Henry Howarth Bashford

Augustus Carp, Esq. Henry Howarth Bashford

Book Excerpt: ... But for the fact, indeed, that two of my mother's sisters had not, at that time, had their tonsils removed, the whole house would have been wrapped in the profoundest stillness. My mother's mother was the first to see Mrs Smith, though she only saw her, as it were, through a mist. Mrs Smith was the first to speak, in a voice tremulous with emotion.`Where's Augustus?' she said. Augustus was my father's name.`He's just gone outside, ' said my mother's mother. Something splashed heavily on the hall linoleum. It was a drop of moisture from Mrs Smith's forehead.`Tell him, ' she said, `that he's the father of a son.'.