Edited by Charles Aldarondo Aldarondo@yahoo.com




George Gissing

The Whirlpool



Part the First



CHAPTER 1


Harvey Rolfe was old enough to dine with deliberation, young and healthy
enough to sauce with appetite the dishes he thoughtfully selected. You
perceived in him the imperfect epicure. His club had no culinary fame;
the dinner was merely tolerable; but Rolfe's unfinished palate flattered
the second-rate cook. He knew nothing of vintages; it sufficed him to
distinguish between Bordeaux and Burgundy; yet one saw him raise his
glass and peer at the liquor with eye of connoisseur. All unaffectedly;
for he was conscious of his shortcoming in the art of delicate living,
and never vaunted his satisfactions. He had known the pasture of
poverty, and the table as it is set by London landladies; to look back
on these things was to congratulate himself that nowadays he dined.