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Hichens, Robert Smythe, 1864-1950

"The Prophet of Berkeley Square"

"Let me only discover him!
I'll break every bone in his accursed body."
And with this rather bald statement he rolled out of the room in one
direction, while Mr. Sagittarius, without more ado, cast aside his _toga
virilibus_ and darted out of it into another, just as Madame escorted by
Mrs. Bridgeman, Lady Enid, the great Towle and the whole of the company
assembled at Zoological House, appeared majestically--and proceeding as
an Empress--in the aperture of the main doorway.

CHAPTER XIX
MRS. MERILLIA HEATS THE POKER
When Mr. Sagittarius, running at his fullest speed, emerged from
Zoological House, wearing the hat and coat that the saturnine little
clergyman had left behind him, the night was damp and gusty. As he
hastened down the drive, and the sound of twenty guitars, playing
"Oh would I were a Spaniard among you lemon groves!" died away in the
lighted mansion behind him, he heard the roaring of the beasts in the
gardens close by. In the wet darkness it sounded peculiarly terrific.
He shuddered, and, holding up Mr. Ferdinand's trousers with both hands,
hurried onward through the mire, whither he knew not. His only thought
was that all was now discovered and that his life was in danger.


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