Tranche de Vie They had every appearance of respectability, and
they walked into the place with a firm, confident tread. But each, when he reached the counter, fished out of his pocket a small, flat package, and as he did so a touch of embarrassment, almost of furtiveness, came into his manner. His voice when he spoke to the attendant was low. It was with an air of apology, as though he wished to dissociate himself from the transaction, that he unwrapped the package; there wall a chink and a glitter as its contents were laid upon the counter. . . . A perceptive benign observer, standing a little way off, might well have deduced that these outwardly impeccable gentlemen were engaged in some shameful or illicit traffic; only if his under- standing of the English was profound might he have guessed that they were arranging for a Coronation Medal to be added to the bar on which miniature decorations are worn with
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