Manchurian Books

His appearance in a
public-house led to a pause in any conversation that was going on.
"Come to tell us about everything, Mr. Pond'revo?" some one would say
politely.
"You wait," my uncle used to answer, disconcerted, and sulk for the rest
of his visit.
Or some one with an immense air of innocence would remark to the world
generally, "They're talkin' of rebuildin' Wimblehurst all over again,
I'm told. Anybody heard anything of it? Going to make it a reg'lar
smartgoin', enterprisin' place--kind of Crystal Pallas."
"Earthquake and a pestilence before you get that," my uncle would
mutter, to the infinite delight of every one, and add something
inaudible about "Cold Mutton Fat."...
III
We were torn apart by a financial accident to my uncle of which I did
not at first grasp the full bearings. He had developed what I regarded
as an innocent intellectual recreation which he called stock-market
meteorology. I think he got the idea from one use of curves in the
graphic presentation of associated variations that he saw me plotting.


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