Village books

He
threw himself into an attitude of command and remained for a moment
perfectly still.
'You look as if you were posing, Haddo,' said Warren huskily.
'He couldn't help doing that if he tried,' laughed Clayson.
Oliver Haddo slowly turned his glance to the painter.
'I grieve to see, O most excellent Warren, that the ripe juice of the
_aperitif_ has glazed your sparkling eye.'
'Do you mean to say I'm drunk, sir?'
'In one gross, but expressive, word, drunk.'
The painter grotesquely flung himself back in his chair as though he had
been struck a blow, and Haddo looked steadily at Clayson.
'How often have I explained to you, O Clayson, that your deplorable lack
of education precludes you from the brilliancy to which you aspire?'
For an instant Oliver Haddo resumed his effective pose; and Susie,
smiling, looked at him. He was a man of great size, two or three
inches more than six feet high; but the most noticeable thing about
him was a vast obesity. His paunch was of imposing dimensions. His face
was large and fleshy.


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