... A shell finished with satin, with robe, etc.... All
necessary service.... A hearse (or open car, as preferred) and four
horses, three mourning coaches, with two horses each. Coachmen and
attendants in mourning, with gloves. Superintendent, L38.... Estimates
for cremation on application.... Broken column, in marble, L70. The
same, with less carving, L48.' And so on, and so on; and at the top of
every page: 'Hugo, Sloane Street, London. Telegraphic address:
"Complete, London." Hugo, Sloane Street, London. Telegraphic address:
"Complete, London." Hugo--'
Whom was he going to bury the day after to-morrow--he, Hugo,
undertaker, with his reverent attendants of appearance guaranteed
respectable?
The great catalogue slipped to the floor with a terrible noise, and
Simon Shawn sprang out from his lair, and stopped at the sight of his
master in pyjamas under the full-blazing electric chandelier.
'All serene,' said Hugo; 'I only dropped a book. Go to sleep. Perhaps we
may reach Devonshire to-morrow,' he added kindly.
He sympathized with Simon.
'Yes, sir.'
He thought he would take a stroll on the roof; it might calm his
nerves.... Foolishness! How much wiser to take a sedative!
Then he turned to the Montaigne, and after he had glanced at various
pages, his eye encountered a sentence in italics: _'Wisdome hath hir
excesses, and no lesse need of moderation, than follie.
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