Dowling Richard. Miracle Gold: A Novel (Vol. 2 of 3)
CHAPTER XIV. SPIRIT AND FLESH
CHAPTER XV. A SUBSTITUTE FOR GOLD
CHAPTER XVI. RED HERRINGS
CHAPTER XVII. DINNER AT CURZON STREET
CHAPTER XVIII. IN THE DARK
CHAPTER XIX. MRS. HANBURY
CHAPTER XX. JOHN HANBURY ALONE
CHAPTER XXI. TIMMONS'S TEA AND LEIGH'S DINNER
CHAPTER XXII. A QUARTER PAST TWELVE
CHAPTER XXIII. AN EARLY VISITOR TO TIMMONS
CHAPTER XXIV. GRACEDIEU, DERBYSHIRE
CHAPTER XXV. TWO OF A RACE
CHAPTER XXVI. THE END OF DAY
Отрывок из книги
The air of pleasant badinage which pervaded the room had no more effect on Oscar Leigh than on the gasalier. No one spoke to him, for no one knew him. Except what passed between Leigh and Hanbury all words were intended for any ears who might hear. Intensities of individuality were laid aside at the threshold. Those whose individuality pursued and tyrannized over them like a Frankenstein remained away. They did not put it to themselves in this way. They told themselves they found the place too mixed or too light or too frivolous or too distracting.
Oscar Leigh was in no degree influenced by the humour or manner of the people present. These chattering men and women were indifferent to him, so long as he did not see how to put them to any use or find them in his way. He was not accustomed to the society of ladies and gentlemen, and consequently he omitted little customary observances. But he was not inured to any society at all, and this saved him from vulgarities; and then he was much used to commune with himself, which gave him directness and simplicity of manner.
.....
"One must not expect too much of a river. A river is no more than human, after all. But what has soap been doing?"
"Nothing; and in the fact that it has been doing nothing lies one of my chief counts against it. Of old you judged a man by the club to which he belonged, the number of his quarterings, the tailor who made his clothes, the income he had, the wife he married, the horses he backed, or the wine he drank. Now we classify men according to the soap they use. There are more soaps now than patent medicines."
