VOLUME II
CHAPTER I
Mounser Green
"So Peter Boyd is to go to Washington in the Paragon's place, and
Jack Slade goes to Vienna, and young Palliser is to get Slade's
berth at Lisbon." This information was given by a handsome man,
known as Mounser Green, about six feet high, wearing a velvet
shooting coat,--more properly called an office coat from its
present uses, who had just entered a spacious well-carpeted
comfortable room in which three other gentlemen were sitting at
their different tables. This was one of the rooms in the Foreign
Office and looked out into St. James's Park. Mounser Green was a
distinguished clerk in that department,--and distinguished also in
various ways, being one of the fashionable men about town, a great
adept at private theatricals, remarkable as a billiard player at
his club, and a contributor to various magazines. At this moment he
had a cigar in his mouth, and when he entered the room he stood
with his back to the fire ready for conversation and looking very
unlike a clerk who intended to do any work. But there was a general
idea that Mounser Green was invaluable to the Foreign Office. He
could speak and write two or three foreign languages; he could do a
spurt of work,--ten hours at a sitting when required; he was ready
to go through fire and water for his chief; and was a gentleman all
round.
Pages:
261
262
263
264
265
266
267
268
269
270
271
272
273
274
275
276
277
278
279
280
281
282
283
284
285