Tuesday 31 May 2011

Scrubbing away



      I was scrubbing away, whistling “Drink, puppy, drink”, when I heard a hand-bell tinkle, in the boudoir. You’ll have to wait a while, my dear, thinks I, but then I heard voices and realized she had summoned Mangla, and was giving instructions in a dreamy, exhausted whisper.
      “You may dismiss Rai and the Python,” murmurs she. “I shall have no need of them today . . . perhaps not tomorrow . . .”
      I should think not, indeed. So I sang “Rule Britannia”.


Flashman and the Mountain of Light, p.155, Fontana Paperback edition, 1991.


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