“‘Isn’t X well worth knowing?’ he bubbled over in great delight. ‘He’s unique, amazing, absolutely terrific.’
“His enthusiasm grated upon my finer feelings. I told him curtly that the man’s cynicism was simply abominable.
“‘Oh, abominable! abominable!’ assented my friend, effusively. ‘And then, you know, he likes to have his little joke sometimes,’ he added in a confidential tone.
“I fail to understand the connection of this last remark. I have been utterly unable to discover where in all this the joke comes in.”
THE BRUTE
AN INDIGNANT TALE
Dodging in from the rain-swept street, I exchanged a smile and a glance with Miss Blank in the bar of the Three Crows. This exchange was effected with extreme propriety. It is a shock to think that, if still alive, Miss Blank must be something over sixty now. How time passes!
Noticing my gaze directed inquiringly at the partition of glass and varnished wood, Miss Blank was good enough to say, encouragingly:
“Only Mr. Jermyn and Mr. Stonor in the parlour with another gentleman I’ve never seen before.”