Latest / The H. G. Wells Library / Bealby Chapter 6 - Bealby and the Tramp Part Two

Transcript

Bealby Chapter 6 - Bealby and the Tramp Part Two · The H. G. Wells Library

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: Chapter six of Bielby a Holiday. This is a LibriVox recording.
• 0:06
  Speaker 1: All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. For more
• 0:09
  Speaker 1: information or to volunteer, please visit LibriVox dot org. Recording
• 0:13
  Speaker 1: by Michael Fossio Bielby a Holiday by H. G. Wells,
• 0:19
  Speaker 1: Chapter six, Bielby and the Tramp, Part two sub chapter five.
• 0:28
  Speaker 1: Throughout the afternoon, the Tramp discoursed upon the rights and
• 0:31
  Speaker 1: wrongs of property in a way that Bilby found very
• 0:35
  Speaker 1: novel and unsettling. The Tramp seemed to have his ideas
• 0:38
  Speaker 1: about owning and stealing arranged quite differently from those of Bielby.
• 0:43
  Speaker 1: Never before had Bielby thought it possible to have them
• 0:45
  Speaker 1: arranged in any other than the way he knew. But
• 0:49
  Speaker 1: the Tramp contrived to make most possessions seem unrighteous and
• 0:53
  Speaker 1: honesty a code devised by those who have for those
• 0:56
  Speaker 1: who haven't. They've just got old of it, said, they
• 1:00
  Speaker 1: want to keep it to themselves. Do I look as
• 1:03
  Speaker 1: though I'd stole much of anybody's It isn't me. Got
• 1:06
  Speaker 1: old of this land and sticking up my notice boards
• 1:09
  Speaker 1: to keep everybody off. It isn't me spends my days
• 1:12
  Speaker 1: and nights scheming how I can get old the more
• 1:15
  Speaker 1: and more of the stuff. I don't envy at him,
• 1:19
  Speaker 1: said the tramp. Some is one taste and some another.
• 1:23
  Speaker 1: But when it comes to making all this fuss because
• 1:25
  Speaker 1: a chap who isn't a schemer helps himself to a mouthful,
• 1:29
  Speaker 1: well it's rot. It's them makes the rules of the game,
• 1:33
  Speaker 1: and no one ever arked me to play it. I
• 1:36
  Speaker 1: don't blame em, mind you, me and you might very
• 1:39
  Speaker 1: well do the same. But brass me if I see
• 1:42
  Speaker 1: where this sense of my keeping the rules comes in.
• 1:45
  Speaker 1: This world ought to be a share out. God meant
• 1:48
  Speaker 1: it to be a share out, and me and you
• 1:51
  Speaker 1: we've been done out of our share. That justifies us.
• 1:56
  Speaker 1: It isn't right to steal, said Bielby. It isn't right
• 2:00
  Speaker 1: to steal. Certainly it isn't right, but it's universal. Here's
• 2:05
  Speaker 1: a chap here over this fence, asking where he got
• 2:08
  Speaker 1: his land stealing. What you call stealing, Mady, I call restitution.
• 2:15
  Speaker 1: You ain't probably never even heard of socialism. I've heard
• 2:19
  Speaker 1: a socialist, right enough, don't believe in God, and haven't
• 2:23
  Speaker 1: no morality, don't believe it? Why or if the socialists
• 2:28
  Speaker 1: are parsons. What I'm saying is socialism. Practically, I'm a socialist.
• 2:35
  Speaker 1: I know all about socialism. There isn't nothing you can
• 2:38
  Speaker 1: tell me about socialism. Why for three weeks I was
• 2:42
  Speaker 1: one of these here anti socialist speakers. Paid for it.
• 2:47
  Speaker 1: And I tell you there ain't such a thing as
• 2:50
  Speaker 1: property left. It's all a bluin old pinch lords, commons, judges,
• 2:56
  Speaker 1: all of them. They're just a crew of brassed old
• 2:59
  Speaker 1: fences and the lawyers getting in on the stuff. Then
• 3:03
  Speaker 1: you talk to me of stealin' stealin. The tramp's contempt
• 3:08
  Speaker 1: and his intense way of saying stealing were very unsettling
• 3:11
  Speaker 1: to insensitive mind. They bought some tea in grease in
• 3:15
  Speaker 1: a village shop, and the tramp made tea in his
• 3:17
  Speaker 1: old tin with great dexterity. And then they gnawed bread
• 3:21
  Speaker 1: on which two ounces of margarine had been generously distributed.
• 3:25
  Speaker 1: Live like fatten cox, we do, said the tramp, wiping
• 3:28
  Speaker 1: out his simple cuisine with the dragged out end of
• 3:31
  Speaker 1: his shirt sleeve. And if I'm not very much mistaken,
• 3:35
  Speaker 1: we'll sleep tonight on a nice bit of hay. But
• 3:39
  Speaker 1: these anticipations were upset by a sudden temptation, and instead
• 3:43
  Speaker 1: of a starry summer comfort, the two were destined to
• 3:46
  Speaker 1: spend a night of suffering and remorse. A green lane
• 3:50
  Speaker 1: lured them off the road, and, after some windings, led
• 3:53
  Speaker 1: them past a field of wire netted enclosures containing a
• 3:56
  Speaker 1: number of perfect and conceited looking hens. Close beside a
• 3:59
  Speaker 1: little cottage, a vegetable garden, and some new elaborate outthouses.
• 4:04
  Speaker 1: It was manifestly a poultry farm, and something about it
• 4:08
  Speaker 1: gave the tramp the conviction that it had been left
• 4:10
  Speaker 1: that nobody was at home. These realizations are instinctive. They
• 4:15
  Speaker 1: leaped to the mind. He knew it, and an ambition
• 4:19
  Speaker 1: to know further what was in the cottage came with
• 4:21
  Speaker 1: the knowledge. But it seemed to him desirable that the
• 4:24
  Speaker 1: work of exploration should be done by Bielby. He had
• 4:28
  Speaker 1: thought of dogs, and it seemed to him that Bielby
• 4:30
  Speaker 1: might be unembarrassed by that idea. So he put the
• 4:34
  Speaker 1: thing to Bielby. Let's have a look around here, he said,
• 4:38
  Speaker 1: you go in and see what it's about. There was
• 4:42
  Speaker 1: some difference of opinion. I don't ask you to take anything,
• 4:46
  Speaker 1: said the tramp. Nobody won't catch you. I tell you,
• 4:49
  Speaker 1: nobody won't catch you. I tell you there ain't nobody
• 4:52
  Speaker 1: here to catch you. Just for fun of seeing in
• 4:56
  Speaker 1: I'll go up by them outhouses and i'll see nobody comes.
• 5:00
  Speaker 1: Ain't afraid to go up a garden path, are you?
• 5:03
  Speaker 1: I tell you, I don't want you to steal. You
• 5:05
  Speaker 1: ain't got much guts to funk a thing like that.
• 5:09
  Speaker 1: I'll be a bait too. Thought you'd be the very
• 5:11
  Speaker 1: chap for a bit of scarton, thought, boy, scouts was
• 5:15
  Speaker 1: all the go nowadays. Well, if you ain't afraid you'd
• 5:18
  Speaker 1: do it, well, why didn't you say you'd do it
• 5:20
  Speaker 1: at the beginnin Bielby went through the hedge and up
• 5:24
  Speaker 1: a grass track between poultry runs, made a cautious inspection
• 5:28
  Speaker 1: of the outhouses, and then approached the cottage. Everything was still.
• 5:33
  Speaker 1: He thought it more plausible to go to the door
• 5:35
  Speaker 1: than peep into the window. He rapped, Then, after an
• 5:39
  Speaker 1: interval of stillness, he lifted the latch, opened the door
• 5:42
  Speaker 1: and peered into the room. It was a pleasantly furnished room,
• 5:46
  Speaker 1: and before the empty summer fireplace. A very old white
• 5:49
  Speaker 1: man was sitting in a chintz covered armchair lost, it
• 5:52
  Speaker 1: would seem in painful thought. He had a peculiar gray,
• 5:56
  Speaker 1: shrunken look. His eyes were closed. A bony hand with
• 6:00
  Speaker 1: the shiny texture of alabaster gripped the chair arm. There
• 6:03
  Speaker 1: was something about him that held Bialby quite still for
• 6:06
  Speaker 1: a moment, and this old gentleman behaved very oddly. His
• 6:11
  Speaker 1: body seemed to crumple into his chair, his hand slipped
• 6:15
  Speaker 1: down from the arms, his head nodded forwards, and his
• 6:19
  Speaker 1: mouth and eyes seemed to open together, and he made
• 6:22
  Speaker 1: a snoring sound. For a moment, Bilby remained grigidly agape,
• 6:27
  Speaker 1: and then a violent desire to rejoin the tramp carried
• 6:30
  Speaker 1: him back through the hen runs. He tried to describe
• 6:34
  Speaker 1: what he had seen asleep with his mouth open, said
• 6:38
  Speaker 1: the tramp. Well, that ain't anything so wonderful. You got anything,
• 6:43
  Speaker 1: That's what I want to know. Did anyone ever see
• 6:45
  Speaker 1: such a boy? Here? I'll go. You keep a look
• 6:49
  Speaker 1: out here, said the tramp. But there was something about
• 6:53
  Speaker 1: that old man in there, something so strange and alien
• 6:56
  Speaker 1: to Bielby that he could not remain alone in the
• 6:59
  Speaker 1: falling twilight. He followed the cautious advances of the tramp
• 7:03
  Speaker 1: towards the house from the corner by the outhouses. He
• 7:06
  Speaker 1: saw the tramp go and peer in at the open door.
• 7:09
  Speaker 1: He remained for some time, peering, his head hidden from Bielby.
• 7:13
  Speaker 1: Then he went in. Bielby had an extraordinary desire that
• 7:18
  Speaker 1: somebody else would come. His soul cried out for help
• 7:21
  Speaker 1: against some vaguely apprehended terror, and in the very moment
• 7:25
  Speaker 1: of his wish came its fulfillment. He saw advancing up
• 7:29
  Speaker 1: the garden path a tall woman in a blue serge dress,
• 7:32
  Speaker 1: hatless and hurrying and carrying a little package. It was
• 7:36
  Speaker 1: medicine in her hand, and with her came a big
• 7:39
  Speaker 1: black dog. At the sight of Bielby. The dog came forward, barking,
• 7:44
  Speaker 1: and Bielby, after a moment's hesitation, turned and fled. The
• 7:48
  Speaker 1: dog was quick, but Bielby was quicker. He went up
• 7:52
  Speaker 1: the netting of a hand run and gave the dog
• 7:54
  Speaker 1: no more than an ineffectual snap at his heels, and then,
• 7:58
  Speaker 1: dashing from the cottage door, came the t Under one
• 8:01
  Speaker 1: arm was a brass bound work box, and in the
• 8:04
  Speaker 1: other was a candlestick and some smaller articles. He did
• 8:08
  Speaker 1: not instantly grasp the situation of his treed companion. He
• 8:11
  Speaker 1: was too anxious to escape the tall woman, and then
• 8:14
  Speaker 1: with a yelp of dismay, he discovered himself between woman
• 8:17
  Speaker 1: and dog. All too late. He sought to emulate Bielby,
• 8:22
  Speaker 1: the work box slipped from under his arm, the rest
• 8:26
  Speaker 1: of his plunder fell from him. For an uneasy moment
• 8:28
  Speaker 1: he was clinging to the side of the swaying hen run,
• 8:31
  Speaker 1: and then it had caved in, and the dog had
• 8:34
  Speaker 1: got him. The dog bit desisted, and then, finding itself
• 8:38
  Speaker 1: confronted by two men, retreated. Bielby and the tramp rolled
• 8:43
  Speaker 1: and scrambled over the other side of the collapsed netting
• 8:45
  Speaker 1: into a parallel track, and were half way to the
• 8:48
  Speaker 1: hedge before the dog, but this time in a less
• 8:51
  Speaker 1: vehement fashion, resumed his attack. He did not close with
• 8:55
  Speaker 1: them again, and at the hedge he halted altogether and
• 8:58
  Speaker 1: remained hacking the gloamy with his rage. The woman, it seemed,
• 9:03
  Speaker 1: had gone into the house, leaving the tramps scattered loot
• 9:06
  Speaker 1: upon the field of battle. This means, Mizzle, said, the
• 9:11
  Speaker 1: tramp leading the way out of trot Bioby saw no
• 9:14
  Speaker 1: other course but to follow. He had a feeling as
• 9:17
  Speaker 1: though the world had turned against him, he did not
• 9:20
  Speaker 1: dare to think what he was. Nevertheless, thinking of the
• 9:23
  Speaker 1: events of these crowded ten minutes, he felt he had
• 9:26
  Speaker 1: touched something dreadful, that the twilight was full of accusations.
• 9:31
  Speaker 1: He feared and hated the tramp now, but he perceived
• 9:35
  Speaker 1: something had linked them, as they had not been linked before.
• 9:39
  Speaker 1: Whatever it was, they shared it sub Chapter six. They
• 9:45
  Speaker 1: fled through the night, it seemed to Bioby, for interminable hours.
• 9:49
  Speaker 1: At last, when they were worn out and footsore, they
• 9:52
  Speaker 1: crept through a gate and found an uncomfortable cowering place
• 9:55
  Speaker 1: in the corner of a field. As they went they
• 9:58
  Speaker 1: talked but little, but the tramp kept up a constant
• 10:01
  Speaker 1: muttering to himself. He was troubled by the thought of hydrophobia.
• 10:06
  Speaker 1: I know I have it, he said, I know, I'll
• 10:09
  Speaker 1: get it. Bilby, after a time, ceased to listen to
• 10:13
  Speaker 1: his companion. His mind was preoccupied. He could think of
• 10:17
  Speaker 1: nothing but that very white man in the chair, and
• 10:19
  Speaker 1: the strange manner of his movement. Was he awake when
• 10:24
  Speaker 1: you saw him? He asked? At last, awake? Who that
• 10:28
  Speaker 1: old man? For a moment or so, the tramp said nothing.
• 10:33
  Speaker 1: He wasn't awake, you young silly, he said at last,
• 10:37
  Speaker 1: But wasn't he Why don't you know? He croaked, popped
• 10:43
  Speaker 1: off the looks very moment you saw him. For a
• 10:47
  Speaker 1: moment Bilby's voice failed him. Then he said, quite faintly,
• 10:52
  Speaker 1: you mean he'd was dead, didn't you know? Said the tramp? God,
• 10:59
  Speaker 1: what a kid you want? Ah? In that manner it
• 11:02
  Speaker 1: was Bealby first saw a dead man. Never before had
• 11:06
  Speaker 1: he seen any one dead. And after that, for all
• 11:09
  Speaker 1: the night, the old white man pursued him with strange,
• 11:13
  Speaker 1: slowly opening eyes and a head on one side, and
• 11:16
  Speaker 1: his mouth suddenly and absurdly agape. All night long, that
• 11:21
  Speaker 1: white figure presided over seas of dark dismay. It seemed
• 11:25
  Speaker 1: always to be there, and yet Bealby thought of a
• 11:27
  Speaker 1: score of other painful things. For the first time in
• 11:30
  Speaker 1: his life, he asked himself, where am I going? What
• 11:33
  Speaker 1: am I drifting? To the world beneath the old man's
• 11:36
  Speaker 1: dominance was a world of prisons. Balb believed he was
• 11:40
  Speaker 1: a burglar, and behind the darkness, he imagined the outraged
• 11:44
  Speaker 1: law already seeking him, and the terrors of his associate
• 11:47
  Speaker 1: reinforced his own. He tried to think what he should
• 11:51
  Speaker 1: do in the morning. He dreaded the dawn profoundly, but
• 11:54
  Speaker 1: he could not collect his thoughts because of the tramp's
• 11:56
  Speaker 1: incessant lapses into grumbling lamentation. Bielby knew he had to
• 12:01
  Speaker 1: get away from the tramp, but now he was too
• 12:04
  Speaker 1: weary and alarmed to think of running away as a
• 12:06
  Speaker 1: possible expedient. And besides, there was the matter of his money.
• 12:11
  Speaker 1: And beyond the range of the tramp's voice there were
• 12:13
  Speaker 1: darknesses which to night at least might hold in conceivable
• 12:16
  Speaker 1: forms of lurking evil. But could he not appeal to
• 12:20
  Speaker 1: the law to save him repent? Was there not something
• 12:24
  Speaker 1: called turning King's evidence? The moon was no comfort that night.
• 12:30
  Speaker 1: Across it there passed, with incredible slowness a number of jagged,
• 12:34
  Speaker 1: little black clouds, blacker than any clouds Bielby had ever
• 12:37
  Speaker 1: seen before. They were like velvet palls lined with snowy fur.
• 12:43
  Speaker 1: There was no end to them, and one, at last,
• 12:46
  Speaker 1: most horribly, gaped slowly and opened a mouth sub Chapter seven.
• 12:54
  Speaker 1: At intervals there would be uncomfortable movements, and the voice
• 12:57
  Speaker 1: of the tramp came out of the darkness beside bilbe,
• 13:00
  Speaker 1: lamenting his approaching fate and discoursing, sometimes with violent expressions,
• 13:05
  Speaker 1: on of watchdogs. I know I shall have ydrophobia, said
• 13:11
  Speaker 1: the tramp. I've always added disposition to idrophobia, always a
• 13:15
  Speaker 1: dread of water. And now it's got me think of it.
• 13:20
  Speaker 1: Keeping a beast to set out a human being. Where's
• 13:23
  Speaker 1: the brotherhood of it? Where's the law and the humanity?
• 13:26
  Speaker 1: Getting an animal to set at a brother man and
• 13:29
  Speaker 1: a poisoned animal, an animal with death in his teeth,
• 13:33
  Speaker 1: and a horrible death too, where's the sense and brotherhood? God?
• 13:38
  Speaker 1: When I felt his teeth coming through my trousers. Dogs
• 13:42
  Speaker 1: oughtn't to be allowed. They're a nuisance in the towns
• 13:45
  Speaker 1: and a danger in the country. They oughtn't to be
• 13:47
  Speaker 1: allowed anywhere. Not tell every blessed human being has got
• 13:51
  Speaker 1: three square meals a day. Then if you like, keep
• 13:55
  Speaker 1: a dog and sees he's a clean dog. God, if
• 14:00
  Speaker 1: i'd been a bit quicker up in the roost, I
• 14:03
  Speaker 1: ought to have landed him a kick. It's a man's
• 14:06
  Speaker 1: duty to ert a dog. When he sees a dog,
• 14:09
  Speaker 1: he ought to hurt him. It's a natural hatred. If
• 14:12
  Speaker 1: dogs were what they ought to be if dogs understood
• 14:15
  Speaker 1: how they're situated, there wouldn't be a dog go for
• 14:18
  Speaker 1: a man ever, and if one did, they'd shoot him.
• 14:23
  Speaker 1: After this, if I ever get a chance to land
• 14:25
  Speaker 1: a dog an owner with a stone, I'll hand in one.
• 14:27
  Speaker 1: I've been too short with dogs. Towards dawn, Balb slept
• 14:32
  Speaker 1: uneasily to be awakened by the loud, snorting curiosity of
• 14:35
  Speaker 1: three lively young horses. He sat up in a blinding
• 14:39
  Speaker 1: sunshine and saw the tramp looking very filthy and contorted,
• 14:42
  Speaker 1: sleeping with his mouth wide open and an expression of
• 14:45
  Speaker 1: dismay and despair on his face. Sub chapter eight. Bilb
• 14:53
  Speaker 1: took his chance to steal away next morning, while the
• 14:55
  Speaker 1: tramp was engaged in artificial epilepsy. Do you like fits
• 15:00
  Speaker 1: this mornin' said the tramp. I could do it well.
• 15:04
  Speaker 1: I want a bit of human kindness again after that
• 15:07
  Speaker 1: brasted dog. I expect soon I'll have the foam all right,
• 15:12
  Speaker 1: without any soap. They marked down a little cottage, before
• 15:17
  Speaker 1: which a benevolent looking spectacled old gentleman in his large
• 15:21
  Speaker 1: straw hat and a thin alpack of jacket was engaged
• 15:24
  Speaker 1: in budding roses. Then they retired to prepare. The tramp
• 15:29
  Speaker 1: handed over to Bie'll be various compromising possessions which might
• 15:32
  Speaker 1: embarrass an inflicted person under the searching hands of charity.
• 15:37
  Speaker 1: There was, for example, the piece of soap. After he
• 15:40
  Speaker 1: had taken sufficient for his immediate needs, there was ninepence
• 15:44
  Speaker 1: in money. There were a pack of cards with which
• 15:47
  Speaker 1: they had played ucre, a key or so, and some wires,
• 15:51
  Speaker 1: much assorted string, three tins, a large piece of bread,
• 15:56
  Speaker 1: the end of a composite candle, a box of sulfur matches,
• 16:00
  Speaker 1: list slippers, a pair of gloves, a clasp knife, sundry
• 16:05
  Speaker 1: gray rags. They all seemed to have the distinctive flavor
• 16:09
  Speaker 1: of the tramp. If you do a bunk with these,
• 16:14
  Speaker 1: said the tramp. By God, he drew his finger across
• 16:18
  Speaker 1: his throat. King's evidence. Bielby, from a safe distance, watched
• 16:24
  Speaker 1: the beginnings of the fit, and it impressed him as
• 16:27
  Speaker 1: a thoroughly nasty kind of fit. He saw the elderly
• 16:30
  Speaker 1: gentleman hurry out of the cottage and stand for a
• 16:33
  Speaker 1: moment looking over his little green garden gate, surveying the
• 16:36
  Speaker 1: sufferings of the tramp with an expression of intense yet
• 16:39
  Speaker 1: discreet commiseration. Then suddenly he was struck by an idea.
• 16:45
  Speaker 1: He darted in among his rose bushes and reappeared with
• 16:48
  Speaker 1: a big watering can an enormous syringe. Still keeping the
• 16:53
  Speaker 1: gait between himself and the sufferer, he loaded his syringe
• 16:56
  Speaker 1: very carefully and deliberately. Bielby would have liked to have
• 17:01
  Speaker 1: seen more, but he felt his moment had come another instant,
• 17:05
  Speaker 1: and it might be gone again. Very softly, he dropped
• 17:09
  Speaker 1: from the gate on which he was sitting and made
• 17:11
  Speaker 1: off like a running partridge along the hedge of the field.
• 17:17
  Speaker 1: Just for a moment did he halt at a strange,
• 17:20
  Speaker 1: sharp yelp that came from the direction of the little cottage.
• 17:24
  Speaker 1: Then his purpose of flight resumed its control of him.
• 17:28
  Speaker 1: He would strike across country for two or three miles,
• 17:31
  Speaker 1: then make for the nearest police station and give himself
• 17:33
  Speaker 1: up loud voices. Was that the tramp murdering the benevolent
• 17:39
  Speaker 1: old gentleman in the straw hat? Or was it the
• 17:41
  Speaker 1: benevolent old gentleman in the straw hat murdering the tramp?
• 17:45
  Speaker 1: No time to question? Onward onward, the tramp's cans rattled
• 17:50
  Speaker 1: in his pocket. He drew one out hesitated a moment
• 17:54
  Speaker 1: and flung it away, and then sent its two companions
• 17:57
  Speaker 1: after it. He found his police station upon the road
• 18:01
  Speaker 1: between some Port and Crayminster, a little peaceful rural station,
• 18:05
  Speaker 1: a mere sunny cottage with a blue and white label
• 18:08
  Speaker 1: and a noticeboard covered with belated bills about the stealing
• 18:11
  Speaker 1: of pheasants eggs and another bill it was headed missing,
• 18:18
  Speaker 1: and the next most conspicuous words were five pound reward,
• 18:22
  Speaker 1: and the next Arthur Beelby. He was fascinated, so swift,
• 18:30
  Speaker 1: so terribly swift is the law. Already they knew of
• 18:33
  Speaker 1: his burglary, of his callous participation in the robbing of
• 18:37
  Speaker 1: a dead man. Already the sluice were upon his trail.
• 18:41
  Speaker 1: So surely did his conscience strike to this conclusion, that
• 18:43
  Speaker 1: even the carelessly worded offer of a reward that followed
• 18:47
  Speaker 1: his description conveyed no different intimation to his mind to
• 18:52
  Speaker 1: whomsoever will bring him back to Lady Laxton at Chance
• 18:55
  Speaker 1: near chalsemore So it ran and out of pocket expenses,
• 19:02
  Speaker 1: And even as Bielby read this terrible document, the door
• 19:05
  Speaker 1: of the police station opened, and a very big pink
• 19:07
  Speaker 1: Young's policeman came out and stood regarding the world in
• 19:11
  Speaker 1: a friendly, self approving manner. He had innocent, happy blue eyes.
• 19:16
  Speaker 1: Thus far he had had much to do with order
• 19:18
  Speaker 1: and little with crime. And his rosebud mouth would have
• 19:21
  Speaker 1: fallen open, had not discipline already closed it and set
• 19:24
  Speaker 1: upon it the beginnings of a resolute expression that accorded
• 19:27
  Speaker 1: ill with the rest of his open freshness. And when
• 19:30
  Speaker 1: he had surveyed the sky and the distant hills and
• 19:32
  Speaker 1: the little rose bushes that occupied the leisure of the force,
• 19:36
  Speaker 1: his eyes fell upon Bielby. Indecision has ruined more men
• 19:41
  Speaker 1: than wickedness. And when one has slept rough and eaten nothing,
• 19:45
  Speaker 1: and one is conscious of a marred, unclean appearance, it
• 19:49
  Speaker 1: is hard to face one's situations. What Bielby had intended
• 19:53
  Speaker 1: to do was to go right up to a policeman
• 19:56
  Speaker 1: and say to him simply and frankly, I want to
• 19:59
  Speaker 1: turn King's evidence please. I was in that burglary where
• 20:02
  Speaker 1: there was a dead old man in a work box,
• 20:04
  Speaker 1: and a woman and a dog. I was lit astray
• 20:07
  Speaker 1: by a bad character, and I did not mean to
• 20:09
  Speaker 1: do it. And really it was him that did it
• 20:12
  Speaker 1: and not me. But now his tongue clove to the
• 20:16
  Speaker 1: roof of his mouth. He felt he could not speak,
• 20:20
  Speaker 1: could not go through with it. His heart had gone
• 20:23
  Speaker 1: down into his feet. Perhaps he had caught the tramp's
• 20:27
  Speaker 1: constitutional aversion to the police. He affected not to see
• 20:31
  Speaker 1: the observant figure in the doorway. He assumed a slack,
• 20:35
  Speaker 1: careless bearing, like one who reads by chance idly. He
• 20:39
  Speaker 1: lifted his eyebrows to express unconcern. He pursed his mouth
• 20:44
  Speaker 1: to whistle, but no whistle came. He stuck his hands
• 20:48
  Speaker 1: into his pockets, pulled up his feet as one pulls
• 20:50
  Speaker 1: up plants by the roots, and strolled away. He quickened
• 20:56
  Speaker 1: his stroll, as he supposed by imperceptible degrees. He glanced
• 21:00
  Speaker 1: back and saw that the young policeman had come out
• 21:03
  Speaker 1: of the station and was reading the notice. And as
• 21:06
  Speaker 1: the young policeman read, he looked over and again at Bilby,
• 21:09
  Speaker 1: like one who checks off items. Bielby quickened his pace, and, then,
• 21:15
  Speaker 1: doing his best to suggest by the movements of his back,
• 21:18
  Speaker 1: a more boyish levity quite unconnected with the law, he
• 21:22
  Speaker 1: broke into a trot. Then presently he dropped back into
• 21:26
  Speaker 1: a walking pace, pretended to see something in the hedge,
• 21:30
  Speaker 1: stopped and took a sidelong look at the young policeman.
• 21:34
  Speaker 1: He was coming along with earnest strides. Every movement of
• 21:37
  Speaker 1: his suggested a stealthy hurry. Bielby trotted, and, then, becoming
• 21:42
  Speaker 1: almost frank about it, ran he took to his heels.
• 21:47
  Speaker 1: From the first it was not really an urgent chase.
• 21:50
  Speaker 1: It was a stocking rather than a hunt, because the
• 21:54
  Speaker 1: young policeman was too young and shy and lacking in
• 21:56
  Speaker 1: confidence really to run after a boy without any definite
• 21:59
  Speaker 1: warrant for doing so. When anyone came along, he would
• 22:03
  Speaker 1: drop into a smart walk and pretend not to be
• 22:06
  Speaker 1: looking at Bielby, but just going somewhere briskly in. After
• 22:10
  Speaker 1: two miles of it, he desisted and stood for a time,
• 22:14
  Speaker 1: watching a heap of mangold Wurtzel directly and the disappearance
• 22:18
  Speaker 1: of Bielby obliquely. And then when Bilby was quiet out
• 22:22
  Speaker 1: of sight, he turned back thoughtfully towards his proper place.
• 22:28
  Speaker 1: On the whole he considered he was well out of it.
• 22:31
  Speaker 1: He might have made a fool of himself, and yet
• 22:35
  Speaker 1: five pounds reward. End of chapter six