The Adventures of a Suburbanite

MP3 Audio CD. The Adventures of a Suburbanite

I. THE PRAWLEYS

ISOBEL was born in a flat, and that was no fault of her own; but she was
born in a flat, and reared in a flat, and married from a flat, and, for
two years after we were married, we lived in a flat; but I am not a born
flat-dweller myself, and as soon as possible I proposed that we move to
the country. Isobel hesitated, but she hesitated so weakly that on the
first of May we had bought the place at Westcote and moved into it.

The very day I moved into my house Millington came over and said he was
glad some one had moved in, because the last man that had lived in the
house was afraid of automobiles, and would never take a spin with
him. He said he hoped I was not afraid; and when I said I was not, he
immediately proposed that we take a little spin out to Port Lafayette
as soon as I had my furniture straightened around. I thought it was very
nice and neighbourly and unusual for a man with an automobile to begin
an acquaintance that way; but I did not know Millington's automobile so
well then as I grew to know it afterward.

I liked Millington. He was a short, Napoleon-looking man, with bulldog
jaws and not very much hair, and I was glad to have him for a
neighbour, particularly as my neighbour on the other side was a tall,
haughty-looking man. He leaned on the division fence and stared all the
while our furniture was being moved in. I spoke to Millington about him,
and all Millington said was: “Rolfs? Oh, he's no good! He won't ride in
an automobile.”