Lady Adela (Classic Reprint) ~ Paperback ~ Gerald Gould

Excerpt from Lady Adela Lady Adela is one of those patricians who travel third class for the sake of harrying the "lower orders." In summer she likes the windows shut because she suffers from hay-fever; in winter she likes them open because she suffers from headache. At Easter it is more difficult to find a reason for being disagreeable; but I have never yet known her fail. She has two lap-dogs and no lap, just as some people have two tickets for every concert and no ear for music. The rest of her travelling equipment is less conspicuous. There is the Colonel (retired), an old family friend with a red face: a peremptory, pro-consular sort of man: the sort of man who pronounces "notwithstanding" as a monosyllable. And there is Lady Adela's son, Adolphus, in violet spats, fresh from the Ministry of Gas and Gaiters. Also there is - I don't know why - myself. We had the carriage to ourselves up till the last moment. Then, as the train gave its preliminary lurch, the door flew open and a rough, common fellow got in: a ragged fellow, with a scarlet neckerchief: a cheery fellow, with a banjo. He inserted a thumb among the strings of the banjo, and indicated a melody. "I beg your pardon," said Lady Adela. "Granted, said the rough, common fellow. "I cannot have a musical instrument played here, however badly," said Lady Adela. "Eh?" said the rough, common fellow. "This is a railway carriage, not a place of public entertainment," said Lady Adela. The rough, common fellow said nothing. Lady Adela rustled her newspaper, and addressed the Colonel. "Terrible!" she cried, "this fraternising of our troops with German civilian in the occupied areas! It is Bolshevism! It ought to be stamped out!" About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.