Page:Et Cetera, a Collector's Scrap-Book (1924).djvu/30

 Dorothy: It’s much too late for the postman. It must be the landlord come for the rent.

Philip [sitting down again:] Perhaps he will break his neck on his damned stairs. Then we can pick his pockets.

Dorothy: It will make him angry if we don’t go down.

Philip: He will forget that anger when he finds that we can’t pay him.

Dorothy: I can hear his feet on the stairs.

Philip: If I am strong enough I will throw him out of the window.

D. V.: Mr. Philip Oldcastle?

Philip: That is my name. What do you want? I suppose you have come from the landlord.

D. V.: No; at least, not exactly. It’s rather an unusual case. You see, Mr. Oldcastle, my name is Death.

Philip: I do not think that very likely.

D. V. [affronted]: And why, sir?

Philip: Because you are reputed never to come when you are wanted.

D. V. [resting his bag on a chair]: I am glad to hear that for once I am welcome. My experience is