Just like aunt Bertha [antikvár]

JUST LIKE AUNT BERTHA CHAPTER I The Great Man had deHvered his speech in the wonderful voice that caused parents to think of certain nights at the theatre in the past when they, too, were younger, and when daughters, now entered for the competition, had —in the mothers' own phrase—not been dreamt of, and fathers were giving their earliest tributes of hat lifting. The Great Man seemed to have added to his bulk; fifteen stone, declared some, and, over fourteen, remarked others; certain he brought with him a suggestion of the Prince Regent as seen of late on the films. Nobody quite knew what he had talked about, and he himself probably owned a vague impression, but Miss Bertha Anderson, principal, had given all the attention she would have furnished to words of gold, and Miss Pyrford, assistant, detached from eagerness for no other purpose than to examine her reflection in the little square mirror of a wrist bag. The applause diminished in well-graduated stages. "My notice is called," said The Great Man, half rising from his chair, "by the charming lady who presides over this highly successful establishment to the fact that I have omitted to announce the name of the fortunate prizewinners. I now venture to do so." He read from a pencilled list, and in the audience, after slight cheering, disappointment was shown on certain