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Oddsfish! by Robert Hugh Benson
page 277 of 587 (47%)

"The pretty cousin?" he said.

I could not afford to quarrel with him, but I could keep my dignity.

"That is my affair, Mr. Chiffinch. However--there is the fact. I am come
to town for this very purpose--to beg for something to do. Will His
Majesty see me?"

He looked at me for an instant; then he thought better, I think, of any
further rallying.

"Why I am sure he will. But it will not be for a few days, yet. There is
a hundred businesses at Christmas. Can you employ yourself till then?"

"I can kick my heels, I suppose," said I, "as well as any man."

"That will do very well," said Mr. Chiffinch. "But I warn you, that I
think it will be a long affair. His Majesty hath entangled himself
terribly, and Monsieur Barillon is furious."

"The longer the better," said I.

On the twenty-ninth I went down to see my Lord Stafford die. I was in so
distracted a mood that I must see something, or go mad; for I had heard
that it would not be until the evening of that day that His Majesty
would see me, and that I must be ready to ride for Dover on the next
morning. Mr. Chiffinch had told me enough to shew that the business
would be yet more subtle and delicate than the last; and that I might
expect some very considerable recognition if I carried it through
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