A spasm, as though of pain, had suddenly passed across
his face. He clutched at the sides of his chair.
"It's marvelous!" he murmured. "A single word like that and I suffer in
an absolutely indescribable sort of way. There seems to be something
pulling at me all the time, even when it rises to my lips."
"I shouldn't worry about that," Burton replied. "You must get out of
the habit. It's quite easy. I expect very soon you will find all
desire to use strong language has disappeared entirely."
Mr. Waddington was inclined to be gloomy.
"That's all very well," he declared, "but I've my living to get."
"You seem to be doing pretty well up to now," Burton reminded him.
Mr. Waddington assented, but without enthusiasm.
"It can't last, Burton," he said. "I am ashamed to say it, but all my
crowd have got so accustomed to hear me--er--exaggerate, that they
disbelieve everything I say as a matter of habit. I tell them now that
the goods I am offering are not what they should be, because I can't
help it, and they think it's because I have some deep game up my sleeve,
or because I do not want to part. I give them a week or so at the most,
Burton--no more."
"Don't you think," Burton suggested doubtfully, "that there might be an
opening in the profession for an auctioneer who told the truth?"
Mr.
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