The wrong box The ebb-tide Author:Robert Louis Stevenson Purchase of this book includes free trial access to www.million-books.com where you can read more than a million books for free. This is an OCR edition with typos. Excerpt from book: gave nine versions of a single income, placing the imaginary person in London, Paris, Bagdad, Spitsbergen, Bas- sorah, Heligoland, the Scilly Islands, Brighton, ... more »Cincinnati, and Nijni-Novgorod, with an appropriate outfit for each locality, it is no wonder that his hearers look back on that evening as the most tiresome they ever spent Long before Mr. Finsbury had reached Nijci-Novgorod with the income of one hundred and sixty pounds, the company had dwindled and faded away to a few old topers and the bored but affable Watts. There was a constant stream of customers from the outer world, but so soon as they were served they drank their liquor quickly, and departed with the utmost celerity for the next public-house. By the time the young man with two hundred a year was vegetating in the Scilly Islands, Mr. Watts was left alone with the economist; and that imaginary person had scarce commenced life at Brighton before the last of his pursuers desisted from the chase. Mr. Finsbury slept soundly after the manifold fatigues of the day. He rose late, and after a good breakfast, ordered the bill. Then it was that he made a discovery which has been made by many others, both before and since: that it is one thing to order your bill, and another to discharge it. The items were moderate and (what does not always follow) the total small; but after the most sedulous review of all his pockets, one and nine pence halfpenny appeared to be the total of the old gentleman's available assets. He asked to see Mr. Watts. " Here is a bill on London for eight hundred pounds," said Mr. Finsbury, as that worthy appeared. " I am afraid unless you choose to discount it yourself, it may detain me a day or two till I can get it cashed." Mr. Watts looked at the bill, turned it over, and dogs- eared ...« less