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02 - The Time Machine - H G Wells · Daily Classic Science Fiction Books

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  Speaker 1: Chapter two. I think that at the time none of
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  Speaker 1: us quite believed in the time machine. The fact is,
• 0:08
  Speaker 1: the time traveler was one of those men who are
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  Speaker 1: too clever to be believed. You never felt that you
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  Speaker 1: saw all round him. You always suspected some subtle reserve,
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  Speaker 1: some ingenuity in ambush behind his lucid frankness. Had Philby
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  Speaker 1: shown the model and explained the matter in the time
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  Speaker 1: Traveler's words, we should have shown him far less skepticism,
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  Speaker 1: for we should have perceived his motives. A pork butcher
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  Speaker 1: could understand Philby. But the time Traveler had more than
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  Speaker 1: a touch of whim among his elements, and we distrusted him.
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  Speaker 1: Things that would have made the frame of a less
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  Speaker 1: clever man seemed tricks in his hands. It is a
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  Speaker 1: mistake to do things too easily. The serious people who
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  Speaker 1: took him seriously never felt quite sure of his deportment.
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  Speaker 1: They were somehow aware that trusting their reputations for judgment
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  Speaker 1: with him was like furnishing a nursery with egg shell china.
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  Speaker 1: So I didn't think any of us said very much
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  Speaker 1: about time traveling in the interval between that Thursday and
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  Speaker 1: the next, though its odd potentialities ran no doubt in
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  Speaker 1: most of our minds its plausibility, that is, its practical incredibleness,
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  Speaker 1: the curious possibilities of an acronism, and of utter confusion,
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  Speaker 1: it suggested. For my own part, I was particularly preoccupied
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  Speaker 1: with the trick of the model that I remember discussing
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  Speaker 1: with the medical man, whom I met on Friday at
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  Speaker 1: the Linnaean. He said he had seen a similar thing
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  Speaker 1: at Tubingen and laid considerable stress on the blowing out
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  Speaker 1: of the candle, but how the trick was done he
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  Speaker 1: could not explain. The next Thursday, I went again to Richmond.
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  Speaker 1: I suppose I was one of the time Traveler's most
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  Speaker 1: constant guests, and arriving late, found four or five men
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  Speaker 1: already assembled in his drawing room. The medical man was
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  Speaker 1: standing before the fire with a sheet of paper in
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  Speaker 1: one hand and his watch in the other. I looked
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  Speaker 1: around for the time Traveler. And it's half past seven now,
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  Speaker 1: said the medical man. I suppose we'd better have dinner.
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  Speaker 1: Where's said I, naming our host. You've just come. It's
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  Speaker 1: rather odd. He's unavoidably detained. He asks me in this
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  Speaker 1: note to lead off with dinner at seven. If he's
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  Speaker 1: not back, says he'll explain when he comes. It seems
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  Speaker 1: a pity to let the dinner spoil, said the editor
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  Speaker 1: of a well known daily paper, and thereupon the doctor
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  Speaker 1: rang the bell. The psychologist was the only person besides
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  Speaker 1: the doctor and myself who had attended the previous dinner.
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  Speaker 1: The other men were blank. The editor aforementioned, a certain journalist,
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  Speaker 1: and another a quiet, shy man with a beard, whom
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  Speaker 1: I didn't know, and who, as far as my observation went,
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  Speaker 1: never opened his mouth. All the evening there was some
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  Speaker 1: speculation at the dinner table about the time traveler's absence,
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  Speaker 1: and I suggested time traveling in a half jocular spirit.
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  Speaker 1: The editor wanted that explain to him, and the psychologist
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  Speaker 1: volunteered a wooden account of the ingenious paradox and trick
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  Speaker 1: we had witnessed that day week. He was in the
• 3:36
  Speaker 1: midst of his exposition when the door from the corridor
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  Speaker 1: opened slowly and without noise. I was facing the door
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  Speaker 1: and saw it first. Hello, I said, at last, and
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  Speaker 1: the door opened wider, and the time traveler stood before us.
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  Speaker 1: I gave a cry of surprise. Good heavens man, what's
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  Speaker 1: the matter, cried the medical man. Who saw him next.
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  Speaker 1: When the whole tableful turned towards the door, he was
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  Speaker 1: in an amazing plight. His coat was dusty and dirty
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  Speaker 1: and smeared with green down the sleeves. His hair disordered and,
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  Speaker 1: as it seemed to me, grayer, either with dust and
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  Speaker 1: dirt or because its color had actually faded. His face
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  Speaker 1: was ghastly pale. His chin had a brown cut on it,
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  Speaker 1: a cut half heeled. His expression was haggard and drawn
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  Speaker 1: as by intense suffering. For a moment, he hesitated in
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  Speaker 1: the doorway, as if he had been dazzled by the light.
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  Speaker 1: Then he came into the room. He walked with just
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  Speaker 1: such a limp as I have seen in footsore traps.
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  Speaker 1: We stared at him in silence, expecting him to speak.
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  Speaker 1: He said not a word, but came painfully to the
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  Speaker 1: table and made a motion towards the wine. The editor
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  Speaker 1: filled a glass of champagne and pushed it towards him.
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  Speaker 1: He drained it, and it seemed to do him good,
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  Speaker 1: for he looked round the table and the ghost of
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  Speaker 1: his old smile flickered across his face. What on earth
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  Speaker 1: have you been up to, man, said the doctor. The
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  Speaker 1: time traveler did not seem to hear. Don't let me
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  Speaker 1: disturb you, he said, with a certain faltering articulation. I'm
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  Speaker 1: all right. He stopped, held out his glass for more,
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  Speaker 1: and took it off at a draft. That's good, he said.
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  Speaker 1: His eyes grew brighter, and a faint color came into
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  Speaker 1: his cheeks. His glance flickered over our faces with a
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  Speaker 1: certain dull approval, and then went round the warm and
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  Speaker 1: comfortable room. Then he spoke again, still as it were,
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  Speaker 1: feeling his way among his words, I'm going to wash
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  Speaker 1: and dress, and then i'll come down and explain things.
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  Speaker 1: Save me some of that mutton. I'm starving for a
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  Speaker 1: bit of meat. He looked across at the editor, who
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  Speaker 1: was a rare visitor, and hoped he was all right.
• 6:04
  Speaker 1: The editor began a question. Tell you, presently, said the
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  Speaker 1: time traveler. I'm funny. I'll be right in a minute.
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  Speaker 1: He put down his glass and walked towards the staircase door. Again.
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  Speaker 1: I remarked his lameness and the soft padding sound of
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  Speaker 1: his footfall, and standing up in my place, I saw
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  Speaker 1: his feet as he went out. He had nothing on
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  Speaker 1: them but a pair of tattered, blood stained socks. Then
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  Speaker 1: the door closed upon him. I had half a mind
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  Speaker 1: to follow till I remembered how he detested any fuss
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  Speaker 1: about himself. For a minute, perhaps my mind was wool gathering.
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  Speaker 1: Then remarkable behavior of an eminent scientist. I heard the
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  Speaker 1: editor say, thinking after his wont in headlines, and this
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  Speaker 1: brought my attention back to the bright dinner table. What's
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  Speaker 1: the game, said the journalist. Has he been doing the
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  Speaker 1: amateur cadger, I don't follow. I met the eye of
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  Speaker 1: the psychologist and read my own interpretation in his face.
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  Speaker 1: I thought of the time traveler limping painfully upstairs. I
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  Speaker 1: don't think any one else had noticed his lameness. The
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  Speaker 1: first to recover completely from this surprise was the medical
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  Speaker 1: man who rang the bell. The time traveler hated to
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  Speaker 1: have servants waiting at dinner for a hot plate. At
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  Speaker 1: that the editor turned to his knife and fork with
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  Speaker 1: a grunt, and the silent man followed suit. The dinner
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  Speaker 1: was resumed. Conversation was exclamatory for a little while, with
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  Speaker 1: gaps of wonderment, and then the editor got fervent in
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  Speaker 1: his curiosity. Does our friend eke out his modest income
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  Speaker 1: with a crossing? Or has he his nebuchadnazar phases, he inquired.
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  Speaker 1: I feel assured. It's this business of the time machine,
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  Speaker 1: I said, and took up the psychologist's account of our
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  Speaker 1: previous meeting. The new guests were frankly incredulous. The editor
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  Speaker 1: raised objections, what was this time traveling? A man couldn't
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  Speaker 1: cover himself with dust by rolling in a paradox, could he?
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  Speaker 1: And then, as the idea came home to him, he
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  Speaker 1: resorted to caricature. Hadn't he any clothes brushes in the future.
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  Speaker 1: The journalist, too, would not believe at any price, and
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  Speaker 1: join the editor in the easy work of heaping ridicule
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  Speaker 1: on the whole thing. They were both the new kind
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  Speaker 1: of journalist, very joyous, irreverent young men. Our special correspondent
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  Speaker 1: in the Day after Tomorrow reports the journalist was saying,
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  Speaker 1: or rather shouting, when the time traveler came back. He
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  Speaker 1: was dressed in ordinary evening clothes, and nothing save his
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  Speaker 1: haggard look remained of change that had startled me, I say,
• 9:03
  Speaker 1: said the editor, hilariously, these chaps here say you have
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  Speaker 1: been traveling into the middle of next week. Tell us
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  Speaker 1: all about little Roseberry. Will you? What will you take
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  Speaker 1: for the lot. The time traveler came to the place
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  Speaker 1: reserved for him without a word. He smiled quietly in
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  Speaker 1: his old way. Where's my mutton? He said, What a
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  Speaker 1: treat it is to stick a fork into meat again,
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  Speaker 1: Story cried the editor. Story be damned, said the time traveler.
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  Speaker 1: I want something to eat. I won't say a word
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  Speaker 1: until I get some peptone into my arteries. Thanks and
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  Speaker 1: the salt. One word, said I have you been time traveling? Yes,
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  Speaker 1: said the time traveler, with his mouth full, nodding his head.
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  Speaker 1: I'd give a shilling a line for a verbatim note,
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  Speaker 1: said the editor. The time traveler pushed his glass towards
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  Speaker 1: the sight silet man and rang it with his finger nail,
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  Speaker 1: at which the silent man, who had been staring at
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  Speaker 1: his face, started convulsively and poured in wine. The rest
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  Speaker 1: of the dinner was uncomfortable for my own part. Sudden
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  Speaker 1: questions kept rising to my lips, and I dare say
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  Speaker 1: it was the same with the others. The journalist tried
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  Speaker 1: to relieve the tension by telling anecdotes of Hetty Potter.
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  Speaker 1: The time traveler devoted his attention to his dinner and
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  Speaker 1: displayed the appetite of a trap. The medical man smoked
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  Speaker 1: a cigarette and watched the time traveler through his eyelashes.
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  Speaker 1: The silent man seemed even more clumsy than usual, and
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  Speaker 1: drank champagne with regularity and determination out of sheer nervousness.
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  Speaker 1: At last, the time traveler pushed his plate away and
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  Speaker 1: looked round us. I suppose I must apologize, he said,
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  Speaker 1: I was simply starving. I've had a most amazing time.
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  Speaker 1: He reached out his hand for a cigar and cut
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  Speaker 1: the end. But come into the smoking room. It's too
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  Speaker 1: long a story to tell. Over greasy plates and ringing
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  Speaker 1: the bell. In passing, he led the way into the
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  Speaker 1: adjoining room. You have told blank and dash and chose
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  Speaker 1: about the machine, he said to me, leaning back in
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  Speaker 1: his easy chair and naming the three new guests. But
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  Speaker 1: the thing's a mere paradox, said the editor. I can't
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  Speaker 1: argue tonight. I don't mind telling you the story, but
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  Speaker 1: I can't argue. I will, he went on, tell you
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  Speaker 1: the story of what has happened to me, if you like,
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  Speaker 1: but you must refrain from interruptions. I want to tell
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  Speaker 1: it badly. Most of it will sound like lying, so
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  Speaker 1: be it. It's true. Every word of it all the same.
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  Speaker 1: I was in my laboratory at four o'clock, and since
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  Speaker 1: then I've lived a days, such days as no human
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  Speaker 1: being ever lived before. I'm nearly worn out, but I
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  Speaker 1: shan't sleep till I've told this thing over to you.
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  Speaker 1: Then I shall go to bed. But no interruptions. Is
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  Speaker 1: it agreed? Agreed? Said the editor, and the rest of
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  Speaker 1: us echoed. Agreed. And with that the time traveler began
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  Speaker 1: his story, as I've set it forth. He sat back
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  Speaker 1: in his chair at first, and spoke like a weary man. Afterwards,
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  Speaker 1: he got more animated in writing it down. I feel,
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  Speaker 1: with only too much keenness, the inadequacy of pen and ink,
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  Speaker 1: and above all my own inadequacy to express its quality.
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  Speaker 1: You read, I will suppose attentively enough. But you cannot
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  Speaker 1: see the speaker's white, sincere face in the bright circle
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  Speaker 1: of the little lamp, nor hear the intonation of his voice.
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  Speaker 1: Cannot know how his expression followed the turns of his story.
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  Speaker 1: Most of us hearers were in shadow, for the candles
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  Speaker 1: in the smoking room had not been lighted, and only
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  Speaker 1: the face of the journalist and the legs of the
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  Speaker 1: silent man from the knees downward were illuminated. At first,
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  Speaker 1: we glanced now and again at each other. After a time,
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  Speaker 1: we ceased to do that and looked only at the
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  Speaker 1: time traveler's face. End of Chapter two.