Explore "Mr. Clutterbuck's Election" by Hilaire Belloc on Textopian. Read with annotations and highlights.
The season was not yet over. Mrs. Clutterbuck had called upon Mary Smith, -- and if my readers will believe me, -- Mary Smith had called upon Mrs. Clutterbuck. And there had come a morning -- Parliament was still sitting, the Goodwood Cup was not yet collared -- when Mrs. Clutterbuck having heard for weeks past from Mr. Clutterbuck hints and guesses at the necessity for a secretary to deal with his now numerous invitations and engagements, quietly suggested Charlie Fitzgerald.
Had she suggested Tolstoi or the German Emperor she could not have surprised him more. But when he heard that the proposition had come from the family itself, that it had been largely due to Mr. Fitzgerald's own pronounced affection, and that he would be content with a nominal salary of £400 or £500 a year, Mr. Clutterbuck, though as much astonished as a man rapt into heaven, was convinced of the reality of the business, and the only thing that troubled him was the question of salary.