Tuesday, November 26, 2024

Wishing the mumps on you

     "You don't mean Aunt Agatha's in London?"

    "Merely passing through, sir," replied the honest fellow, calming my apprehensions. "Her ladyship is on her way to minister to Master Thomas, who has contracted mumps at his school."

    His allusion was to the old relative's son by her first marriage, one of our vilest citizens. Many good judges rank him even higher in England's Rogue Gallery than her step-son Edwin. I was rejoiced to learn that he had got mumps, and toyed for a moment with a hope that Aunt Agatha would catch them from him.

(from Joy in the Morning, by Sir Pelham Wodehouse)

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