Excerpt: "It was once said of Mr. Robert Grimshaw: “That chap is
like a seal”—and the simile was a singularly just one. He was like
a seal who is thrusting his head and shoulders out of the water, and,
with large, dark eyes and sensitive nostrils, is on the watch. All
that could be known of him seemed to be known; all that could be known
of the rest of the world he moved in he seemed to know. He carried
about with him usually, in a crook of his arm, a polished, light brown
dachshund that had very large feet, and eyes as large, as brown, and
as luminous, as those of his master. Upon the occasion of Pauline
Lucas’s marriage to Dudley Leicester the dog was not upon his arm,
but he carried it into the drawing-rooms of the many ladies who
welcomed him to afternoon tea. Apparently it had no attractions save
its clear and beautiful colour, its excellent if very grotesque shape,
and its complete docility. He called upon a lady at tea-time, and,
with the same motion that let him down into his chair, he would set
the dog upon the floor between his legs. There it would remain, as
motionless and as erect as a fire-dog, until it was offered a piece of
buttered tea-cake, which it would accept, or until its master gave it
a minute and hardly audible permission to rove about. Then it would
rove. The grotesque, large-little feet paddled set wide upon the
carpet, the long ears flapped to the ground. But, above all, the
pointed and sensitive nose would investigate with a minute attention,
but with an infinite gentleness, every object within its reach in the
room, from the line of the skirting-board to the legs of the piano and
the flounced skirts of the ladies sitting near the tea-tables. Robert
Grimshaw would observe these investigations with an indulgent
approval; and, indeed, someone else once said—and perhaps with more
justness—that Mr. Grimshaw resembled most nearly his own dog Peter."
Les mer
Produktdetaljer
ISBN
9783989730908
Publisert
2024
Utgiver
Independent Publishers Group (Chicago Review Press)
Språk
Product language
Engelsk
Format
Product format
Digital bok
Forfatter