So the butler went away, leaving him there, and eventually there appeared in the doorway, a middle-aged gentleman of an irritable aspect, in dressing-gown and slippers who plainly had just been aroused from slumber.
“Well, sir, well, sir,” he snapped, “what is it you wish to say to me?”
“Are you the gen’l’m who inserted (hic) advertishment in Times stating you wished engage servishes of a young man ’company you to Africa?”
“I am. What of it?”
“Well, (hic) I jus’ happened to be passing and I dropped in to tell you that, pershonally, I can’t shee my way clear to going.”
§ 250 Everything Coming Out Just Right
This is one of those post-war stories. However, it is said to have the advantage on its side of being true. It seems there was an English nobleman whose estate shrunk frightfully between 1914 and 1918. He decided, in order to replenish the family fortune, to go into business. But neither nature nor experience had qualified him for a commercial career and he made a frightful hash of the venture.
Eventually, a receiver took over his affairs. The receiver engaged an expert accountant who went over the books and struck a trial balance.
His Lordship scanned the document and exclaimed:
“What a remarkable coincidence! What an extraordinary coincidence! Why, the totals on both sides are identical!”