The Servant in the House eBook

Charles Rann Kennedy
This eBook from the Gutenberg Project consists of approximately 90 pages of information about The Servant in the House.

The Servant in the House eBook

Charles Rann Kennedy
This eBook from the Gutenberg Project consists of approximately 90 pages of information about The Servant in the House.

ROBERT.  Then you’d better look slippy!

BISHOP.  I beg your pardon? . . .

ROBERT [with a flap at the trumpet].  Go on:  you ’eard.

BISHOP.  Of course, the financial undertaking is considerable:  it’s not like an investment, where there is some reasonable hope of a return:  it’s merely a matter of charity!  The money’s—­gone, so to speak.

ROBERT.  Yus, I’ve noticed that about money, myself.

BISHOP.  At the same time, I should like my name to be associated with your brother’s, in so worthy an enterprise . . .

ROBERT [mildly sarcastic].  You don’t say!

BISHOP.  And then again, I trust—­I say I trust—­I am not impervious to the more sacred obligations involved; but . . .

[He gropes blindly for bread.]

ROBERT.  I allus notice that sort of ’igh talk ends with a “but” . . .

BISHOP.  Naturally, I should like to learn a little, beforehand, of your brother’s views.  From what I gather, they are not altogether likely to coincide with my own.  Of course, he is an idealist, a dreamer.  Now, under these circumstances, perhaps . . .

Eh, what—­ Oh!  Bless my soul!

[MANSON has been offering him bread for some time.  He has just tumbled to the fact of his presence.  He rises.]

My—­my Brother from Benares, I presume?

ROBERT.  What, my pal, ’is brother!  Oh, Je’oshaphat!

BISHOP.  Ten thousand pardons!  Really, my eyesight is deplorable! 
Delighted to meet you! . . .

I was just observing to our charming host that—­er—­ Humph! . . .

Bless me!  Now what was I . . .

MANSON.  Something about your sacred obligations, I believe.

BISHOP.  May I trouble you again?

[MANSON gravely fixes the ear-trumpet in his ear.]

ROBERT.  That’s right:  stick the damned thing in ’is ear-’ole, comride!

MANSON [through the trumpet].  Your sacred obligations.

BISHOP.  Precisely, precisely!  Er—­ Shall we sit?

[They do so.  The BISHOP looks to MANSON to begin.  MANSON, failing him, the spirit begins to work within himself.]

Well—­er—–­speaking of that, of course, my dearly-beloved brother, I feel very seriously on the matter, very seriously—­as I am sure you do.  The restoration of a church is a tremendous, an overwhelming responsibility.  To begin with, it—­it costs quite a lot.  Doesn’t it?

MANSON.  It does:  quite a lot.

BISHOP.  Hm, yes—­yes! . . .  You mentioned Sacred obligations just now, and I think that on the whole I am inclined to agree with you.  It is an admirable way of putting it.  We must awaken people to a sense of their sacred obligations.  This is a work in which everybody can do something:  the rich man can give of the abundance with which it has pleased

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Project Gutenberg
The Servant in the House from Project Gutenberg. Public domain.