Cornish 2 - What's Bred In The Bone by Robertson Davies

Author:Robertson Davies [Davies, Robertson]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
ISBN: 9780143054924
Publisher: Penguin Books

TWO DAYS AFTER HIS EVENING with Buys-Bozzaris, Frank was working in his sitting-room when the door burst open after a short, loud knock, and a girl burst in.

"You're Francis Cornish, aren't you?" said she, and dumped an armful of books on his sofa. "I thought I'd better have a look at you. I'm Ismay Glasson, and we're sort of cousins."

Since his visit to Cornwall and Chegwidden House five years ago, Frank had forgotten that he had a cousin named Ismay, but he recalled her now as the terrible older sister of the obnoxious Glasson children, who had assured him that if Ismay had been at home, she would have given him a rough time. He had been rather afraid of girls then, but in the interval had gained greatly in self-possession. He would give her a rough time first.

"Marry come up, m'dirty cousin," said he; "don't you usually wait to be asked before you barge into a room?"

"Not usually. 'Marry come up, m'dirty cousin'—that's a quotation, isn't it? You're not reading Eng.Lit., I hope?"

"Why do you hope that?"

"Because the men who do are usually such dreadful fruits, and I'd hoped you'd be nice."

"I am nice, but apt to be formal with strangers, as you observe."

"Oh balls! How about giving me a glass of sherry."

During his first year, Francis had become thoroughly habituated to the Oxford habit of swimming in sherry. He had also discovered that sherry is not the inoffensive drink innocent people suppose.

"What'll you have? The pale, or the old walnut brown?"

"Old walnut. If not Eng.Lit., what are you reading?"

"Modern Greats."

"That's not so bad. The kids said something about Classics."

"I considered Classics, but I wanted to expand a bit."

"Probably you needed it. The kids said you mooned about and talked about King Arthur and said Cornwall was enchanted ground, like a complete ass."

"If you judge me by the standards of your loathsome and barbarous young relatives, I suppose I was a complete ass."

"Golly! We're not precisely hitting it off, are we?"

"If you burst into my room when I am working and insult me, and tuck up your muddy feet on my sofa, what do you expect? You've been given a glass of sherry; isn't that courtesy above and beyond anything you've deserved?"

'"Come off it! I'm your cousin, aren't I?"

"I don't know. Have you any papers of identification? Not that they would say any more than your face. You have the Cornish face."

"So have you. I'd have known you anywhere. Face like a horse, you mean."

"I have not said you have a face like a horse. I am too well-bred, and also too mature, for this kind of verbal rough stuff. And if that means to you that I am a complete ass, or even a fruit, so be it. Go and play with your own coarse kind."

Francis was enjoying himself. At Spook he had learned the technique of bullying girls: bully them first and they may not get to the point of bullying you, which, given a chance, they will certainly do.

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