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Burnett, Frances Hodgson, 1849-1924

"The Head of the House of Coombe"

No excuse is needed.
Deutschland uber alles--is sufficient."
He pushed the map away and his fire died down. He spoke almost in
his usual manner.
"The conquest of the world," he said. "He is a great fool. What
would he DO with his continents if he got them?"
"What, indeed," pondered her grace. "Continents--even kingdoms are
not like kittens in a basket, or puppies to be trained to come to
heel."
"It is part of his monomania that he can persuade himself that
they are little more." Coombe's eye-glasses had been slowly swaying
from the ribbon in his fingers. He let them continue to sway a
moment and then closed them with a snap.
"He is a great fool," he said. "But we,--oh, my friend--and by 'we'
I mean the rest of the Map of Europe--we are much greater fools.
A mad dog loose among us and we sit--and smile."
And this was in the days before the house with the cream-coloured
front had put forth its first geraniums and lobelias in Feather's
window boxes. Robin was not born.



CHAPTER XVIII


In the added suite of rooms at the back of the house, Robin grew
through the years in which It was growing also. On the occasion
when her mother saw her, she realized that she was not at least
going to look like a barmaid. At no period of her least refulgent
moment did she verge upon this type. Dowie took care of her and
Mademoiselle Valle educated her with the assistance of certain
masters who came to give lessons in German and Italian.


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