Page 1 CBSE 4 4 UNIT UNIT Fiction F.4 Keeping It From Harold by P.G. Wodehouse 1. Before you read "Keeping It From Harold", the teacher will encourage you to answer or discuss the following. What are the different weight categories in Boxing? Have you ever heard the song whose lyrics go like...."He floats like a butterfly and stings like a bee"? Who does 'he' refer to? He is also know as 'The Greatest' boxer of all time. What was his original name? How many times did he win the World Heavyweight Belt? Find out from your friend if he /she watches WWE and who is his/her favourite wrestler. Also find out why he/she likes this wrestler. Discuss with your friend as to why these wrestlers have such a large fan following. Has the perception of people changed over the century with respect to those who fight in the ring? 2. Now read the story 1. "Ma!" Mrs. Bramble looked up, beaming with a kind of amiable fat-headedness. A domestic creature, wrapped up in Bill, her husband, and Harold, her son. At the present moment only the latter was with her. He sat on the other side of the table, his lips gravely pursed and his eyes a trifle cloudy behind their spectacles. Before him on the red tablecloth lay an open book. His powerful brain was plainly busy. 2. "Yes, dearie?" 3. "Will you hear me?" 4. Mrs. Bramble took the book. 5. "Yes, mother will hear you, precious." 6. A slight frown, marred the smoothness of Harold Bramble's brow. It jarred upon him, this habit of his mother's of referring to herself in the third person, as if she were addressing a baby, instead of a young man of ten who had taken the spelling and dictation prize last term on his head. • • • • fat-headedness : foolishness 28 Page 2 CBSE 4 4 UNIT UNIT Fiction F.4 Keeping It From Harold by P.G. Wodehouse 1. Before you read "Keeping It From Harold", the teacher will encourage you to answer or discuss the following. What are the different weight categories in Boxing? Have you ever heard the song whose lyrics go like...."He floats like a butterfly and stings like a bee"? Who does 'he' refer to? He is also know as 'The Greatest' boxer of all time. What was his original name? How many times did he win the World Heavyweight Belt? Find out from your friend if he /she watches WWE and who is his/her favourite wrestler. Also find out why he/she likes this wrestler. Discuss with your friend as to why these wrestlers have such a large fan following. Has the perception of people changed over the century with respect to those who fight in the ring? 2. Now read the story 1. "Ma!" Mrs. Bramble looked up, beaming with a kind of amiable fat-headedness. A domestic creature, wrapped up in Bill, her husband, and Harold, her son. At the present moment only the latter was with her. He sat on the other side of the table, his lips gravely pursed and his eyes a trifle cloudy behind their spectacles. Before him on the red tablecloth lay an open book. His powerful brain was plainly busy. 2. "Yes, dearie?" 3. "Will you hear me?" 4. Mrs. Bramble took the book. 5. "Yes, mother will hear you, precious." 6. A slight frown, marred the smoothness of Harold Bramble's brow. It jarred upon him, this habit of his mother's of referring to herself in the third person, as if she were addressing a baby, instead of a young man of ten who had taken the spelling and dictation prize last term on his head. • • • • fat-headedness : foolishness 28 CBSE Fiction 29 7. He cleared his throat and fixed his eyes upon the cut-glass hangings of the chandelier. 8. "Be good, sweet maid," he began, with the toneless rapidity affected by youths of his age when reciting poetry….. 9. "You do study so hard, dearie, you'll give yourself a headache. Why don't you take a nice walk by the river for half an hour, and come back nice and fresh?" 10. The spectacled child considered the point for a moment gravely. Then, nodding, he arranged his books in readiness for his return and went out. The front door closed with a decorous softness. 11. It was a constant source of amazement to Mrs. Bramble that she should have brought such a prodigy as Harold into the world. Harold was so different from ordinary children, so devoted to his books, such a model of behaviour, so altogether admirable. The only drawback was that his very 'perfection' had made necessary a series of evasions and even deliberate falsehoods on the part of herself and her husband, highly distasteful to both. They were lovers of truth, but they had realized that there are times when truth must be sacrificed. At any cost, the facts concerning Mr. Bramble's profession must be kept from Harold. 12. While he was a baby it had not mattered so much. But when he began to move about and take notice, Mrs. Bramble said to Mr. Bramble, "Bill, we must keep it from Harold." A little later, when the child had begun to show signs of being about to become a model of goodness and intelligence, and had already taken two prizes at the Sunday-school, the senior curate of the parish, meeting Mr. Bramble one morning, said nervously-for, after all, it was a delicate subject to broach, "Er- Bramble, I think, on the whole, it would be as well to-er-keep it from Harold." 13. And only the other day, Mrs. Bramble's brother, Major Percy Stokes, dropping in for a cup of tea, had said, "I hope you are keeping it from Harold. It is the least you can do", and had gone on to make one or two remarks about men of wrath which, considering that his cheek-bones were glistening with Mr. Bramble's buttered toast, were in poor taste. But Percy was like that. Enemies said that he liked the sound of his own voice. decorous : polite, calm and sensible behaviour wrath : intense anger Page 3 CBSE 4 4 UNIT UNIT Fiction F.4 Keeping It From Harold by P.G. Wodehouse 1. Before you read "Keeping It From Harold", the teacher will encourage you to answer or discuss the following. What are the different weight categories in Boxing? Have you ever heard the song whose lyrics go like...."He floats like a butterfly and stings like a bee"? Who does 'he' refer to? He is also know as 'The Greatest' boxer of all time. What was his original name? How many times did he win the World Heavyweight Belt? Find out from your friend if he /she watches WWE and who is his/her favourite wrestler. Also find out why he/she likes this wrestler. Discuss with your friend as to why these wrestlers have such a large fan following. Has the perception of people changed over the century with respect to those who fight in the ring? 2. Now read the story 1. "Ma!" Mrs. Bramble looked up, beaming with a kind of amiable fat-headedness. A domestic creature, wrapped up in Bill, her husband, and Harold, her son. At the present moment only the latter was with her. He sat on the other side of the table, his lips gravely pursed and his eyes a trifle cloudy behind their spectacles. Before him on the red tablecloth lay an open book. His powerful brain was plainly busy. 2. "Yes, dearie?" 3. "Will you hear me?" 4. Mrs. Bramble took the book. 5. "Yes, mother will hear you, precious." 6. A slight frown, marred the smoothness of Harold Bramble's brow. It jarred upon him, this habit of his mother's of referring to herself in the third person, as if she were addressing a baby, instead of a young man of ten who had taken the spelling and dictation prize last term on his head. • • • • fat-headedness : foolishness 28 CBSE Fiction 29 7. He cleared his throat and fixed his eyes upon the cut-glass hangings of the chandelier. 8. "Be good, sweet maid," he began, with the toneless rapidity affected by youths of his age when reciting poetry….. 9. "You do study so hard, dearie, you'll give yourself a headache. Why don't you take a nice walk by the river for half an hour, and come back nice and fresh?" 10. The spectacled child considered the point for a moment gravely. Then, nodding, he arranged his books in readiness for his return and went out. The front door closed with a decorous softness. 11. It was a constant source of amazement to Mrs. Bramble that she should have brought such a prodigy as Harold into the world. Harold was so different from ordinary children, so devoted to his books, such a model of behaviour, so altogether admirable. The only drawback was that his very 'perfection' had made necessary a series of evasions and even deliberate falsehoods on the part of herself and her husband, highly distasteful to both. They were lovers of truth, but they had realized that there are times when truth must be sacrificed. At any cost, the facts concerning Mr. Bramble's profession must be kept from Harold. 12. While he was a baby it had not mattered so much. But when he began to move about and take notice, Mrs. Bramble said to Mr. Bramble, "Bill, we must keep it from Harold." A little later, when the child had begun to show signs of being about to become a model of goodness and intelligence, and had already taken two prizes at the Sunday-school, the senior curate of the parish, meeting Mr. Bramble one morning, said nervously-for, after all, it was a delicate subject to broach, "Er- Bramble, I think, on the whole, it would be as well to-er-keep it from Harold." 13. And only the other day, Mrs. Bramble's brother, Major Percy Stokes, dropping in for a cup of tea, had said, "I hope you are keeping it from Harold. It is the least you can do", and had gone on to make one or two remarks about men of wrath which, considering that his cheek-bones were glistening with Mr. Bramble's buttered toast, were in poor taste. But Percy was like that. Enemies said that he liked the sound of his own voice. decorous : polite, calm and sensible behaviour wrath : intense anger CBSE Fiction 30 14. Certainly he was very persuasive. Mr. Bramble had fallen in with the suggestion without demur. In private life he was the mildest and most obliging of men, and always yielded to everybody. The very naming of Harold had caused a sacrifice on his part. 15. When it was certain that he was about to become a father, he had expressed a desire that the child should be named John, if a boy, after Mr John L. Sullivan, or, if a girl, Marie, after Miss Marie Lloyd. But Mrs Bramble saying that Harold was such a sweet name, he had withdrawn his suggestions with the utmost good- humour. 16. Nobody could help liking this excellent man; which made it all the greater pity that his walk in life was of such a nature that it simply had to be kept from Harold. 17. He was a professional boxer. That was the trouble. 18. Before the coming of Harold, he had been proud of being a professional boxer. His ability to paste his fellow-man in the eye while apparently meditating an attack on his stomach, and vice versa, had filled him with that genial glow of self-satisfaction which comes to philanthropists and other benefactors of the species. It had seemed to him a thing on which to congratulate himself that of all London's teeming millions there was not a man, weighing eight stone four, whom he could not overcome in a twenty-round contest. He was delighted to be the possessor of a left hook which had won the approval of the newspapers. 19. And then Harold had come into his life, and changed him into a furtive practiser of shady deeds. Before, he had gone about the world with a match-box full of press- notices, which he would extract with a pin and read to casual acquaintances. Now, he quailed at the sight of his name in print, so thoroughly had he become imbued with the necessity of keeping it from Harold. 20. With an ordinary boy it would have mattered less. But Harold was different. Secretly proud of him as they were, both Bill and his wife were a little afraid of their wonderful child. The fact was, as Bill himself put it, Harold was showing a bit too much class for them. He had formed a corner in brains, as far as the Bramble family was concerned. They had come to regard him as being of a superior order. 21. Yet Harold, defying the laws of heredity, had run to intellect as his father had run to demur : reluctance / objection Mr John L. Sullivan : American Boxing legend (1858-1918), lasting the bare-knuckled boxing championship, World heavyweight boxing champion from 1882-1892 Miss Marie Lloyd : Music hall artist 1870-1922 philanthropist : people who give donations or care about others furtive : cautious or secretive quailed : showed fear formed a corner : attained mastery in; gained a monopoly Page 4 CBSE 4 4 UNIT UNIT Fiction F.4 Keeping It From Harold by P.G. Wodehouse 1. Before you read "Keeping It From Harold", the teacher will encourage you to answer or discuss the following. What are the different weight categories in Boxing? Have you ever heard the song whose lyrics go like...."He floats like a butterfly and stings like a bee"? Who does 'he' refer to? He is also know as 'The Greatest' boxer of all time. What was his original name? How many times did he win the World Heavyweight Belt? Find out from your friend if he /she watches WWE and who is his/her favourite wrestler. Also find out why he/she likes this wrestler. Discuss with your friend as to why these wrestlers have such a large fan following. Has the perception of people changed over the century with respect to those who fight in the ring? 2. Now read the story 1. "Ma!" Mrs. Bramble looked up, beaming with a kind of amiable fat-headedness. A domestic creature, wrapped up in Bill, her husband, and Harold, her son. At the present moment only the latter was with her. He sat on the other side of the table, his lips gravely pursed and his eyes a trifle cloudy behind their spectacles. Before him on the red tablecloth lay an open book. His powerful brain was plainly busy. 2. "Yes, dearie?" 3. "Will you hear me?" 4. Mrs. Bramble took the book. 5. "Yes, mother will hear you, precious." 6. A slight frown, marred the smoothness of Harold Bramble's brow. It jarred upon him, this habit of his mother's of referring to herself in the third person, as if she were addressing a baby, instead of a young man of ten who had taken the spelling and dictation prize last term on his head. • • • • fat-headedness : foolishness 28 CBSE Fiction 29 7. He cleared his throat and fixed his eyes upon the cut-glass hangings of the chandelier. 8. "Be good, sweet maid," he began, with the toneless rapidity affected by youths of his age when reciting poetry….. 9. "You do study so hard, dearie, you'll give yourself a headache. Why don't you take a nice walk by the river for half an hour, and come back nice and fresh?" 10. The spectacled child considered the point for a moment gravely. Then, nodding, he arranged his books in readiness for his return and went out. The front door closed with a decorous softness. 11. It was a constant source of amazement to Mrs. Bramble that she should have brought such a prodigy as Harold into the world. Harold was so different from ordinary children, so devoted to his books, such a model of behaviour, so altogether admirable. The only drawback was that his very 'perfection' had made necessary a series of evasions and even deliberate falsehoods on the part of herself and her husband, highly distasteful to both. They were lovers of truth, but they had realized that there are times when truth must be sacrificed. At any cost, the facts concerning Mr. Bramble's profession must be kept from Harold. 12. While he was a baby it had not mattered so much. But when he began to move about and take notice, Mrs. Bramble said to Mr. Bramble, "Bill, we must keep it from Harold." A little later, when the child had begun to show signs of being about to become a model of goodness and intelligence, and had already taken two prizes at the Sunday-school, the senior curate of the parish, meeting Mr. Bramble one morning, said nervously-for, after all, it was a delicate subject to broach, "Er- Bramble, I think, on the whole, it would be as well to-er-keep it from Harold." 13. And only the other day, Mrs. Bramble's brother, Major Percy Stokes, dropping in for a cup of tea, had said, "I hope you are keeping it from Harold. It is the least you can do", and had gone on to make one or two remarks about men of wrath which, considering that his cheek-bones were glistening with Mr. Bramble's buttered toast, were in poor taste. But Percy was like that. Enemies said that he liked the sound of his own voice. decorous : polite, calm and sensible behaviour wrath : intense anger CBSE Fiction 30 14. Certainly he was very persuasive. Mr. Bramble had fallen in with the suggestion without demur. In private life he was the mildest and most obliging of men, and always yielded to everybody. The very naming of Harold had caused a sacrifice on his part. 15. When it was certain that he was about to become a father, he had expressed a desire that the child should be named John, if a boy, after Mr John L. Sullivan, or, if a girl, Marie, after Miss Marie Lloyd. But Mrs Bramble saying that Harold was such a sweet name, he had withdrawn his suggestions with the utmost good- humour. 16. Nobody could help liking this excellent man; which made it all the greater pity that his walk in life was of such a nature that it simply had to be kept from Harold. 17. He was a professional boxer. That was the trouble. 18. Before the coming of Harold, he had been proud of being a professional boxer. His ability to paste his fellow-man in the eye while apparently meditating an attack on his stomach, and vice versa, had filled him with that genial glow of self-satisfaction which comes to philanthropists and other benefactors of the species. It had seemed to him a thing on which to congratulate himself that of all London's teeming millions there was not a man, weighing eight stone four, whom he could not overcome in a twenty-round contest. He was delighted to be the possessor of a left hook which had won the approval of the newspapers. 19. And then Harold had come into his life, and changed him into a furtive practiser of shady deeds. Before, he had gone about the world with a match-box full of press- notices, which he would extract with a pin and read to casual acquaintances. Now, he quailed at the sight of his name in print, so thoroughly had he become imbued with the necessity of keeping it from Harold. 20. With an ordinary boy it would have mattered less. But Harold was different. Secretly proud of him as they were, both Bill and his wife were a little afraid of their wonderful child. The fact was, as Bill himself put it, Harold was showing a bit too much class for them. He had formed a corner in brains, as far as the Bramble family was concerned. They had come to regard him as being of a superior order. 21. Yet Harold, defying the laws of heredity, had run to intellect as his father had run to demur : reluctance / objection Mr John L. Sullivan : American Boxing legend (1858-1918), lasting the bare-knuckled boxing championship, World heavyweight boxing champion from 1882-1892 Miss Marie Lloyd : Music hall artist 1870-1922 philanthropist : people who give donations or care about others furtive : cautious or secretive quailed : showed fear formed a corner : attained mastery in; gained a monopoly CBSE Fiction muscle. He had learned to read and write with amazing quickness. He sang in the choir. 22. And now, at the age of ten, a pupil at a local private school where they wore mortar boards and generally comported themselves like young dons, he had already won a prize for spelling and dictation. You simply couldn't take a boy like that aside and tell him that the father whom he believed to be a commercial traveller was affectionately known to a large section of the inhabitants of London, as "Young Porky." There were no two ways about it. You had to keep it from him. 23. So, Harold grew in stature and intelligence, without a suspicion of the real identity of the square-jawed man with the irregularly-shaped nose who came and went mysteriously in their semi-detached, red-brick home. He was a self-centred child, and, accepting the commercial traveller fiction, dismissed the subject from his mind and busied himself with things of more moment. And time slipped by. 24. Mrs. Bramble, left alone, resumed work on the sock which she was darning. For the first time since Harold had reached years of intelligence she was easy in her mind about the future. A week from tonight would see the end of all her anxieties. On that day Bill would fight his last fight, the twenty-round contest with that American Murphy at the National Sporting Club for which he was now training at the White Hart down the road. He had promised that it should be the last. He was getting on. He was thirty-one, and he said himself that he would have to be chucking the game before it chucked him. His idea was to retire from active work and try for a job as instructor at one of these big schools or colleges. He had a splendid record for respectability and sobriety and all the other qualities which headmasters demanded in those who taught their young gentlemen to box and several of his friends who had obtained similar posts described the job in question as extremely soft. So that it seemed to Mrs. Bramble that all might now be considered well. She smiled happily to herself as she darned her sock. 25. She was interrupted in her meditations by a knock at the front door. She put down her sock and listened. 26. Martha, the general, pattered along the passage, and then there came the sound of voices speaking in an undertone. Footsteps made themselves heard in the passage. The door opened. The head and shoulders of Major Percy Stokes insinuated themselves into the room. 27. The Major cocked a mild blue eye at her. comported : conducted oneself; behaved a commercial traveller: firm's representative visiting shops etc to get orders. moment: importance the general : (here) the only servant who serves as an all purpose help/maid. insinuated : suggested something bad indirectly 31 Page 5 CBSE 4 4 UNIT UNIT Fiction F.4 Keeping It From Harold by P.G. Wodehouse 1. Before you read "Keeping It From Harold", the teacher will encourage you to answer or discuss the following. What are the different weight categories in Boxing? Have you ever heard the song whose lyrics go like...."He floats like a butterfly and stings like a bee"? Who does 'he' refer to? He is also know as 'The Greatest' boxer of all time. What was his original name? How many times did he win the World Heavyweight Belt? Find out from your friend if he /she watches WWE and who is his/her favourite wrestler. Also find out why he/she likes this wrestler. Discuss with your friend as to why these wrestlers have such a large fan following. Has the perception of people changed over the century with respect to those who fight in the ring? 2. Now read the story 1. "Ma!" Mrs. Bramble looked up, beaming with a kind of amiable fat-headedness. A domestic creature, wrapped up in Bill, her husband, and Harold, her son. At the present moment only the latter was with her. He sat on the other side of the table, his lips gravely pursed and his eyes a trifle cloudy behind their spectacles. Before him on the red tablecloth lay an open book. His powerful brain was plainly busy. 2. "Yes, dearie?" 3. "Will you hear me?" 4. Mrs. Bramble took the book. 5. "Yes, mother will hear you, precious." 6. A slight frown, marred the smoothness of Harold Bramble's brow. It jarred upon him, this habit of his mother's of referring to herself in the third person, as if she were addressing a baby, instead of a young man of ten who had taken the spelling and dictation prize last term on his head. • • • • fat-headedness : foolishness 28 CBSE Fiction 29 7. He cleared his throat and fixed his eyes upon the cut-glass hangings of the chandelier. 8. "Be good, sweet maid," he began, with the toneless rapidity affected by youths of his age when reciting poetry….. 9. "You do study so hard, dearie, you'll give yourself a headache. Why don't you take a nice walk by the river for half an hour, and come back nice and fresh?" 10. The spectacled child considered the point for a moment gravely. Then, nodding, he arranged his books in readiness for his return and went out. The front door closed with a decorous softness. 11. It was a constant source of amazement to Mrs. Bramble that she should have brought such a prodigy as Harold into the world. Harold was so different from ordinary children, so devoted to his books, such a model of behaviour, so altogether admirable. The only drawback was that his very 'perfection' had made necessary a series of evasions and even deliberate falsehoods on the part of herself and her husband, highly distasteful to both. They were lovers of truth, but they had realized that there are times when truth must be sacrificed. At any cost, the facts concerning Mr. Bramble's profession must be kept from Harold. 12. While he was a baby it had not mattered so much. But when he began to move about and take notice, Mrs. Bramble said to Mr. Bramble, "Bill, we must keep it from Harold." A little later, when the child had begun to show signs of being about to become a model of goodness and intelligence, and had already taken two prizes at the Sunday-school, the senior curate of the parish, meeting Mr. Bramble one morning, said nervously-for, after all, it was a delicate subject to broach, "Er- Bramble, I think, on the whole, it would be as well to-er-keep it from Harold." 13. And only the other day, Mrs. Bramble's brother, Major Percy Stokes, dropping in for a cup of tea, had said, "I hope you are keeping it from Harold. It is the least you can do", and had gone on to make one or two remarks about men of wrath which, considering that his cheek-bones were glistening with Mr. Bramble's buttered toast, were in poor taste. But Percy was like that. Enemies said that he liked the sound of his own voice. decorous : polite, calm and sensible behaviour wrath : intense anger CBSE Fiction 30 14. Certainly he was very persuasive. Mr. Bramble had fallen in with the suggestion without demur. In private life he was the mildest and most obliging of men, and always yielded to everybody. The very naming of Harold had caused a sacrifice on his part. 15. When it was certain that he was about to become a father, he had expressed a desire that the child should be named John, if a boy, after Mr John L. Sullivan, or, if a girl, Marie, after Miss Marie Lloyd. But Mrs Bramble saying that Harold was such a sweet name, he had withdrawn his suggestions with the utmost good- humour. 16. Nobody could help liking this excellent man; which made it all the greater pity that his walk in life was of such a nature that it simply had to be kept from Harold. 17. He was a professional boxer. That was the trouble. 18. Before the coming of Harold, he had been proud of being a professional boxer. His ability to paste his fellow-man in the eye while apparently meditating an attack on his stomach, and vice versa, had filled him with that genial glow of self-satisfaction which comes to philanthropists and other benefactors of the species. It had seemed to him a thing on which to congratulate himself that of all London's teeming millions there was not a man, weighing eight stone four, whom he could not overcome in a twenty-round contest. He was delighted to be the possessor of a left hook which had won the approval of the newspapers. 19. And then Harold had come into his life, and changed him into a furtive practiser of shady deeds. Before, he had gone about the world with a match-box full of press- notices, which he would extract with a pin and read to casual acquaintances. Now, he quailed at the sight of his name in print, so thoroughly had he become imbued with the necessity of keeping it from Harold. 20. With an ordinary boy it would have mattered less. But Harold was different. Secretly proud of him as they were, both Bill and his wife were a little afraid of their wonderful child. The fact was, as Bill himself put it, Harold was showing a bit too much class for them. He had formed a corner in brains, as far as the Bramble family was concerned. They had come to regard him as being of a superior order. 21. Yet Harold, defying the laws of heredity, had run to intellect as his father had run to demur : reluctance / objection Mr John L. Sullivan : American Boxing legend (1858-1918), lasting the bare-knuckled boxing championship, World heavyweight boxing champion from 1882-1892 Miss Marie Lloyd : Music hall artist 1870-1922 philanthropist : people who give donations or care about others furtive : cautious or secretive quailed : showed fear formed a corner : attained mastery in; gained a monopoly CBSE Fiction muscle. He had learned to read and write with amazing quickness. He sang in the choir. 22. And now, at the age of ten, a pupil at a local private school where they wore mortar boards and generally comported themselves like young dons, he had already won a prize for spelling and dictation. You simply couldn't take a boy like that aside and tell him that the father whom he believed to be a commercial traveller was affectionately known to a large section of the inhabitants of London, as "Young Porky." There were no two ways about it. You had to keep it from him. 23. So, Harold grew in stature and intelligence, without a suspicion of the real identity of the square-jawed man with the irregularly-shaped nose who came and went mysteriously in their semi-detached, red-brick home. He was a self-centred child, and, accepting the commercial traveller fiction, dismissed the subject from his mind and busied himself with things of more moment. And time slipped by. 24. Mrs. Bramble, left alone, resumed work on the sock which she was darning. For the first time since Harold had reached years of intelligence she was easy in her mind about the future. A week from tonight would see the end of all her anxieties. On that day Bill would fight his last fight, the twenty-round contest with that American Murphy at the National Sporting Club for which he was now training at the White Hart down the road. He had promised that it should be the last. He was getting on. He was thirty-one, and he said himself that he would have to be chucking the game before it chucked him. His idea was to retire from active work and try for a job as instructor at one of these big schools or colleges. He had a splendid record for respectability and sobriety and all the other qualities which headmasters demanded in those who taught their young gentlemen to box and several of his friends who had obtained similar posts described the job in question as extremely soft. So that it seemed to Mrs. Bramble that all might now be considered well. She smiled happily to herself as she darned her sock. 25. She was interrupted in her meditations by a knock at the front door. She put down her sock and listened. 26. Martha, the general, pattered along the passage, and then there came the sound of voices speaking in an undertone. Footsteps made themselves heard in the passage. The door opened. The head and shoulders of Major Percy Stokes insinuated themselves into the room. 27. The Major cocked a mild blue eye at her. comported : conducted oneself; behaved a commercial traveller: firm's representative visiting shops etc to get orders. moment: importance the general : (here) the only servant who serves as an all purpose help/maid. insinuated : suggested something bad indirectly 31 CBSE Fiction 32 28. "Harold anywhere about?" 29. "He's gone out for a nice walk. Whatever brings you here, Percy, so late? " 30. Percy made no answer. He withdrew his head. 31. He then reappeared, this time in his entirety, and remained holding the door open. More footsteps in the passage, and through the doorway in a sideways fashion suggestive of a diffident crab, came a short, sturdy, red-headed man with a broken nose and a propitiatory smile, at the sight of whom Mrs. Bramble, dropping her sock, rose as if propelled by powerful machinery, and exclaimed, "Bill!" 32. Mr. Bramble - for it was he - scratched his head, grinned feebly, and looked for assistance to the Major. 33. "The scales have fallen from his eyes." 34. "What scales?" demanded Mrs. Bramble, a literal-minded woman. "And what are you doing here, Bill, when you ought to be at the White Hart, training?" 35. "That's just what I'm telling you," said Percy. "I been wrestling with Bill, and I been vouchsafed the victory." 36. "You!" said Mrs. Bramble, with uncomplimentary astonishment, letting her gaze wander over her brother's weedy form. 37. "Jerry Fisher's a hard nut," said Mr. Bramble, apologetically. "He don't like people coming round talking to a man he's training, unless he introduces them or they're newspaper gents." 38. "After that I kept away. But I wrote the letters and I sent the tracts. Bill, which of the tracts was it that snatched you from the primrose path?" 39. "It wasn't so much the letters, Perce. It was what you wrote about Harold. You see, Jane---" 40. "Perhaps you'll kindly allow me to get a word in edgeways, you two," said Mrs. Bramble, her temper for once becoming ruffled. "You can stop talking for half an instant, Percy, if you know how, while Bill tells me what he's doing here when he ought to be at the White Hart with Mr. Fisher, doing his bit of training." 41. Mr. Bramble met her eye and blinked awkwardly. 42. " Percy's just been telling you, Jane. He wrote---" 43. "I haven't made head or tail of a word that Percy's said, and I don't expect to. All I propitiatory : appeasing vouchsafed : guaranteed weedy : thin or weak primrose path : pursuit of pleasureRead More
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