Guy Boothby

The Marriage of Esther Guy Boothby

"There was surely complete evidence before the house that the two ragamuffins particularised above were unpopular. So far the silent but con-temptuous superiority of the taller, and the drunken and consequently more outspoken inso-lence of his companion, had failed to prepossess one single soul in their favour. Even the barman, upon whose professional affability the most de-tested might, during moments of the world's dis-affection, rely with some degree of certainty, had not been able to bring himself to treat them oth-erwise than with the most studied coldness."