Friday, March 19, 2021

Cheap duke

    "Well, I am hoping he will charm her. I'm a great believer in propinquity."

    The Duke was not at his best with long words, but he thought he saw what she was driving at. "You mean if he digs in here, he may cut this bloater-eating blighter out? Girl's father's a millionaire, isn't he?"

    "Several times over, I believe."

    "Then tell Archie to get after the wench with all speed," said the Duke enthusiastically. His nephew was employed by the Mammoth Publishing Company, that vast concern which supplies the more fatheaded of England's millions with their daily, weekly and monthly reading matter, but in so minor a capacity that he, the Duke, was still obliged to supplement his salary with an llowance. And if there was one thing that parsimonious man disliked, it was supplementing people's salaries with allowances. The prospect of getting the boy off his payroll was a glittering one, and his eyes bulged brightly as he envisaged it.

(from Service With a Smile, by Sir Pelham Wodehouse)

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