Страница 73 из 112
«Ugh! »said he. «So that's how it happens, is it? I think I'll keep outside till I get the hang of things a bit. I don't want to be made an Aunt Sally of. Though I shouldn't think they could get you with your clothes on.» Struck by a sudden thought, he looked from his uncle to Cousin Jane, and from Cousin Jane back to his uncle again. He sca
«Why!» he said. «Well! — Haw! Haw! Haw!» And with an odious backward leer, he made his way out of the orchid-house.
Mr. Ma
In came the nephew and, pausing only to utter the most perfunctory of jeers at his relatives in the glass house, he sat at the desk and unlocked the top drawer. He was evidently in search of money, his eagerness betrayed that; no doubt he had run through all he had filched from his uncle's pockets, and had not yet worked out a scheme for getting direct control of his bank account. However, the drawer held enough to cause the scoundrel to rub his hands with satisfaction and, summoning the housekeeper, to bellow into her ear a reckless order upon the wine and spirits merchant.
«Get along with you!» he shouted, when he had at last made her understand. «I shall have to get someone a bit more on the spot to wait on me; I can tell you that. Yes,» he added to himself as the poor old woman hobbled away, deeply hurt by his bullying ma
He hunted in the telephone book for the number of the local registry office. That afternoon he interviewed a succession of maidservants in his uncle's study. Those that happened to be plain, or too obviously respectable, he treated curtly and coldly; they soon made way for others. It was only when a girl was attractive (according to the young man's depraved tastes, that is) and also bore herself in a fast or brazen ma
After this conduct had sent two or three in confusion from the room, there entered a young person of the most regrettable description; one whose character, betrayed as it was in her meretricious finery, her crude cosmetics, and her tinted hair, showed yet more clearly in florid gesture and too facile smile. The nephew lost no time in coming to an arrangement with this creature. Indeed, her true nature was so obvious that the depraved young man only went through the farce of an ordinary interview as a sauce to his anticipations, enjoying the contrast between conventional dialogue and unbridled glances. She was to come next day. Mr. Ma
But that evening, when the nephew came to take his ease in the study, it was obvious that he was far more under the influence of liquor than he had been before. His face, flushed patchily by the action of the spirits, wore a sullen sneer; an ominous light burned in that bleared eye; he muttered savagely under his breath. Clearly this fiend in human shape was what is known as «fighting drunk»; clearly some trifle had set his vile temper in a blaze.
It is interesting to note, even at this stage, a sudden change in Mr. Ma
Inside the study the nephew still fumed and swore. On the mantelpiece stood an envelope, addressed in Mr. Ma
«What,» he muttered, «'a mere race-course cad … a worthless vulgarian … a scoundrel of the sneaking sort' … and what's this? ' … cut him off absolutely …' What?» said he, with a horrifying oath. «Would you cut me off absolutely? Two can play at that game, you old devil!»
And he snatched up a large pair of scissors that lay on the desk, and burst into the hothouse —
Among fish, the dory, they say, screams when it is seized upon by man; among insects, the caterpillar of the death's-head moth is capable of a still, small shriek of terror; in the vegetable world, only the mandrake could voice its agony — till now.