Читать книгу The Complete Works of F. Scott Fitzgerald онлайн

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“Well,” said Stuart with an effort, “she began talking about the plumber’s stomach.”

There was a stir in the courtroom. The judge leaned forward.

“What do you mean?”

“Why, at first she was only talking about her own stomach to—to those two ladies there”—he indicated the cousin and Miss Ingles—“and that wasn’t so bad. But when she began talking about the plumber’s stomach it got different.”

“How do you mean—different.”

Charles Stuart looked around helplessly.

“I can’t explain,” he said, his mustache wavering a little, “but when she began talking about the plumber’s stomach you—you had to listen.”

A snicker ran about the courtroom. Mrs. Robinson and her attendant ladies on the bench were visibly horrified. The guard took a step nearer as if at a nod from the judge he would whisk off this criminal to the dingiest dungeon in Manhattan.

But much to his surprise the judge settled himself comfortably in his chair.

“Tell us about it, Stuart,” he said not unkindly. “Tell us the whole story from the beginning.”