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Words: 83923 in 43 pages
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FACING PAGE
"HE BEGAN TO TROT UP THE FIELD LIKE A PUP WITH A SLIPPER" 28
"THE HEAD ADVANCED UPON THEM IN GROWING ANGER" 98
"'THE MATCH IS SCRATCHED, SIR,' SAID HE" 148
"'I THINK YOU'VE SEEN THAT BEFORE?'" 208
A wiry, grave-faced youngster sat in the corner of the railway carriage watching a stupid parent saying good-bye to a stupid boy.
He was glad that nobody had come to see him off, for he had now the satisfaction of knowing that his own father was a father more worth having than any other he had seen yet. Also he could look upon the pitiable scene now being enacted before him from the standpoint of one who at least could be trusted to get into the right carriage without leaping out by the other door to see if it were really labelled "Harley" on both sides. This fat boy had done that, and afterwards he had sat down very heavily on a packet of sandwiches and was unaware of it. The boy in the corner wondered if they would be sticking to him when he stood up. As for the parent of the fat boy, he stood outside looking nervously towards the engine, and his raincoat, which was unbuttoned, blew this way and that in the breeze; once it had somewhat foolishly knocked some buns off a push-cart. He wore a hat poised far forward over his nose, and he had flat feet.
Whilst the boy in the corner sat watching with thoughtful eyes, the man broke suddenly into a rapid clog dance and beckoned to his son. Above the rat-a-tat of his feet upon the platform could be heard his voice plaintively upraised:
Arthur took just one glad leap into the open, landing upon his father's foot. Then, clapping his ear against his father's lips, he listened with a coy interest to his urgent whispers, until he was suddenly gripped by the elbow and spun upon his heel.
"Get in at once, my boy, get in at once!" his parent was commanding. "At once, I say. The train is about to go. Get in quickly ... quickly."
Arthur fell in head-first, and arrived limply half on the seat and half on the floor. Then he slowly clawed his way on to the cushions and subsided. But now once again there sounded that terrible parent's staccato voice. The unhappy boy was hooked by the arm with an umbrella.
"It is not going yet after all," he was told. "Come out again. Come out for a moment. I have something to say to you."
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