The Gold Bat by P. G. (Pelham Grenville) Wodehouse
page 41 of 191 (21%)
page 41 of 191 (21%)
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it so thoroughly. Made a fair old hash of things, didn't he, Bertie?"
"Bertie" was the form in which the school elected to serve up the name of De Bertini. Raoul de Bertini was a French boy who had come to Wrykyn in the previous term. Drummond's father had met his father in Paris, and Drummond was supposed to be looking after Bertie. They shared a study together. Bertie could not speak much English, and what he did speak was, like Mill's furniture, badly broken. "Pardon?" he said. "Doesn't matter," said Drummond, "it wasn't anything important. I was only appealing to you for corroborative detail to give artistic verisimilitude to a bald and unconvincing narrative." Bertie grinned politely. He always grinned when he was not quite equal to the intellectual pressure of the conversation. As a consequence of which, he was generally, like Mrs Fezziwig, one vast, substantial smile. "I never liked Mill much," said Barry, "but I think it's rather bad luck on the man." "Once," announced M'Todd, solemnly, "he kicked me--for making a row in the passage." It was plain that the recollection rankled. Barry would probably have pointed out what an excellent and praiseworthy act on Mill's part that had been, when Rand-Brown came in. "Prefects' meeting?" he inquired. "Or haven't they made you a prefect |
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