"Пэлем Грэнвил Вудхауз. Much obliged, Jeeves (Премного обязан, Дживс; англ.)" - читать интересную книгу автора

'True, sir, but, as you are aware, he has had a Past.'
'Not much of one.'
'Sufficient, however, to prejudice the voters, should they
learn of it.'
'Which they can't possibly do. I suppose he's in the club book
-'
'Eleven pages, sir.'
' - But you assure me that the contents of the club book will
never be revealed.'
'Never, sir. Mr Winship has nothing to fear from that quarter.'
His words made me breathe more freely.
'Jeeves,' I said, 'your words make me breathe more freely. As
you know, I am always a bit uneasy about the club book. Kept under
lock and key, is it?'
'Not actually under lock and key, sir, but it is safely
bestowed in the secretary's office.'
'Then there's nothing to worry about.'
'I would not say that, sir. Mr Winship must have had companions
in his escapades, and they might inadvertently make some reference
to them which would get into gossip columns in the Press and thence
into the Market Snodsbury journals. I believe there are two of
these, one rigidly opposed to the Conservative interest which Mr
Winship is representing. It is always a possibility, and the
results would be disastrous. I have no means at the moment of
knowing the identity of Mr Winship's opponent, but he is sure to be
a model of respectability whose past can bear the strictest
investigation.'
'You're pretty gloomy, Jeeves. Why aren't you gathering
rosebuds? The poet Herrick would shake his head.'
'I am sorry, sir. I did not know that you were taking Mr
Winship's fortunes so much to heart, or I would have been more
guarded in my speech. Is victory in the election of such importance
to him?'
'It's vital. Florence will hand him his hat if he doesn't win.'
'Surely not, sir?'
'That's what he says, and I think he's right. His observations
on the subject were most convincing. He says she's a perfectionist
and has no use for a loser. It is well established that she handed
Percy Gorringe the pink slip because the play he made of her novel
only ran three nights.'
'Indeed, sir?'
'Well-documented fact.'
'Then let us hope that what I fear will not happen, sir.'
We were sitting there hoping that what he feared would not
happen, when a shadow fell on my whisky-and-s. and I saw that we
had been joined by another member of the Junior Ganymede, a
smallish, plumpish, Gawd-help-us-ish member wearing clothes more
suitable for the country than the town and a tie that suggested
that he belonged to the Brigade of Guards, though I doubted if this
was the case. As to his manner, I couldn't get a better word for it