The Swiss waiters at the Hotel Magnificent,
where Sam was stopping, are in a class of bungling incompetence by
themselves, the envy and despair of all the other Swiss waiters at all
the other Hotels Magnificent along the coast. For dreariness of aspect
Bingley-on-the-Sea stands alone. The very waves that break on the
shingle seem to creep up the beach reluctantly, as if it revolted them
to come to such a place.
Why, then, was Sam Marlowe visiting this ozone-swept Gehenna? Why, with
all the rest of England at his disposal, had he chosen to spend a week
at breezy, blighted Bingley?
Simply because he had been disappointed in love. He had sought relief
by slinking off alone to the most benighted spot he knew, in the same
spirit as other men in similar circumstances had gone off to the
Rockies to shoot grizzly-bears.
To a certain extent the experiment had proved successful. If the Hotel
Magnificent had not cured his agony, the service and the cooking there
had at least done much to take his mind off it.
Pages:
121
122
123
124
125
126
127
128
129
130
131
132
133
134
135
136
137
138
139
140
141
142
143
144
145