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006 - Rough-Hew Them How We Will · Selected Short Stories

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Speaker 1: Chapter six of the Man Upstairs. This is a LibriVox recording.
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Speaker 1: All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. For more
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Speaker 1: information or to volunteer, please visit LibriVox dot org. Recording
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Speaker 1: by Mike Harris, The Man Upstairs by P. G. Woodhouse,
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Speaker 1: chapter number six, Roughhew Them How we Will. Paul Boyle
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Speaker 1: was a waiter. The word waiter suggests a soft voiced,
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Speaker 1: deft handed being, moving swiftly and without noise in an
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Speaker 1: atmosphere of luxury and shaded lamps. At Breden's Parisian Cafe
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Speaker 1: and restaurant in Soho, London, where Paul worked, there were
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Speaker 1: none of these things, and Paul himself, though he certainly
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Speaker 1: moved swiftly, was by no means noiseless. His progress through
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Speaker 1: the room resembled, in almost equal proportions the finish of
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Speaker 1: a marathon race, the star act of a professional juggler,
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Speaker 1: and a monologue by an earl's court side showman. Constant
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Speaker 1: to acquaintance rendered regular habitues callous to the wonder but
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Speaker 1: to a stranger. The sight of Paul tearing over the
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Speaker 1: difficult between tables course, his hands loaded with two vast
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Speaker 1: pyramids of dishes shouting as he went the mystic A
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Speaker 1: single word coming in a moment's cellar stakes I yes,
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Speaker 1: our coming, Ah. Was impressive to a degree for doing
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Speaker 1: far less exacting feats on the stage. Musical performers were
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Speaker 1: being paid fifty pounds a week. Paul got eighteen shillings ah.
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Speaker 1: But what a blessing his poverty properly considered. If Paul
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Speaker 1: had received more than eighteen shillings a week, he would
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Speaker 1: not have lived in an attic. He would have luxuriated
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Speaker 1: in a bed sitting room on the second floor, and
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Speaker 1: would consequently have missed what was practically a genuine north light.
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Speaker 1: The skylight which went with the attic was so arranged
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Speaker 1: that the room was a studio in miniature, And as
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Speaker 1: Paul was engaged in his spare moments in painting a
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Speaker 1: great picture, nothing could have been more fortunate for Paul,
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Speaker 1: Like so many of our public men, lived two lives
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Speaker 1: of duty. The sprinting, barking juggler of Bredon's Parisian Cafe
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Speaker 1: became the quiet follower of art. Ever since his childhood
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Speaker 1: he had had a passion for drawing and painting. He
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Speaker 1: regretted that fate had allowed him so little time for
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Speaker 1: such work. But after all, he reflected, all great artists
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Speaker 1: had had their struggles, so why not he Moreover, they
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Speaker 1: were now nearly at an end, an hour here, an
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Speaker 1: hour there, and every Thursday a whole afternoon, and the
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Speaker 1: great picture was with immeasurable distance of completion. He had
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Speaker 1: won through without models, without leisure, hungry, tired, he had
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Speaker 1: nevertheless triumphed a few more touches, and the masterpiece would
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Speaker 1: be ready for purchase, and after that all would be
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Speaker 1: plain sailing. Paul could forecast the scene so exactly the
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Speaker 1: picture would be at the dealers. Possibly one must not
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Speaker 1: be too sanguine, thrust away in some odd corner. The
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Speaker 1: wealthy connoisseur would come in. At first, he would not
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Speaker 1: see the masterpiece. Other more prominently displayed works would catch
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Speaker 1: his eye. He would turn from them in weary scorn.
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Speaker 1: And then Paul wondered how big the check would be.
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Speaker 1: There were definitely reasons why he wanted the money. Looking
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Speaker 1: at him as he cantered over the linoleum at Bredon's,
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Speaker 1: he would have said that his mind was on his work,
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Speaker 1: but it was not. So he took and executed orders
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Speaker 1: as automatically as the penny in the slot. Music box
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Speaker 1: in the corner took pennies and produced tunes. His thoughts
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Speaker 1: were of Jean le Broq, his co worker at Breton,
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Speaker 1: and a little cigar shop down Brixton Way, which he
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Speaker 1: knew was in the market at a reasonable rate. To
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Speaker 1: marry the former and own the latter was Paul's idea
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Speaker 1: of the earthly paradise, and it was the wealthy connoisseur,
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Speaker 1: and he alone, who could open the gates. Jeanne was
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Speaker 1: a large, slow moving Norman girl, stolidly handsome. One could
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Speaker 1: picture her in a demopis Or farmyard. In the clatter
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Speaker 1: and bustle of Bredon's Parisian cafe, she appeared out of place,
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Speaker 1: rather like a cow in a boiler factory to Paul,
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Speaker 1: who worshiped her with all the fervor of a little
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Speaker 1: man for a large woman. Her deliberate methods seemed all
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Speaker 1: that was beautiful and dignified to his mind. She lent
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Speaker 1: a tone to the vulgar whirlpool of gorging humanity, as
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Speaker 1: if she had been some goddess mixing in a Homeric battle.
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Speaker 1: The whirlpool had other views, and expressed them one coarse
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Speaker 1: fibered brute. Indeed, once went so far as to address
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Speaker 1: to her the frightful words urry up there, totty, look snippy.
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Speaker 1: It was wrong, of course, for Paul to slip and
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Speaker 1: spill an order of scrambled eggs down the brute's coat sleeve.
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Speaker 1: But who, after all, can blame him? Among those who
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Speaker 1: did not see eye to eye with Paul in his
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Speaker 1: views on deportment and waitresses was Monsieur Breton himself, the
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Speaker 1: owner of the Perisian Cafe. And it was this circumstance
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Speaker 1: which first gave Paul the opportunity of declaring the passion
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Speaker 1: which was annoying him with the fierce fury of a
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Speaker 1: bread and customer gnawing a tough stake against time during
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Speaker 1: the rush hour. He had long worshiped her from afar,
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Speaker 1: but nothing more intimate than a good morning, Miss Jeanne
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Speaker 1: had escaped him, till one day, during a slack Spelly
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Speaker 1: came upon her in the little passage leading to the kitchen,
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Speaker 1: her face hidden in her apron, her back jerking with sobs,
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Speaker 1: her business's business. Paul had a message to deliver to
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Speaker 1: the cook, respecting two fried coffee on one stale. He
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Speaker 1: delivered it and returned. Jean was still sobbing ah moss.
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Speaker 1: Jean cried, Paul, stricken, What is the matter, what is it?
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Speaker 1: Why do you weep the petron? Sobbed Jane. He he
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Speaker 1: my enjure, said Paul, He is a pig. This was
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Speaker 1: perfectly true. No conscientious judge of character could have denied
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Speaker 1: that Paul had hit the bull's eye Breadon was a pig.
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Speaker 1: He looked like a pig. He ate like a pig.
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Speaker 1: He grunted like a pig. He had the lavish enbonpois
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Speaker 1: of a pig. Also a poor kind soul. If you
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Speaker 1: had tied a bit of blue ribbon round his neck,
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Speaker 1: you could certainly have won prizes with him at a show.
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Speaker 1: Paul's eyes flashed with fury. I will slap him in
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Speaker 1: the eye, he roared. He called me a tortoise, and
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Speaker 1: kick him in the stomach, added Paul. Chan's sobs were
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Speaker 1: running on second speed. Now the anguish was diminishing. Paul
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Speaker 1: took advantage of the improved conditions to slide an arm
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Speaker 1: part of the way round her waist. In two minutes,
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Speaker 1: he had said as much as the ordinary man could
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Speaker 1: have worked off. In ten all good stuff too, no patting.
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Speaker 1: Jean's face rose from her apron like a full moon.
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Speaker 1: She was too astounded to be angry. Paul continued to babble.
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Speaker 1: Jean looked at him with growing wrath that she, who
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Speaker 1: received daily the affectionate badendage of gentlemen in bona hats
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Speaker 1: and checked suits, who had once been invited to the
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Speaker 1: White city by a solicitor's clock, should be addressed in
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Speaker 1: this way by a waiter. It was too much, She
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Speaker 1: threw off his hand. Wretched little man, she cried, stamping angrily.
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Speaker 1: My angel, protested Paul. Jean uttered a scornful laugh. You,
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Speaker 1: she said, there are a few more withering marks than you.
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Speaker 1: Spoke in a certain way. Jean spoke it just that way,
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Speaker 1: Paul wilted on. Eighteen sheddings a week. Went on, Jean satirically,
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Speaker 1: you would suppout a wife. Yes, what, Paul recovered himself.
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Speaker 1: He had an opening now and proceeded to use it. Listen,
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Speaker 1: he said, at present, yes, it is true, I am
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Speaker 1: but eighteen shillings a week. But it will not always
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Speaker 1: be so. No. I am not only a waiter, I
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Speaker 1: am also an artist. I've painted a great picture for
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Speaker 1: a whole year I have worked, and now it is ready.
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Speaker 1: I will sell it and then my angel. Jean's face
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Speaker 1: had lost some of its scorn. Jean was listening with
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Speaker 1: some respect a picture. She said thoughtfully, there is money
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Speaker 1: and pictures. For the first time, Paul was glad that
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Speaker 1: his arm was no longer round her waist to do
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Speaker 1: justice to the great work, he needed both hands for
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Speaker 1: purposes of gesticulation. There is money in this picture, he said. Oh,
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Speaker 1: it is beautiful. I call it the Awakening. It's a
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Speaker 1: woodland scene. I come back from my work, where hot
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Speaker 1: and tired. A mere glance at that wood refreshes me.
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Speaker 1: It's so cool, so green. The sun filters in golden
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Speaker 1: splashes through the foliage. On a mossy bank. Between two trees,
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Speaker 1: lies a beautiful girl asleep above her, bending fondly over her,
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Speaker 1: just about to kiss that flower like face. Is a
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Speaker 1: young man in the dress of a shepherd. At the
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Speaker 1: last moment, he has looked over his shoulder to make
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Speaker 1: sure that there is nobody near to see. He is
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Speaker 1: wearing an expression so happy, so proud, that one's heart
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Speaker 1: goes out to him. Yes, there might be money in za,
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Speaker 1: cried Jean. There is there is, cried Paul, I shall
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Speaker 1: sell it from many francs to a wealthy connoisseur. And then,
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Speaker 1: my angel, you ay good deedle man, said the angel patronizingly.
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Speaker 1: Perhaps bitteretre we will see. Paul caught her hand and
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Speaker 1: kissed it. She smiled indulgently. Yes, she said, that might
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Speaker 1: be money. These English pay much money for pictures. It
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Speaker 1: is pretty generally admitted that Jeffrey Chaucer, the eminent poet
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Speaker 1: of the fourteenth century, though obsessed with an almost rose
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Speaker 1: of Veltian passion for the new spelling, was there with
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Speaker 1: the goods when it came to profundity of thought. It
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Speaker 1: was Chaucer who wrote the lines the life so short,
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Speaker 1: the craft so long to learne, the essay so hard,
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Speaker 1: so sharp a the conquering, which means broadly that it's
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Speaker 1: difficult to paint a picture, but a great deal more
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Speaker 1: difficult to sell it. Across the centuries, Paul Bowl shook
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Speaker 1: hands with Geoffrey Chaucer, so sharper the conquering for his
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Speaker 1: case in a nutshell. The full story of his wanderings
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Speaker 1: with a masterpiece would read like an odyssey, and be
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Speaker 1: about as long it shall definitely be condensed. There was
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Speaker 1: an artist who died at intervals at Breton's Parisian cafe,
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Speaker 1: and as the artistic temperament was too impatient to be
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Speaker 1: suited by Jean's leisurely methods, it had failed to Paul
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Speaker 1: to wait upon him. It was to this expert that Paul,
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Speaker 1: emboldened by the geniality of the artist's manner, went for information.
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Speaker 1: How did Monsieur sell his pictures? Monsieur said he didn't,
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Speaker 1: except once in a blue moon. But when he did,
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Speaker 1: oh oh, he took the thing to the dealers. Paul
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Speaker 1: thanked him. A friend of him, he explained, had painted
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Speaker 1: a picture and wished to sell it. Poor devil, was
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Speaker 1: the artist's comment. Next day, it happened to be a Thursday,
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Speaker 1: Paul started on his travels. He started buoyantly, but by
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Speaker 1: evening he was as a punctured balloon. Every dealer had
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Speaker 1: the same remark to make to Wit. No room have
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Speaker 1: you sold as a picture, inquired Jean when they met.
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Speaker 1: Not yet, said Paul. But there are delicate matters, these negotiations.
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Speaker 1: I use finesse. I proceed with caution. He approached the
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Speaker 1: artist again with the dealers. He said my friend has
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Speaker 1: been a little unfortunate. They say they have no room.
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Speaker 1: I know, said the artist, nodding. Is there perhaps another way?
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Speaker 1: And what sort of picture is it? Inquired the artist.
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Speaker 1: Paul became enthusiastic. Ah, monsieur, it is beautiful. It is
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Speaker 1: a woodland seen a beautiful girl. Oh oh oh. Then
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Speaker 1: he had better try the magazines. They might use it
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Speaker 1: for a cover. Paul thanked him effusively. On the following Thursday,
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Speaker 1: he visited divers art editors. The art editors seemed to
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Speaker 1: be in the same unhappy condition as the dealers. Overstalked
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Speaker 1: was their cry the picture, said Jean on the Friday morning.
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Speaker 1: Is it so not yet, said Paul. But always but
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Speaker 1: my angel, Bah, said Jean, with a toss of her
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Speaker 1: large but shapely head. By the end of the month,
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Speaker 1: Paul was fighting in the last ditch, wandering disconstantly among
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Speaker 1: those who dwell in outer darkness and have grimy thumbs.
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Speaker 1: Seven of these in all he visited on that black Thursday.
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Speaker 1: In each of the seven rubbed the surface of the
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Speaker 1: painting with a grimy thumb, snorted and dismissed him. Sick
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Speaker 1: and beaten, Paul took the masterpiece back to his skylight room.
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Speaker 1: All that night he lay awake, thinking it was a
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Speaker 1: weary bundle of nerves that came to the Parisian cafe
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Speaker 1: next morning. He was late in arriving, which was good
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Speaker 1: in that it delayed the inevitable question as to the
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Speaker 1: fate of the picture, but bad in every other respect.
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Speaker 1: Monsieur Breden, squatting behind the cash desk, grunted fiercely at him,
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Speaker 1: and worse, John, who, owing to his absence, had had
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Speaker 1: to be busier than suited. Her disposition was distant and haughty.
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Speaker 1: A murky gloom settled upon Paul. Now. It so happened
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Speaker 1: that Monsieur Bredon, when things went well with him, was
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Speaker 1: wont to be filled with a ponderous amiability. It was
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Speaker 1: not often that this took a practical form, though it
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Speaker 1: is on record that in an exuberant moment he once
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Speaker 1: gave a small boy a happening. More frequently, it merely
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Speaker 1: led him to soften the poor kine austerity of his demeanor.
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Speaker 1: To day business having been uncommonly good, he felt pleased
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Speaker 1: with the world. He had left his cash desk and
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Speaker 1: was assailing a bowl of soup at one of the
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Speaker 1: side tables. Except for a belated luncher at the end
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Speaker 1: of the room. The place was empty. It was one
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Speaker 1: of the hours when there was a lull in the
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Speaker 1: proceedings at the Parisian Cafe. Paul was leaning wrapped in
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Speaker 1: the gloom against the wall. Zhon was waiting on the proprietor.
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Speaker 1: Mister Bredon finished his meal and rose. He felt content
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Speaker 1: all was well with the world. As he lumbered to
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Speaker 1: his desk, he passed Zon. He stopped. He wheezed a compliment.
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Speaker 1: Then another Paul, from his place by the wall, watched
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Speaker 1: with jealous fury. Mensir Bredon chocked Zon under the chin.
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Speaker 1: As he did so, the belated luncher called waiter, but
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Speaker 1: Paul was otherwise engaged. His entire nervous system seemed to
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Speaker 1: have been stirred up with a pole. With a hoarse cry,
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Speaker 1: he dashed forward. He would destroy this pig who chucked
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Speaker 1: his jan under the chin. The first intimation Monsieur Bredon
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Speaker 1: had of the declaration of war was the impact of
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Speaker 1: a French roll on his ear. It was one of
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Speaker 1: those nobbly, chunky rolls with sharp corners, almost as deadly
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Speaker 1: as a piece of shrapnel. Monsieur Bredon was incapable of jumping,
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Speaker 1: but he uttered a howl, and his vast body quivered
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Speaker 1: like a stricken jelly. A second roll, whizzing by, slapped
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Speaker 1: against the wall. A moment later, a cream bun burst
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Speaker 1: in sticky ruin on the proprietor's left eye. The belated
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Speaker 1: luncher had been anxious to pay his bill and go,
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Speaker 1: but he came swiftly to the conclusion that this was
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Speaker 1: worth stopping on for. He leaned back in his chair
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Speaker 1: and watched. Monsieur Bredan had entrenched himself behind the cash desk,
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Speaker 1: peering nervously at Paul through the cream, and Paul, pouring
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Speaker 1: for abuse in his native tongue, was brandishing a chocolate declare.
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Speaker 1: The situation looked good to the spectator. It was spoiled
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Speaker 1: by Jean, who seized Paul by the arm and shook him,
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Speaker 1: adding her own voice to the babble. It was enough.
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Speaker 1: The Eclaire fell to the floor. Paul's voice died away,
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Speaker 1: his face took on again its crushed, haunted expression. The
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Speaker 1: voice of Monsieur Bredon, freed from competition, rose shrill and wrathful.
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Speaker 1: The marksman is getting sacked. Mused the onlooker, diagnosing the situation.
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Speaker 1: He was ripe. The next moment, Paul, limp and depressed,
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Speaker 1: had retired to the kitchen passage, discharged. It was here,
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Speaker 1: after a few minutes that Jean found him. Fool, idiot, imbecile,
15:45
Speaker 1: said Jean. Paul stared at her without speaking, to throw
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Speaker 1: rose as if patron imbecile? He he bah, and what
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Speaker 1: if he did? Must you then attack him like a
15:56
Speaker 1: mad dog? What is it to you? All was conscious
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Speaker 1: of a dull longing for sympathy, a monstrous sense of oppression.
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Speaker 1: Everything was going wrong. Surely Zoon must be touched by
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Speaker 1: his heroism. But no, she was scolding furiously. Suppose Andromeda
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Speaker 1: had turned and scolded Purses after he had slain the
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Speaker 1: sea monster. Paul mopped his forehead with his napkin the
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Speaker 1: bottom and dropped out of his word zone. Bah, do
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Speaker 1: not talk to me, idiot of a little man. Almost
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Speaker 1: you lost me by place. Also, Sir Petron was in
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Speaker 1: two minds, but I coaxed him. I find thing that
16:34
Speaker 1: would have been to lose my good place through your
16:36
Speaker 1: foolishness to throw rolls my goodness. She swept back into
16:43
Speaker 1: the room again, leaving Paul still standing by the kitchen door.
16:47
Speaker 1: Something seemed to have snapped inside him. How long he
16:50
Speaker 1: stood there he did not know. But presently from the
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Speaker 1: dining room came calls of waiter, and automatically he felt
16:56
Speaker 1: once more into his work. As an actor takes up
16:59
Speaker 1: his A stranger would have noticed nothing remarkable. Enemy bustled
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Speaker 1: to and pro with undiminished energy. At the end of
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Speaker 1: the day, Monsieur Breton paid him his eighteen shillings with
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Speaker 1: a grunt, and Paul walked out of the restaurant a
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Speaker 1: masterless man. He went to his attic and sat down
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Speaker 1: on the bed. Propped up against the wall was the picture.
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Speaker 1: He looked at it with unseeing eyes. He stared dully
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Speaker 1: before him. Then thoughts came to him with a rush,
17:26
Speaker 1: leaping and dancing in his mind like imps in hades.
17:29
Speaker 1: He had a curious sense of detachment. He seemed to
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Speaker 1: be watching himself from a great distance. This was the end.
17:36
Speaker 1: The little imps danced and leaped, and then one separated
17:39
Speaker 1: itself from the crowd to grow bigger than the rest.
17:42
Speaker 1: To pirouette more energetically, he rose. His mind was made up.
17:48
Speaker 1: He would kill himself he went downstairs and out into
17:51
Speaker 1: the street. He thought hard as he walked, he would
17:54
Speaker 1: kill himself. But how his preoccupation was so great that
17:59
Speaker 1: an automobile rounding a corner missed him by inches. As
18:01
Speaker 1: he crossed the road. The chauffeur shouted angrily at him.
18:05
Speaker 1: As he leapt back. Paul shook his fist at the
18:08
Speaker 1: retreating lights pig. He shouted, assassin, scoundrel, villain, would you
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Speaker 1: kill me? I will take your number, Rascal, I will
18:16
Speaker 1: inform the police. Villain. A policeman had strollen up and
18:20
Speaker 1: was eyeing him curiously. Paul turned to him, full of
18:23
Speaker 1: his wrong officer, he tried to have a complaint these
18:26
Speaker 1: pigs of chauffeurs. They are reckless. They drive so recklessly,
18:29
Speaker 1: hence the great number of accident. Awful, said the policeman
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Speaker 1: pass along Sonnay. Paul walked on, fuming it was abominable
18:39
Speaker 1: that these chauffeurs. And then an idea came to him.
18:43
Speaker 1: He had found a way. It was quiet in the park.
18:47
Speaker 1: He had chosen the park because it was dark and
18:49
Speaker 1: there will be none to see. In interfear, he waited
18:51
Speaker 1: long in the shadow by the roadside, presently from the
18:54
Speaker 1: darkness there came the distant drone of powerful engines. Lights
18:58
Speaker 1: appeared like the blazing eyes of Aragon, swooping down to
19:01
Speaker 1: devour its prey. He ran out into the road with
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Speaker 1: a shout. It was an error, that shout. He had
19:08
Speaker 1: intended it for an inarticulate farewell to his picture, to
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Speaker 1: Jean to life. It was excusable to the driver of
19:16
Speaker 1: the motor that he misinterpreted it. It seemed to him
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Speaker 1: a cry of warning. There was a great jarring of brakes,
19:22
Speaker 1: a scuttering of locked wheels on the dry road, and
19:25
Speaker 1: the car came to a standstill a few full yard
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Speaker 1: from where he stood. What the deuce, said a cool
19:33
Speaker 1: voice from behind the lights. Paul struck his chest and
19:37
Speaker 1: folded his arms. I am here, Paul cried, destroy me. Eh,
19:42
Speaker 1: let George do it, said the voice, in a market
19:45
Speaker 1: American accent. I never murdered on a Friday. It's unlucky.
19:48
Speaker 1: If it's not a rude question, which asylum are you from? Hallo.
19:54
Speaker 1: The exclamation was one of surprise, for Paul's nerves had
19:57
Speaker 1: finally given way, and he was now in a heat
20:00
Speaker 1: on the road. Sobbing, the man climbed down and came
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Speaker 1: into the light. He was a tall young man with
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Speaker 1: a pleasant, clean cut face. He stopped and shook Paul
20:09
Speaker 1: quit that. He said, maybe it's not true, and if
20:13
Speaker 1: it is, there's always hope. Cut it out. What's the
20:15
Speaker 1: matter all in? Paul sat up, gulping convulsively. He was
20:21
Speaker 1: thoroughly unstrung. The cold, desperate mood had passed. In its
20:25
Speaker 1: place came the old feeling of desolation. He was a
20:28
Speaker 1: child aching for sympathy. He wanted to tell his troubles.
20:32
Speaker 1: Punctuating his narrative with many gestures and an occasional gulp,
20:35
Speaker 1: he proceeded to do so, and the American listened attentively.
20:40
Speaker 1: So you can't sell your picture, and you've lost your job,
20:43
Speaker 1: and your girl has shaken you, he said, yeah, you
20:45
Speaker 1: know that's pretty bad. But still you've no call to
20:48
Speaker 1: go mingling with automobile wheels. You come along with me
20:51
Speaker 1: to my hotel and tomorrow we'll see if we can't
20:53
Speaker 1: fix something up. Well. There was breakfast at the hotel
20:57
Speaker 1: the next morning, a breakfast to put heart into a man.
21:00
Speaker 1: During the meal, a messenger dispatched in the cab to
21:02
Speaker 1: Paul's lodgings, returned with the canvas. A deferential waiter informed
21:06
Speaker 1: the American that it had been taken with every possible
21:08
Speaker 1: care to his suite. Good, said the young man. If
21:12
Speaker 1: you're through, we'll go and have a look at it.
21:15
Speaker 1: They went upstairs. There was the picture resting against a chair.
21:19
Speaker 1: Why I call that fine, said the young man. It's
21:22
Speaker 1: a crackerjack. Paul's heart gave a sudden leap. Could it
21:26
Speaker 1: be that here was the wealthy connoisseur. He was wealthy,
21:30
Speaker 1: for he drove an autobile and lived in an expensive hotel.
21:33
Speaker 1: He was a connoisseur, for he had said that the
21:35
Speaker 1: picture was crackerjac. Monsieur is kind, murmured Paul. It's a
21:41
Speaker 1: bear cat, said the young man, admiringly. Monsieur is flattering,
21:45
Speaker 1: said Paul, dimly, perceiving a compliment. I've been looking for
21:49
Speaker 1: a picture like that, said the young man for months.
21:52
Speaker 1: Paul's eyes rolled heavenwards. If you'll make a few alterations,
21:57
Speaker 1: I'll buy it and ask for more alterations. Monsieur, ah,
22:02
Speaker 1: one or two small ones. He pointed to the stooping
22:05
Speaker 1: figure of the shepherd. Now you see this prominent citizen.
22:08
Speaker 1: What's he doing? Why he is stooping, said Paul, fervently,
22:13
Speaker 1: to bestow upon his loved one a kiss. And she's
22:15
Speaker 1: sleeping all unconscious, dreaming of it. I never mind about her.
22:19
Speaker 1: Fix your mind on him. Willie is the star in
22:22
Speaker 1: the show. You've summed him up accurately. He is stooping, stooping. Good. Now,
22:28
Speaker 1: if that fellow was wearing braces and stooped like that,
22:32
Speaker 1: you'd say he'd burst those braces, wouldn't you. With a
22:36
Speaker 1: somewhat dazed there, Paul said that he thought he would,
22:39
Speaker 1: till now he had not looked at the figure from
22:41
Speaker 1: just that viewpoint, you'd say he'd bust them, well, assured him. Monsieur, No,
22:48
Speaker 1: said the young man, solemnly, tapping him earnestly on the chest.
22:51
Speaker 1: That's where you're wrong. Not if they were Galloways tried
22:54
Speaker 1: and proven. Galloways tried and proven. We'll stand any old
22:58
Speaker 1: strain you care to put on em. See small bills.
23:01
Speaker 1: Where Galloway is tried and proven, and fate cannot touch you.
23:06
Speaker 1: You can take it from me. I'm the company's general manager. Indeed, Monsieur,
23:12
Speaker 1: and I'll make a proposition to you. Cut out that
23:14
Speaker 1: mossy bank and make the girl lying in a hammock.
23:17
Speaker 1: Put William shirt sleeves instead of a bath robe, and
23:20
Speaker 1: fix him up with a pair of the tried and proven.
23:23
Speaker 1: And I'll give you three thousand dollars for that picture,
23:25
Speaker 1: and a retaining fee for four thousand a year to
23:27
Speaker 1: work for us and nobody else for any number of
23:30
Speaker 1: years you care to mention. You've got the goods, You've
23:33
Speaker 1: got just the touch. That happy look on Willie's face
23:37
Speaker 1: for instant. You can see in a minute why he's
23:39
Speaker 1: so happy. It's because he's wearing the tried and proven
23:42
Speaker 1: and he knows that however far he stoops, they won't break.
23:46
Speaker 1: Is that a deal? Paul's reply left no room for doubt.
23:51
Speaker 1: Seizing the young man firmly round the waist, he kissed
23:54
Speaker 1: him with extreme fervor on both cheeks. Here here, break away,
23:58
Speaker 1: cried the astonished general manager. That's snoway to sign a
24:00
Speaker 1: business contract. It was about five minutes after one that
24:05
Speaker 1: afternoon that Constable Thomas Parson's patrolling his beat was aware
24:09
Speaker 1: of a man motioning to him from the doorway of
24:11
Speaker 1: Breton's Parisian Cafe and Restaurant. The man looked like a
24:15
Speaker 1: pig he grunted like a pig. He had the lavish
24:18
Speaker 1: m bompois of a pig. Constable Parsons suspected that he
24:23
Speaker 1: had a poor kine's soul. Indeed, the thought flitted across
24:27
Speaker 1: Constable Parson's mind that if he were to tie a
24:30
Speaker 1: bit of blue ribbon round his neck, he could win
24:32
Speaker 1: prizes with him at a show. Eh, what's all this?
24:36
Speaker 1: He inquired, halting. The stout man talked volubly in French.
24:41
Speaker 1: Constable Parsons shook his head. Talk sense, he advised. In there,
24:47
Speaker 1: cried the stout man, pointing behind him into the restaurant.
24:50
Speaker 1: A man e e, how you say yes? Sacked an
24:53
Speaker 1: employee whom I yesterday sacked? To day he returns. I
24:57
Speaker 1: said to him, couchon va, what's that? I say, pig go?
25:03
Speaker 1: How you say yes? Pop off? I say, pigue pop off?
25:08
Speaker 1: But he no, no, he sits and will not go.
25:11
Speaker 1: Come in, officer and expel him with a massive dignity.
25:16
Speaker 1: The policeman entered the restaurant. At one of the tables,
25:19
Speaker 1: sat Paul calm and distrained from across the room. Jean
25:24
Speaker 1: stared freezingly. All right, what's all this? Inquired constable Parsons.
25:29
Speaker 1: Paul looked up. I too, Paul admitted, I cannot understand.
25:35
Speaker 1: Figure to yourself, Monsieur, I enter this cafe to lunch in.
25:38
Speaker 1: This man here whould expel me. He he is an
25:42
Speaker 1: employee whom I I myself have, But yesterday dismissed, postiferated
25:47
Speaker 1: Monsieur Breddon, he has no money to lunch at my restaurant.
25:51
Speaker 1: The policeman eyed Paul sternly. Eh, eh, that sir, you'd
25:57
Speaker 1: better come along. Paul's eyebrows rose before the round eyes
26:02
Speaker 1: of Monsieur Breton. He began to produce from his pockets
26:05
Speaker 1: and to lay upon the table bank notes and sovereigns.
26:09
Speaker 1: The cloth was covered with them. Paul picked up a
26:13
Speaker 1: half sovereign. If Monsieur, he said to the policeman would
26:17
Speaker 1: accept this as a slight consolation for the inconvenience which
26:21
Speaker 1: this foolish person here has caused you, not half, said
26:24
Speaker 1: mister Parson's affably. Look here, He turned to the gaping proprietor.
26:29
Speaker 1: If you go on like this, you'll be get yourself
26:30
Speaker 1: into troubles. Eh, you'll take care. Another time, Paul called
26:36
Speaker 1: for the bill of fare. It was the inferior person
26:39
Speaker 1: who had succeeded to his place as waiter, who attended
26:41
Speaker 1: to his needs during the meal, But when he had lunched,
26:45
Speaker 1: it was Jean who brought his coffee. She bent over
26:48
Speaker 1: the table. You've sold your picture, poor, yes, she whispered,
26:52
Speaker 1: fel much money. How glad I am, dear poor. Now
26:57
Speaker 1: we will, Paul met her glance coolly. Will you be
27:01
Speaker 1: so kind, he said as to bringing me also a cigarette,
27:05
Speaker 1: my good girl. End of story number six. Rough hew
27:12
Speaker 1: them how we will. Recording by Mike Harress