things. I’ve forgotten to get any of them. All I can do is to sit here until the world comes to an end.’
“Well, I shoved him into my cab, and drove back to the ‘Crown’ at Dilborough. On the way I tried to buck him up a bit, but it was no use. He was absolutely broken-down. I asked him whose turn it was to pay for lunch, and he said he thought it was mine. Memory going. Well, I stuffed a drink into him and took nine myself. I can tell you I needed them. Then I got him to go back to business. Said he must save those lilac-bound children of his. Bright idea, what? Then I told him he could buy the things for his wife afterwards. He went like a lamb, too broken to resist. I confess I am worried about him. I must try to see him again if