United States or Malawi ? Vote for the TOP Country of the Week !
Mussy on us, you ought to put all wot you say in the papers you'd make your fortin!" "Maybe, maybe, Flopsie," returned Briggs with due dignity. "I will not deny that there may be wot is called 'sparkle' in my natur. And 'sparkle' is wot is rekwired in polite literatoor. Look at 'Hedmund' and ''Enery! Sparkle again, read their magnificent productions, the World and Truth, all sparkle, every line!
"I suppose she's with the same party?" grinned the fat Flopsie, as she held a large piece of bacon dipped in vinegar on her fork, preparatory to swallowing it with a gulp. Briggs nodded gravely, "The same! Not a fine man at all, you know no leg to speak of, and therefore no form. Legs good legs are beauty.
Yet I feels very much for Sir Philip, I said to Flopsie this morning 'Flopsie, I feels for 'im! Yes, I used them very words. Only, of course, he shouldn't 'ave gone with Vi. She's a fine woman certainly but skittish d d skittish! I've allus made it a rule myself to avoid 'er on principle. Lor! if I'd kep' company with 'er and the likes of 'er I shouldn't be the man I am!"
Flopper, or, as he called her, "Flopsie," the coachman, and Lady Winsleigh's own maid, Louise Renaud, a prim, sallow-faced Frenchwoman, who, by reason of her nationality, was called by all the inhabitants of the kitchen, "mamzelle," as being a name both short, appropriate, and convenient.
'Ere I've been a-keepin' your lamb-chops and truffles 'ot all this time, and if they's dried up 'taint my fault, nor that of the hoven, which is as good a hoven as you can wish to bake in. . . ." She paused breathless, and Briggs smiled blandly. "Now, Flopsie!" he said in a tone of gentle severity. "Excited again as usual! It's bad for your 'elth very bad!
Hif the chops is dried, your course is plain cook some more! Not that I am enny ways particular but chippy meat is bad for a delicate digestion. And you would not make me hill, my Flopsie, would you?" Whereupon he seated himself, and looked condescendingly round the table.
It is the secret of success, Flopsie be a sparkler and you've got everything before you." Louise Renaud looked across at him half-defiantly. Her prim, cruel mouth hardened into a tight line. "To spark-el?" she said "that is what we call etinceler eclater. Yes, I comprehend! Miladi is one spark-el! But one must be a very good jewel to spark-el always yes yes not a sham!"
Now, Winsleigh's not bad in that particular, and I dare say Clara can hold her own, but I wouldn't bet on little Francis." Flopsie shrieked with laughter till she had a "stitch in her side," and was compelled to restrain her mirth. "Lor', Mr. Briggs!" she gasped, wiping the moisture from her eyes, "you are a regular one, aren't you!
"I've developed," he murmured to himself. "There ain't a doubt about it! One week of Country air, and I'm a different man; the effecks of overwork 'ave disappeared. Flopsie won't know these legs of mine when I get back, they've improved surprisingly." He stopped to survey a bed of carrots. "Plenty of Cressy there," he mused.
"Cressy's a noble soup, and Flopsie makes it well, a man might do wuss than marry Flopsie. She's a widder, and a leetle old just a leetle old for me but " Here he sniffed delicately at a sprig of thyme he had gathered, and smiled consciously.
Word Of The Day