Lesson 52 PART A
Mud is mud
My cousin,Harry,keeps a large curiously-shaped bottle on permanent display in his study.(1)_______________________.If you were to ask Harry what was in the bottle,he would tell you that is contained perfumed mud.If you expressed doubt or surprise,he would immediately invite you to smell it and then to rub some into your skin.This brief experiment would dispel any further doubts you might have.The bottle really does contain perfumed mud.(2)_______________________.Furthermore,the acqusition of this bottle cured him of a bad habit he had been developing for years.
Harry used to consider it a great joke to go into a expensive cosmetic shops and make outrageous requests for goods that do not exist.He would invent fanciful names on the spot.On entering a shop,he would ask for a new perfume called 'Scented Shadow' or for 'insoluble bath cubes'. If a shop assistant tole him she had not heard of it ,he would pretend to be considerably put out.(3)_______________________.How Harry managed to keep a straight face during these performances is quite beyond me.