Village books

'Ah, call me not that,' he said, with a flourish of his fat hands,
regaining immediately his portentous flippancy. 'I would be known rather
as the Brother of the Shadow.'
'I should have thought you could be only a very distant relation of
anything so unsubstantial,' said Arthur, with a laugh.
Oliver's face turned red with furious anger. His strange blue eyes grew
cold with hatred, and he thrust out his scarlet lips till he had the
ruthless expression of a Nero. The gibe at his obesity had caught him on
the raw. Susie feared that he would make so insulting a reply that a
quarrel must ensure.
'Well, really, if we want to go to the fair we must start,' she said
quickly. 'And Marie is dying to be rid of us.'
They got up, and clattered down the stairs into the street.


4

They came down to the busy, narrow street which led into the Boulevard du
Montparnasse. Electric trams passed through it with harsh ringing of
bells, and people surged along the pavements.
The fair to which they were going was held at the Lion de Belfort, not
more than a mile away, and Arthur hailed a cab.


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