Page:Herbert Jenkins - The Rain Girl.djvu/108

 "There is so little open to a man with all the limitations of a university education."

"I'm afraid you're lazy." Lady Drewitt's tone implied no doubt whatever.

"No," said Beresford evenly, "I don't think I can be accused of being lazy; it's merely that I don't want to do anything. I'm tired of all this praise lavished on industry. I shall be just as happy in the next world as those inventive geniuses who first conceived screw-tops for bottles, or the sock-suspender. I"

"You are talking nonsense."

"I'm afraid I am," was the smiling retort.

"You have already thrown up an excellent appointment for no reason whatever."

"On the contrary, Aunt Caroline, I threw it up for a very excellent reason. I wanted to develop my soul."

"Fiddlesticks."

Beresford shrugged his shoulders.

"I confess I had reckoned without pneumonia," he added.

"I told you that you would catch cold, or something of the sort," said Lady Drewitt with unction.

"You did, Aunt Caroline; I give you every credit for pre-vision."

"And now you come back to London, spend your money buying new clothes and in expensive living, and at the end of a month you'll be a beggar." "Impoverished was the word, aunt. One can be impoverished without begging."