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Bealby Chapter 2 - A Week-End at Shonts · The H. G. Wells Library

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Speaker 1: Chapter two of Bielby a Holiday. This is a LibriVox recording.
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Speaker 1: All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. For more
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Speaker 1: information or to volunteer, please visit LibriVox dot org. Bilby
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Speaker 1: a Holiday by H. G. Wells, Chapter two, A Weekend
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Speaker 1: at Chance sub chapter one. The weekend visit is a
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Speaker 1: form of entertainment peculiar to Great Britain. It is a
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Speaker 1: thing that could have been possible only in a land
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Speaker 1: essentially aristocratic and mellow, in which even the observance of
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Speaker 1: the Sabbath has become mellow. At every London terminus on
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Speaker 1: a Saturday afternoon, the outgoing trains have an unusually large
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Speaker 1: proportion of first class carriages and a peculiar abundance of
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Speaker 1: rich looking dressing bags, provoked the covetous eye. A discreet
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Speaker 1: activity of valets and maids mingles with the stimulated alertness
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Speaker 1: of the porters. One marks celebrities in gay raiment. There
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Speaker 1: is an indefinable air of distinction upon platform and bookstall.
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Speaker 1: Sometimes there are carriages reserved for especially privileged parties. There
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Speaker 1: are greetings, and so you are coming to no this time.
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Speaker 1: It is Chance, the place where they found the Rubens,
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Speaker 1: who has it now through this cheerfully prosperous throng went
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Speaker 1: the Lord Chancellor, with his high nose, eyebrows of his
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Speaker 1: which he seemed to be able to furl or unfurl
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Speaker 1: at will, and his expression of tranquil self sufficiency. He
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Speaker 1: was going to Schantz for his party and not for
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Speaker 1: his pleasure, but there was no reason why that should
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Speaker 1: appear upon his face. He went along, preoccupied, pretending to
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Speaker 1: see nobody, leaving two others the disadvantage of the greeting.
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Speaker 1: In his right hand, he carried a small important bag
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Speaker 1: of leather. Under his left arm he bore a philosophical
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Speaker 1: work by doctor mc taggart, three illustrated papers, The Fortnightly Review,
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Speaker 1: The Day's Times, The Hibbert Journal, Punch, and two blue books.
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Speaker 1: His Lordship never quite knew the limits set to what
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Speaker 1: he could carry under his arm. His man candly followed therefore,
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Speaker 1: at a suitable distance, with several papers that had already
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Speaker 1: been dropped, alert to retrieve any further losses. At the
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Speaker 1: large bookstall. They passed close by Missus Rampound Pilby, who,
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Speaker 1: according to her custom, was feigning to be a member
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Speaker 1: of the general public. And was asking the clerk about
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Speaker 1: her last book. The Lord Chancellor saw Rampound Pilby hovering
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Speaker 1: at hand, and deftly failed to catch his eye. He
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Speaker 1: loathed the rampound Pilby's. He speculated for a moment what
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Speaker 1: sort of people could possibly stand missus Pilby's vast pretensions,
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Speaker 1: even from Saturday to Monday one dinner party on her
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Speaker 1: right hand had glutted him for life. He chose a
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Speaker 1: corner seat, took possession of both it and the seat opposite,
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Speaker 1: in order to have somewhere to put his feet. Left
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Speaker 1: Candlor to watch over and pack in his hand luggage,
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Speaker 1: and went high up the platform, remaining there with his
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Speaker 1: back to the world, rather like a bigger, more aquilin Napoleon,
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Speaker 1: in order to evade the great novelist. In this he
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Speaker 1: was completely successful. He returned, however, to find Candler on
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Speaker 1: the verge of a personal conflict with a very fair
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Speaker 1: young man in gray. He was so fair as to
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Speaker 1: be almost an albino, except that his eyes were quick
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Speaker 1: and brown. He was blushing the brightest pink, and speaking
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Speaker 1: very quickly. These two places, said Candler, breathless with the
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Speaker 1: badness of his case, are engaged very well, said the
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Speaker 1: very fair young man, with his eyebrows and mustache, looking
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Speaker 1: very pale by contrast. Have it so, but do permit
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Speaker 1: me to occupy the middle seat of the carriage with
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Speaker 1: a residuary interest in the semi gentleman's place. You little know,
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Speaker 1: young man, whom you are calling a semi gentleman, said Candler,
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Speaker 1: whose speciality was grammar. Here he is, said the young gentleman.
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Speaker 1: Which place will you have, my lord asked Candler, abandoning
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Speaker 1: his case altogether, facing, said the Lord Chancellor, slowly, unfurling
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Speaker 1: the eyebrows and scowling at the young man in gray.
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Speaker 1: Then I'll have the other, said the very fair young man,
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Speaker 1: talking very glibly. He spoke with a quick, low voice,
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Speaker 1: like one who forces himself to keep going. You see,
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Speaker 1: he said, addressing the great jurist with the extreme familiarity
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Speaker 1: of the courageously nervous. I've gone into this sort of
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Speaker 1: thing before. First, mind you, I have a far look
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Speaker 1: for a vacant corner. I'm not the sort of spoilsport,
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Speaker 1: but if there isn't a vacant corner, I look for
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Speaker 1: traces of a semi gentleman, A semi gentleman is one
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Speaker 1: who has a soft cap and not an umbrella. His
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Speaker 1: friend in the opposite seat has the umbrella, or he
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Speaker 1: has an umbrella and not a soft cap, or a
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Speaker 1: waterproof and not a bag, or a bag and not
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Speaker 1: a waterproof, and a half interest in a rug. That's
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Speaker 1: what I call a semi gentleman. You see the idea
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Speaker 1: sort of divided beggar. Nothing in any way offensive, sir,
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Speaker 1: said the Lord Chancellor, interrupting in a voice of concentrated passion.
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Speaker 1: I don't care a rap what you call a semi gentleman.
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Speaker 1: Will you get out of my way just as you please,
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Speaker 1: said the very fair young gentleman, and going a few
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Speaker 1: paces from the carriage door, he whistled for the boy
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Speaker 1: with the papers he was bearing up. Bravely, thinkin, said
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Speaker 1: the very fair young gentleman, almost breathlessly. Black and white?
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Speaker 1: What's all these others athenaeum? Sporting and dramatic? Right? Ho
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Speaker 1: and ah? What do I look? The sort that buys
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Speaker 1: a spectator? You don't know, my dear boy. Where's your
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Speaker 1: savoir faire? Sub Chapter two. The Lord Ancellor was a
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Speaker 1: philosopher and not easily perturbed. His severe manner was consciously assumed,
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Speaker 1: and never much more than skin deep. He had already
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Speaker 1: furled his eyebrows and dismissed his visavie from his mind
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Speaker 1: before the train started. He turned over the Hibbert Journal
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Speaker 1: and read in it with a large tolerance. Dimly on
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Speaker 1: the outskirts of his consciousness, the very fair young man
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Speaker 1: hovered as a trifling annoyance, as something pink and hot,
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Speaker 1: rustling a sheet of a discordant shade of pink, as
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Speaker 1: something that got in the way of his legs, and
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Speaker 1: whistled softly some trivial, cheerful air, just to show how
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Speaker 1: little it cared presently. Very soon, this vague trouble would
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Speaker 1: pass out of his consciousness altogether. The Lord Chancellor was
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Speaker 1: no mere amateur of philosophy. His activities in that direction
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Speaker 1: were a part of his public reputation. He lectured on
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Speaker 1: religion and esthetics. He was a fluent Hegelian. He spent
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Speaker 1: his holidays, it was understood in the absolute at any
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Speaker 1: rate in Germany. He would sometimes break into philosophy at
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Speaker 1: dinner tables and particularly over the dessert, and be more
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Speaker 1: luminously incomprehensible, while still apparently sober than almost anyone. An
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Speaker 1: article in the Hibbert caught and held his attention. It
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Speaker 1: attempted to define a new and doubtful variety of infinity.
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Speaker 1: You know, of course, that there are many sorts and
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Speaker 1: species of infinity, and that the absolute is just the
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Speaker 1: king among infinities, as the lion is king among the beasts,
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Speaker 1: I say, said a voice, coming out of the world
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Speaker 1: of relativity, and coughing the cough of those who break
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Speaker 1: a silence. You aren't going to chance, are you? The
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Speaker 1: Lord Chancellor returned slowly to earth. Just seen your label,
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Speaker 1: said the very fair young man. You see, I'm going
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Speaker 1: to chance. The Lord Chancellor remained outwardly serene. He reflected
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Speaker 1: for a moment, and then he fell into that snare
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Speaker 1: which is more fatal to great lawyers and judges, perhaps
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Speaker 1: than to any other class of men, the snare of
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Speaker 1: the crushing repartee. One had come into his head. Now
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Speaker 1: a beauty, then we shall meet there, he said, in
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Speaker 1: his suavest manner. Well, rather, it would be a great pity,
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Speaker 1: said the Lord Chancellor, with an effective blandness, using a
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Speaker 1: kind of wry smile that he employed to make things humorous.
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Speaker 1: It would be a great pity don't you think to
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Speaker 1: anticipate that pleasure? And having smiled the retort well home,
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Speaker 1: with his head a little on one side, he resumed
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Speaker 1: with large, leisurely movements. The reading of his Hibbert journal
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Speaker 1: got me there, said the very fair young man, belatedly,
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Speaker 1: looking boiled to a turn, and after a period of restlessness,
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Speaker 1: settled down to an impatient perusal of black and white.
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Speaker 1: There's a whole blessed weekend, of course, the young man remarked, presently,
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Speaker 1: without looking up from his paper, and apparently pursuing some
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Speaker 1: obscure meditations. A vague uneasiness crept into the Lord Chancellor's
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Speaker 1: mind as he continued to appear to peruse. Out of
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Speaker 1: what train of thought could such a remark arise? His
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Speaker 1: weakness for crushing retort had a little betrayed him. It was, however,
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Speaker 1: only when he found himself upon the platform of Chelseam, which,
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Speaker 1: as every one knows, is the station for Chantz, and
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Speaker 1: discovered mister and missus rampound Pilby upon the platform, looking
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Speaker 1: extraordinarily like a national monument and its custodian, that the
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Speaker 1: Lord Chancellor began to realize that he was in the
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Speaker 1: grip of fate, and that the service he was doing
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Speaker 1: his party by week ending with the Laxtons was likely
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Speaker 1: to be not simply joyless but disagreeable. Well, anyhow, he
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Speaker 1: had mc taggart, and he could always work in his
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Speaker 1: own room sub Chapter three. By the end of dinner,
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Speaker 1: the Lord Chancellor was almost at the end of his
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Speaker 1: large but clumsy endurance. He kept his eyebrows furled only
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Speaker 1: by the most strenuous relaxation of his muscles, and within
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Speaker 1: he was a sea of silent blasphemes. All sorts of
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Speaker 1: little things had accumulated. He exercised an unusual temperance with
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Speaker 1: the port and old brandy. His host pressed upon him,
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Speaker 1: feeling that he dared not relax lest his rage had
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Speaker 1: its way with him. The cigars were quite intelligent at
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Speaker 1: any rate, and he smoked and listened with a faintly
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Speaker 1: perceptible disdain to the conversation of the other men. At
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Speaker 1: any rate, Missus Rampound Pilby was out of the room.
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Speaker 1: The talk had arisen out of a duologue that had
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Speaker 1: preceded the departure of the ladies, a duologue of timbers
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Speaker 1: about apparitions and the reality of the future life. Sir
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Speaker 1: Peter Laxton, released from the eyes of his wife, was
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Speaker 1: at liberty to say he did not believe in all
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Speaker 1: this stuff. It was just thought, transference and fancy and
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Speaker 1: all that sort of thing. His declaration did not arrest
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Speaker 1: the flow of feeble instances and experiences into which such
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Speaker 1: talk invariably degenerates. His lordship remained carelessly attentive, his eyebrows unfurled,
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Speaker 1: but drooping his cigar upward at an acute angle. He
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Speaker 1: contributed no anecdotes content now and then to express himself
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Speaker 1: compactly by some brief sentence of pure Hegelian, much as
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Speaker 1: Mahometan might spit. Why come to that, they say, chances haunted,
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Speaker 1: said Sir Peter. I suppose we could have a ghost
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Speaker 1: here in no time if I chose to take it
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Speaker 1: on rare place for a ghost too. The very fair
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Speaker 1: young man of the train had got a name now,
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Speaker 1: and was Captain Douglas. When he was not blushing too brightly,
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Speaker 1: he was rather good looking. He was a distant cousin
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Speaker 1: of Lady Laxton's. He impressed the Lord Chancellor as unabashed.
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Speaker 1: He engaged people in conversation with a cheerful familiarity that
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Speaker 1: excluded only the Lord Chancellor, and even at the Lord
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Speaker 1: Chancellor he looked. Ever and again he pricked up his
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Speaker 1: ears at the mention of ghosts. And afterwards, when the
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Speaker 1: Lord Chancellor came to think things over, it seemed to
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Speaker 1: him that he had caught a curious glance of the
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Speaker 1: captain's bright little brown eye. What sort of ghost Sir
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Speaker 1: Peter change, Eh, No, nothing of that sort, It seems
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Speaker 1: I don't know much about it. I wasn't sufficiently interested.
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Speaker 1: No sort of spook that bangs about and does you
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Speaker 1: a mischief? What's its name? Thundergeist? Poltergeist? The Lord Chancellor
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Speaker 1: supplied carelessly in the pause, runs its hand over your
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Speaker 1: hair in the dark, taps your shoulder, all nonsense. But
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Speaker 1: we don't tell the servants. Sort of thing I don't
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Speaker 1: believe in easily explained, what with paneling and secret passages
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Speaker 1: and priests holes and all that priest's holes. Douglas was
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Speaker 1: excited where they hid, perfect rabbit worn. There's one going
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Speaker 1: out from the drawing room alcove, quite a good room
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Speaker 1: in its way. But you know, a note of wrath
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Speaker 1: crept into Sir Peter's voice. They didn't treat me fairly
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Speaker 1: about these priest's holes. I ought to have had a
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Speaker 1: sketch and a plan of these priest's holes. When a
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Speaker 1: chap is given possession of a place, he ought to
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Speaker 1: be given possession. Well, I don't know where half of
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Speaker 1: them are myself. That's not possession. Else we might refurnish
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Speaker 1: them and do them up a bit. I guess they're
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Speaker 1: pretty musty. Captain Douglas spoke with his eye on the
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Speaker 1: Lord Chancellor. Sure there isn't a murdered priest in the place,
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Speaker 1: Sir Peter, he asked. Nothing of the sort, said Sir Peter.
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Speaker 1: I don't believe in these priest's holes. Half of em
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Speaker 1: never had priests seen him. It's all pretty tidy rot
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Speaker 1: I expect come to the bottom of it. The conversation
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Speaker 1: did not get away from ghosts and secret passages until
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Speaker 1: the men went to the drawing room. If it seemed
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Speaker 1: likely to do so, Captain Douglas pulled it back. He
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Speaker 1: seemed to delight in these silly particulars. The sillier they were,
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Speaker 1: the more he was delighted. The Lord Chancellor was a
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Speaker 1: little preoccupied by one of those irrational suspicions that will
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Speaker 1: sometimes afflict the most intelligent of men. Why did Douglas
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Speaker 1: want to know all the particulars about the Champs ghosts?
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Speaker 1: Why every now and then did he glance with that
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Speaker 1: odd expression at one's face, a glance half appealing and
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Speaker 1: half amused. Amused. It was a strange fancy, but the
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Speaker 1: Lord Chancellor could almost have sworn that the young man
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Speaker 1: was laughing at him. At dinner, he had had that
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Speaker 1: feeling one has at times of being talked about. He
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Speaker 1: had glanced along the table to discover the Captain and
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Speaker 1: a rather plain woman, that idiot Timber's wife. She probably
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Speaker 1: was with their heads together, looking up at him, quite definitely,
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Speaker 1: and both manifestly pleased by something Douglas was telling her.
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Speaker 1: What was it? Douglas had said in the train, something
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Speaker 1: like a threat, but the exact words had slipped the
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Speaker 1: Lord Chancellor's memory. The Lord Chancellor's preoccupation was just sufficient
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Speaker 1: to make him a little unwary. He drifted into grappling
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Speaker 1: distance of missus Rampound Pilbe. Her voice caught him like
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Speaker 1: a lasso and drew him in. Well, and how is
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Speaker 1: Lord Margeridge now? She asked, What on earth is one
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Speaker 1: to say to such an impertinence? She was always like that.
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Speaker 1: She spoke to a man of the caliber of Lord
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Speaker 1: Bacon as though she was speaking to a schoolboy home
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Speaker 1: for the holidays. She had an invincible air of knowing
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Speaker 1: all through everybody. It gave rather confidence to her work
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Speaker 1: than charm to her manner. Do you still go on
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Speaker 1: with your philosophy? She said? No, shouted the Lord Chancellor,
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Speaker 1: losing all self control for the moment, and waving his
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Speaker 1: eyebrows about madly. No, I go off with it. For
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Speaker 1: your vacations, eh, Lord Morggeridge, How I envy you great
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Speaker 1: lawyers your long vacations. I never get a vacation. Always,
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Speaker 1: we poor authors are pursued by our creations. Sometimes its
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Speaker 1: type script. Sometimes it's proofs. Not that I really complain
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Speaker 1: of proofs. I confess to a weakness for proofs. Sometimes
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Speaker 1: alas it's criticism. Such undiscerning criticism, the Lord Chancellor began
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Speaker 1: to think very swiftly of some tremendous lie that would
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Speaker 1: enable him to escape at once without incivility from Lady
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Speaker 1: Laxton's drawing room. Then he perceived that Missus Rampound Pilby
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Speaker 1: was asking him, is that the Captain Douglas or his
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Speaker 1: brother who's in love with the actress woman? Anseller made
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Speaker 1: no answer. What he thought was great, silly idiot, how
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Speaker 1: should I know? I think it must be the one,
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Speaker 1: the one who had to leave Portmouth and disgrace because
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Speaker 1: of the raging scandal. He did nothing there, they say,
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Speaker 1: but organize practical jokes. Some of them were quite subtle
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Speaker 1: practical jokes. He's a cousin of our hostess. That perhaps
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Speaker 1: accounts for his presence. The Lord Chancellor's comment betrayed the
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Speaker 1: drift of his thoughts. He'd better not try that sort
22:42
Speaker 1: of thing on here, he said, I abominate clowning. Drawing
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Speaker 1: room did not last very long. Even Lady Laxton could
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Speaker 1: not miss the manifest gloom of her principal guest. And
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Speaker 1: after the Good Knights in Barley Water and Lemonade on
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Speaker 1: the Great Landing, Sir Peter led Lord Mardiridge by the arm.
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Speaker 1: He hated being led by the arm into the small
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Speaker 1: but still spacious apartment that was called the Study. The
23:15
Speaker 1: Lord Chancellor was now very thirsty. He was not used
23:20
Speaker 1: to abstinence of any sort, but Sir Peter's way of
23:23
Speaker 1: suggesting a drink roused such a fury of resentment in
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Speaker 1: him that he refused tersely and conclusively. There was nobody
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Speaker 1: else in the study but Captain Douglas, who seemed to
23:36
Speaker 1: hesitate upon the verge of some familiar address, and Lord Woodenhouse,
23:42
Speaker 1: who was thirsty two and held a vast tumbler of
23:45
Speaker 1: whiskey and soda with a tinkle of ice in it
23:49
Speaker 1: on his knee in a way annoying to a parched man.
23:53
Speaker 1: The Lord Chancellor helped himself to a cigar and assumed
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Speaker 1: the middle of the fireplace with an air of content,
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Speaker 1: but he could feel the self control running out of
24:03
Speaker 1: the heels of his boots. Sir Peter, after a quite
24:09
Speaker 1: unsuccessful invasion of his own hearth rug, the Lord Chancellor
24:13
Speaker 1: stood like a rock, secured the big arm chair, stuck
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Speaker 1: his feet out towards his distinguished guest, and resumed a
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Speaker 1: talk that he had been holding with Lord Woodenhouse about firearms.
24:28
Speaker 1: Margleson had as usual, been too attentive to his master's glass,
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Speaker 1: and the fine edge was off Sir Peter's deference. I
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Speaker 1: always have carried firearms, he said, and I always shall
24:43
Speaker 1: used properly. They are a great protection even in the country.
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Speaker 1: How are you to know who you are going to
24:50
Speaker 1: run up against anyone. But you might shoot and hit something,
24:55
Speaker 1: said Douglas. Properly used, I said, properly used. Whipping out
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Speaker 1: a revolver and shooting at a man that's not properly
25:07
Speaker 1: used almost as bad as pointing it at him, which
25:12
Speaker 1: is pretty certain to make him fly straight at you,
25:15
Speaker 1: if he's got an ounce of pluck. But I said
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Speaker 1: properly used, and I mean properly used. The Lord Chancellor
25:25
Speaker 1: tried to think about that article on infinities while appearing
25:28
Speaker 1: to listen to this fool's talk. He despised revolvers armed
25:33
Speaker 1: with such eyebrows as his. It was natural for him
25:37
Speaker 1: to despise revolvers. Now I've got some nice little barkers upstairs,
25:44
Speaker 1: said Sir Peter. I'd almost welcome a burglar just to
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Speaker 1: try them. If you shoot a burglar, said Lord Woodenhouse abruptly,
25:55
Speaker 1: with a gust of that ill temper that was frequent
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Speaker 1: at chants towards the time when he's not attacking you,
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Speaker 1: it's murder. Sir Peter held up an offensively pacifying hand.
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Speaker 1: I know that, he said, you needn't tell me that.
26:15
Speaker 1: He raised his voice a little to increase his already
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Speaker 1: excessive accentuations. I said, properly used a yawn took the
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Speaker 1: Lord Chancellor unawares, and he caught it dexterously with his hand.
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Speaker 1: Then he saw Douglas hastily pull at his little blonde
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Speaker 1: mustache to conceal a smile, grinning ape. What was there
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Speaker 1: to smile at? The man had been smiling all the
26:44
Speaker 1: evening up to something. Now, let me tell you, said
26:51
Speaker 1: Sir Peter. Let me tell you the proper way to
26:55
Speaker 1: use a revolver. You whip it out and instantly let
27:00
Speaker 1: fly at the ground. You should never let any one
27:04
Speaker 1: see a revolver ever before they hear it. See you
27:08
Speaker 1: let fly at the ground first off, and the concussion
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Speaker 1: stuns them. It doesn't stun you. You expect it. They
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Speaker 1: don't see there. You are five shots left, Master of
27:24
Speaker 1: the situation, I think, Sir Peter. I'll bid you good night,
27:30
Speaker 1: said the Lord Chancellor, allowing his eye to rest for
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Speaker 1: one covetous moment on the decanter and struggling with the
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Speaker 1: devil of pride, Sir Peter made a gesture of extreme
27:43
Speaker 1: friendliness from his chair, expressive of the Lord Chancellor's freedom
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Speaker 1: to do whatever he pleased. At chance, I may perhaps
27:52
Speaker 1: tell you a little story that happened once in Morocco.
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Speaker 1: My eyes won't keep open any longer, said Captain Douglas, suddenly,
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Speaker 1: with a whirl of his knuckles into his sockets, and
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Speaker 1: stood up. Lord Woodenhouse stood up too, you see, said
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Speaker 1: Sir Peter, standing also, but sticking to his subject and
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Speaker 1: his hearer. This was when I was younger than I
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Speaker 1: am now you must understand, and I wasn't married, just
28:26
Speaker 1: mooching about a bit between business and pleasure. Under such circumstances,
28:32
Speaker 1: one goes into parts of a foreign town where one
28:35
Speaker 1: wouldn't go if one was older and wiser. Captain Douglas
28:41
Speaker 1: left Sir Peter and Wooden House to it. He emerged
28:46
Speaker 1: on the landing and selected one of the lighted candlesticks
28:50
Speaker 1: upon the table. Lord he whispers. He grimaced in soliloquy,
28:56
Speaker 1: and then perceived the Lord Chancellor, regarding him with suspicion
29:01
Speaker 1: and disfavor, from the ascending staircase. He attempted ease for
29:07
Speaker 1: the first time since the train incident. He addressed Lord Margeridge.
29:14
Speaker 1: I gather, my Lord, don't believe in ghosts? He said, no, sir,
29:20
Speaker 1: said the Lord Chancellor, I don't. They won't trouble me tonight.
29:26
Speaker 1: They won't trouble any of us fine old house anyhow,
29:31
Speaker 1: said Captain Douglas. The Lord Chancellor disdained to reply. He
29:37
Speaker 1: went on his way upstairs sub Chapter four. When the
29:48
Speaker 1: Lord Chancellor sat down before the thoughtful fire in the
29:52
Speaker 1: fine old paneled room assigned to him, he perceived that
29:56
Speaker 1: he was too disturbed to sleep. This was going to
30:01
Speaker 1: be an infernal weekend, the worst weekend he had ever had.
30:08
Speaker 1: Missus Rampound Pilby maddened him. Timber, who was a pragmatist,
30:14
Speaker 1: which stands in the same relation to a Hegelian that
30:18
Speaker 1: a small dog does to a large cat, exasperated him.
30:24
Speaker 1: He loathed Saxton, detested Rampound Pilby, and feared, as far
30:31
Speaker 1: as he was capable of fearing anything, Captain Douglas. There
30:36
Speaker 1: was no refuge, no soul in the house to whom
30:40
Speaker 1: he could turn for consolation and protection from these others.
30:45
Speaker 1: Slinker Bond could talk only of the affairs of the party,
30:48
Speaker 1: and the Lord Chancellor, being Lord Chancellor, had long since
30:54
Speaker 1: lost any interest in the affairs of the party. Wooden
30:58
Speaker 1: House could talk of nothing. The women were astonishingly negligible.
31:05
Speaker 1: There were practically no pretty women. There ought always to
31:10
Speaker 1: be pretty young women for a Lord chancellor, pretty young
31:15
Speaker 1: women who can at least seem to listen. And he
31:20
Speaker 1: was atrociously thirsty. His room was supplied only with water,
31:27
Speaker 1: stuff you used to clean your teeth, and nothing else.
31:32
Speaker 1: No good thinking about it, he decided that the best
31:36
Speaker 1: thing he could do to compose himself before turning in
31:40
Speaker 1: would be to sit down at the writing table and
31:43
Speaker 1: write a few sheets of Hegelian about that infinity article
31:48
Speaker 1: in the Hibbert. There is indeed no better consolation for
31:53
Speaker 1: a troubled mind than the Hegelian exercises. They lifted above everything.
32:01
Speaker 1: He took off his coat and sat down to this
32:04
Speaker 1: beautiful amusement, But he had scarcely written a page before
32:08
Speaker 1: his thirst became a torment. He kept thinking of that
32:13
Speaker 1: great tumbler wooden House. It held, sparkling, golden cool and stimulating.
32:21
Speaker 1: What he wanted was a good stiff whisky and a cigar,
32:25
Speaker 1: one of Laxton's cigars, the only good thing in his
32:29
Speaker 1: entertainment so far. And then philosophy. Even as a student
32:36
Speaker 1: he had been a worker of the Teutonic type, never abstemious.
32:43
Speaker 1: He thought of ringing and demanding these comforts, and then
32:47
Speaker 1: it occurred to him that it was a little late
32:49
Speaker 1: to ring for things. Why not fetch them from the
32:52
Speaker 1: study himself. He opened his door and looked out upon
32:58
Speaker 1: the great staircase. It was a fine piece of work,
33:01
Speaker 1: that staircase, low, broad, dignified. There seemed to be nobody about.
33:10
Speaker 1: The lights were still on. He listened for a little while,
33:14
Speaker 1: and then put on his coat and went with a
33:17
Speaker 1: soft swiftness that was still quite dignified, down stairs to
33:22
Speaker 1: the study. The study redolent of Sir Peter. He made
33:28
Speaker 1: his modest collection. Lord Margeridge came nearer to satisfaction as
33:34
Speaker 1: he emerged from the study that night at Chantz than
33:38
Speaker 1: at any other moment during this ill advised weekend. In
33:44
Speaker 1: his pocket were four thoroughly good cigars. In one hand
33:48
Speaker 1: he held a cut glass decanter of whiskey, in the
33:52
Speaker 1: other a capacious tumbler under his arm. With that confidence
33:58
Speaker 1: in the unlimited port power of his arm that nothing
34:02
Speaker 1: could shake, he had tucked the siphon. His soul rested
34:06
Speaker 1: upon the edge of tranquility, like a bird that has
34:10
Speaker 1: escaped the fowler. He was already composing his next sentence
34:14
Speaker 1: about that new variety of infinity. Then something struck him
34:19
Speaker 1: from behind and impelled him forward a couple of paces.
34:24
Speaker 1: It was something hairy, something in the nature, he thought afterwards,
34:28
Speaker 1: of a worn broom. And also there were two other things,
34:33
Speaker 1: softer and a little higher on each side. Then it
34:38
Speaker 1: was he made that noise, like the young of some
34:41
Speaker 1: large animal. He dropped the glass in a hasty attempt
34:45
Speaker 1: to save the Siphon what in the name of heaven?
34:50
Speaker 1: He cried and found himself alone. Captain Douglas, the thought
34:56
Speaker 1: leapt to his mind. But indeed it was not Captain Douglas.
35:02
Speaker 1: It was Bilby Bilby in panic flight from Thomas. And
35:08
Speaker 1: how was Bilby to know that this large, richly laden
35:11
Speaker 1: man was the Lord Chancellor of England. Never before had
35:17
Speaker 1: Bilby seen any one in evening dressed except a butler,
35:21
Speaker 1: And so he supposed this was just some larger, finer
35:25
Speaker 1: kind of butler that they kept upstairs, some larger finer
35:30
Speaker 1: kind of butler blocking the path of escape. Bilby had
35:35
Speaker 1: taken in the situation with the rapidity of a hunted
35:38
Speaker 1: animal the massive form blocked the door to the left
35:44
Speaker 1: in the playground of the village school. Bilby had been
35:47
Speaker 1: pre eminent for his dodging. He moved as quickly as
35:51
Speaker 1: a lizard, his little hands, his head poised with the
35:55
Speaker 1: skill of a practiced butter, came against that mighty back,
36:00
Speaker 1: and then Bilby had dodged into the study. But it
36:05
Speaker 1: seemed to Lord Margeridge, staggering over his broken glass and
36:10
Speaker 1: circling about defensively, that this fearful indignity could come only
36:16
Speaker 1: from Captain Douglas. Foolery, bluck, bluff, sham, poltergeist, imbeciles. He
36:25
Speaker 1: said as much, Believing that this young man and possibly
36:29
Speaker 1: confederates were within hearing, he said as much hotly. He
36:36
Speaker 1: went on to remark of an unphilosophical tendency about Captain
36:40
Speaker 1: Douglas generally, and about army officers, practical joking, Laxton's hospitalities,
36:49
Speaker 1: chants Thomas, you will remember, heard him. Nothing came of it,
36:57
Speaker 1: no answer, not a word of apology. At last, in
37:02
Speaker 1: a great dudgeon, and with a kind of wariness about
37:06
Speaker 1: his back, the Lord Chancellor, with things more spoilt for
37:10
Speaker 1: him than ever, went on his way upstairs, when the
37:16
Speaker 1: green Bay's door opened behind him. He turned like a shot,
37:21
Speaker 1: and a large, foolish faced butler appeared Lord Margerridge, with
37:27
Speaker 1: a scepter like motion of the decanter, very quietly and
37:31
Speaker 1: firmly asked him a simple question. And then then the
37:35
Speaker 1: lunatic must needs leap up three stairs and dive suddenly
37:39
Speaker 1: and upsettingly at his legs. Lord Margareridge was paralyzed with amazement.
37:46
Speaker 1: His legs were struck from under him. He uttered one
37:50
Speaker 1: brief topographical cry to Sir Peter. Unfortunately it sounded like
37:56
Speaker 1: help for a few seconds. The impressions that rushed upon
38:02
Speaker 1: Lord Margeridge were too rapid for adequate examination. He had
38:08
Speaker 1: a compelling fancy to kill Butler's things culminated in a
38:13
Speaker 1: pistol shot. And then he found himself sitting on the
38:16
Speaker 1: landing beside a disgracefully disheveled man servant, and his host
38:21
Speaker 1: was running downstairs to them with a revolver in his hand.
38:26
Speaker 1: On occasion, Lord Margeridge could produce a tremendous voice, he
38:32
Speaker 1: did so now for a moment he stared panting at
38:36
Speaker 1: Sir Peter, and then emphasized by a pointing finger came
38:40
Speaker 1: the voice. Never had it been so charged with emotion.
38:45
Speaker 1: What does this mean, you, sir? He shouted? What does
38:50
Speaker 1: this mean? It was exactly what Sir Peter had intended
38:55
Speaker 1: to say Subchapter five. Explanations are detestable things, And anyhow,
39:08
Speaker 1: it isn't right to address your hosts as you, sir
39:15
Speaker 1: sub chapter six. Throughout the evening, the persuasion had grown
39:24
Speaker 1: in Lady Laxton's mind that all was not going well
39:28
Speaker 1: with the Lord Chancellor. It was impossible to believe he
39:32
Speaker 1: was enjoying himself, but she did not know how to
39:35
Speaker 1: give things a turn for the better. Clever women would
39:39
Speaker 1: have known, but she was so convinced she was not
39:43
Speaker 1: clever that she did not even try thing after thing
39:48
Speaker 1: had gone wrong. How was she to know that there
39:53
Speaker 1: were two sorts of philosophy quite different? She had thought
39:58
Speaker 1: philosophy was philosoph but it seemed that there were these
40:03
Speaker 1: two sorts, if not more, A round, large sort that
40:08
Speaker 1: talked about the absolute and was scornfully superior and rather irrascible.
40:14
Speaker 1: And a jabby, pointed sort that called people tender or tough,
40:19
Speaker 1: and was generally much too familiar to bring them together.
40:24
Speaker 1: Was just mixing trouble. There ought to be little books
40:28
Speaker 1: for hostesses explaining these things. Then it was extraordinary that
40:35
Speaker 1: the Lord Chancellor, who was so tremendously large and clever,
40:39
Speaker 1: wouldn't go and talk to Missus Rampound Pilby, who was
40:43
Speaker 1: also so tremendously large and clever. Repeatedly Lady Laxton had
40:50
Speaker 1: tried to get them into touch with one another, until
40:53
Speaker 1: at last the Lord Chancellor had said, distinctly and deliberately,
40:58
Speaker 1: when she had suggested his goinging across to the eminent writer,
41:02
Speaker 1: God forbid. Her dream of a large, clever duelog that
41:07
Speaker 1: she could afterwards recall with pleasure was altogether shattered. She
41:13
Speaker 1: thought the Lord Chancellor uncommonly hard to please. These weren't
41:18
Speaker 1: the only people for him. Why couldn't he chat party
41:22
Speaker 1: secrets with Slinker Bond or say things to Lord Woodenhouse.
41:28
Speaker 1: You could say anything you liked to Lord Woodenhouse, or
41:32
Speaker 1: talk with mister Timber. Missus Timber had given him an
41:36
Speaker 1: excellent opening, She had asked, wasn't it a dreadful anxiety
41:41
Speaker 1: always to have the great seal to mind? He had
41:45
Speaker 1: simply grunted, And then why did he keep on looking
41:51
Speaker 1: so dangerously at Captain Douglas. Perhaps tomorrow things would take
41:58
Speaker 1: a turn for the better. One can at least be hopeful,
42:03
Speaker 1: even if one is not clever, one can be that
42:09
Speaker 1: from such thoughts as these. It was that this unhappy
42:13
Speaker 1: hostess was roused by a sound of smashing glass, a rumpus,
42:18
Speaker 1: and a pistol shot. She stood up. She laid her
42:22
Speaker 1: hand on her heart, she said, oh, and gripped her
42:28
Speaker 1: dressing table for support. After a long time, and when
42:33
Speaker 1: it seemed that it was now nothing more than a
42:36
Speaker 1: hubbub of voices in which her husband's could be distinguished clearly,
42:42
Speaker 1: she crept out very softly. Upon the upper landing, she
42:48
Speaker 1: perceived her cousin, Captain Douglas, looking extremely fair and frail
42:54
Speaker 1: and untrustworthy in a much too gorgeous kimono dressing gown
42:59
Speaker 1: of embroidered Japanese silk. I can assure you, my lord,
43:05
Speaker 1: he was saying, in a strange, high pitched, deliberate voice,
43:10
Speaker 1: on my word of honor as a soldier, that I
43:13
Speaker 1: know absolutely nothing about it. Sure it wasn't all imagination,
43:19
Speaker 1: my lord, Sir Peter asked, with his inevitable infelicity, she
43:25
Speaker 1: decided to lean over the balustrading and ask, very quietly
43:29
Speaker 1: and clearly, Lord Margaerdge, please is anything the matter? Sub
43:40
Speaker 1: Chapter seven. All human beings are egotists, but there is
43:50
Speaker 1: no egotism to compare with the egotism of the very
43:54
Speaker 1: young Bielby was so much the center of his world
44:00
Speaker 1: that he was incapable of any interpretation of this shouting
44:04
Speaker 1: and uproar, this smashing of decanters and firing of pistol shots,
44:10
Speaker 1: except in reference to himself. He supposed it to be
44:15
Speaker 1: a hue and cry. He supposed that he was being hunted,
44:21
Speaker 1: hunted by a pack of great butlers, hounded on by
44:25
Speaker 1: the irreparably injured Thomas. The thought of upstairs gentle folks
44:31
Speaker 1: passed quite out of his mind. He snatched up a
44:35
Speaker 1: faked Syrian dagger that lay in the capacity of a
44:39
Speaker 1: paper knife on the study table, concealed himself under the
44:44
Speaker 1: chintz balance of a sofa, adjusted its rumpled skirts neatly,
44:49
Speaker 1: and awaited the issue of events. For a time, events
44:55
Speaker 1: did not issue. They remained talking noisily upon the great staircase.
45:02
Speaker 1: Bilby could not hear what was said, but most of
45:05
Speaker 1: what was said appeared to be flat contradiction. Perchance, whispered
45:11
Speaker 1: Bielby to himself, gathering courage. Perchance we have eluded them
45:18
Speaker 1: a breathing space. At last, a woman's voice mingled with
45:23
Speaker 1: the others, and seemed a little to estage them. Then
45:27
Speaker 1: it seemed to Bilby that they were dispersing to beat
45:30
Speaker 1: the house for him. Good night again, then said someone
45:37
Speaker 1: that puzzled him, but he decided it was a blind.
45:41
Speaker 1: He remained very, very still. He heard a clicking in
45:46
Speaker 1: the apartment, the blue parlor, it was called, between the
45:50
Speaker 1: study and the dining room. Electric light. Then someone came
45:56
Speaker 1: into the study. Bielby's eye was as close to the
46:00
Speaker 1: ground as he could get it. He was breathless. He
46:04
Speaker 1: moved his head with an immense circumspection. The valance was translucent,
46:09
Speaker 1: but not transparent. Below it, there was a crack of vision,
46:14
Speaker 1: a strip of carpet, the casters of chairs. Among these things.
46:20
Speaker 1: He perceived feet, not ankles. It did not go up
46:24
Speaker 1: to that, but just feet, large, flatish feet. A pair.
46:32
Speaker 1: They stood still, and Bilby's hand lighted on the hilt
46:36
Speaker 1: of his dagger. The person above the feet seemed to
46:40
Speaker 1: be surveying the room or reflecting drunk old fools, either
46:46
Speaker 1: drunk or mad. That's about the truth of it, said
46:50
Speaker 1: a voice Margleson, angry but parody and unmistakable. The feet
46:58
Speaker 1: went across to the table, and there were faint sounds
47:01
Speaker 1: of refreshment discreetly administered. Then a moment of profound stillness. Ah,
47:10
Speaker 1: said the voice. At last a voice renewed. Then the
47:16
Speaker 1: feet went to the passage door. Halted in the doorway,
47:20
Speaker 1: there was a double click, the lights went out. Bielby
47:25
Speaker 1: was in absolute darkness. Then a distant door closed, and
47:30
Speaker 1: silence followed. Upon the dark. Mister Murgleson descended to a
47:35
Speaker 1: pantry ablaze with curiosity. The Lord Chancellor's going dotty, said
47:43
Speaker 1: mister Murgleson, replying to the inevitable question, that's what's up.
47:50
Speaker 1: I tried to save the blessed Siphon, said mister Murgleson,
47:55
Speaker 1: pursuing his narrative. And he sprang on me like a leopard.
47:59
Speaker 1: I suppose he thought I wanted to take it away
48:02
Speaker 1: from him. He'd broke a glass already. Oh, I don't know.
48:08
Speaker 1: There it was lying on the landing. Here's where he
48:14
Speaker 1: bit my hand, said mister Murgleson. A curious little sight
48:20
Speaker 1: issue occurred to Thomas. Where's young kicker? All this time?
48:25
Speaker 1: He asked, Lord, said mister Murgleson. All them other things
48:32
Speaker 1: they clean drove him out of my head. I suppose
48:36
Speaker 1: he's up there hiding somewhere. He paused his eye, consulted
48:42
Speaker 1: the eye of Thomas. He's got behind a curtain or something,
48:47
Speaker 1: said mister Murgleson. Where where he can have got to,
48:52
Speaker 1: said mister Murgleson. Can't be bothered about him, said mister Murgleson.
48:58
Speaker 1: I expect he'll sneak down to his room when things
49:01
Speaker 1: are quiet, said Thomas. After reflection, No good going and
49:07
Speaker 1: looking for him now, said mister Murgleson. Things upstairs they
49:12
Speaker 1: got to settled down. But in the small hours mister
49:17
Speaker 1: Murgleson awakened and thought of Bielby, and wondered whether he
49:21
Speaker 1: was in bed. This became so great an uneasiness that
49:25
Speaker 1: about the hour of dawn, he got up and went
49:28
Speaker 1: along the passage to Bielby's compartment. Bielby was not there,
49:33
Speaker 1: and his bed had not been slept. In that sinister
49:37
Speaker 1: sense of gathering misfortunes which comes to all of us
49:40
Speaker 1: at times in the small hours was so strong in
49:44
Speaker 1: the mind of mister Murgleson that he went on and
49:47
Speaker 1: told Thomas of this disconcerting fact. Thomas woke with difficulty
49:53
Speaker 1: and rather crossly, but sat up at last, alive to
49:58
Speaker 1: the gravity of mister Murgleson's mood. If he's found hiding
50:04
Speaker 1: about upstairs after all this upset, said mister Murgleson, and
50:08
Speaker 1: left the rest of the sentence to a sympathetic imagination.
50:13
Speaker 1: Now it's light, said mister Murgleson, after a slight pause.
50:17
Speaker 1: I think we'd better just go round and have a
50:20
Speaker 1: look for him, both of us. So Thomas clad himself provisionally,
50:27
Speaker 1: and the two man servants went upstairs very softly and
50:30
Speaker 1: began a series of furtive sweeping movements, very much in
50:35
Speaker 1: the spirit of Lord Kitchener's historical sweeping movements in the
50:39
Speaker 1: Transfall through the stately old rooms in which Bielby must
50:43
Speaker 1: be lurking sub Chapter eight. Man is the most restless
50:55
Speaker 1: of animals. There is an incessant urgency in his nature.
51:01
Speaker 1: He never knows when he is well off. And so
51:05
Speaker 1: it was that Bilby's comparative security under the sofa became
51:09
Speaker 1: presently too irksome to be endured. He seemed to himself
51:15
Speaker 1: to stay there for ages, but as a matter of fact,
51:18
Speaker 1: he stayed there only twenty minutes. Then, with eyes tempered
51:23
Speaker 1: to the darkness, he first struck out an alert, attentive head,
51:28
Speaker 1: then crept out and remained for the space of half
51:31
Speaker 1: a minute on all fours, surveying the indistinct blackness about him.
51:38
Speaker 1: Then he knelt up. Then he stood up. Then, with
51:43
Speaker 1: arms extended and cautious steps, he began an exploration of
51:47
Speaker 1: the apartment. The passion for exploration grows with what it
51:53
Speaker 1: feeds upon. Presently, Bilby was feeling his way into the
51:58
Speaker 1: blue parlor, and then round by its shuttered and curtained
52:03
Speaker 1: windows to the dining room. His head was now full
52:07
Speaker 1: of the idea of some shelter more permanent, less pervious
52:12
Speaker 1: to housemaids than that sofa. He knew enough now of
52:17
Speaker 1: domestic routines to know that upstairs in the early morning
52:22
Speaker 1: was much routed by housemaids. He found many perplexing turns
52:27
Speaker 1: and corners, and finally got into the dining room fireplace,
52:31
Speaker 1: where it was very dark, and kicked against some fire
52:34
Speaker 1: irons that made his heart beat fast. For a time.
52:39
Speaker 1: Then groping on past it, he found in the darkness
52:43
Speaker 1: what few people could have found in the day, the
52:47
Speaker 1: stud that released the panel that hid the opening of
52:50
Speaker 1: the way that led to the priesthole. He felt the
52:54
Speaker 1: thing open and halted, perplexed in that corner. There wasn't
53:01
Speaker 1: a ray of light For a long time. He was
53:04
Speaker 1: trying to think what this opening could be, and then
53:08
Speaker 1: he concluded it was some sort of back way from downstairs. Well, anyhow,
53:15
Speaker 1: it was all exploring with an extreme gingerliness. He got
53:20
Speaker 1: himself through the panel, he closed it almost completely behind him.
53:28
Speaker 1: Careful investigation brought him to the view that he was
53:32
Speaker 1: in a narrow passage of brick or stone that came
53:35
Speaker 1: in a score of paces to a spiral staircase going
53:39
Speaker 1: both up and down. Up this he went and presently
53:45
Speaker 1: breathed cool night air, and had a glimpse of stars
53:48
Speaker 1: through a narrow slit like window, almost blocked by ivy.
53:53
Speaker 1: Then what was very disagreeable, something scampered. When Bald's heart recovered,
54:01
Speaker 1: he went on up again. He came to the priest hole,
54:07
Speaker 1: a capacious cell six feet square with a bench bed
54:12
Speaker 1: and a little table and chair. It had a small
54:15
Speaker 1: door upon the stairs that was open, and a niche cupboard.
54:21
Speaker 1: Here he remained for a time. Then restlessness made him
54:25
Speaker 1: explore a cramped passage. He had to crawl along it
54:29
Speaker 1: for some yards that came presently into a curious space
54:34
Speaker 1: with wood on one side and stone on the other.
54:38
Speaker 1: Then ahead, most blessed thing, he saw light. He went
54:44
Speaker 1: blundering toward it, and then stopped appalled. From the other
54:48
Speaker 1: side of this wooden wall to the right of him
54:51
Speaker 1: had come a voice. Come in, said the voice, a rich,
54:56
Speaker 1: masculine voice that seemed scarcely two yards away. Bielbe became rigid. Then,
55:04
Speaker 1: after a long interval, he moved as softly as he could.
55:10
Speaker 1: The voice soliloquised. Bielby listened intently, and then, when all
55:18
Speaker 1: was still again, crept forward two paces more towards the gleam.
55:24
Speaker 1: It was a peep hole. The unseen speaker was walking about.
55:30
Speaker 1: Bielby listened, and the sound of his beating heart mingled
55:34
Speaker 1: with the pad pad of slippered footsteps. Then, with a
55:39
Speaker 1: brilliant effort, his eye was at the chink. All was
55:42
Speaker 1: still again. For a time. He was perplexed by what
55:46
Speaker 1: he saw, a large pink shining dome against a deep
55:51
Speaker 1: greenish gray background. At the base of the dome was
55:56
Speaker 1: a kind of interrupted hedge, brown and leafless. Then he
56:02
Speaker 1: realized that he was looking at the top of a
56:04
Speaker 1: head and two enormous eyebrows. The rest was hidden. Nature
56:11
Speaker 1: surprised Bilby into a penetrating sniff. Now, said the occupant
56:16
Speaker 1: of the room, And suddenly he was standing up. Bilby
56:20
Speaker 1: saw a long hairy neck sticking out of a dressing
56:23
Speaker 1: gown and walking to the side of the room. I
56:27
Speaker 1: won't stand it, said the great voice. I won't stand it.
56:31
Speaker 1: Ape's foolery. Then the Lord Chancellor began rapping at the
56:37
Speaker 1: paneling about his apartment. Hollow. It all sounds hollow. Only
56:44
Speaker 1: after a long interval did he resume his writing. All
56:49
Speaker 1: night long, that rat behind the wainscot troubled the Lord
56:53
Speaker 1: Chancellor whenever he spoke, whenever he moved about. It was still.
57:00
Speaker 1: Whenever he composed himself to right, it began to rustle
57:03
Speaker 1: and blunder again and again it sniffed, an annoying kind
57:09
Speaker 1: of sniff. At last, the Lord Chancellor gave up his
57:13
Speaker 1: philosophical relaxation and went to bed. Turned out the lights
57:18
Speaker 1: and attempted sleep, but this only intensified his sense of
57:23
Speaker 1: an uneasy, sniffing presence close to him. When the light
57:29
Speaker 1: was out, it seemed to him that this thing, whatever
57:33
Speaker 1: it was, instantly came into the room and set the
57:38
Speaker 1: floor creaking and snapping. A thing perpetually attempting something, and
57:44
Speaker 1: perpetually thwarted. The Lord Chancellor did not sleep a wink.
57:52
Speaker 1: The first feeble infiltration of day found him sitting up
57:56
Speaker 1: in bed, wearily wrathful, and now surely some one was
58:02
Speaker 1: going along the passage outside. A great desire to hurt
58:07
Speaker 1: somebody very much seized upon the Lord Chancellor. Perhaps he
58:11
Speaker 1: might hurt that dismal farser upon the landing. No doubt
58:16
Speaker 1: it was Douglas. Sneaking back to his own room after
58:19
Speaker 1: the Knight's efforts. The Lord Chancellor slipped on his dressing
58:24
Speaker 1: gown of purple silk. Very softly, indeed, did he open
58:28
Speaker 1: his bedroom door, and very warily peep out. He heard
58:32
Speaker 1: the soft pad of feet upon the staircase. He crept
58:37
Speaker 1: across the broad passage to the beautiful old ball of
58:40
Speaker 1: strouting down below. He saw Murgleson, murgleson again in a
58:46
Speaker 1: shameful dishevel, going like a snake, like a slinking cat,
58:51
Speaker 1: like an assassin, into the door of the study. Rage
58:56
Speaker 1: filled the great man's soul. Gathering up the sky of
59:00
Speaker 1: his dressing gown, he started in a swift yet noiseless pursuit.
59:06
Speaker 1: He followed Mergleson through the little parlor and into the
59:09
Speaker 1: dining room. And then he saw it all. There was
59:13
Speaker 1: a panel open, and Mergleson very cautiously going in. Of course,
59:20
Speaker 1: they had got at him through the priesthole. They had
59:23
Speaker 1: been playing on his nerves all night. They had been
59:27
Speaker 1: doing it, no doubt in relays, the whole house was
59:31
Speaker 1: in this conspiracy. With his eyebrows spread like the wings
59:36
Speaker 1: of a fighting cock, the Lord Chancellor, in five vast
59:40
Speaker 1: noiseless strides, had crossed the intervening space and gripped the
59:45
Speaker 1: butler by his collarless shirt. As he was disappearing. It
59:49
Speaker 1: was like a hawk striking a sparrow. Murgleson felt himself clutched,
59:55
Speaker 1: glanced over his shoulder, and, seeing that fierce, familiar face
59:58
Speaker 1: again close to his eyes, pitiless vindictive, lost all sense
1:00:04
Speaker 1: of human dignity, and yelled like a lost soul. Sub
1:00:11
Speaker 1: Chapter nine, Sir Peter Laxton was awakened from an uneasy
1:00:19
Speaker 1: sleep by the opening of the dressing room door that
1:00:22
Speaker 1: connected his room with his wife's. He sat up, astonished
1:00:28
Speaker 1: and stared at her white face, its pallor exaggerated by
1:00:32
Speaker 1: the cold light of dawn. Peter, she said, I'm sure
1:00:37
Speaker 1: there's something more going on, something more going on, something
1:00:44
Speaker 1: shouting and swearing. You don't mean, she nodded the Lord Chancellor.
1:00:51
Speaker 1: She said, in an awe stricken whisper. He's at it
1:00:56
Speaker 1: again downstairs in the dining room. Sir Peter seemed disposed
1:01:02
Speaker 1: at first to receive this quite passively. Then he flashed
1:01:07
Speaker 1: into extravagant wrath. I'm damned, he cried, jumping violently out
1:01:13
Speaker 1: of bed. If I'm going to stand this, not if
1:01:18
Speaker 1: he was a hundred Lord chancellors. He's turning the place
1:01:21
Speaker 1: into a bally lunatic asylum. Once one might excuse but
1:01:28
Speaker 1: to start in again. What's that? They both stood still, listening. Faintly,
1:01:38
Speaker 1: yet quite distinctly, came the agonized cry of some imperfectly
1:01:44
Speaker 1: educated person. Help here, where's my trousers? Cried Sir Peter.
1:01:53
Speaker 1: He's murdering myrtlesson, there isn't a moment to lose sub
1:02:01
Speaker 1: chapter ten. Until Sir Peter returned, Lady Laxton sat quite still,
1:02:10
Speaker 1: just as he had left her, on his bed, aghast.
1:02:14
Speaker 1: She could not even pray. The sun had still to rise.
1:02:19
Speaker 1: The room was full of that cold, weak, inky light,
1:02:24
Speaker 1: light without warmth, knowledge without faith, existence without courage that
1:02:31
Speaker 1: creeps in before the day. She waited in such a
1:02:36
Speaker 1: mood women have waited for massacre downstairs, a raucous shouting.
1:02:44
Speaker 1: She thought of her happy childhood upon the Yorkshire Wolds,
1:02:48
Speaker 1: before the idea of week end parties had entered her mind,
1:02:54
Speaker 1: the heather, the little birds, kind things. A tear ran
1:02:59
Speaker 1: down her cheek sub Chapter eleven. Then Sir Peter stood
1:03:09
Speaker 1: before her again, alive, still but breathless and greatly ruffled.
1:03:15
Speaker 1: She put her hands to her heart. She would be brave, yes,
1:03:21
Speaker 1: she said, tell me he's as mad as a hatter,
1:03:25
Speaker 1: said Sir Peter. She nodded for more. She knew that
1:03:32
Speaker 1: has he killed any one? She whispered. He looked uncommonly
1:03:38
Speaker 1: like trying, said Sir Peter. She nodded, her lips tightly compressed.
1:03:45
Speaker 1: Says Douglas will either have to leave the house or
1:03:48
Speaker 1: he does. But Douglas, I know, but he won't hear
1:03:53
Speaker 1: a word. But why Douglas, I tell you, he's as
1:04:01
Speaker 1: mad as a hatter, got persecution mania, people tapping and
1:04:07
Speaker 1: bells ringing under his pillow all night, that sort of idea,
1:04:12
Speaker 1: and furious. I tell you. He frightened me. He was awful.
1:04:19
Speaker 1: He's given myrtleson a black eye, hit him, you know,
1:04:23
Speaker 1: with his fist, caught him in the passage to the
1:04:26
Speaker 1: priest hole. How they got there, I don't know, and
1:04:31
Speaker 1: went for him like a madman. But what has Douglas done?
1:04:37
Speaker 1: I know, I asked him, but he won't listen. He's
1:04:41
Speaker 1: just off his head, says Douglas. Has got the whole
1:04:45
Speaker 1: household trying to work a ghost on him, I tell you,
1:04:49
Speaker 1: And he's off his nut. Husband and wife looked at
1:04:53
Speaker 1: each other. Of course, if Douglas didn't mind just going
1:04:59
Speaker 1: off to oblige me, said Sir Peter. At last, it
1:05:03
Speaker 1: might call him, he explained. You see, it's all so
1:05:09
Speaker 1: infernally awkward. Is he back in his room, yes, waiting
1:05:16
Speaker 1: for me to decide about Douglas walking up and down
1:05:21
Speaker 1: for a little while. Their minds remained prostrate and inactive.
1:05:27
Speaker 1: I'd been so looking forward to the lunch, she said,
1:05:30
Speaker 1: with a joyless smile. The country she could not go on,
1:05:37
Speaker 1: you know, said Sir Peter. One thing, I'll see to
1:05:41
Speaker 1: it myself. I won't have him have a single drop
1:05:45
Speaker 1: of liquor more if we have to search his room.
1:05:50
Speaker 1: What I shall say to him at breakfast, she said,
1:05:53
Speaker 1: I don't know. Sir Peter reflected, there's no earthly reason
1:06:00
Speaker 1: why you should be brought into it at all. Your
1:06:03
Speaker 1: line is to know nothing about it. Show him you
1:06:07
Speaker 1: know nothing about it. Ask him, Ask him if he's
1:06:12
Speaker 1: had a good night. End of Chapter two. Recording by
1:06:22
Speaker 1: narrator Jay