Page 845 - of-human-bondage-

there might be no jealousy no one was applauded more than
anyone else. Miss Bennett sailed up to Philip.
‘I’m sure you play or sing, Mr. Carey,’ she said archly. ‘I
can see it in your face.’
‘I’m afraid I don’t.’
‘Don’t you even recite?’
‘I have no parlour tricks.’
The buyer in the ‘gentleman’s hosiery’ was a well-known
reciter, and he was called upon loudly to perform by all
the assistants in his department. Needing no pressing, he
gave a long poem of tragic character, in which he rolled his
eyes, put his hand on his chest, and acted as though he were
in great agony. The point, that he had eaten cucumber for
supper, was divulged in the last line and was greeted with
laughter, a little forced because everyone knew the poem
well, but loud and long. Miss Bennett did not sing, play, or
recite.
‘Oh no, she ‘as a little game of her own,’ said Mrs. Hodg-
es.
‘Now, don’t you begin chaffing me. The fact is I know
quite a lot about palmistry and second sight.’
‘Oh, do tell my ‘and, Miss Bennett,’ cried the girls in her
department, eager to please her.
‘I don’t like telling ‘ands, I don’t really. I’ve told people
such terrible things and they’ve all come true, it makes one
superstitious like.’
‘Oh, Miss Bennett, just for once.’
A little crowd collected round her, and, amid screams of
embarrassment, giggles, blushings, and cries of dismay or

Of Human Bondage