Argosy (UK), January 1955 — page 64: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

fa ea fe) he finalized, ‘our nephew Gustave gets your stocks ’’—he ticked an irate finger —“ your shares, your rents, this house, the furni- — = ture, the pedigrees, the paddocks, the jewellery, the lot! <a Oe a 2 as eo CARYL BRAHMS. ‘““ What good would the cows be to my favourite nephew, with- == out the grazing?” 3 Tante Mignonnette tap-tapped a tattoo on the puce ‘plush— 3 : always her habit when becoming vexed. | 3 But Oncle Prosper was in a mood to press his point: ** So, —— “The lot,” agreed Tante Mignonnette, “if he is prudent. — Mademoiselle Sophie is a very charming young lady, well brought up, domesticated, dutiful, and of a loving dispesta : And also she has a dot which is not to be sneezed at! ” : “‘ Atchoo,”’ said Monsieur Gustave. And even as he felt for : his bandanna his eyes remained riveted on the Maidenhair Ferg in the centre of the table. Tante Mignonnette tap-tapped. Meanwhile, in torrid Dijon, Monsieur Gustave’s concierge, = still waiting for the summons to her daughter, was entertaininga — guest—and a guest who had not called to see her empty-handed. — This was Angélique, Mademoiselle Sophie’s Maman’s bonne a tout faire. She had brought with her a handsome Maidenhair Fern. Would Madame la Concierge be so kind as to take care of it for her, while she went for her annual holiday? - tee For only that morning Mademoiselle Sophie’s Maman had sent for the bonne 4 tout faire in the salon. ‘‘ You see that kind _ of a cabbage there? ”’ she had pointed to Monsieur Gustave’s fern. “Take it out of my sight this minute. I never wish to set eyes — on it again. It was given me by a monster! ” ; When her friend had taken her departure, Madame la Con- cierge peered at the plant and sniffed. It was not to be compared _ to the noble specimen that Monsieur Gustave was looking after __ for her. Truly, it is a wise housewife who knows her own aspidistra! = How noisy a night spent in the quiet of the country seems to one accustomed to ignoring the clip-clop of hoofs and the rumble —_— of carts on cobbles in a busy town like Dijon. ws Monsieur Gustave, tossing and turning under his mosquito- __ netting, was unable to close an eye for the hooting of the owls, a the lowing of the cows, the braying of the ass, the scratching and % scampering of the mice, and the snoring of his ‘relatives, rising and falling in a somnolent symphony. Of what use counting sheep jumping over a hurdle? They only multiplied a thousandfold and melted into the fronds of a — comichooks:.cor