Fiction > Book editions > London, 1885 - Dynamiter

EPILOGUE OF TUE CIGAR DIVAX. 199
'By Jove,' he thought, ' unquestionably Somerset ! '
And though this was the very man he had been so
sedulously careful to avoid, his unexplained position at
the receipt of custom changed distaste to curiosity.
' " Or opulent rotunda strike the sky," ' said the shop-
man to himself, in the tone of one considering a verse.
' I suppose it would be too much to say " orotunda," and
yet how noble it were ! "Or opulent orotunda strike
the sky." But that is the bitterness of arts ; you see a
good effect, and some nonsense about sense continually
intervenes.'
' Somerset, my dear fellow,' said Challoner, ' is this a
masquerade ? '
' What ? Challoner ! ' cried the shopman. ' I am
delighted to see you. One moment, till I finish the
octave of my somiet : only the octave.' And with a
friendly waggle of the hand, he once more buried himself
in the commerce of the Muses, ' I say,' he said presently,
looking up, ' you seem in wonderful preservation : how
about the hundred pounds ? '
' I have made a small inlieritance from a great aunt
in Wales,' replied Challoner modestly.
' Ah,' said Somerset, ' I very much doubt the legiti-
macy of inheritance. The State, in my view, should
collar it. I am now going through a stage of socialism
and poetry,' he added apologetically, as one v>dio spoke
of a course of medicinal waters.
'And are you really the person of the — establish-
ment?' inquired Challoner, deftly evading the word
' shop.'
' A vendor, sir, a vendor,' returned the other,
pocketing his poesy. ' I help old Happy and Glorious.
Can I ofter you a w^eed ? '
' Well, I scarcely like . . . ' began Challoner.
' Nonsense, my dear fellow,' cried the shopman.
' We are very proud of the business ; and the old man,
let me inform you, besides being the most egregious of
created beings from the point of view of ethics, is literally
sprung from the loins of kings. " De Godall je suis
le fervent." There is only one Godall. — By the way,' he