A Set of Six

Front Cover
Dent, 1921 - English fiction - 289 pages
 

Contents

I
5
II
73
III
105
IV
135
V
165
VI
269
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Page 282 - So I naturally," continued the Count — and from this point acted the whole thing in pantomime. Holding me with his eyes, he went through all the motions of reaching into his inside breast pocket, taking out a pocketbook, and handing it over. But that young man, still bearing steadily on the knife, refused to touch it. He directed the Count to take the money out himself, received it into his left hand, motioned the pocketbook to be returned to the pocket, all this being done to the sweet trilling...
Page 136 - Such apparently is the love that limited company bears to its fellow-men — even as the love of the father and mother penguin for their hungry fledglings. Of course the capital of a country must be productively employed. I have nothing to say against the company. But being myself animated by feelings of affection towards my fellow-men, I am saddened by the modern system of advertising.
Page 105 - 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...
Page 289 - See Naples and then die." Vedi Napoli e poi mori. It is a saying of excessive vanity, and everything excessive was abhorrent to the nice moderation of the poor Count. Yet, as I was seeing him off at the railway station, I thought he was behaving with singular fidelity to its conceited spirit. Vedi Napoli ! , . . He had seen it! He had seen it with startling thoroughness — and now he was going to his grave. He was going to it by the train de luxe of the International Sleeping Car Company, via Trieste...
Page vii - II Conde (misspelt by-the-by) is an almost verbatim transcript of the tale told me by a very charming old gentleman whom I met in Italy. I don't mean to say it is only that. Anybody can see that it is something more than a verbatim report, but where he left off and where I began must be left to the acute discrimination of the reader who may be interested in the problem. I don't mean to say that the problem is worth the trouble. What I am certain of, however, is that it is not to be solved, for I...
Page 140 - Aha!' he triumphed, tilting up his hairless pug face and straddling his thin, long legs. 'That surprises you. I am bound to do my best for my company. They have enormous expenses. Why — our agent in Horta tells me they spend fifty thousand pounds every year in advertising all over the world!
Page 279 - He did this several times before he noticed that there was somebody occupying one of the benches. The spot being midway between two lamp-posts the light was faint. The man lolled back in the corner of the seat, his legs stretched out, his arms folded and his head drooping on his breast. He never stirred, as though he had fallen asleep there, but when the Count passed by next time he had changed his attitude. He sat leaning forward. His elbows were propped on his knees, and his hands were rolling...
Page 280 - He nodded several times, staring at me with all his might. "The clarinet," he declared, solemnly, "was finishing its solo, and I assure you I could hear every note. Then the band crashed fortissimo, and that creature rolled its eyes and gnashed its teeth hissing at me with the greatest ferocity, 'Be silent! No noise or — ' " I could not get over my astonishment.
Page 88 - ... head. He glared, perplexed, his nostrils working as if he were sniffing treachery in the air. "And here comes a piece of work which will no doubt strike you as a sort of theatrical expedient. And yet what else could have been done? The problem was to find out the untrustworthy member of the group. But no suspicion could be fastened on one more than another. To set a watch upon them all was not very practicable. Besides, that proceeding often fails. In any case, it takes time, and the danger was...
Page 200 - Let me entreat you, colonel, to be satisfied with taking my word of honour that I was put into a damnable position where I had no option; I had no choice whatever, consistent with my dignity as a man and an officer . . . After all, colonel, this fact is the very bottom of this affair. Here you've got it. The rest is mere detail.

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