"You prefer to stay here and imagine that all the world is gaping at
your pictures?
your pictures?
Kipling - Poems
Talking of war, there'll be
trouble in the Balkans in the spring. "
"That trouble is long coming. I wonder if we could drag Dick out there
when it comes off? "
Dick entered the room soon afterwards, and the question was put to him.
"Not good enough," he said shortly. "I'm too comf'y where I am. "
"Surely you aren't taking all the stuff in the papers seriously? " said
the Nilghai. "Your vogue will be ended in less than six months,--the
public will know your touch and go on to something new,--and where will
you be then? "
"Here, in England. "
"When you might be doing decent work among us out there? Nonsense! I
shall go, the Keneu will be there, Torp will be there, Cassavetti will
be there, and the whole lot of us will be there, and we shall have as
much as ever we can do, with unlimited fighting and the chance for you
of seeing things that would make the reputation of three Verestchagins. "
"Um! " said Dick, pulling at his pipe.
"You prefer to stay here and imagine that all the world is gaping at
your pictures? Just think how full an average man's life is of his own
pursuits and pleasures. When twenty thousand of him find time to look
up between mouthfuls and grunt something about something they aren't
the least interested in, the net result is called fame, reputation, or
notoriety, according to the taste and fancy of the speller my lord. "
"I know that as well as you do. Give me credit for a little gumption. "
"Be hanged if I do! "
"Be hanged, then; you probably will be,--for a spy, by excited Turks.
Heigh-ho! I'm weary, dead weary, and virtue has gone out of me. " Dick
dropped into a chair, and was fast asleep in a minute.
"That's a bad sign," said the Nilghai, in an undertone.
Torpenhow picked the pipe from the waistcoat where it was beginning to
burn, and put a pillow behind the head. "We can't help; we can't help,"
he said. "It's a good ugly sort of old cocoanut, and I'm fond of it.
There's the scar of the wipe he got when he was cut over in the square. "
"Shouldn't wonder if that has made him a trifle mad.
trouble in the Balkans in the spring. "
"That trouble is long coming. I wonder if we could drag Dick out there
when it comes off? "
Dick entered the room soon afterwards, and the question was put to him.
"Not good enough," he said shortly. "I'm too comf'y where I am. "
"Surely you aren't taking all the stuff in the papers seriously? " said
the Nilghai. "Your vogue will be ended in less than six months,--the
public will know your touch and go on to something new,--and where will
you be then? "
"Here, in England. "
"When you might be doing decent work among us out there? Nonsense! I
shall go, the Keneu will be there, Torp will be there, Cassavetti will
be there, and the whole lot of us will be there, and we shall have as
much as ever we can do, with unlimited fighting and the chance for you
of seeing things that would make the reputation of three Verestchagins. "
"Um! " said Dick, pulling at his pipe.
"You prefer to stay here and imagine that all the world is gaping at
your pictures? Just think how full an average man's life is of his own
pursuits and pleasures. When twenty thousand of him find time to look
up between mouthfuls and grunt something about something they aren't
the least interested in, the net result is called fame, reputation, or
notoriety, according to the taste and fancy of the speller my lord. "
"I know that as well as you do. Give me credit for a little gumption. "
"Be hanged if I do! "
"Be hanged, then; you probably will be,--for a spy, by excited Turks.
Heigh-ho! I'm weary, dead weary, and virtue has gone out of me. " Dick
dropped into a chair, and was fast asleep in a minute.
"That's a bad sign," said the Nilghai, in an undertone.
Torpenhow picked the pipe from the waistcoat where it was beginning to
burn, and put a pillow behind the head. "We can't help; we can't help,"
he said. "It's a good ugly sort of old cocoanut, and I'm fond of it.
There's the scar of the wipe he got when he was cut over in the square. "
"Shouldn't wonder if that has made him a trifle mad.
