Love the Laggard (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. 1901. Excerpt: ... XXXVII THE COAL-HEAP Symes bought Monk's Place, and one Saturday afternoon in October went down to take possession of his estate. He had observed that Gaunt's great shoulders were generally encased in some sort of tweed when he left London for his country seat, and it struck Symes that an office-worn frock-coat was hardly a suitable thing to wear among those green fields and hedges. However, as this idea did not enter his mind till he was on the way to Paddington in a cab, he was unable to remedy the defect beyond stopping the vehicle in order to purchase a light cloth cap, which, the first time he walked forth to view his new purchase, he put upon his head. Otherwise his outer man was metropolitan. Symes had paid a very fair price for Monk's Place, but he had got it cheap for all that. This he acknowledged when he had made a circuit of the grounds, accompanied by Gaunt's steward, whose services the solicitor was retaining. He remembered what the place had been like when he bought it for Gaunt, and, comparing its condition then with the condition he found it in now, he admitted to himself that he had done wisely in outbidding everyone else. He didn't care a snap for the country, but he snuffed up the pure air with vigour because he had paid for it, and intended to have full value out of it. On Monday he would be back in the Strand inhaling smoke and microbes; until then an infinity of oxygen was at the service of his nostrils, so he signified his appreciation of the fact in the manner of the town mouse. After some conversation Symes continued his walk alone. A quaint figure he made, with the creased black coat hugging his lean loins, and the obtrusively new cap, with its saucy peak and daintilypoised button, hiding his scanty wisps of hair. No wonder, the...