KING AUBERON DESCENDED
FROM THE OMNIBUS WITH DIGNITY
Auberon put up his hand
with indescribable grandeur.
"Not with the King,"
he said; "with the special war correspondent of the Court Journal."
"I beg your Majesty's pardon," began Mr. Bowles,
doubtfully.
"Do you call me Majesty? I repeat," said
Auberon, firmly, "I am a representative of the press. I have chosen, with a
deep sense of responsibility, the name of Pinker. I should desire a veil to be
drawn over the past."
"Very well, sir," said
Mr. Bowles, with an air of submission, "in our eyes the sanctity of the press
is at least as great as that of the throne. We desire nothing better than that our wrongs and our glories
should be widely known. May I ask, Mr. Pinker, if you have any objection to
being presented to the Provost and to General Turnbull?"
"The Provost I have had the
honour of meeting," said Auberon, easily. "We old journalists, you know, meet everybody. I should be most
delighted to have the same honour again. General Turnbull, also, it would be a
gratification to know. The younger men are so interesting. We of the old Fleet
Street gang lose touch with them."
"Will you be so good as to step this
way?" said the leader of O company.
"I am always good,"
said Mr. Pinker. "Lead
on."
"A FINE EVENING,
SIR," SAID THE CHEMIST
Excerpt
from: Gilbert K. Chesterton, The
Napoleon of Notting Hill, London and New York, John Lane – The Bodley Head, 1904.
Illustrations
by W. Graham Robertson
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