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Four Days' Wonder

Page 23

by A. A. Milne


  The night was very still. Jenny lay in bed with her eyes shut, and whispered:

  ‘Hussar?’

  ‘Hallo, Jenny.’

  ‘Darling, I thought of getting married. You don’t mind, do you, darling?’

  ‘Well, that’s very funny, because I was just thinking what a good idea it would be.’

  ‘Darling, were you really? How lovely of you!’

  ‘Who were you thinking of marrying, Jenny?’

  ‘Well, I was wondering if you could think of anybody?’

  ‘Do you mean a soldier, or something like that?’

  ‘Oh, dear! Oh, darling!’

  ‘As a matter of fact, Jenny, I don’t think a soldier. Soldiers aren’t what they were.’

  ‘Just as you like, darling.’

  ‘I thought more like somebody as it might be in the wine-trade.’

  ‘Oh, Hussar, isn’t it funny? I do just happen to know somebody in the wine-trade! Do you think that would be a good idea?’

  ‘I think it would be a lovely idea, Jenny.’

  ‘All right, then, I will. Thank you, darling.’

  ‘Good-bye, Jenny.’

  ‘Good-bye, darling, darling Hussar,’ said Jenny, knowing that now it was really good-bye.

  Then she curled up and went to sleep.

  About the Author

  A. A. Milne

  A. A. Milne (Alan Alexander) was born in London in 1882 and educated at Westminster School and Trinity College, Cambridge. In 1902 he was Editor of Granta, the University magazine, and moved back to London the following year to enter journalism. By 1906 he was Assistant Editor of Punch, a post which he held until the beginning of the First World War when he joined the Royal Warwickshire Regiment. While in the army in 1917 he started on a career writing plays of which his best known are Mr. Pim Passes By, The Dover Road and an adaptation of Kenneth Grahame’s The Wind in the Willows – Toad of Toad Hall. He married Dorothy de Selincourt in 1913 and in 1920 had a son, Christopher Robin. By 1924 Milne was a highly successful playwright, and published the first of his four books for children, a set of poems called When We Were Very Young, which he wrote for his son. This was followed by the storybook Winnie-the-Pooh in 1926, more poems in Now We Are Six (1927) and further stories in The House at Pooh Corner (1928). In addition to his now famous works, Milne wrote many novels, volumes of essays, a well known detective story The Red House Mystery and light verse, works which attracted great success at the time. He continued to be a prolific writer until his death in 1956.

  About Bello

  Bello

  hidden talent rediscovered

  Bello is a digital-only imprint of Pan Macmillan, established to breathe new life into previously published, classic books.

  At Bello we believe in the timeless power of the imagination, of a good story, narrative and entertainment, and we want to use digital technology to ensure that many more readers can enjoy these books into the future.

  We publish in ebook and print-on-demand formats to bring these wonderful books to new audiences.

  www.panmacmillan.com/imprint-publishers/bello

  Copyright

  First published in 1933 by Methuen & Co. Ltd

  This edition published 2017 by Bello

  an imprint of Pan Macmillan

  20 New Wharf Road, London N1 9RR

  Associated companies throughout the world

  www.panmacmillan.com/imprint-publishers/bello

  ISBN 978-1-5098-6955-8 EPUB

  ISBN 978-1-5098-6954-1 PB

  Copyright © The Estate of the Late Lesley Milne Limited, 1933

  The right of A.A. Milne to be identified as the author of this work has been asserted by him in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.

  All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced,stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form, or by any means (electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise)without the prior written permission of the publisher.

  This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, organizations and incidents are either products of the author’s imagination or used fictitiously.Any resemblance to actual events, places, organizations or persons,living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

  This book remains true to the original in every way. Some aspects may appear out-of-date to modern-day readers. Bello makes no apology for this, as to retrospectively change any content would be anachronistic and undermine the authenticity of the original.

  Pan Macmillan does not have any control over, or any responsibility for,any author or third-party websites referred to in or on this book.

  A CIP catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.

  Typeset by Ellipsis, Glasgow

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