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The Monster Part 1 · The Monster and Other Stories

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Section one of The Monster and Other Stories by Stephen Crane. This is a
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LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. For more information
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or to volunteer, please visit LibriVox dot org. Read by Ben Tucker.
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The Monster and Other Stories by Stephen Crane. Section one The Monster, Part
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one one. Little Jim was for the Time engine number thirty six, and
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he was making the run between Syracuse and Rochester. He was fourteen minutes behind
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time, and the throttle was wide open. In consequence, when he swung
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around the curve at the flower bed, a wheel of his cart destroyed a
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paeony Number thirty six. Slowed down at once, and looked guiltily at his
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father, who was mowing the lawn. The doctor had his back to this
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accident, and he continued to pay slowly to and fro pushing the mower.
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Jim dropped the tongue of the cart. He looked at his father and at
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the broken flower. Finally, he went to the peace and tried to stand
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it on its pins resuscitated, but the spine of it was hurt and it
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would only hang limply from his hand. Jim could do no reparation. He
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looked again toward his father. He went on to the lawn, very slowly
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and kicking wretchedly at the turf. Presently, his father came along with the
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whirring machine. While the sweet new grass blades spun from the knives. In
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a low voice, Jim said, Pa, the doctor was shaving this lawn
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as if it were a priest's chin. All during the season. He had
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worked at it in the coolness and peace of the evenings after supper, even
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in the shadow of the cherry trees. The grass was strong and healthy.
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Jem raised his voice a trifle. Pa. The doctor paused, and,
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with the howl of the machine no longer occupying the scents, one could hear
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the robins in the cherry trees arranging their affairs. Jem's hands were behind his
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back, and sometimes his fingers clasped and unclasped. Again, he said,
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pah. The child's fresh and rosy lip was lowered. The doctor stared down
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at his son, thrusting his head forward and frowning attentively. What is it,
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jimmy, pah, repeated the child at length. Then he raised his
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finger and pointed at the flower bed there. What said the doctor frowning,
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moore, what is it, jim After a period of silence, during which
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the child may have undergone a severe mental tumult, he raised his finger and
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repeated his former word. There the father had respected this silence with perfect courtesy.
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Afterwards, his glance carefully followed the direction indicated by the child's finger,
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but he could see nothing, which explained to him, I don't understand what
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you mean, Jimmy, He said, it seemed that the importance of the
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whole thing had taken away the boy's vocabulary. He could only reiterate there.
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The doctor mused upon the situation, but he could make nothing of it.
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At last, he said, come show me. Together, they crossed the
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lawn towards the flower bed, at some yards from the broken paeony. Jimmy
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began to lag there the word came almost breath where, said the doctor.
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Jimmy kicked at the grass there, he replied. The doctor was obliged to
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go forward alone. After some trouble, he found the subject of the incident,
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the broken flower turning. Then he saw the child lurking at the rear
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and scanning his countenance. The father reflected. After a time, he said,
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Jimmy, come here with an infinite modesty of demeanor. The child came
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forward. Jimmy, how did this happen? The child answered, now I
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was playing train and now I runned over it. You were doing what I
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was playing train? The father reflected again, Well, Jimmy, he said
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slowly, I guess you had better not play train anymore to day. Do
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you think you had better? No, sir, said Jimmy. During the
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delivery of the judgment, the child had not faced his father, and afterwards
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he went away with his head lowered, shuffling his feet too. It was
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apparent from Jimmy's manner that he felt some kind of desire to efface himself.
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He went down to the stable. Henry Johnson, the Negro who cared for
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the doctor's horses, was sponging the buggy. He grinned fraternally when he saw
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Jimmy cumming. These two were pals in regard to almost everything in life.
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They seemed to have minds precisely alike. Of course, there were points of
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emphatic divergence. For instance, it was plain from Henry's talk that he was
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a very handsome negro, and he was known to be a light a weight
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and an eminence in the suburb of the town where lived the larger number of
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the Negroes, and obviously this glory was over Jimmy's horizon, but he vaguely
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appreciated it and paid deference to Henry for it, mainly because Henry appreciated it
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and deferred to himself. However, on all points of conduct as related to
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the doctor who was the moon, they were in complete but unexpressed understanding.
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Whenever Jimmy became the victim of an eclipse, he went to the stable to
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solace himself with Henry's crimes. Henry, with the elasticity of his race,
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could usually provide a sin to place himself on a footing with the disgraced one.
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Perhaps he would remember that he had forgotten to put the hitching strap in
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the back of the buggy on some recent occasion, and had been reprimanded by
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the doctor. Then these two would commune subtly and without words concerning their moon,
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holding themselves sympathetically as people who had committed similar treasons. On the other
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hand, Henry would sometimes choose to absolutely repudiate this idea, and when Jimmy
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appeared in his shame, would bully him most virtuously preaching with assurance the precepts
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of the doctor's creed and pointing out to Jimmy all his abominations. Jimmy did
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not discover that this was odious in his comrade. He accepted it and lived
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in its shadow with humility, merely trying to conciliate the saintly Henry with acts
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of deference one. By this attitude, Henry would sometimes allow the child to
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enjoy the felicity of squeezing the sponge over a buggy wheel, even when Jimmy
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was still gory from unspeakable deeds. Whenever Henry dwelt for a time in sackcloth,
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Jimmy did not patronize him at all. This was a justice of his
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aide his condition he did not know. Besides, Henry could drive a horse,
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and Jimmy had a full sense of this sublimity. Henry personally conducted the
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moon during the splendid journeys through the country roads, where farms spread on all
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sides, with sheep, cows and other marvels abounding. Hullo, jim said
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Henry, poising his sponge, water was dripping from the buggy sometimes the horses
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and the stalls stamped thunderingly on the pine floor. There was an atmosphere of
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hay and of harness. For a minute, Jimmy refused to take an interest
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in anything. He was very downcast. He could not even feel the wonders
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of wagon washing. Henry, while at his work, narrowly observed him.
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Yo pop dun wallap yuh didn't he? He said at last, No,
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said Jimmy defensively. He didn't. After this casual remark, Henry continued his
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labor with a scowl of occupation. Presently, he said, I don't hold
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yer. Many's a time not to go a foolin an a Prodigan would him
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flowers, Yo, pap, don't loga know how. As a matter of
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fact, Henry had never mentioned flowers to the boy. Jimmy preserved a gloomy
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silence. So Henry began to use seductive wiles in the affair of washing a
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wagon. It was not until he began to spin a wheel on the tree
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and the sprinkling water flew everywhere that the boy was visibly moved. He had
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been seated on the sill of the carriage house door, but at the beginning
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of this ceremony he arose and circled towards the buggy with an interest that slowly
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consumed the remembrance of a late disgrace. Johnny could then display all the dignity
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of a man whose duty it was to protect Jimmy from a splashing. Look
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Out, boy, look out, you don't go in and spoil your pants.
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I reckon your mamma, don't load this foolishness. She know it.
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I ain't gow. Have you round here, spolin your pants, and have
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miss Trescott lat on me presently died. I ain't. He spoke with an
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air of great irritation, but he was not annoyed at all. The stone
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was merely a part of his importance. In reality, he was always delighted
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to have the child there to witness the business of the stable. For one
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thing, King Jimmy was invariably overcome with reverence when he was told how beautifully
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a harness was polished or a horse groomed. Henry explained each detail of this
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kind with unction, procuring great joy from the child's admiration. Three after Johnson
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had taken his supper in the kitchen, he went to his loft in the
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carriage house and dressed himself with much care. No bell of a court circle
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could bestow more mind on a toilet than did Johnson. On second thought,
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he was more like a priest arraying himself for some parade of the church.
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As he emerged from his room and sauntered down the carriage drive, no one
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would have suspected him of ever having washed a buggy. It was not altogether
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a matter of the lavender trousers, nor yet the straw hat with its bright
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silk band. The change was somewhere far in the interior of Henry. But
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there was no cake walk hyperbole in it. He was simply a quiet,
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well bred gentleman of position, wealth and other necessary achievements, out for an
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evening stroll, and he had never washed a wagon in his life. In
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the morning, when in his working clothes he had met a friend, Hello
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Pete, Hello Henry. Now in his effulgence he encountered this same friend.
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His bow was not at all haughty. If it expressed anything, it expressed
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consummate generosity. Good evening, mister Washington. Pete, who was very dirty,
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being at work in a potato patch, responded in a mixture of abasement
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and appreciation. Good evening, missed a Johnson. The shimmering blue of the
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electric arc lamps was strong in the main street of the town. At numerous
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points it was conquered by the orange glare of the outnumbering gas lights in the
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windows of shops. Through this radiant lane moved a crowd, which culminated in
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a throng before the post office, awaiting the distribution of the evening mails.
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Occasionally there came into it a shrill electric street car, the motor singing like
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a cage full of grasshoppers and possessing a great gong that clanged forth both warnings
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and simple noise. At the Little Theater, which was a varnish and red
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plush miniature of one of the famous New York theaters, a company of strollers
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was to play East Lynne. The young men of the town were mainly gathered
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at the corners in distinctive groups which expressed various shades and lines of chumship,
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and had little to do with any social gradations. There they discussed everything with
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critical insight, passing the whole town in review as it swarmed in the street.
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When the gongs of the electric cars ceased for a moment to harry the
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ears, there could be heard the sound of the feet of the leisurely crowd
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on the bluestone pavement, and it was like the peaceful evening lashing at the
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shore of a lake. At the foot of the hill, where two lines
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of maples sentineled away, an electric lamp glowed high among the embowered branches and
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made most wonderful shadow etchings on the road below it. When Johnson appeared amid
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the throng, a member of one of the profane groups at a corner instantly
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telegraphed news of this extraordinary arrival to his companions. They hailed him, Hello,
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Henry, going to walk for a cake tonight? Hey, he smooth.
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Why you've got that cake right in your pocket? Henry, throw out
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your chest a little more. Henry was not ruffled in any way by these
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quiet admonitions and compliments. In reply, he laughed a supremely good natured,
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chuckling laugh, which nevertheless expressed an underground complacency of superior metal. Young Griscombe,
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the lawyer, was just emerging from Reef Snyder's barber shop, Rubbing his
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chin contentedly on the steps. He dropped his hand and looked with wide eyes
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into the crowd. Suddenly he bolted back into the shop. Wow, he
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cried to the parliament. You ought to see the coon that's coming. Reef
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Snyder and his assistant instantly poised their razors high and turned towards the window.
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Two belathered heads reared from the chairs. The electric shine in the street caused
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an effect like water to them who looked through the glass from the yellow glamor
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of Reef Snyder's shop. In fact, the people without resembled the inhabitants of
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a great aquarium that here had a square pain in it. Presently into this
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frame swam the graceful form of Henry Johnson. Gee, said Reef Snyder.
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He and his assistant, with one accord through their obligations to the winds,
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and leaving their lathered victims helpless, advanced to the window. He he a
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taisy, said Reef Snyder, marveling. But the man in the first chair,
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with a grievance in his mind, had found a weapon. Why that's
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only Henry Johnson, you blamed idiots. Come on now, Reef and shave
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me. What do you think I am a mummy? Reef Snyder turned in
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a great excitement. I beat you any money that was not Henry Johnson.
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Henry Johnson rats. The scorn put into this last word made it an explosion.
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That man was a pullman, car porter or something. How could that
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be Henry Johnson, he demanded turbulently, you vus crazy. The man in
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the first chair faced the barber in a storm of indignation. Didn't I give
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him those lavender trousers? He roared, and young Griscombe, who had remained
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attentively at the window, said, yes, I guess that was Henry.
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It looked like him, oh fell, said Reef Snyder, returning to his
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business. If you have seen so, oh well, he implied that he
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was submitting for the sake of amiability. Finally, the man in the second
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chair, mumbling from a mouth made timid by adjacent lather, said that was
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Henry Johnson, all right? Why he always dresses like that when he wants
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to make a front. He's the biggest dude in town. Anybody knows that,
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shinger, said Reef Snyder. Henry was not at all oblivious of the
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wake of wondering ejaculation that streamed out behind him. On other occasions, he
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had reaped this same joy, and he always had an eye for the demonstration.
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With a face beaming with happiness, he turned away from the scene of
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his victories into a narrow side street where the electric light still hung high,
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but only to exhibit a row of tumble down houses leaning together like paralytics.
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The saffron miss Bella Farragut, in a calico frock, had been crouched on
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the front stoop, gossiping at long range, but she espied her approaching collar
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at a distance. She dashed round the corner of the house, galloping like
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a horse. Henry saw it all, but he preserved a polite demeanor of
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a guest when a waiter spent claret down his cuff. In this awkward situation,
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he was simply perfect. The duty of receiving mister Johnson fell upon missus
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Farragut, because Bella, in another room, was scrambling wildly into her best
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gown. The fat old woman met him with great ivory smile, sweeping back
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with the door and bowing low. Walk in, mister Johnson, walk in,
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how is you this? Evenin, mister Johnson, how is you?
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Henry's face showed like a reflector as he bowed and bowed, bending almost from
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his head to his ankles. Good evening, miss Foggett, Good evening,
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how is you? This evening is all you folks? Well, miss Foggett.
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After a great deal of cowtow, they were planted in two chairs opposite
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each other in the living room. Here they exchanged the most tremendous civilities,
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until Miss Bella swept into the room, when there was more cowtow on all
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sides, and a smiling show of teeth that was like an illumination. The
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cooking stove was, of course in this drawing room, and on the fire
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was some kind of a long winded stew. Missus Farragut was obliged to arise
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and attend to it from time to time. Also, young sim came in
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and went to bed on his palate in the corner. But to all these
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domesticities the three maintained an absolute dumbness. They bowed and smiled, and ignored
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and imitated until a late hour. And if they had been the occupants of
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the most gorgeous salon in the world, they could not have been more like
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three monkeys. After Henry had gone, Bella, who encouraged herself in the
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appropriation of phrases, said, Oh, ma, isn't he divine? Four
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A Saturday evening was a sign always for a larger crowd to parade the thoroughfare.
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In the summer, the band played until ten o'clock in the little park.
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Most of the young men of the town affected to be superior to this
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band, even to despise it, But in the still and fragrant evening they
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invariably turned out in force because the girls were sure to attend this concert,
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strolling slowly over the grass, leanked closely in pairs or preferably in threes,
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in the curious public dependence upon one another which was their inheritance. There was
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no particular social aspect to this gathering, save that group regarded group with interest,
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but mainly in silence. Perhaps one girl would nudge another girl and suddenly
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say, look, there goes Gerty Hodgson and her sister, and they would
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appear to regard this as an event of importance. On a particular evening,
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a rather large company of young men were gathered on the sidewalk that edged the
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park. They remained thus beyond the borders of the festivities because of their dignity,
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which would not exactly allow them to appear in anything, which was so
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much fun for the younger lads. These latter were careering madly through the crowd,
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precipitating minor accidents from time to time, but usually fleeing like mist swept
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by the wind, before retribution could lay hands upon them. The band played
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a waltz which involved the gift of prominence to the bass horn, and one
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of the young men on the sidewalk said that the music reminded him of the
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new engines on the hill pumping water into the reservoir. A similarity of this
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kind was not inconceivable, but the young man did not say it because he
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disliked the band's playing. He said it because it was fashionable to say that
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manner of thing concerning the band. However, over in the stand, Billy
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Harris, who played the snare drum, was always surrounded by a throng of
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boys who adored his every whack. After the males from New York and Rochester
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had been finally distributed, the crowd from the post Office added to the mass
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already in the park. The wind waved the leaves of the maples, and
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high in the air, the blue burning globes of the arc lamps caused the
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wonderful traceries of leaf shadows on the ground. When the light fell upon the
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upturned face of a girl, it caused it to glow with a wonderful pallor.
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A policeman came suddenly from the darkness and chased a game of obstreperous little
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boys. They hooted him from a distance. The leader of the band had
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some of the mannerisms of the great musicians, and during a period of silence,
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the crowd smiled when they saw him raise his hand to his brow,
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stroke it sentimentally, and glance upward with a look of poetic anguish in the
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shivering light, which gave to the park an effect like a great vaulted hall.
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The throng swarmed with a gentle murmur of the dear dresses, switching the
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turf, and with a steady hum of voices. Suddenly, without preliminary bars,
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there arose from far the great horse roar of a factory whistle. It
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raised and swelled to a sinister note, and then it sang on the night
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wind, one long call that held the crowd in the park immovable, speechless.
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The bandmaster had been about to vehemently let fall his hand to start the
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band on a thundering career through a popular march, but smitten by this giant
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voice from the night, his hand dropped slowly to his knee, and his
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mouth agape. He looked at his men in silence. The cry died away
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to a wail, and then to stillness. It released the muscles of the
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company of young men on the sidewalk, who had been like statues, posed
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eagerly, lithely. Their ears turned, and then they wheeled upon each other
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simultaneously, and in a single explosion, they shouted one again. The sound
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swelled in the night and roared its long, ominous cry, And as it
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died away, the crowd of young men wheeled upon each other and in chorus
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yelled two. There was a moment of breathless waiting. Then they bawled second
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district. In a flash, the company of indolent and cynical young men had
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vanished like a snowball disrupted by dynamite. Five. Jake Rogers was the first
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man to reach the home of Tuscorora Hose Company number six. He had wrenched
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his key from his pocket as he tore down the street, and he jumped
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at the spring lock like a demon. As the doors flew back before his
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hands, he leaped and kicked the wedges from a pair of wheels, loosened
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a tongue from his clasp, and in the glare of the electric light which
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the town placed before each of its hose houses, the next comers beheld the
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spectacle of Jake Rogers, bent like Hickory in the manfulness of his pulling,
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and the heavy cart was moving slowly towards the doors. Four men joined him
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at the time, and as they swung with the cart out into the street,
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dark figures sped towards them from the ponderous shadows back of the electric lamps.
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Some set up the inevitable question what district second? Was replied to them
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in a compact howl. Tuscorora Hose Company numbers swept on a perilous wheel into
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Niagara Avenue, And as the men attached to the cart by the rope which
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had been paid out from the windlass under the tongue, pulled madly in their
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fervor and abandon the gong under the axle clanged incitingly, and sometimes the same
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cry was heard, what District second? On a grade Johnny thorpe fell and,
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exercising a singular muscular ability, rolled out in time from the track of
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the oncoming wheel, and arose, disheveled and aggrieved, casting a look of
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mournful disenchantment upon the black crowd that poured after the machine. The cart seemed
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to be the apex of a dark wave that was whirling as if it had
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been a broken dam. Back of the lad were stretches of lawn, and
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in that direction, front doors were banged by men who hoarsely shouted out in
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the clamorous avenue what district. At one of these houses, a woman came
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to the door, bearing a lamp, shielding her face from its rays.
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With her hands across the cropped grass. The avenue represented to her a kind
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of black torrent, upon which nevertheless fled numerous miraculous figures upon on bicycles.
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She did not know that the towering light at the corner was continuing its nightly
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whine. Suddenly, a little boy somersaulted around the corner of the house,
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as if he had been projected down a flight of stairs by a catapultian boot.
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He halted himself in front of the house by dint of a rather extraordinary
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evolution with his legs. Oh Ma, he gasped, Can I go?
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Canama? She straightened with the coldness of the exterior mother judgment, although the
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hand that held the lamp trembled slightly. No, Willie, you had better
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come to bed. Instantly he began to buck and fume like a mustang.
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Oh Ma, he cried, contorting himself. Oh Ma, can't I go,
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please, Ma, can't I go? Can't I go? Ma?
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It's half past nine now, Willie. He ended by wailing out a compromise.
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Well, just down to the corner, Ma, Just down to the
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corner from the avenue came the sound of rushing men, who wildly shouted.
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Somebody had grappled the bell rope in the Methodist church, and now over the
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town rang this solemn and terrible voice, speaking from the clouds. Moved from
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its peaceful business, this bell gained a new spirit in the portentous night,
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and it swung the heart to and fro up and down with each peal of
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it. Just down to the corner, Ma, Willie, it's half past
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nine now six. The outlines of the house of doctor Trescott had faded quietly
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into the evening, hiding a shape such as we call Queen Anne, against
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the pall of the blackened sky. The neighborhood was at this time so quiet
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and seemed so devoid of obstructions, that Hannigan's dog thought it a good opportunity
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to prowl and forbidden precincts, and so came and pod Trescott's lawn, growling
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and considering himself a formidable beast. Later, Peter Washington strolled past the house
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and whistled, but there was no dim light shining from Henry's loft, and
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presently Peter went his way. The rays from the street, creeping in silvery
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waves over the grass, caused the row of shrubs along the drive to throw
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a clear, bold shade. A wisp of smoke came from one of the
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windows at the end of the house and drifted quietly into the branches of a
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cherry tree. Its companions followed it in slowly increasing numbers, and finally there
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was a current controlled by invisible banks, which poured into the fruit laden boughs
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of the cherry tree. It was no more to be noted than if a
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troop of dim and silent gray monkeys had been climbing a grapevine into the clouds.
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After a moment, the window brightened as if the four panes of it
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had been stained with blood, and a quick ear might have been led to
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imagine the fire imps calling and calling, clan joining clan, gathering to the
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colors from the street. However, the house maintained its dark quiet, insisting
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to a passer by that it was the safe dwelling of people who chose to
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retire early to tranquil dreams. No one could have heard this low droning of
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the gathering clans. Suddenly the panes of the red window tinkled and crashed to
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the ground, and at other windows there suddenly reared other flames, like bloody
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specters at the apertures of a haunted house. This outbreak had been well planned,
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as if by professional revolutionists. A man's voice suddenly shouted fire, fire,
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Fire. Hannigan had flung his pipe frenziedly from him because his lungs demanded
24:11
room. He tumbled down from his perch, swung over the fence, and
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ran shouting towards the front door of the Trescott's. Then he hammered on the
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door, using his fists as if they were mallets. Missus Trescott instantly came
24:22
to one of the windows on the second floor. Afterwards, she knew she
24:26
had been about to say, the doctor is not at home, but if
24:29
you will leave your name, I will let him know as soon as he
24:30
comes. Hannigan's bawling was for a minute incoherent, but she understood that it
24:34
was not about Croup what she said, raising the window swiftly. Your house
24:40
is on fire. You're all ablaze. Move quikew His cries were resounding in
24:44
the street as if it were a cave of echoes. Many feet pattered swiftly
24:48
on the stones. There was one man who ran with an almost fabulous speed.
24:52
He wore lavender trousers. A straw hat with a bright silk band was
24:56
held half crumpled in his hand. As Henry reached the front door, Hannigan
25:00
had just broken the lock with a kick. A thick cloud of smoke poured
25:03
over them, and Henry, ducking his head, rushed into it. From
25:07
Hannigan's clamor, he knew only one thing, but it turned him blue with
25:10
horror. In the hall, a lick of flame had found the cord that
25:12
supported signing the declaration the engraving slumped suddenly down at one end, and then
25:18
dropped to the floor, where it burst with the sound of a bomb.
25:22
The fire was already roaring like a winter wind among the pines. At the
25:26
head of the stairs. Missus Trescott was waving her arms as if they were
25:29
two reeds. Jimmy, save Jimmy, she screamed in Henry's face. He
25:33
plunged past her and disappeared, taking the long, familiar routes among these upper
25:37
chambers where he had once held office as a sort of second assistant. Housemate.
25:41
Hannigan had followed him up the stairs and grappled the arm of the maniacal
25:45
woman there. His face was black with rage. You must come down,
25:49
he bellowed. She would only scream at him in reply, Jimmy, Jimmy,
25:52
save Jimmy. But he dragged her forth while she babbled at him.
25:56
As they swung out into the open air. A man ran across the lawn,
26:00
and, seizing a shudder, pulled it from its hinges and flung it
26:03
far out upon the grass. Then he frantically attacked the other shutters one by
26:07
one. It was a kind of temporary insanity here. You howled Hannigan,
26:12
hold missus Trescott and stop. The news had been telegraphed by a twist of
26:15
the wrists of a neighbor who had gone to the fire box at the corner,
26:19
and the time when Hannigan and his charge struggled out of the house was
26:22
the time when the whistle roared its hoarse night call, smiting the crowd in
26:26
the park, causing the leader of the band, who was about to order
26:30
the first triumphal clang of a military march, to let his hand drop slowly
26:33
to his knees. Seven Henry pawed awkwardly through the smoke in the upper halls.
26:41
He had attempted to guide himself by the walls, but they were too
26:44
hot. The paper was crumpling, and he expected at any moment to have
26:48
a flame burst from under his hands. Jimmy, he did not call very
26:52
loud, as if in fear that the humming flames below would overhear him.
26:56
Jimmy, Oh, Jimmy. Mumbling and panting, he speedily reached the entrance
27:02
to Jimmy's room and flung open the door. The little chamber had no smoke
27:06
in it at all. It was faintly illuminated by a beautiful rosy light reflected
27:11
circuitously from the flames that were consuming the house. The boy had apparently just
27:15
been aroused by the noise. He sat in his bed, his lips apart,
27:18
his eyes wide, while upon his little white robed figure played caressingly the
27:23
light from the fire. As the door flew open, he had before him
27:26
this apparition of his pal, a terror stricken negro, all tousled and with
27:32
wool scorching, who leaped upon him and bore him up in a blanket,
27:36
as if the whole affair were a case of kidnapping by a dreadful robber chief.
27:40
Without waiting to go through the usual short but complete process of wrinkling up
27:44
his face, Jimmy let out a gorgeous ball which resembled the expression of a
27:48
calf's deepest terror. As Johnson, bearing him, reeled into the smoke of
27:53
the hall, he flung his arms about his neck and buried his face in
27:56
the blanket. He called twice in muffled tones. When Johnson came to the
28:04
top of the stairs with his burden, he took a quick step backward through
28:08
the smoke that rolled to him. He could see that the lower hall was
28:12
all ablaze. He cried out. Then, in a howl that resembled Jimmy's
28:17
former achievement, his legs gained a frightful faculty of bending sideways. Swinging about
28:22
precariously on these reedy legs, he made his way back slowly back along the
28:26
upper hall from the way of him. Then he had given up almost all
28:30
idea of escaping from the burning house, and with it the desire he was
28:36
submitting, submitting because of his father's bending his mind in a most perfect slavery.
28:41
To this conflagration. He now clutched Jimmy as unconsciously as when running toward
28:47
the house he had clutched the hat with the bright silk band. Suddenly he
28:51
remembered a little private staircase which led from a bedroom to an apartment which the
28:55
doctor had fitted up as a laboratory in workhouse, where he used some of
28:59
his leisure and also hours when he might have been sleeping in devoting himself to
29:03
experiments which came in the way of his study and interest. When Johnson recalled
29:07
this stairway, the submission to the blaze departed instantly. He had been perfectly
29:12
familiar with it but his confusion had destroyed the memory of it. In his
29:17
sudden, momentary apathy, there had been little that resembled fear. But now
29:22
as a way of safety came to him, the old frantic terror caught him.
29:26
He was no longer creature to the flames, and he was afraid of
29:29
the battle with them. It was a singular and swift set of alternations in
29:33
which he feared twice without submission, and submitted once without fear. Jimmy,
29:38
he wailed as he staggered on his way. He wished this little inanimate body
29:44
at his breast to participate in his tremblings. But the child had lain limp
29:48
and still during these headlong charges and counter charges, and no sign came from
29:52
him. Johnson passed through two rooms and came to the head of the stairs.
29:57
As he opened the door, billows of smoke poured out, but gripping
30:02
Jimmy closer, he plunged down through them. All manner of odors assailed him
30:06
during this flight. They seemed to be alive with envy, hatred, and
30:10
malice. At the entrance to the laboratory, he confronted a strange spectacle.
30:15
The room was like a garden in the region where it might be burning flowers.
30:19
Flames of violet, crimson, green, blue, orange, and purple
30:22
were blooming everywhere. There was one blaze that was precisely the hue of a
30:27
delicate coral. In another place was a mass that lay merely in phosphorescent inaction,
30:33
like a pile of emeralds. But all these marvels were to be seen
30:37
dimly through clouds of heaving turning deadly smoke. Johnson halted for a moment on
30:41
the threshold. He cried out again in the negro whale that had in it
30:45
the sadness of the swamps. Then he rushed across the room. An orange
30:51
colored flame leaped like a panther at the lavender trousers. This animal bit deeply
30:56
into Johnson. There was an explosion at one side, and suddenly before him
31:00
there reared a delicate, trembling sapphire, shaped like a fairy lady with a
31:03
quiet smile. She blocked his path and doomed him and Jimmy Johnson shrieked and
31:08
then ducked. In the manner of his race and fights, he aimed to
31:11
pass under the left guard of the sapphire lady, but she was swifter than
31:15
eagles, and her talons caught in him, and see plunged past her,
31:19
bowing his head as if his neck had been struck. Johnson lurched forward,
31:23
twisting this way, and that he fell on his back. The still form
31:27
in the blanket flung from his arms, rolled to the edge of the floor
31:30
and beneath the window. Johnson had fallen with his head at the base of
31:34
an old fashioned desk. There was a row of jars upon the top of
31:38
this desk. For the most part they were silent amid this rioting, but
31:44
there was one which seemed to hold a scintillent and writhing serpent. Suddenly,
31:48
the glass splintered, and a ruby red snakelike being poured its thick length out
31:52
upon the top of the old desk. It coiled and hesitated, and then
31:56
began to swam a languorous way down the mahogany slant. At the angle,
32:00
it waved its sizzling molten head to and fro over the closed eyes of the
32:04
man beneath it. Then, in a moment, with a mystic impulse,
32:07
it moved again, and the red snake flowed directly down into Johnson's upturned face.
32:14
Afterwards, the trail of this creature seemed to reek and amid flames in
32:17
low explosions, drops like red hot jewels pattered softly down it at leisurely intervals.
32:24
Eight Suddenly all roads led to doctor Trescott's. The whole town flowed toward
32:31
one point. Chip Away Hose Company Number one toiled desperately up Bridge Street Hill,
32:37
even as the Tusca auroras came in an impetuous sweep down Niagara Avenue.
32:40
Meanwhile, the machine of the hook and latter experts from across the creek was
32:45
spinning on its way. The chief of the fired apartment had been playing poker
32:49
in the rear room of Whiteley's cigar store, but at the first breath of
32:52
the alarm, he sprang through the door like a man escaping with the kitty.
32:57
In Wylamville. On these occasions there was always a number of people who
33:00
instantly turned their attention to the bells in the churches and schoolhouses. The bells
33:04
not only emphasized the alarm, but it was the habit to send these sounds
33:07
rolling across the sky in a stirring, brazen uproar until the flames were practically
33:12
vanquished. There was also a kind of rivalry as to which bell should be
33:16
made to produce the greatest den. Even the valley church, four miles away
33:21
among the farms, had heard the voices of its brethren and immediately added a
33:24
quaint little yelp. Doctor Trescott had been driving homeward, slowly, smoking a
33:30
cigar, and feeling glad that this last case was now in complete obedience to
33:34
him, like a wild animal that he had subdued, when he heard the
33:37
long whistle and tripped to his horse under the unlicensed but perfectly distinct impression that
33:43
a fire had broken out in Oakhurst, a new and rather high flying suburb
33:46
of the town, which was at least two miles from his own home.
33:51
But in the second blast, and in the ensuing silence, he read the
33:53
designation of his own district. He was then only a few blocks from his
33:58
house. He took out the whip and laid it lightly on the mare.
34:00
Surprised and frightened at this extraordinary action, she leaped forward, and as the
34:06
rain straightened like steel bands, the doctor leaned backward a trifle. When the
34:09
mayor whirled him up to the closed gate. He was wondering whose house could
34:13
be a fire. The man who had rung the signal box yelled something at
34:16
him, but he already knew he left the mare to her will. In
34:22
front of his door was a maniacal woman in a wrapper ned. She screamed
34:25
at the sight of him. Jimmy, save Jimmy. Trescott had grown hard
34:30
and chill. Where he said where missus Trescott's voice began to bubble up,
34:37
up up. She pointed at the second story windows. Hannigan was already shouting,
34:42
don't go in that way. You can't go in that way. Trescott
34:45
ran round the corner of the house and disappeared from them. He knew from
34:49
the view he had taken of the main hall that it would be impossible to
34:52
ascend from there. His hopes were fastened now to the stairway which led from
34:55
the laboratory. The door which opened from this room out upon the lawn fastened
35:00
with a bolt and lock. But he kicked close to the lock and then
35:02
closed to the bolt. The door, with a loud crash, flew back.
35:06
The doctor recoiled from the roll of smoke, and then, bending low,
35:08
he stepped into the garden of burning flowers on the floor his stinging eyes
35:13
could make out a form in a smoldering blanket near the window. Then,
35:16
as he carried his son towards the door, he saw the whole lawn seemed
35:20
now alive with men and boys, the leaders in the great charge that the
35:22
whole town was making. They seized him in his burden and overpowered him in
35:27
wet blankets and water. But Hanigan was howling, Johnson is in there,
35:30
Henry Johnson is in there. Yet he went in after the kid. Johnson
35:35
is in there. Yet. These cries penetrated to the sleepy senses of Trescott,
35:38
and he struggled with his captors, swearing unknown to him and to them
35:43
all the deep blasphemies of his medical student days. He rose to his feet
35:46
and went again towards the door of the laboratory. They endeavored to restrain him,
35:50
although they were much affrighted at him. But a young man who was
35:52
a brakeman on the railway and lived in one of the rear streets near the
35:55
Trescott's, had gone into the laboratory and brought forth a thing, which he
36:00
laid on the grass. Nine there were horse commands from in front of the
36:06
house turwn you water five, let her go one. The gathering crowd swayed
36:10
this way and that way. The flames towering high, cast a wild red
36:15
light on their faces. There came the clangor of a gong from along some
36:19
adjacent street. The crowd exclaimed at it, Here comes number three. That's
36:23
three. A comin, a panting and irregular mob dashed into view, dragging
36:28
a hose cart. A cry of exultation arose from the little boys. Here's
36:32
three. The lad's welcome, never die hose Company number three, As if
36:36
it were composed of a chariot dragged by a band of gods. The perspiring
36:40
citizens flung themselves into the fray. The boys dance in impish joy at the
36:45
displays of prowess. They claimed the approach of number two. They welcomed number
36:50
four with cheers. They were so deeply moved by this whole affair that they
36:53
bitterly guide the late appearance of the Hook and Ladder Company, whose heavy apparatus
36:58
had almost stalled them on the Bridge Street hill. The lads hated and feared
37:01
of fire. Of course, they did not particularly want to have anybody's house
37:06
burn. But still it was fine to see the gathering of the companies,
37:09
and amid a great noise to watch their heroes perform all manner of prodigies.
37:14
They were divided into parties over the worth of different companies, and supported their
37:17
creeds with no small violence. For instance, in that part of the little
37:22
city where number four had its home, it would be most daring for a
37:23
boy to contend the superiority of any other company. Likewise, in another quarter,
37:30
where a strange boy was asked which fire company was the best in Willelmville,
37:34
he was expected to answer number one. Feuds which the boys forgot and
37:37
remembered according to chance or the importance of some recent event, existed all through
37:42
the town. They did not care much for John Shipley, the chief of
37:45
the department. It was true that he went to a fire with the speed
37:50
of a falling angel, but when there he invariably lapsed into a certain still
37:53
mood, which was almost a preoccupation, moving leisurely around the burning structure and
37:58
surveying it. Meanwhile, at a cigar, This quiet man, who even
38:02
when life was in danger, seldom raised his voice, was not much to
38:06
their fancy. Now, Old Sykes Huntington, when he was chief, used
38:09
to bellow continually like a bull and gesticulate in a sort of delirium. He
38:15
was much finer as a spectacle than this Shipley, who viewed a fire with
38:19
the same steadiness that he viewed a rays in a large jackpot. The greater
38:22
number of the boys could never understand why the members of these companies persisted in
38:27
re electing Shipley, although they often pretended to understand it, because my father
38:31
says, was a very formidable phrase in argument, and the fathers seemed almost
38:37
unanimous in advocating Shipley. At this time, there was considerable discussion as to
38:42
which company had gotten the first stream of water on the fire. Most of
38:45
the boys claimed that number five owed that distinction, but there was a determined
38:50
minority who contended for number one. Boys who were the blood adherents of other
38:54
companies were obliged to choose between the two on this occasion, and the talk
38:59
waxed warm. But a great rumor went among the crowds, it was told
39:02
with hushed voices. Afterwards, a reverent silence fell even upon the boys.
39:07
Jimmy Trescott and Henry Johnson had been burned to death, and doctor Trescott himself
39:13
had been most savagely hurt. The crowd did not even feel the police pushing
39:16
at them. They raised their eyes, shining now with awe, towards the
39:21
high flames. The man who had information was at his best. In low
39:25
tones. He described the whole affair that was the kid's room in the corner.
39:30
There he had measles or somethin', an his coon Johnson was a settin'
39:35
up with him, and Johnson got sleepy or suthin an up set the lamp.
39:37
An the doctor, he was down in his office, An he came
39:40
runnin up, an they all got burned together till they dragged him out.
39:44
Another man, always preserved for the deliverance of the final judgment, was saying,
39:47
Oh, they'll die, sure, burned to flinders. No chance,
39:52
whole lot of em, anybody can see. The crowd concentrated its gaze still
39:57
more closely upon these flags of fire, which waved joyfully against the black sky.
40:01
The bells of the town were clashing unceasingly. A little procession moved across
40:07
the lawn and towards the street. There were three cots, borne by twelve
40:10
of the firemen. The police moved sternly, but it needed no effort of
40:15
theirs to open a lane for the slow cortege. The men who bore the
40:19
cots were well known to the crowd, but in the solemn parade, during
40:22
the ringing of the bells and the shouting, and with the red glare upon
40:25
the sky, they seemed utterly foreign, and Willhamville paid them a deep respect.
40:30
Each man in this stretcher party had gained a reflected majesty. They were
40:34
footmen to death, and the crowd made subtle obeisance to this August dignity derived
40:38
from three prospective graves. One woman turned away with a shriek at the sight
40:43
of the covered body on the first stretcher, and people faced her suddenly in
40:46
silent and mournful indignation. Otherwise there was barely a sound as these twelve important
40:52
men, with measured tread carried their burdens through the throng. The little boys
40:57
no longer discussed the merits of the different fire companies, for the greater part
41:01
they had been routed. Only the more courageous viewed closely the three figures veiled
41:06
in yellow blankets. Ten old Judge Denning Hagenhorpe, who lived near opposite the
41:14
Trescotts had thrown his door wide open to receive the afflicted family. When it
41:19
was publicly learned that the doctor and his son and the negro were still alive,
41:22
it required a specially detailed policeman to prevent people from scaling the front porch
41:27
and interviewing these sorely wounded. One old lady appeared with a miraculous poultice,
41:32
and she quoted most damning scripture to the officer when he said that she could
41:37
not pass him. Throughout the night, some lads old enough to be given
41:40
privileges or to compel them from their mothers, remained vigilantly upon the curb in
41:45
anticipation of a death or some such event. The reporter of the Morning Tribune
41:51
rode thither on his bicycle every hour until three o'clock. Six of the ten
41:55
doctors in Willhelmville attended at Judge Hagenthorpe's house almost at once. They were able
42:01
to know that Trescott's burns were not vitally important. The child would possibly be
42:06
scarred badly, but his life was undoubtedly safe. As for the negro,
42:09
Henry Johnson, he could not live. His body was frightfully scarred, but
42:15
more than that, he now had no face. His face had simply been
42:19
burned away. Trescott was always asking news of the two other patients. In
42:23
the morning. He seemed fresh and strong, so they told him that Johnson
42:28
was doomed. They then saw him stir on the bed and sprang quickly to
42:30
see if the bandages needed readjusting. In the sudden glance he threw from one
42:36
to another, he impressed them as being both leonine and impracticable. The morning
42:40
paper announced the death of Henry Johnson. It contained a long interview with Edward
42:45
J. Hannigan, in which the latter described in full the performance of Johnson
42:49
at the fire. There was also an editorial built from all the best words
42:52
in the vocabulary of the staff. The town halted in its accustomed road of
42:57
thought, and turned a reverent attention to the memory of this ostler. In
43:00
the breasts of many people was the regret that they had not known enough to
43:04
give him a hand and a lift when he was alive, and they judged
43:07
themselves stupid and ungenerous for this failure. The name of Henry Johnson became suddenly
43:13
the title of a saint to the little boys, the one who thought of
43:16
it first, could, by quoting it in an argument at once overthrow his
43:21
antagonist, whether it applied to the subject or whence it did not. Nigger,
43:25
nigger never die, black face and shiny eye boys who had called this
43:30
odious couplet in the rear of Johnson's march buried the fact at the bottom of
43:34
their hearts. Later in the day, Miss Bella Farragut of number seven Watermelon
43:38
Alley announced that she had been engaged to marry mister Henry Johnson eleven. The
43:46
old Judge had a cane with an ivory head. He could never think it
43:50
his best until he was leaning slightly on his stick and smoothing the white top
43:53
with slow movements of his hands. It was also to him a kind of
43:58
narcotic. If by any chance he mislaid it, he grew at once very
44:01
irritable, and was likely to speak sharply to his sister, whose mental incapacity
44:07
he had patiently endured for thirty years in the old mansion on Ontario Street.
44:12
She was not at all aware of her brother's opinion of her endowments, and
44:15
so it might be said that the Judge had successfully dissembled for more than a
44:17
quarter of a century, only risking the truth at the times when his cane
44:22
was lost. On a particular day, the judge sat in his arm chair
44:25
on the porch. The sunshine sprinkled through the lilac bushes and poured great coins
44:30
on the boards. The sparrows disputed in the trees that lined the pavements.
44:35
The judge mused deeply while his hands gently caressed the ivory head of his cane.
44:40
Finally, he arose and entered the house, his brow still furrowed in
44:44
a thoughtful frown. His stick thumped solemnly in regular beats. On the second
44:50
floor. He entered a room where doctor Trescott was working about the bedside of
44:52
Henry Johnson. The bandages on the negro's head allowed only one thing to appear,
44:58
an eye which a winkingly stared at the judge. The latter spoke to
45:02
Truscott on the condition of the patient. Afterward, he evidently had something further
45:07
to say, but he seemed to be kept from it by the scrutiny of
45:10
the unwinking eye at which he furtively glanced from time to time. When Jimmy
45:15
Truscott was sufficiently recovered, his mother had taken him to pay a visit to
45:20
his grandparents in Connecticut. The doctor had remained to take care of his patients,
45:23
but as a matter of truth, he spent most of his time at
45:27
Judge Hagenthorpe's house, where lay Henry Johnson. Here he slept and ate almost
45:31
every meal in the long nights and days of his vigil. At dinner,
45:36
and away from the magic of the unwinking eye, the judge said, suddenly,
45:40
Trustcott, do you think it is? As Truscott paused expectantly, The
45:45
judge fingered his knife. He said, thoughtfully, no one wants to advance
45:49
such ideas, but somehow I think that the poor fellow ought to die.
45:54
There was in Truscott's face at once a look of recognition, as if in
45:58
this tangent of the judge he saw an old problem. He merely sighed and
46:02
answered, who knows. The words were spoken in a deep tone that gave
46:07
them an elusive kind of significance. The judge retreated to the cold manner of
46:13
the bench. Perhaps we may not talk with the propriety of this kind of
46:17
action, but I am induced to say that you are performing a questionable charity
46:23
and preserving this Negro's life. As near as I can understand, he will
46:28
hereafter be a monster, a perfect monster, and probably with an affected brain.
46:34
No man can observe you as I have observed you, and not know
46:37
that it was a matter of conscience with you. But I am afraid,
46:40
my friend, that it is one of the blunders of virtue. The judge
46:45
had delivered his views with his habitual oratory. The last three words he spoke
46:52
with a particular emphasis, as if the phrase was his discovery. The doctor
46:57
made a weary gesture. He saved my boy's life, yes, said the
47:02
judge swiftly. Yes, I know. And what am I to do?
47:07
Said Trescott, his eyes suddenly lighting like an outburst from smoldering pete. What
47:14
am I to do? He gave himself for for Jimmy? What am I
47:17
to do for him? The judge abased himself completely before these words. He
47:22
lowered his eyes for a moment. He picked at his cucumbers. Presently,
47:28
he braced himself straightly in his chair. He will be your creation. You
47:32
understand, he is purely your creation. Nature has very evidently given him up.
47:38
He is dead. You are restoring him to life. You are making
47:43
him and he will be a monster, and with no mind, he will
47:47
be what you like, Judge, cried Trescott in sudden, polite fury.
47:52
He will be anything. But by God, he saved my boy, the
47:57
judge interrupted, in a voice trembling with emotion. Trescott, Truscott, don't
48:01
I know. Trescott had subsided to a sullen mood. Yes you know,
48:08
he answered acidly, But you don't know all about your own boy being saved
48:14
from death. This was a perfectly childish allusion to the judge's bachelorhood. Trescott
48:20
knew that the remark was infantile, but he seemed to take desperate delight in
48:22
it. But it passed the judge completely. It was not his spot.
48:29
I am puzzled, said he in profound thought. Ah don't know what to
48:34
say. Trescott had become repentant. Don't think I don't appreciate what you say,
48:40
Judge. But of course, responded the judge quickly. Of course it
48:46
began, Trescott. Of course, said the judge in silence. They resumed
48:52
their dinner. Well, said the judge. Ultimately, it is hard for
48:55
a man to know what to do. It is said the doctor, fervidly.
49:01
There was another silence. It was broken by the judge. Look here,
49:06
Trescott, I don't want you to think no, certainly not, answered
49:10
the doctor earnestly. Well, I don't want you to think that I would
49:15
say anything to It was only that I thought that I might be able to
49:19
suggest to you that perhaps the affair was a little dubious. With an appearance
49:27
of suddenly disclosing his real mental perturbation, the doctor said, well, what
49:31
would you do? Would you kill him? He asked, abruptly and sternly.
49:37
Trescott, you fool, said the old man gently. Oh well,
49:42
I know, judge. But then he turned red and spoke with new violence.
49:46
Say he saved my boy. Do you see he saved my boy?
49:52
You bet he did, cried the judge with enthusiasm. You bet he did.
49:59
And they remained for a time. I am gazing at each other,
50:00
their faces illuminated with memories of a certain deed. After another silence, the
50:07
judge said, it is hard for a man to know what to do.
50:13
Twelve late one evening, Trescott, returning from a professional call, paused his
50:19
buggy at the Hagenthorpe Gate. He tied the mare to the old tin covered
50:22
post and entered the house. Ultimately, he appeared with a companion, a
50:27
man who walked slowly and carefully, as if he were learning. He was
50:30
wrapped to the heels in an old fashioned ulster. They entered the buggy and
50:35
drove away. After a silence only broken by the swift and musical humming of
50:39
the wheels on the smooth road, Trescott spoke Henry. He said, I've
50:45
got you home here with old Alec Williams. You will have everything you want
50:50
to eat and a good place to sleep, and I hope you will get
50:53
along there all right. I will pay all your expenses and come to see
50:58
you as often as I can. If you don't get along, I want
51:00
you to let me know as soon as possible, and then we will do
51:04
what we can to make it better. The dark figure at the doctor's side
51:07
answered with a cheerful laugh. These buggy wheels don't look like I washed him
51:14
yesterday, doctor, he said. Trescott hesitated for a moment, and then
51:17
went on insistently, I am taking you to Alec Williams. Henry and I
51:23
The figure chuckled again, No deed, no, sir Alec Williams don't know
51:29
a horse, indeed, he don't. You don't know a horse from a
51:31
pig. The laugh that followed was like the rattle of pebbles. Trescott turned
51:37
and looked sternly and coldly at the dim form in the gloom from the buggy
51:42
top Henry. He said, I didn't say anything about horses. I was
51:45
saying, House, House, said the quavering voice from these nearer shadows.
51:52
House, Deed, I don't know all about a horse. Indeed, I
51:57
don't. There was a satirical chuckle. At the end of three miles.
52:01
The mare slackened, and the doctor leaned forward, peering while holding tight reins.
52:07
The wheels of the buggy bumped, often over outcropping boulders. A window
52:12
shone forth a simple square of topaz on a great black hillside. Four dogs
52:16
charged the buggy with ferocity, and when it did not promptly retreat, they
52:21
circled courageously around the flanks, baying. A door opened near the window in
52:24
the hillside, and a man came and stood on a beach of yellow light.
52:30
Ya ya, you rover, you suz it, come ya, come
52:34
yore. This minute, Trescott called across the dark sea of grass. Hello,
52:38
Aleck, Hello, come down here and show me where to drive.
52:45
The man plunged from the beach into the surf, and Trescott could then only
52:47
trace his course by the fervid and polite ejaculations of a host who was somewhere
52:52
approaching. Presently, Williams took the mare by the head, and, uttering
52:57
cries of welcome and scolding, the swarming dogs led the equipage towards the lights.
53:01
When they halted at the door and Trescott was climbing out, Williams cried,
53:06
where's you stand, doctor? She'll stand all right, but you better
53:09
hold her for a minute now, Henry. The doctor turned and held both
53:14
arms to the dark figure. It crawled to him painfully, like a man
53:17
going down a ladder. Williams took the mare away to be tied to a
53:22
little tree, and when he returned he found them awaiting him in the gloom
53:25
beyond the rays from the door. He burst out, then, like a
53:29
siphon pressed by a nervous thumb, Henry, Henry, my friend. Well,
53:36
if I ain't glad, if I ain't glad. Trescott had taken the
53:39
silent shape by the arm and led it forward into the full revelation of the
53:44
light. Well, now, Alec, you can take Henry and put him
53:47
to bed, and in the morning I will Near the end of the sentence,
53:51
soul Williams had come front to front with Johnson. He gasped for a
53:54
second and then yelled the yell of a man stabbed in the heart. For
53:59
a fraction of a moment, Trescott seemed to be looking for epithets. Then
54:02
he roared, you old black chump, you old black shut up, Shut
54:07
up, do you hear? Williams obeyed instantly in the matter of his screams,
54:13
but he continued in a lowered voice, My load, A massy who
54:16
ever thing, my load, A massy Trescott spoke again, in the manner
54:21
of a commander of a battalion. Alec, the old negro again surrendered,
54:25
But to himself, he repeated, in a whisper, my load. He
54:30
was aghast and trembling. As these three points of widening shadows approached the golden
54:35
doorway, a hale old Negress appeared there, bowing, good evening, doctor,
54:39
good evening, Come here, come here. She had evidently just retired
54:43
from a tempestuous struggle to place the room in order, but she was now
54:46
bowing rapidly. She made the effort of a person swimming. Don't trouble yourself,
54:52
Mary, said Trescott, entering, I brought Henry for you to take
54:54
care of, and all you've got to do is carry out what I tell
54:58
you. Learning that he was not followed, he faced the door and said,
55:01
come in. Henry Johnson entered, Wi shrieked Missus Williams. She almost
55:07
achieved a back somersault. Six young members of the tribe of Williams made a
55:12
simultaneous plunge for a position behind the stove and formed a wailing heap. End
55:19
of Section one The Monster, Part one