THE UNSPEAKABLE GENTLEMAN
said softly. "Ah, captain, there are not many men who would do it. Not any that I know, save you and the Marquis."
"Brutus," said my father, "a glass of rum."
With his eyes still on the fire, he drank the spirits, and sighed. "And now, Brutus," he continued, "my volume of Rabelais."
But when it was placed beside him, he left it unopened, and still continued to study the shifting scenes in the coals.
[163]
