Latest / The H. G. Wells Library / The Wheels of Chance Chapters 13 to 15

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The Wheels of Chance Chapters 13 to 15 · The H. G. Wells Library

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Speaker 1: Section five of the Wheels of Chance. This is a
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Speaker 1: LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain.
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Speaker 1: For more information or to volunteer, please visit LibriVox dot org.
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Speaker 1: Recording by Marianne Spiegel. The Wheels of Chance by H. G. Wells,
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Speaker 1: Chapter eight, How mister Hoopdriver went to Hazelmere. There was
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Speaker 1: some little delay in getting mister Hoopdriver's breakfast, so that,
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Speaker 1: after all he was not free to start out of Guildford,
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Speaker 1: until just upon the stroke of nine he wheeled his
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Speaker 1: machine from the high Street. In some perplexity, he did
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Speaker 1: not know whether this young lady who had seized hold
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Speaker 1: of his imagination so strongly, and her unfriendly and possibly
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Speaker 1: menacing brother were ahead of him, or even now breakfasting
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Speaker 1: somewhere in Guildford. In the former case, he might loiter
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Speaker 1: as he chose. In the latter, he must hurry and
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Speaker 1: possibly take refuge in branch roads. It occurred to him
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Speaker 1: as being in some obscure way strategic, that he would
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Speaker 1: leave Guildford, not by the obvious Portsmouth road, but by
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Speaker 1: the road running through Shalford. Along this pleasant, shady way,
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Speaker 1: he felt sufficiently secure to resume his exercises in riding
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Speaker 1: with one hand off the handles and in staring over
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Speaker 1: his shoulder. He came over once or twice, but fell
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Speaker 1: on his foot each time, and perceived that he was improving.
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Speaker 1: Before he got to Bramley, a spacious byways snapped him up,
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Speaker 1: ran with him for half a mile or more, and
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Speaker 1: dropped him as a terrier drops a walking stick upon
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Speaker 1: the portsmouth Again, a couple of miles from Godalming, he
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Speaker 1: entered Godalming on his feet, for the road through that
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Speaker 1: delightful town is beyond dispute, the vilest in the world,
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Speaker 1: a mere tumult of road metal, a way of peaks
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Speaker 1: and precipices. And after a successful experiment with cider at
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Speaker 1: the woolpack, he pushed on to Milford. All this time
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Speaker 1: he was acutely aware of the existence of the young
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Speaker 1: lady in gray and her companion in brown. As a
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Speaker 1: childil in the dark is of Bogie's. Sometimes he could
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Speaker 1: hear their pneumatics stealing upon him from behind, and looking round,
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Speaker 1: saw a long stretch of vacant road. Once he saw
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Speaker 1: far ahead of him a glittering wheel, but it proved
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Speaker 1: to be a working man riding to destruction on a
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Speaker 1: very tall ordinary, and he felt a curious, vague, uneasiness
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Speaker 1: about that young lady in gray, for which he was
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Speaker 1: altogether unable to account. Now that he was awake, he
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Speaker 1: had forgotten that accentuated miss Beaumont that had been quite
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Speaker 1: clear in his dream. But the curious dream conviction that
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Speaker 1: the girl was not really the man's sister would not
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Speaker 1: let itself be forgotten. Why, for instance, should a man
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Speaker 1: want to be alone with his sister at the top
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Speaker 1: of a tower at Milford. His bicycle made, so to speak,
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Speaker 1: an ass of itself. A finger post suddenly jumped out
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Speaker 1: at him, vainly, indicating an abrupt turn to the right,
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Speaker 1: and mister hoopdriver would have slowed up and read the inscription,
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Speaker 1: but know the bicycle would not let him. The road
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Speaker 1: dropped a little into Milford, and the thing shied, put
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Speaker 1: down its head, and bolted, and mister hoopdriver only thought
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Speaker 1: of the break when the finger post was passed. Then
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Speaker 1: to have recovered the point of intersection would have meant dismounting,
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Speaker 1: for as yet there was no road wide enough for
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Speaker 1: mister hoopdriver to turn in, so he went on his way,
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Speaker 1: or to be precise he did exactly the opposite thing.
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Speaker 1: The road to the right was the Portsmouth Road, and
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Speaker 1: this he was on went to Hazelmere and Midhurst by
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Speaker 1: that air. It came about that he once more came
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Speaker 1: upon his fellow travelers of yesterday, coming on them suddenly
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Speaker 1: without the slightest preliminary announcement, and when they least expected it,
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Speaker 1: under the Southwestern Railway arch. It's horrible, said a girlish voice.
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Speaker 1: It's brutal, cowardly, and stopped his expression as he shot
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Speaker 1: out from the archway at them. May have been something
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Speaker 1: between a grin of recognition and a scowl of annoyance,
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Speaker 1: said himself, for the unintentional intrusion. But disconcerted as he was,
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Speaker 1: he was yet able to appreciate something of the peculiarity
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Speaker 1: of their mutual attitudes. The bicycles were lined by the roadside,
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Speaker 1: and the two riders stood face to face. The other
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Speaker 1: man in Brown's attitude, as it flashed upon hoopdriver, was
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Speaker 1: a deliberate pose. He twirled his mustache and smiled faintly,
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Speaker 1: and he was conscientiously looking amused. And the girl stood rigid,
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Speaker 1: her arms straight by her side, her handkerchief clenched in
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Speaker 1: her hand, and her face was flushed with the faintest
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Speaker 1: touch of red upon her eyelids. She seemed, to Hoopdriver's
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Speaker 1: sense to be indignant, but that was the impression of
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Speaker 1: a second A mask of surprised recognition fell across this
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Speaker 1: revelation of emotion as she turned her head towards him,
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Speaker 1: and the pose of the other man in brown vanished
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Speaker 1: too in a momentary astonishment. And then he had passed
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Speaker 1: them and was riding on toward hazelmir to make he
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Speaker 1: could of the swift picture that had photographed itself on
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Speaker 1: his brain. Rum, said, mister Hoopdriver, it's dashed rum. They
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Speaker 1: were having a row, smirking what he called the other
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Speaker 1: man in brown need not trouble us, annoying her that
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Speaker 1: any human being should do that. Why the impulse to
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Speaker 1: interfere leapt suddenly into mister Hoopdriver's mind. He grasped his brake, descended,
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Speaker 1: and stood, looking hesitatingly back. They still stood by the
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Speaker 1: railway bridge, and it seemed to mister Hoopdriver's fancy that
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Speaker 1: she was stamping her foot. He hesitated, then turned his
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Speaker 1: bicycle round, mounted and rode back toward them. Gripping his
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Speaker 1: courage firmly, lest it should slip away and leave him ridiculous.
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Speaker 1: I'll offer him a screw emmer, said mister Hoopdriver. Then
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Speaker 1: with a wave of fierce emotion, he saw that the
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Speaker 1: girl was crying. In another moment, they heard him and
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Speaker 1: turned in surprise. Certainly she had been crying. Her eyes
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Speaker 1: were swimming in tears, and the other man in brown
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Speaker 1: looked exceedingly disconcerted. Mister Hoopdriver descended and stood over his machine.
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Speaker 1: Nothing wrong, I hope, he said, looking the other man
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Speaker 1: in brown squarely in the face. No accident, nothing, said
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Speaker 1: the other man in brown shortly, nothing at all. Thanks,
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Speaker 1: but said mister Hoopdriver with great effort. The young lady
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Speaker 1: is crying, I thought, perhaps. The young lady in grace started,
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Speaker 1: gave Hoopdriver one swift glance and covered one eye with
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Speaker 1: her handkerchief. It's this speck, she said, this speck of
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Speaker 1: dust in my eye, this lady, said the other man
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Speaker 1: in browne explaining, has a gnat in her eye. There
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Speaker 1: was a pause. The young lady busied herself with her eye.
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Speaker 1: I believe it's out, she said. The other man in
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Speaker 1: brown made movements indicating commiserating curiosity concerning the alleged fly.
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Speaker 1: Mister Hoopdriver, the word is his own, stood flabbergasted. He
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Speaker 1: had all the intuition of the simple minded. He knew
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Speaker 1: there was no fly, but the ground was suddenly cut
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Speaker 1: from his feet. There is a limit to knight erranty,
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Speaker 1: dragons and false knights are all very well, but flies,
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Speaker 1: fictitious flies. Whatever the trouble was, it was evidently not
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Speaker 1: his affair. He felt he had made a fool of
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Speaker 1: himself again. He would have mumbled some sort of apology,
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Speaker 1: but the other man in brown gave him no time,
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Speaker 1: turned on him abruptly, even fiercely. I hope he said
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Speaker 1: that your curiosity is satisfied. Certainly, said mister Hoopdriver, then
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Speaker 1: we won't detain you. And ignominiously, mister Hoopdriver turned his
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Speaker 1: machine about, struggled upon it, and resumed the road southward.
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Speaker 1: And when he learned that he was not on the
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Speaker 1: Portsmouth Road, it was impossible to turn and go back,
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Speaker 1: for that would be to face his shame again. And
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Speaker 1: so he had to ride on by Brook Street, up
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Speaker 1: the hill to Hazelmere, and away to the right the
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Speaker 1: Portsmouth Road. Mocked at him, and made off to its
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Speaker 1: fastnesses amid the sunlit green and purple masses of Hindhead,
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Speaker 1: where mister Grant Allen writes his hilltop novels. Day by day,
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Speaker 1: the sun shone and the wide blue hill views and
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Speaker 1: pleasant valleys one saw on either hand from the sand'sguarred roadway.
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Speaker 1: Even the sides of the road itself, set about with
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Speaker 1: gray heather scrub, and prickly masses of gorse and pine trees,
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Speaker 1: with their years grow still bright green against the darkened
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Speaker 1: needles of the previous years, were fresh and delightful to
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Speaker 1: mister Hoopdriver's eyes. But the brightness of the day and
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Speaker 1: the day old sense of freedom fought an uphill fight
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Speaker 1: against his intolerable vexation at that abominable encounter, and he
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Speaker 1: had still to win it. When he reached Hazelmere, a
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Speaker 1: great brown shadow, a monstrous hatred of the other man
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Speaker 1: in brown, possessed him. He had conceived the brilliant idea
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Speaker 1: of abandoning Portsmouth, or at least giving up the straight
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Speaker 1: way to his fellow wayfares, and of striking out boldly
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Speaker 1: to the left eastward. He did not dare to stop
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Speaker 1: at any of the inviting public houses in the main
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Speaker 1: street of Hezelmir, but turned up a sideway and found
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Speaker 1: a little beer shop, the Good Hope, wherein to refresh himself,
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Speaker 1: And there he ate and gossiped condescendingly with an aged laborer,
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Speaker 1: assuming the while for his own private enjoyment the attributes
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Speaker 1: of a lost air, and afterwards mounted and rowed on
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Speaker 1: toward North Chapel, a place which a number of finger
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Speaker 1: posts conspired to boom, but which some insidious turning prevented
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Speaker 1: him from attaining. Chapter fourteen. How mister Hoopdriver reached Midhurst.
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Speaker 1: It was one of my uncle's profoundest remarks that human
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Speaker 1: beings are the only unreasonable creatures. This observation was so
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Speaker 1: far justified by mister hoop Driver that, after spending the
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Speaker 1: morning tortuously avoiding the other man in brown and the
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Speaker 1: young lady in Gray, he spent a considerable part of
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Speaker 1: the afternoon thinking about the young lady in gray, and
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Speaker 1: contemplating in an optimistic spirit the possibilities of seeing her again.
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Speaker 1: Memory and imagination played round her, so that his course
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Speaker 1: was largely determined by the windings of the road. He traversed.
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Speaker 1: Of one general proposition he was absolutely convinced. There's something
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Speaker 1: juicy wrong with them, said he once, even aloud. But
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Speaker 1: what it was he could not imagine. He recapitulated the
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Speaker 1: facts Miss Beaumont, brother and sister, and the stoppage to
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Speaker 1: quarrel and weep. It was perplexing material for a young
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Speaker 1: man of small experience. There was no exertion he hated
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Speaker 1: so much as inference, And after a time he gave
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Speaker 1: up any attempt to get at the realities of the case,
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Speaker 1: and let his imagination go free. Should he ever see
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Speaker 1: her again, suppose he did with that other chap not
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Speaker 1: about the vision he found pleasantest was an encounter with her,
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Speaker 1: an unexpected accounter at the annual dancing class do at
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Speaker 1: the Putney Assembly rooms. Somehow they would drift together, and
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Speaker 1: he would dance with her again and again. It was
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Speaker 1: a pleasant vision. For you must understand that mister Hoopdriver
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Speaker 1: danced uncommonly well or again in the shop. A sudden
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Speaker 1: radiance in the doorway, and she is bowed toward the
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Speaker 1: Manchester counter, and then to lean over the counter and
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Speaker 1: murmur something apropos of the goods under discussion. I have
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Speaker 1: not forgotten that morning on the Portsmouth road, and lower
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Speaker 1: I shall never forget. At North Chapel, mister hoopdriver consulted
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Speaker 1: with his map, and took counsel and weighed his course
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Speaker 1: of action. Petworth seemed a possible resting place, or Pillsborough
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Speaker 1: mid Her seem too near at any place over the
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Speaker 1: downs beyond too far, And so he meandered toward Petwell,
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Speaker 1: posing his himself perpetually and loitering, gathering wild flowers and
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Speaker 1: wondering why they had no names, for he had never
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Speaker 1: heard of any, dropping them furtively at the sight of
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Speaker 1: a stranger, and generally mucking about. There were purple vetches
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Speaker 1: in the hedges meadow, sweet honeysuckle, belated brambles, but the
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Speaker 1: dog roses had already gone. There were green and red blackberries,
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Speaker 1: stillarias and dandelions, and in another place white dead nettles,
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Speaker 1: traveler's joy, clinging bedstraw grass, as flowering white campions and
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Speaker 1: ragged robins. One cornfield was glorious, with poppies bright scarlet
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Speaker 1: and purple white, and the blue comb flowers were beginning.
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Speaker 1: In the lanes. The trees met overhead, and the wisps
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Speaker 1: of hay still hung to the straggling hedges in one
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Speaker 1: of the main roads. He steered a perilous passage through
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Speaker 1: a dozen surly dun oxen Here and there were little
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Speaker 1: cottages and picturesque beer houses with the vivid brewer's boards
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Speaker 1: of blue and scarlet, and once a broad green, and
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Speaker 1: a church, and an expanse of some hundred houses or so.
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Speaker 1: Then he came to a pebbly rivulette that emerged between
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Speaker 1: clumps of sedge, loose strife and forget me nots under
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Speaker 1: an arch of trees, and rippled across the road. And
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Speaker 1: there he dismounted, longing to take off shoes and stockings,
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Speaker 1: though stylish checkered stockings were now all dimmed with dust,
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Speaker 1: and paddle his lean legs in the chuckling cheerful water.
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Speaker 1: But instead he sat in a manly attitude, smoking a cigarette,
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Speaker 1: for fear lest the young lady in gray should come
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Speaker 1: glittering around the corner. For the flavor of the young
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Speaker 1: lady in gray was pleasant through it all, mixing with
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Speaker 1: the flowers and all the delight of it, a touch
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Speaker 1: that made this second day quite different from the first,
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Speaker 1: an undertone of expectation, anxiety, and something like regret that
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Speaker 1: would not be ignored. It was only late in the
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Speaker 1: long evening that quite abruptly, he began to repently and decidedly,
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Speaker 1: having fled these two people, he was getting hungry. And
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Speaker 1: that has a curious effect upon the emotional coloring of
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Speaker 1: our minds. The man was a sinister brute, Hoopdriver saw
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Speaker 1: in a flash of inspiration, and the girl she was
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Speaker 1: in some serious trouble, and he who might have helped her,
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Speaker 1: had taken his first impulse as decisive and bolted. This
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Speaker 1: new view of it depressed him dreadfully. What might not
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Speaker 1: be happening to her now? He thought again of her tears.
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Speaker 1: Surely it was merely his duty, seeing the trouble afoot,
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Speaker 1: to keep his eye upon it. He began riding fast
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Speaker 1: to get rid of such self reproaches. He found himself
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Speaker 1: in a tortuous tangle of roads, and as the dusk
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Speaker 1: was coming on, emerged not in Petworth, but in Ellsbourne,
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Speaker 1: a mile from Midhurst. I'm getting hungry, said mister Hoopdriver,
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Speaker 1: inquiring of a game keeper in Easborne Village, Midhurst, Amile
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Speaker 1: and Petworth. Five thanks, I'll take Midhurst. He came into
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Speaker 1: Midhurst by the bridge at the water mill and up
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Speaker 1: the North street, and a little shop flourishing cheerfully, the
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Speaker 1: cheerful sign of a teapot and exhibiting a brilliant array
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Speaker 1: of tobaccos, sweets and children's toys in the window struck
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Speaker 1: his fancy. A neat, bright eyed little old lady made
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Speaker 1: him welcome, and he was presently stopping sumptuously on sausages
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Speaker 1: and tea, with a visitor's book full of the most
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Speaker 1: humorous and flattering remarks about the little old lady in
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Speaker 1: verse and prose, propped up against his teapot as he
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Speaker 1: ate regular goods. Some of the jokes were and rhymes
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Speaker 1: that read well even with your mouthful of sausage. Mister
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Speaker 1: Hoopdriver formed a vague idea of drawing something for his
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Speaker 1: judgment on the little old Lady was already formed. He
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Speaker 1: pictured the little old lady discovering it afterwards, my gracious
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Speaker 1: one of them punch men, she would say. The room
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Speaker 1: had a curtained recess and a chest of drawers, for
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Speaker 1: presently it was to be his bedroom, and the day
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Speaker 1: part of it was decorated with framed Odd Fellow certificates
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Speaker 1: and gilt backed books and portraits, and kettle holders, and
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Speaker 1: all kinds of beautiful things made out of wool. Very
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Speaker 1: comfortable it was. Indeed, the window was lead framed and
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Speaker 1: diamond paned, and through it once all the corner of
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Speaker 1: the vicarage and a pleasant hill crest in dusky silhouette
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Speaker 1: against the twilight sky. And after the sausages had ceased
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Speaker 1: to be he lit a red herring cigarette and went
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Speaker 1: swaggering out into the twilight street, all shadowy blue between
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Speaker 1: its dark brick houses was the street with a bright
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Speaker 1: yellow window here and there, and splashes of green and
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Speaker 1: red where a chemist's illumination fell across the road. Chapter
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Speaker 1: fifteen an interlude, and now let us for spays leave
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Speaker 1: mister hoopdriver in the dusky Midhurst North Street, and returned
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Speaker 1: to the two folks beside the railway bridge between Milford
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Speaker 1: and Haslemere. She was a girl of eighteen, dark, fine, featured,
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Speaker 1: with bright eyes and a rich swift under her warm
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Speaker 1: tinted skin. Her eyes were all the brighter for the
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Speaker 1: tears that swam in them. The man was thirty three
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Speaker 1: or four, fair, with a longish nose overhanging his sandy
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Speaker 1: flaxen mustache, pale blue eyes, and a head that stuck
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Speaker 1: out above and behind. He stood with his feet wide apart,
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Speaker 1: his hand on his hip, in an attitude that was
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Speaker 1: equally suggestive of defiance and aggression. They had watched Hoopdriver
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Speaker 1: out of sight. The unexpected interruption had stopped the flood
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Speaker 1: of her tears. He tugged his abundant mustache and regarded
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Speaker 1: her calmly. She stood with face averted, obstinately, resolved not
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Speaker 1: to speak. First. Your behavior, he said, at last, makes
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Speaker 1: you conspicuous. She turned upon him, her eyes and cheeks glowing.
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Speaker 1: Her hands clenched. You unspeakable cad, she said, and choked,
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Speaker 1: stamped her little foot, and stood panting. Unspeakable cad, my
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Speaker 1: dear girl. Possible, I am an unspeakable cad who wouldn't
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Speaker 1: be for you? Dear girl? How dare you speak to
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Speaker 1: me like that? You? I would do anything. Oh? There
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Speaker 1: was a moment's pause. She looked squarely into his face,
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Speaker 1: her eyes alight with anger and contempt, and perhaps he
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Speaker 1: flushed a little. He stroked his mustache and by an
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Speaker 1: effort maintained his cynical calm. Let us be reasonable, he said.
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Speaker 1: Reasonable that means all that is mean and cowardly and
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Speaker 1: sensual in the world. You have always had it so
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Speaker 1: in your generalizing way. But let us look at the
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Speaker 1: facts of the case, if it pleases you better. With
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Speaker 1: an impatient gesture, she motioned him to go on. Well,
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Speaker 1: he said, you've eloped. I've left my home, she corrected
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Speaker 1: with dignity. I left my home because it was unendurable.
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Speaker 1: Because that yes, yes, But the point is you have
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Speaker 1: eloped with me. You came with me, You pretended to
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Speaker 1: be my friend, promised to help me to earn a
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Speaker 1: living by writing. It was you who said why shouldn't
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Speaker 1: a man and woman be friends? And now you dare
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Speaker 1: you dare really jesse this pose of yours, this injured innocence.
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Speaker 1: I will go back. I forbid you. I forbid you
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Speaker 1: to stand in the way one moment. I have always
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Speaker 1: thought that my little pupil was at least clear headed.
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Speaker 1: You don't know everything yet, you know listen to me
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Speaker 1: for a moment, haven't I been listening? And you have
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Speaker 1: only insulted me. You who dared only to talk of friendship,
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Speaker 1: who scarcely dared hint at anything beyond, But you took
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Speaker 1: the hints. Nevertheless, you knew you knew, and you did
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Speaker 1: not mind mind. You liked it. It was the fun
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Speaker 1: of the whole thing for you. That I loved you
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Speaker 1: and could not speak to you. You. You have said
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Speaker 1: all that before. Do you think that justifies you? That
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Speaker 1: isn't all. I made up my mind well to make
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Speaker 1: the game more even, and so I suggested to you,
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Speaker 1: and joined with you in this expedition of yours. Invented
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Speaker 1: a sister at Midhurst. I tell you I haven't a sister.
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Speaker 1: For one object, well, to compromise you. She started, That
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Speaker 1: was a new way of putting it. For half a minute,
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Speaker 1: neither spoke. Then she began, half defiantly. Much I am compromised.
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Speaker 1: Of course, I have made a fool of myself. My
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Speaker 1: dear girl, you are still on the sunny side of eighteen,
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Speaker 1: and you know very little of this world, less than
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Speaker 1: you think. But you will learn before you write all
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Speaker 1: those novels we have talked about. You will have to learn.
20:53
Speaker 1: And that's one point. He hesitated. You started and blushed
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Speaker 1: when the man at breakfast called you, ma'am. You thought
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Speaker 1: it a funny mistake, but you did not say anything
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Speaker 1: because you was young and nervous, and besides the thought
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Speaker 1: of being my wife offended your modesty. You didn't care
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Speaker 1: to notice it, but you see, I gave your name
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Speaker 1: as Missus Beaumont. He looked, almost apologetic in spite of
21:19
Speaker 1: his cynical pose. Missus Beaumont, he repeated, pulling his flaxen
21:25
Speaker 1: mustache and watching the effect. She looked into his eyes, speechless.
21:31
Speaker 1: I am learning fast, she said slowly. At last, he
21:37
Speaker 1: thought the time had come for an emotional attack. Jesse,
21:41
Speaker 1: he said, with a sudden change of voice. I know
21:44
Speaker 1: all this is mean, is villainous. But do you think
21:47
Speaker 1: that I have done all this scheming, all this subterfuge
21:50
Speaker 1: for any other object. She did not seem to listen
21:53
Speaker 1: to his words. I shall write home, she said abruptly.
21:57
Speaker 1: To her she winced. Just think, said he what she
22:02
Speaker 1: would say to you after this? Anyhow, I shall leave
22:06
Speaker 1: you now, yes, and go go somewhere to earn my living,
22:11
Speaker 1: to be a free woman, to live without conventionality. My
22:16
Speaker 1: dear girl, do let us be cynical. You haven't money
22:20
Speaker 1: and you haven't credit. No one would take you in.
22:23
Speaker 1: It's one of two things. Go back to your stepmother
22:26
Speaker 1: or trust me? How can I Then you must go
22:32
Speaker 1: back to her. He paused momentarily to let this consideration
22:36
Speaker 1: have its proper weight. Jesse, I did not mean to
22:39
Speaker 1: say the things I did upon my honor. I lost
22:42
Speaker 1: my head when I spoke. So if you will forgive me,
22:46
Speaker 1: I am a man. I could not help myself. Forgive me,
22:49
Speaker 1: and I promise you, how can I trust you? Try me,
22:55
Speaker 1: I can assure you. She regarded him distrustfully, and any rate,
23:00
Speaker 1: Ride on with me. Now, surely we have been in
23:03
Speaker 1: the shadow of this horrible bridge long enough. Oh let
23:07
Speaker 1: me think, she said, half turning from him and pressing
23:10
Speaker 1: her hand to her brow. Think Look here, Jesse, it's
23:15
Speaker 1: ten o'clock. Shall we call it a truce until one?
23:19
Speaker 1: She hesitated, demanded a definition of the truth, and at
23:23
Speaker 1: last agreed. They mounted and rode on in silence through
23:27
Speaker 1: the sunlight and the heather. Both were extremely uncomfortable and disappointed.
23:32
Speaker 1: She was pale, divided between fear and anger. She perceived
23:36
Speaker 1: she was in a scrape, and tried in vain to
23:38
Speaker 1: think of a way of escape. Only one tangible thing
23:41
Speaker 1: would keep in her mind, try as she would to
23:43
Speaker 1: ignore it. That was the quite irrelevant fact that his
23:46
Speaker 1: head was singularly like an albine all cocoanut. He too
23:51
Speaker 1: felt thwarted. He felt that this romantic business of seduction was,
23:55
Speaker 1: after all, unexpectedly tame. But this was only the beginning.
23:59
Speaker 1: At any rate, every day she spent with him was
24:02
Speaker 1: a day gained. Perhaps things looked worse than they were.
24:05
Speaker 1: That was some consolation. End of Section five.