She's all sealskin and
lactic acid. It's simply sickening to see how they crowd
to that man. And such a man! You haven't seen him. All
the better for you. I don't know what the devil you are
laughing at, Munro. I can't see where the fun comes in
myself."
Well, it was a short experience that visit to
Avonmouth, but I think that I shall remember it all my
life. Goodness knows, you must be sick enough of the
subject, but when I started with so much detail I was
tempted to go. It ended by my going back again in the
afternoon, Cullingworth assuring me that he would call
his creditors together as I had advised, and that he
would let me know the result in a few days. Mrs. C.
would hardly shake hands with me when I said goodbye; but
I like her the better for that. He must have a great
deal of good in him, or he could not have won her love
and confidence so completely. Perhaps there is another
Cullingworth behind the scenes--a softer, tenderer man,
who can love and invite love. If there is, I have
never got near him. And yet I may only have been tapping
at the shell. Who knows? For that matter, it is likely
enough that he has never got at the real Johnnie Munro.
But you have, Bertie; and I think that you've had a
little too much of him this time, only you encourage me
to this sort of excess by your sympathetic replies.
Well, I've done as much as the General Post Office will
carry for fivepence, so I'll conclude by merely remarking
that a fortnight has passed, and that I have had no news
from Avonmouth, which does not in the very slightest
degree surprise me.
Pages:
27
28
29
30
31
32
33
34
35
36
37
38
39
40
41
42
43
44
45
46
47
48
49
50
51