The Hillman (Paperback)

This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated.1917 Excerpt: ... Henri Graillot had made himself thoroughly comfortable. He was ensconced in the largest of John's easy chairs, his pipe in his mouth, a recently refilled teacup--Graillot was English in nothing except his predilection for tea--on the small table by his side. Through a little cloud of tobacco-smoke he was studying his host. "So you call yourself a Londoner now, my young friend, I suppose," he remarked, taking pensive note of John's fashionable clothes. "It is a transformation, beyond a doubt Is it, I wonder, upon the surface only, or have you indeed become heart and soul a son of this corrupt city?" "Whatever I may have become," John grumbled, "it's meant three months of the hardest work I've ever done " Graillot held out his pipe in front of him and blew away a dense cloud of smoke. "Explain yourself," he insisted. John stood on the hearth-rug, with his hands in his pockets. His morning clothes were exceedingly wellcut, his tie and collar unexceptionable, his heir closely cropped according to the fashion-of the moment. He had an extremely civilized air. "Look here, Graillot," he said, "I'll tell you what I've done, although I don't suppose you would understand what it means to me. I've visited practically every theater in London." "Alone?" "Sometimes with Miss Maurel, sometimes with her little friend, Sophy Gerard, and sometimes alone," John replied. "I have bought a Baedeker, taken a taxicab by the day, and done all the sights. I've spent weeks in the National Gallery, picture-gazing, and I've done all those more modern shows up round Bond Street. I have bought a racing-car and learned to drive it. I have been to dinner parties that have bored me stiff. I have been introduced to crowds of people whom I never wish to see again, and made one or two friends, ...