Ernest Bramah

“ Lavender, don’t say that,” protested Mr. Isaacson uneasily. “It’s always a pleasure to do a little business with a gentleman of your beautiful taste. Now you do understand intaglios, Mr. Lavender, I will say. Is it to be seven-fifty?”
“Seven hundred, in an open cheque.” Mr. Lavender glanced at the clock and stood up. “I leave my office at one o’clock to-day, Mr. Isaacson. Shall I make out a cheque or close my desk?”
“Hold hard; half a sec., Mr. Lavender,” cried Mr. Isaacson in a panic. “Look here; you'll be back again at ten o’clock to-morrow morning, won’t you? ”

“ Lavender, “that explains. And this, I suppose,” he continued, turning to the door, “is the young gentleman himself?”
“Oh, dear! you naughty boy,” cried his mother in despair. “You know, Tommy, I told you that you were never to come in here when——”
“Not on my account, pray,” interposed Mr. Lavender. “What have you got there, Tommy? Come and show me, if you aren’t afraid.” ”

“ It was easy to read in the nervous anxiety of the woman to please, and in the whispered instructions to some one unseen in the room beyond, that the advent of even a single customer was not too common an event. ”

“ Lavender, surveying the unattractive elevation disapprovingly. “What people from town want is a tumble-down cottage with honeysuckle hanging over a rustic porch, and a damp arbour in the garden behind, where spiders drop into their food. ”

“ The longest-living author of this work died in 1942, so this work is in the public domain in countries and areas where the copyright term is the author's life plus 81 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. ”