Harraden Beatrice. A Bird of Passage and Other Stories
A BIRD OF PASSAGE
AT THE GREEN DRAGON
CHAPTER I. HIERONYMUS COMES
CHAPTER II. HIERONYMUS STAYS
CHAPTER III. THE PRIMARY GLORY
CHAPTER IV. THE MAKING OF THE PASTRY
CHAPTER V. PASTRY AND PERSONAL MONARCHY
CHAPTER VI. THE EXCISEMAN'S LIBRARY
CHAPTER VII. AUNTIE LLOYD PROTESTS
CHAPTER VIII. THE DISTANCE GROWS
CHAPTER IX. DAVID LAMENTS
CHAPTER X. HIERONYMUS SPEAKS
CHAPTER XI. HIERONYMUS GOES
AN IDYLL OF LONDON
Отрывок из книги
It was a pouring September evening when a stranger knocked at the door of the Crown Inn. Old Mrs. Howells saw that he carried a portmanteau in his hand.
"If it's a bedroom you want," she said, "I can't be bothered with you. What with brewing the beer and cleaning the brass, I've more than I can manage. I'm that tired!"
.....
"Come along, little comrade!" he said, as he captured her. She looked up into his face so frankly that the stranger was much impressed. "Why, I do believe you are a dog undergoing a cat incarnation," he continued. "What qualities did you lack when you were a dog, I wonder? Perhaps you did not steal sufficiently well; perhaps you had net cultivated restfulness. And your name? Your name shall be Gamboge. I think that is a suitable appellation for you-certainly more suitable than most of the names thrust upon unoffending humanity. My own name, for instance, Hieronymus! Ah, you may well mew! You are a thoroughly sensible creature."
So he amused himself until Mrs. Benbow came with his supper. Then he pointed to the cat and said quietly:
