Desmond Coke

“ Brand's purchases, I fancy, grew more frequent, and, in any case, began to attract the neighbours' notice; whilst his house, big as it was for him—he had never married—must soon have become overcrowded, and the weaker monkeys forced towards the window. Whatever the cause, rumour got to work. Crowds of small boys, I was told, stood around the house in hopes of something happening. They came to refer to my poor friend in the open street as "Monkey" Brand. He could not leave his house without some rapscallion, in feigned panic, announcing that one of the monkeys had escaped. ”

“ The mind in moments of stress, peril, and pain, is quicker than at other times, and I remember everything. Amongst my assailants, then, I recognised the monkey that Brand had bought when with me in that by-street of the Strand. It had grown into a fine, upstanding figure of an ape. ”

“ No, not I! I'm making inquiries now at the British Museum as to where they come from—Brazil, I think, isn't it?—and when I know, and am ready, I shall take them there in cages and let them dash away into the jungle; and as I see them shinning up the mango trees or throwing cocoanuts, free once again, I shall feel that I've raised the proper monument at last to Tommy and to my dear sister, who died before she came of age. I always think she pined for Sally."
Poor Brand! ”

“ I asked, adding with what I admit I intended to be ironical rebuke—"buy monkeys?"
"Yes," answered my poor friend quite simply. And he fondled the fly-blown-looking monster as though it had been something human, pressing his cheek against its domed forehead till it bit his chin; and even then he did not do what I confess I should have done. "Poor little devil!" he said. "No wonder it does not trust man!" ”

“ Any fool knows that, if you release a tame animal among the wild of its own species, they will turn upon it."
"No?" He stopped dead, his face full of dismay, and for a moment I quite hoped that I had cured him of his insane design. But then he grew more cheery and moved on again. "Very well, then"—and his tones showed a new resolve—"it shall be an island without any wild ones, and I'll stay there for a bit myself and feed the poor beggars till they learn the business, and, if essential, keep their little jackets in repair,"
After that I saw less of Brand. ”

“ He wrote with enthusiasm, and announced his intention of staying some weeks on the island to overcome the risks that I had "so generously suggested." The crew and the natives, before putting off, would build him a hut and leave provisions, for the demented fellow, thinking more of his monkeys than his health, had lit upon a desert island. ”

“ None the less, for the sake of the family, I felt it my duty to throw cold water on this foolish scheme.
"Bah," I exclaimed, "they'll be worse off out there! They're British bred. They are not made to fight for their own food. They'll die without their flannel jackets. ”