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@@ -1,35 +1,4 @@ -The Project Gutenberg eBook of Death at the Excelsior, by P. G. Wodehouse - -This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with -almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or -re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included -with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org - - -Title: Death at the Excelsior - -Author: P. G. Wodehouse - -Release Date: June 26, 2003 [eBook #8176] - -Language: English - -Character set encoding: UTF-8 - -*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK DEATH AT THE EXCELSIOR *** - - - - -Produced by Suzanne L. Shell, Charles Franks, and the -Online Distributed Proofreading Team - - - - - - - +*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 8176 *** @@ -43,8 +12,6 @@ By P. G. Wodehouse - - [Transcriber's note: This selection of early Wodehouse stories was assembled for Project Gutenberg. The original publication date of each story is listed in square brackets in the Table of Contents.] @@ -72,7 +39,6 @@ THE TEST CASE [1915] - DEATH AT THE EXCELSIOR @@ -286,7 +252,7 @@ envelope--"and look around. The address on that envelope is of a sailors' boarding-house down in Southampton. You know the sort of place--retired sea captains and so on live there. All most respectable. In all its history nothing more sensational has ever happened than a -case of suspected cheating at halfpenny nap. Well, a man had died +case of suspected cheating at halfpenny nap. Well, a man has died there." "Murdered?" Oakes asked. @@ -2050,7 +2016,7 @@ Peter crossed over to where she sat and took her hand. about once every six months she needs a brotherly talking-to, or she gets above herself. One is about due during the next few days." -He stroke her hand. +He stroked her hand. "Fasting," he said, thoughtfully, "clears and stimulates the brain. I fancy I shall be able to think out some rather special things to say to @@ -2303,7 +2269,7 @@ suggest and lay them before the proper authorities." George took a look at the chewing officer across the room. -"I don't see anything missing," he said +"I don't see anything missing," he said. "I mean to say, why don't they wear helmets like they do in London? Why do they look like postmen? It isn't fair on a fellow. Makes it dashed @@ -2553,7 +2519,7 @@ Cuthbert the Cat had brought in after a ramble among the local ash-cans. He was a stoutish infant with a lot of freckles and a good deal of jam on his face. -"Hallo! Hallo! Hallo!" I said. "What?" There didn't seem much else to +"Halloa! Halloa! Halloa!" I said. "What?" There didn't seem much else to say. The stripling stared at me in a nasty sort of way through the jam. He @@ -2926,7 +2892,7 @@ of last night's battle. I was looking for a bit of the overwrought soul and the quivering ganglions, if you know what I mean. He seemed pretty ordinary and quite fairly cheerful. -"Hallo, Wooster, old thing!" +"Halloa, Wooster, old thing!" "Cheero!" @@ -4193,7 +4159,7 @@ there wasn't a flaw in it. The only difficulty was to hit on a plausible purchaser. Archie suggested me, but I couldn't see it. I said it would sound fishy. Eventually I had a brain wave, and suggested J. Bellingwood Brackett, the American millionaire. He lives in London, and -you see his name in the papers everyday as having bought some painting +you see his name in the papers every day as having bought some painting or statue or something, so why shouldn't he buy Archie's "Coming of Summer?" And Archie said, "Exactly--why shouldn't he? And if he had had any sense in his fat head, he would have done it long ago, dash him!" @@ -4218,9 +4184,9 @@ out and bit at me: BELLINGWOOD BRACKETT DISCOVERS ENGLISH GENIUS - ----- + ------ PAYS STUPENDOUS PRICE FOR YOUNG ARTIST'S PICTURE - ----- + ------ HITHERTO UNKNOWN FUTURIST RECEIVED £2,000 Underneath there was a column, some of it about Archie, the rest about @@ -4418,17 +4384,20 @@ pointing to one of the advertisement pages. And in a shaking voice Archie read: - You think you are perfectly well, don't you? You wake up in the - morning and spring out of bed and say to yourself that you have - never been better in your life. You're wrong! Unless you are - avoiding coffee as you would avoid the man who always tells you - the smart things his little boy said yesterday, and drinking + You think you are perfectly well, don't you? You wake up in the + morning and spring out of bed and say to yourself that you have + never been better in your life. You're wrong! Unless you are + avoiding coffee as you would avoid the man who always tells you the + smart things his little boy said yesterday, and drinking + SAFETY FIRST MOLASSINE - for breakfast, you cannot be - Perfectly Well. - It is a physical impossibility. Coffee contains an appreciable - quantity of the deadly drug caffeine, and therefore---- + for breakfast, you cannot be + + PERFECTLY WELL. + + It is a physical impossibility. Coffee contains an appreciable + quantity of the deadly drug caffeine, and therefore---- "I wrote _that_," she said. "And I wrote the advertisement of the Spiller Baby Food on page ninety-four, and the one about the Preeminent @@ -4464,7 +4433,7 @@ home-plate with Ann Selby than with most of the others. In fact, but for circumstances over which I had no dashed control, I am inclined to think that we should have brought it off. I'm bound to say that, now that what the poet chappie calls the first fine frenzy has been on the -ice for awhile and I am able to consider the thing calmly, I am deuced +ice for a while and I am able to consider the thing calmly, I am deuced glad we didn't. She was one of those strong-minded girls, and I hate to think of what she would have done to me. @@ -4587,7 +4556,7 @@ heart-to-heart talk, but this was mere abuse. I changed the subject. "What would you like after that fish?" I said coldly. -You know how it is when you get an idea. For awhile it sort of simmers +You know how it is when you get an idea. For a while it sort of simmers inside you, and then suddenly it sizzles up like a rocket, and there you are, right up against it. That's what happened now. I went away from that luncheon, vaguely determined to pull off some stunt which @@ -4687,11 +4656,12 @@ and--er--think for a few minutes." "What on earth has Ponsonby to do with it?" "Well, he likes to get off by nine, you know. I think he goes off and -plays bowls at the madhouse. You see, Reggie, old man, we have to study -Ponsonby a little. He's always on the verge of giving notice--in fact, -it was only by coaxing him on one or two occasions that we got him to -stay on--and he's such a treasure that I don't know what we should do -if we lost him. But, if you think that I ought to stay longer----?" +plays bowls at the roadhouse. You see, Reggie, old man, we have to +study Ponsonby a little. He's always on the verge of giving notice--in +fact, it was only by coaxing him on one or two occasions that we +got him to stay on--and he's such a treasure that I don't know what +we should do if we lost him. But, if you think that I ought to stay +longer----?" "Certainly I do. You ought to do a thing like this properly, or not at all." @@ -5035,369 +5005,4 @@ him--that he knew a bit. Take it from one who knows, the old boy was absolutely right. - - - - - - - - -End of Project Gutenberg's Death at the Excelsior, by P. 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\ No newline at end of file +*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 8176 *** |
