《Not Quite the Noblest》作者： - A. Bertram Chandler 【EPUB】

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NOT QUITE THE NOBLEST "I was ashore last night," said the Fourth Mate. "I know," said the Mate. "You made enough noise when you came back to wake the whole ship." "I had a rather funny experience," went on the Fourth Mate. "I was walking along Pitt Street, minding my own business, when I ran right into this bloke. I thought it was old Dunning-you remember him, surely, used to be Third of the Byzantium - but it wasn't. It was his double ..." "So the pair of you retired to the nearest pub and had more doubles to celebrate it," said the Mate. "As a matter of fact, a similar thing happened to me in my last incarnation but seven. I was Roman-not quite, perhaps, the noblest Roman of them all, as Bill puts it . . ." "Bill?" asked the Fourth Mate. "Yes," said the Mate. "Old Bill Shakespeare. He was a boy, if ever there was one ... I remember well the night in the Mermaid Tavern when he'd had enough sack to make him turn sort of pious and treated us all to the Night Watchman's lecture on the evils of drink from Macbeth. It so affected me that I signed the pledge the next morning." "Oh," said the Fourth Mate. "Effective for one incarnation only