Fiction > Book editions > London, 1885 - Dynamiter

102 NEVr ARABIAN NIGHTS.
' Surely not,' exclaimed the gentleman.
' Well, then,' returned Somerset, 'fifty.'
The gentleman regarded him with an air of some
amazement. ' You seem to be strangely elastic in your
demands,' said he. ' What if I were to proceed on your
own principle of division, and offer twenty-five 1 '
' Done ! ' cried Somerset ; and then, overcome Ly a
sudden embarrassment, ' You see,' he added, apologeti-
cally, ' it is all found money for me.'
' Really ? ' said the stranger, looking at him all
the while with gi'owing wonder. 'Without extras,
then ? '
'I — I suppose so,' stammered the keeper of the
lodging-house.
' Service included 1 ' pursued the gentleman.
' Service ? ' cried Somerset. ' Do you mean that you
expect me to empty your slops ? '
The gentleman regarded him Avith a very friendly
interest. ' My dear fellow,' said he, ' if you take my
advice, you will give up this business.' And thereupon
he resumed his hat and took himself away.
This smarting disappointment produced a strong
effect on the artist of the cartoons ; and he began with
shame to eat up his rosier illusions. First one and then
the other of his great works was condemned, withdrawn
from exhibition, and relegated, as a mere wall-picture, to
the decoration of the dining-room. Their place was
taken by a replica of the original Avaf ered announcement,
to which, in particularly large letters, he had added the
pithy rubric : ' JS^o service.^ Meanwhile- he had fallen
into something as nearly bordering on low spirits as was
consistent with his disposition ; depressed, at once by the
failure of his scheme, the laughaljle turn of his late
interview, and the judicial blindness of the public to the
merit of the twin cartoons.
Perhaps a week had passed Ijefore he was again
startled by the note of the knocker. A gentleman of a
somewhat foreign and somewhat military air, yet closely
shaven and wearing a soft hat, desired in the politest
terms to visit the apartments. He had (he explained)