E-text prepared by Juliet Sutherland, Emmy,
and the Project Gutenberg Online Distributed Proofreading Team
()
By Ian Hay
SCALLY: THE STORY OF A PERFECT GENTLEMAN. With Frontispiece. |
A KNIGHT ON WHEELS. |
HAPPY-GO-LUCKY. Illustrated by Charles E. Brock. |
A SAFETY MATCH. With frontispiece. |
A MAN'S MAN. With frontispiece. |
THE RIGHT STUFF. With frontispiece. |
HOUGHTON MIFFLIN COMPANY
Boston and New York
THE LEADING OBJECT PROVED TO BE A SMALL, WET, SHIVERING, WHIMPERING PUPPYSCALLY
THE STORY OF A PERFECT
GENTLEMAN
By IAN HAY
BOSTON AND NEW YORK
HOUGHTON MIFFLIN COMPANY
MDCCCCXV
COPYRIGHT, 1915, BY IAN HAY BEITH
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
Published November 1915
SCALLY
THE STORY OF A PERFECTGENTLEMAN
I
"Bettersea trem? Right, miss!"My wife, who has been married longenough to feel deeply gratified atbeing mistaken for a maiden lady,smiled seraphically at the conductor,and allowed herself to be hoisted upthe steps of the majestic vehicle providedby a paternal county council toconvey passengers—at a loss to theratepayers, I understand—from theEmbankment to Battersea.
Presently we ground our wayround a curve and began to crossWestminster Bridge. The conductor,[4]whose innate cockney bonhomie hishigh official position had failed toeradicate, presented himself before usand collected our fares.
"What part of Bettersea did yourequire, sir?" he asked of me.
I coughed and answered evasively:—
"Oh, about the middle."
"We haven't been there before,"added my wife, quite gratuitously.
The conductor smiled indulgentlyand punched our tickets.
"I'll tell you when to get down,"he said, and left us.
For some months we had been consideringthe question of buying a dog,and a good deal of our spare time—orperhaps I should say of my sparetime, for a woman's time is naturall