[Arcadian Adventures with the Idle Rich by Stephen Leacock]@TWC D-Link bookArcadian Adventures with the Idle Rich CHAPTER ONE: A Little Dinner with Mr 26/37
He liked it. Mr.Fyshe and Mr.Furlong were standing in a deep alcove or bay where there was a fire and india-rubber trees and pictures with shaded lights and a whiskey-and-soda table.
There the Duke joined them.
Mr.Fyshe he had met already that afternoon at the Palaver, and he called him "Fyshe" as if he had known him forever; and indeed, after a few minutes he called the rector of St.Asaph's simply "Furlong," for he had been familiar with the Anglican clergy in so many parts of the world that he knew that to attribute any peculiar godliness to them, socially, was the worst possible taste. "By Jove," said the Duke, turning to tap the leaf of a rubber tree with his finger, "that fellow's a Nigerian, isn't he ?" "I hardly know," said Mr.Fyshe, "I imagine so"; and he added, "You've been in Nigeria, Duke ?" "Oh, some years ago," said the Duke, "after big game, you know--fine place for it." "Did you get any ?" asked Mr.Fyshe. "Not much," said the Duke; "a hippo or two." "Ah," said Mr.Fyshe. "And, of course, now and then a giro," the Duke went on, and added, "My sister was luckier, though; she potted a rhino one day, straight out of a doolie; I call that rather good." Mr.Fyshe called it that too. "Ah, now here's a good thing," the Duke went on, looking at a picture. He carried in his waistcoat pocket an eyeglass that he used for pictures and for Tamworth hogs, and he put it to his eye with one hand, keeping the other in the left pocket of his jacket; "and this--this is a very good thing." "I believe so," said Mr.Fyshe. "You really have some awfully good things here," continued the Duke.
He had seen far too many pictures in too many places ever to speak of "values" or "compositions" or anything of that sort.
The Duke merely looked at a picture and said, "Now here's a good thing," or "Ah! here now is a very good thing," or, "I say, here's a really good thing." No one could get past this sort of criticism.
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