4 in.--
appeared absurdly juvenile. He had one arm round her neck, and she
was holding his other hand and smirking.
I, knowing something of Begglely's machine, willingly accepted the
lady's explanation, which was to the effect that the male in
question was her nephew, aged eleven; but the uncharitable
ridiculed this statement, and appearances were certainly against
her.
It was in the early days of the photographic craze, and an
inexperienced world was rather pleased with the idea of being taken
on the cheap. The consequence was that nearly everyone for three
miles round sat or stood or leant or laid to Begglely at one time
or another, with the result that a less conceited parish than ours
it would have been difficult to discover. No one who had once
looked upon a photograph of himself taken by Begglely ever again
felt any pride in his personal appearance. The picture was
invariably a revelation to him.
Later, some evil-disposed person invented Kodaks, and Begglely went
everywhere slung on to a thing that looked like an overgrown
missionary box, and that bore a legend to the effect that if
Begglely would pull the button, a shameless Company would do the
rest.
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