Try to pump me.
_Noble Owner._ Of course!
Very natural, you know, _I_ should be, in their case.
If they knew that this nag couldn't win the big race,
Or was not meant to run, then their course would be clear.
[_Espies_ Stranger _approaching._
Hillo! Not too near, ARTHUR! (_Aside._) Whom have we _here_?
_Polite Stranger_ (_insinuatingly_). Beg pardon, my Lord!
A bit out of my track.
Missed my way. But--ahem!--is that really the "crack"?
Why, he _looks_ cherry ripe--at a distance. I've heard
All sorts of reports--gossips _are_ so absurd!
But--_would_ you mind telling me--_has_ the Great Horse
Been really--got at? _Entre nous_, mind!--
_Noble Owner_ (_drily_). Of course!
_Dissolution's_ shy backers would much like to know.
But--_tell them who sent you to ask--it's no go!_
[_Exit, leaving_ Polite Stranger _plante la._
* * * * *
A LAY SERMON.
(SUGGESTED BY CERTAIN RECENT MANIFESTATIONS OF THE NONCONFORMIST
CONSCIENCE.)
Thou shalt not steal! That's a command
Which grips us with an iron hand;
And "he who prigs what isn't his'n,
When he is cotched shall go to prison!"
So runs the Cockney doggerel, clear
If ungrammatical, austere,
With not a saving clause to qualify
Its rigid Spartan rule, or mollify
Theft's Nemesis.
Pages:
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
31
32
33
34
35
36
37
38