“The Way Here Also Was Very Wearisome Through Dirt And Shabbiness: Nor Was There On All This Ground So Much As One Inn Or Victualling-House Wherein To Refresh The Feebler Sort.”—Pilgrim's Progress
My Dear Punch,
There are a thousand and one reasons why I should dedicate this book to you. It would take a very long time and much good paper to give you them all; but here, at any rate, is one of them. Do you remember a summer day last year that we spent together? The place was a little French town, and we climbed its high, crooked street, and had tea in an inn at the top—an inn with a square courtyard, bad, impossible tea, and a large black cat.
It was on that afternoon that I introduced you for a little time to Mr. Perrin, and you, because you have more understanding and sympathy than anyone I have ever met, understood him and sympathized. For the good things that you have done for me I can never repay you, but for the good things that you did on that afternoon for Mr. Perrin I give you this book.
Yours affectionately,
Chelsea, January 1911.
CONTENTS
CHAPTER I—MR. VINCENT PERRIN DRINKS HIS TEA AND GIVES MR. TRAILL SOUND ADVICE
CHAPTER II—INTRODUCES A CONFUSING COMPANY OF PERSONS, WITH SPECIAL EMPHASIS ON MRS. COMBER
CHAPTER III—CONCERNS ALL THE WONDERFUL THINGS THAT MAY HAPPEN BETWEEN SOUP AND DESSERT
CHAPTER V—A GAME OF FOOTBALL AND A DANCE IN PENDRAGON HAVE THEIR PART IN THE SCHEME OF THINGS
CHAPTER VII—THE BATTLE OP THE UMBRELLA; THEY OPEN FIRE
CHAPTER VIII—THE BATTLE OP THE UMBRELLA; CAMPS ARE FORMED—ALSO SOME SKIRMISHING
CHAPTER IX—THE BATTLE OP THE UMBRELLA; WITH THE LADIES
CHAPTER X—THE BATTLE OF THE UMBRELLA; “WHOM THE GODS WISH TO DESTROY....”
CHAPTER XI—MR. PERRIN SEES DOUBLE
CHAPTER XII—MR. PERRIN WALKS IN SLEEP
CHAPTER XIII—MR. PERRIN LISTENS WHILE THEY ALL MAKE SPEECHES