 |
unearths some literary gems.
From Mrs. Dot, by W. Somerset Maugham:
[This farce from 1908 seems like a bit of a missing link between The Importance of Being Earnest and Right Ho, Jeeves.]***Mrs. Dot.Now we’ll have luncheon. You must be starving with hunger.Blenkinsop.You must let me wash first.Mrs. Dot.No, we’re all far too hungry. Freddie will go and wash his hands for you.***Mrs. Dot.I wonder why you never married, James.Blenkinsop.Because I have a considerable gift for repartee. I discovered in my early youth that men propose not because they want to marry, but because on certain occasions they are entirely at a loss for topics of conversation.[...]Blenkinsop.I never played for brilliancy. I played for safety...Once a dowager sought to ask me my intentions, but I flung at her astonished head an entire article from the “Encyclopædia Britannica.”***
|
