Stray Leaves from the Scrape-Book of an Awkward Man - Softcover

This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated.1881 Excerpt: ... LEAVES FEOM THE SCEAPE BOOK AN AWKWARD MAN CHAPTER I. IN WHICH THE AXJTHOR INTRODTJCES HIMSELF. Mr. Ferdinand Fitz Fadington's chambers were at the West End; well situated, splendidly furnished, highly rented. He was a member of the two best London clubs, whose names I do not mention for fear of offending the rest. He divided a season pit ticket for the opera with a friend; had a tolerably extensive acquaintance amongst that privileged class of society nicknamed "carriage people," and always affected a white cravat at evening parties in spite of being occasionally mistaken for the waiter. In short, he was a man of decided fashion. In his own opinion, the portion of his life already passed in single felicity rather entitled him to expect he might remain unwedded for the remainder. In the opinion of his friends he had been an impracticable old bachelor for ten years or so at the very least. Mr. Fitz Fadington was a man of family and figure, but his family was nothing to speak of, and his figure not worth mentioning. In addition to this, he was decidedly a gentleman of some literary pretensions, and flattered himself that he possessed ideas. At the precise moment when this chapter begins, Mr. Fitz Fadington was in a negligent, not to say luxurious state of recumbence; that is to say, his body was in one easy chair and his legs on a second. B In one hand he held a small and richly bound book, upon which he gazed with an abstracted air. In fact, his soul was about to burst forth into a profuse state of inspiration; and as Mr. Fitz Faddington's reveries may serve to fill up a sort of hiatus between this chapter and the remainder of the work, I shall venture gently to lift up the covering that veils from mortal gaze the workings of the human brain, and exhibit his...