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Excerpt: ...shoes, said Jonah, feeling that he was making an appointment with this fascinating stranger
As she left the shop she handed Jonah a card, on which was printed: MISS CLARA GRIMES, TEACHER OF MUSIC. Terms: 1 pound 1 shilling per quarter. Well, I''m damned! said Jonah. Old Grimes''s daughter, of course. And as he watched her crossing the street with a quick, alert step, an intense yearning and loneliness came over him. Something within him contracted till it hurt. And suddenly there flashed across his mind some half-forgotten words of Mrs Yabsley''s: Don''t think of marryin'' till yer feel there''s somethin'' wrong wi'' yer inside, for that''s w''ere it ketches yer. He sighed heavily, and went into the shop, preoccupied and silent for that day. CHAPTER 13 A FAMILY IN EXILE Dad Grimes had just finished the story of his nose and the cabman, and the group in the bar of the Angel exploded like a shell. Dicky Freeman''s mouth seemed to slip both ways at once till it reached his ears. The barman put down the glass he was wiping and twisted the cloth in his fingers till the tears stood in his eyes. The noise was deafening. An'' ''e sez, ''Cum on, you an'' yer nose, an'' I''ll fight the pair o'' yez,'' spluttered Dicky, with hysterical gasps, and went off again. His chuckles ended in a dead silence. There was no sound but the rapid breathing of the men. The barman flattened a mosquito on his cheek, the smack sounded like a kiss. Dicky Freeman emptied his glass, and then stared through the bottom as if he wondered where the liquor had gone. I assure you for the moment I was staggered, said Dad, rounding off his story. I am aware that my nose has added to the gaiety of nations, but it was the first time that it had been reckoned as a creature distinct from myself with an individuality of its own. Dad Grimes was a man of fifty, wearing a frock coat that showed a faint green where the light fell on the shoulders, and a tall silk hat that had grown old with the wearer....
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