Page:Tex; a chapter in the life of Alexander Teixeira de Mattos (IA texchapterinlife00mcke).pdf/160



Tex: I sometimes mention places which I have never visited.

Joseph: Bucharest is a second Paris.

Tex: Grrrrrrrrmph!

Joseph: Though I daresay it has been destroyed by now.

Tex: (to his wife) Have you done with Femina''? If so, I'll give it to those Dutch ladies.''

(Stalks off to Mrs. and Miss van L.) Joseph: (to an Irish widow) I have been to all the capitals of Europe  (and holds the wretched Mrs. N. enthralled, so I am told, for two mortal hours)

''Later. Joseph (to [my wife]): How clever of your husband to speak Dutch to those ladies!''

[My wife]'': Not at all! He's a Dutchman.''

''Joseph: I know Holland very well. I have been to Rotterdam. I have been to Java. The finest botanical gardens in the world are at Buitenzorg near Batavia.''

[My wife]: Re-e-ally!

Can you Teixeira asks, 2. 12. 20, lend me that book by James Joyce (Portrait of the Artist''), which you once wrote to me about? I see Barbellion praises it enthusiastically in the new diary.''

Would you like me to lend you A Last Diary or have you bought it?

Your Uncle Joseph was in disgrace yesterday.