Noll nodded:
“And—er—what part are you to play, Devlin?”
“I begin as baggage man,” he said loftily—“risin’ to great parts according to me genius.”
“And Victoria May Alice?”
“Next to being married to me,” he said with dignity—“begad it’s wardrobe mistress she starts at—straight away—wid a chance of walkin’ on the boards as a silent duchess if the leadin’ lady’s understudy gits the nervous prostration.... By the glory of God, as the heavy man says, it’s a great life—wid great chances—excitin’ as a dog-fight, wid the great passions jostlin’ each other in the seat of yer emotions, like a blurry tom-cat knockin’ the ornamental feathers out of a barndoor fowl.”
CHAPTER XLIII
Wherein we catch a Glimpse of the Benefits that accrue to a Sound Commercial Education
Sir Pompey Malahide’s old rival was in all the agony of writing a letter, and neither Isaac Tankerton Wollup’s fat little hands with the grasping pointed finger-tips, nor his bulky body, nor his spelling, aided too well in the recording of his talents on paper. The company promoter held a cigar between the forefinger and second of the hand that held down the sheet of paper to the desk, and he blew and drew the breath of his body whistling through a thick nose as he snored over his labour: