Mr. Crewe's Career — Volume 1 by Winston Churchill
page 35 of 200 (17%)
page 35 of 200 (17%)
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brain for some excuse to reopen the subject. Despairing of that, he
decided that any subject would do. "That Humphrey Crewe up at Leith is smart--smart as paint," he remarked. "Do you know him?" "I've seen him," said Austen. "He's a young man, isn't he?" "And natty. He knows a thing or two for a millionaire that don't have to work, and he runs that place of his right up to the handle. You ought to hear him talk about the tariff, and national politics. I was passing there the other day, and he was walking around among the flowerbeds. 'Ain't your name Tooting?' he hollered. I almost fell out of the buggy." "What did he want?" asked Austen, curiously. Mr. Tooting winked. "Say, those millionaires are queer, and no mistake. You'd think a fellow that only had to cut coupons wouldn't be lookin' for another job, wouldn't you? He made me hitch my horse, and had me into his study, as he called it, and gave me a big glass of whiskey and soda. A fellow with buttons and a striped vest brought it on tiptoe. Then this Crewe gave me a long yellow cigar with a band on it and told me what the State needed, --macadam roads, farmers' institutes, forests, and God knows what. I told him all he had to do was to get permission from old man Flint, and he could have 'em." "What did he say to that?" "He said Flint was an intimate friend of his. Then he asked me a whole raft of questions about fellows in the neighbourhood I didn't know he'd |
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