Mapleson, and of the wine-bill of Colonel Hewett; and he thought of
the apparently clairvoyant knowledge of the Greek. A cloud momentarily
came between his perceptive and the rosy horizon.
But nearer to the foreground of the mental picture, uprose a left-hand
page of his pass book; and its tidings of great joy, written in clerkly
hand, served to dispel the cloud.
Soames sighed in gentle rapture, and, soft-footed, passed into his own
room.
Certainly his duties were neither difficult nor unpleasant. The mistress
of the house lived apparently in a hazy dream-world of her own, and Mr.
Leroux was the ultimate expression of the non-commercial. Mr. Soames
could have robbed him every day had he desired to do so; but he had
refrained from availing himself even of those perquisites which he
considered justly his; for it was evident, to his limited intelligence,
that greater profit was to be gained by establishing himself in this
household than by weeding-out five shillings here, and half-a-sovereign
there, at the risk of untimely dismissal.
Yet--it was a struggle! All Mr. Soames' commercial instincts were up in
arms against this voice of a greater avarice which counseled abstention.
For instance: he could have added half-a-sovereign a week to his
earnings by means of a simple arrangement with the local wine merchant.
Pages:
93
94
95
96
97
98
99
100
101
102
103
104
105
106
107
108
109
110
111
112
113
114
115
116
117