E. F. Benson

Name: Aunts and Pianos
Author: E. F. Benson

Aunts and Pianos (1926)

Summary

“Aunts and Pianos”, published in 1926, is a work by E. F. Benson. It explores elements such as Bobby, Judy and Fanny.

Quotes from Aunts and Pianos (E. F. Benson)

E. F. Benson, Aunts and Pianos (1926)

“ Dining-room, music-room and sitting-room were now tightly packed. It was perhaps possible for a slim man like Bobby to get access to the keyboard of any of the three gigantic instruments which filled the music-room, but no fire could possibly be lit there, since Aunt Fanny's thin end projected over the grate, and the idea of holding any little musical party there again was simply laughable. Bobby's small sitting-room was also quite ruined, for Cousin Ella had crowded out the sofa and the writing-table, while the dining-room was like a well-stocked furniture shop. ”

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Source: Wikisource

E. F. Benson, Aunts and Pianos (1926)

“ BOBBY DEACON at the age of fifty-five was a very busy young man; no one had so many engagements to little lunch-parties and tea-parties and dinner-parties. He had in fact made a firm rule never to do a cross-word puzzle till the evening paper came in, for, if he permitted himself to attack one after lunch, the brisk walk he took every day for the preservation of his youthful figure was sadly curtailed, while if he yielded to temptation after breakfast there was no telling when he would get to his piano, which was the serious work of the day. ”

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Source: Wikisource

E. F. Benson, Aunts and Pianos (1926)

“ Girls all seemed to him to be indistinguishable from each other with their cropped hair, and long sunburned-stockinged legs....
"And it's even worse if they've got hats on," said Bobby to Mrs. Fakenham, who had lately become Aunt Judy, "and then I never recognise them at all. If men wore on their heads scarlet straw waste-paper baskets which came down to the end of their noses, and painted their lips the colour of their hats, and never took a cigarette out of their mouths, they wouldn't expect to be recognised. But girls do expect me to recognise them, Aunt Judy. ”

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Source: Wikisource

E. F. Benson, Aunts and Pianos (1926)

“ Even if they are pretty I can't see their faces, and when they take their hats off, I think they're boys, and boys are odious. I'm glad there are no boys or girls here to-night."
Aunt Judy had distinct remains of coquettishness about her.
"Nonsense, Bobby," she said. "Fancy your pretending that you prefer to come and dine alone with an old woman like me to having some pretty girl to take in to dinner. ”

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Source: Wikisource

E. F. Benson, Aunts and Pianos (1926)

“ Aunt Fanny was very small and all her furniture with the exception of her grand-piano was small and fragile, and Bobby trembled to think how awful would have been the crash if Aunt Judy had sunk exhausted on that chair, or indeed anywhere in Aunt Fanny's house except on the floor. But that was not likely to happen, for he never brought the aunts into contact with each other, feeling, vaguely but correctly, that each individual aunt would take less tender interest in him, if she knew there were others.
"No one sings 'Ich Grolle Nicht' so beautifully as you, Aunt Fanny," he said. ”

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Source: Wikisource

E. F. Benson, Aunts and Pianos (1926)

“ You make it so deliciously feminine without losing any of its bravery. And your new piano is quite splendid. You were lucky to get such a beauty. It will improve too."
"I'm glad you like it," said Aunt Fanny. "It wants playing on, but I think it will be satisfactory."
Bobby applied the butterfly-touch to the keys, and got a fair effect. ”

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Source: Wikisource

E. F. Benson, Aunts and Pianos (1926)

“ Illustration: "By no sleight of hand, so the pessimistic foreman told him, could she possibly be introduced into the little room for which she was intended unless the window were taken out, the area-railings pulled up, and a crane erected to swing her in."
Cousin Ella often gave Bobby delightful presents, for like most of the ladies he had chosen as aunts and cousins, she was very well off. Last Christmas she had given him a beautiful fur-coat and on his last birthday, now nearly a year ago, a handsome Chippendale mirror, and books and flowers were constantly showered on him ”

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Source: Wikisource

E. F. Benson, Aunts and Pianos (1926)

“ The longest-living author of this work died in 1940, so this work is in the public domain in countries and areas where the copyright term is the author's life plus 83 years or less. This work may be in the public domain in countries and areas with longer native copyright terms that apply the rule of the shorter term to foreign works. ”

E. F. Benson

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