I beg you as a favour not to accompany me.

I couldn't bear it." And, drawing a great white handkerchief from his pocket, he wiped his eyes, blew his nose, and disappeared like a flash through the door which I held open for him.
I went down to dinner in a chastened mood.

The little man had not shown me before the pathetic side of the freak's life.

By asking him to dinner as if he were normal I had earned his eternal gratitude.

And yet, with a smile, which I trust the Recording Angel when he makes up my final balance-sheet of good and evil will not ascribe to an unfeeling heart, I could not help formulating the hope that his gratitude would not be shown by presents of China fowls sitting on eggs, Tyrolese chalets and bottles with ladders and little men inside them.