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The Country of the Blind and Other Stories - The Magic Shop · The H. G. Wells Library

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  Speaker 1: Section twenty nine of the Country of the Blind and
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  Speaker 1: Other Stories by H. G. Wells. This LibriVox recording is
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  Speaker 1: in the public domain. Read by Peter Yearsley. The Magic Shop.
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  Speaker 1: I had seen the Magic Shop from afar several times.
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  Speaker 1: I had passed it once or twice, a shop window
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  Speaker 1: of alluring little objects, magic balls, magic hens, wonderful cones,
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  Speaker 1: ventriloquist dolls, the material of the basket, trick packs of
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  Speaker 1: cards that looked all right, and all that sort of thing.
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  Speaker 1: But never had I thought of going in until one day,
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  Speaker 1: almost without warning, Gip hauled me by my finger right
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  Speaker 1: up to the window, and so conducted himself that there
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  Speaker 1: was nothing for it but to take him in. I
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  Speaker 1: had not thought the place was there, to tell the truth,
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  Speaker 1: a modest sized frontage in Regent Street, between the picture
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  Speaker 1: shop and the place where the chicks run about, just
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  Speaker 1: out of patent incubation. But there it was, sure enough.
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  Speaker 1: I had fancied it was down nearer the circus, or
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  Speaker 1: round the corner in Oxford Street, or even in Hoburn,
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  Speaker 1: always over the way and a little inaccessible. It had
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  Speaker 1: been with something of the mirage in its position. But
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  Speaker 1: here it was now quite indisputably, and the fat end
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  Speaker 1: of Gyp's pointing finger made a noise upon the glass.
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  Speaker 1: If I was rich, said Gip, dabbing a finger at
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  Speaker 1: the disappearing egg, I'd buy myself that, and that which
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  Speaker 1: was the crying baby very human, and that which was
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  Speaker 1: a mystery, and called so a neat card, asserted, buy
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  Speaker 1: one and astonish your friends. Anything, said Gip will disappear
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  Speaker 1: under one of those cones. I've writ about it in
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  Speaker 1: a book. And there, Dadder is the vanishing hapney. Only
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  Speaker 1: they put it this way up, says, we can't see
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  Speaker 1: how it's done. Gyp. Dear boy inherits his mother's breeding,
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  Speaker 1: and he did not propose to enter the shop or
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  Speaker 1: worry in any way. Only you know, quite unconsciously he
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  Speaker 1: lugged my finger Doorwarld. And he made his interest clear,
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  Speaker 1: that he said, and pointed to the magic bottle. If
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  Speaker 1: you had that, I said, at which promising inquiry, he
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  Speaker 1: looked up with a sudden radiance. I could show it
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  Speaker 1: to Jesse, he said, thoughtful, as ever of others. It's
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  Speaker 1: less than a hundred days to your birthday, Gibbles, I said,
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  Speaker 1: and laid my hand on the door handle. Gip made
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  Speaker 1: no answer, but his grip tightened on my finger, and
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  Speaker 1: so we came into the shop. It was no common
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  Speaker 1: shop this, it was a magic shop, and all the
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  Speaker 1: prancing precedents Chip would have taken in the matter of
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  Speaker 1: mere toys was wanting. He left the burthen of the
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  Speaker 1: conversation to me. It was a little narrow shop, not
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  Speaker 1: very well there, And the door bell pinged again with
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  Speaker 1: a plaintive note as we closed it behind us. For
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  Speaker 1: a moment or so we were alone and could glance
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  Speaker 1: about us. There was a tiger in papier mache on
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  Speaker 1: the glass case that covered the low counter, a grave,
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  Speaker 1: kind eyed tiger that waggled his head in a methodical manner.
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  Speaker 1: There were several crystal spheres, a china hand holding magic cards,
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  Speaker 1: a stock of magic fish poles in various sizes, and
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  Speaker 1: an immodest magic hat that shamelessly displayed its springs. On
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  Speaker 1: the floor were magic mirrors, one to draw you out
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  Speaker 1: long and thin, one to swell your head and vanish
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  Speaker 1: your legs, and one to make you short and fat
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  Speaker 1: like a draft. And while we were laughing at these,
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  Speaker 1: the shopman, as I suppose, came in at any rate,
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  Speaker 1: there he was behind the counter, a curious, sallow dark man,
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  Speaker 1: with one ear larger than the other and a chin
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  Speaker 1: like the toe cap of a book. What can we
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  Speaker 1: have the pleasure? He said, spreading his long magic fingers
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  Speaker 1: on the glass case. And so with a start we
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  Speaker 1: were aware of him. I want, I said, to buy
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  Speaker 1: my little boy a few simple tricks leisure, de man,
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  Speaker 1: he asked, mechanical, domestic, Anything amusing, said I. Hmm, said
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  Speaker 1: the shopman, and scratched his head for a moment, as
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  Speaker 1: if thinking. Then quite distinctly he drew from his head
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  Speaker 1: a glass ball. Something in this way, he said, and
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  Speaker 1: held it out. The action was unexpected. I had seen
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  Speaker 1: the trick done at entertainments endless times before. It's part
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  Speaker 1: of the common stock of conjurers, but I had not
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  Speaker 1: expected it here. That's good, I said, with a laugh,
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  Speaker 1: isn't it? Said the shopman. Chip stretched out his disengaged
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  Speaker 1: hand to take this object, and found merely a blank palm.
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  Speaker 1: It's in your pocket, said the shopman, and there it was.
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  Speaker 1: How much will that be? I asked. We make no
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  Speaker 1: charge for glass balls, said the shopman politely. We get them.
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  Speaker 1: He picked one out of his elbow, as he spoke free,
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  Speaker 1: he produced another from the back of his neck and
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  Speaker 1: laid it beside its predecessor on the counter. Gyp regarded
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  Speaker 1: his glass ball sagely, then directed a look of inquiry
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  Speaker 1: at the two on the counter, and finally brought his
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  Speaker 1: round eyed scrutiny to the shopman, who smiled. You may
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  Speaker 1: have those two, said the shopman, And if you don't
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  Speaker 1: mind one from my mouth. So Gyp counseled me mutely
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  Speaker 1: for a moment, and then, in a profound silence, put
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  Speaker 1: away the four balls, resumed my reassuring finger, and nerved
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  Speaker 1: himself for the next event. We get all our smaller
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  Speaker 1: tricks in that way, the shopman remarked. I laughed, in
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  Speaker 1: the manner of one who subscribes to a jest. Instead
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  Speaker 1: of going to the wholesale shop, I said, of course,
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  Speaker 1: it's cheaper away, the shopman said, though we pay in
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  Speaker 1: the end, but not so heavily as people suppose. Our
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  Speaker 1: larger tricks and our daily provisions and all the other
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  Speaker 1: things we want we get out of that hat. And
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  Speaker 1: you know, sir, if you'll excuse my saying it, there
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  Speaker 1: isn't a wholesale shop not for genuine magic goods, Sir,
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  Speaker 1: I don't know if you noticed our inscription the genuine
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  Speaker 1: magic shop. He drew a business card from his cheek
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  Speaker 1: and handed it to me. Genuine, he said, with his
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  Speaker 1: finger on the word, and added, there is absolutely no deception, sir.
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  Speaker 1: He seemed to be carrying out the joke pretty thoroughly,
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  Speaker 1: I thought. He turned to Gip with a smile of
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  Speaker 1: remarkable affability. You, you know, are the right sort of boy.
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  Speaker 1: I was surprised at his knowing that, because in the
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  Speaker 1: interests of discipline, we keep it rather a secret even
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  Speaker 1: at home. But Gip received it in unflinching silence, keeping
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  Speaker 1: a steadfast eye on him. It's only the right sort
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  Speaker 1: of boy gets through that doorway. And as if by
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  Speaker 1: way of illustration, there came a rattling at the door,
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  Speaker 1: and a squeaking little voice could be faintly heard, Yeah,
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  Speaker 1: I wanna going there, dadda, I'm wanna going there, and
• 7:27
  Speaker 1: then the accents of a downtrodden parent, urging consolations and propitiations.
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  Speaker 1: It's locked, Edward, he said, But it isn't, said I
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  Speaker 1: it is, sir, said the shopman always for that sort
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  Speaker 1: of child, And as he spoke we had a glimpse
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  Speaker 1: of the other youngster, a little white face, pallid from
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  Speaker 1: sweet eating and over sapid food, and distorted by evil passions,
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  Speaker 1: A ruthless little egotist pouring at the enchanted paine. It's
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  Speaker 1: no good, sir, said the shopman, as I moved with
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  Speaker 1: my natural helpfulness doorward, and presently the spoilt child was
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  Speaker 1: carried off. Howling, how do you manage that? I said,
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  Speaker 1: breathing a little more freely, magic, said the shopman with
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  Speaker 1: a careless wave of the hand, and behold sparks of
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  Speaker 1: colored fire flew out of his fingers and vanished into
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  Speaker 1: the shadows of the shop. You were saying, he said,
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  Speaker 1: addressing himself to Gip before you came in, that you
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  Speaker 1: would like one, ver, buy one and astonish your friend's boxes. Gip,
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  Speaker 1: after a gallant effort, said yes, it's in your pocket,
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  Speaker 1: and leaning over the counter, he really had an extraordinary
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  Speaker 1: long body. This amazing person produced the article in the
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  Speaker 1: customary conjurous manner paper, he said, and took a sheet
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  Speaker 1: out of the empty hat with the springs string, and
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  Speaker 1: behold his mouth was a string box from which he
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  Speaker 1: an unending thread, which when he had tied his parcel.
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  Speaker 1: He bit off, and it seemed to me swallowed the
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  Speaker 1: ball of string, and then he lit a candle at
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  Speaker 1: the nose of one of the ventriloquist's dummies, stuck one
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  Speaker 1: of his fingers, which had become sealing wax red into
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  Speaker 1: the flame, and so sealed the parcel. Then there was
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  Speaker 1: the disappearing egg, he remarked, and produced one from within
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  Speaker 1: my coat breast and packed it, and also the crying baby.
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  Speaker 1: Very human. I handed each parcel to Gip as it
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  Speaker 1: was ready, and he clasped them to his chest. He
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  Speaker 1: said very little, but his eyes were eloquent, the clutch
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  Speaker 1: of his arms was eloquent. He was the playground of
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  Speaker 1: unspeakable emotions. These, you know, were real magics. Then with
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  Speaker 1: a start, I discovered something moving about in my hat,
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  Speaker 1: something soft and jumpy. I whipped it off, and a
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  Speaker 1: ruffled pigeon, no doubt confederate, dropped out and ran on
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  Speaker 1: the counter and went, I fancy into a cardboard box
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  Speaker 1: behind the papier mache tiger, said the shopman, dexterously, relieving
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  Speaker 1: me of my head dress. Careless bird, and as I
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  Speaker 1: live nesting, he shook my hat and shook out into
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  Speaker 1: his extended hand two or three eggs, a large marble,
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  Speaker 1: a watch, about half a dozen of the inevitable glass balls,
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  Speaker 1: and then crumpled crinkled paper, more and more and more,
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  Speaker 1: talking all the time of the way in which people
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  Speaker 1: neglect to brush their hats inside as well as out, politely,
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  Speaker 1: of course, but with a certain personal application. All sorts
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  Speaker 1: of things accumulates their nuts you, of course, in particular
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  Speaker 1: nearly every customer, astonishing what they carry about with them.
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  Speaker 1: The crumpled paper rose and billowed on the counter more
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  Speaker 1: and more and more, until he was nearly hidden from us,
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  Speaker 1: until he was altogether hidden, And still his voice went
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  Speaker 1: on and on. We none of us know what the
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  Speaker 1: fair semblance of a human being may conceal, sir, Are
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  Speaker 1: we all then no better than brushed exteriors whited sepulchers.
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  Speaker 1: His voice stopped, exactly like when you hit a neighbor's
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  Speaker 1: gramophone with a well aimed brick. The same instant silence
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  Speaker 1: and the rustle of the paper stopped, and everything was still.
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  Speaker 1: Have you done with my hat? I said? After an interval.
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  Speaker 1: There was no answer. I stared at Gip, and Gip
• 11:35
  Speaker 1: stared at me. And there were our distortions in the
• 11:39
  Speaker 1: magic mirrors, looking very rum and grave and quiet. I
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  Speaker 1: think we'll go now, I said, Will you tell me
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  Speaker 1: how much all this comes to? I say, I said,
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  Speaker 1: on a rather louder note, I want the bill and
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  Speaker 1: my hat, please. It might have been a sniff from
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  Speaker 1: behind the paper pile. Let's look behind the Counterjyp, I said,
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  Speaker 1: he's making fun of us. I led Gip round the
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  Speaker 1: head wagging tiger, and what do you think There was
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  Speaker 1: behind the counter? No one at all, Only my hat's
• 12:13
  Speaker 1: on the floor and a common conjurer's lop eared white rabbit,
• 12:17
  Speaker 1: lost in meditation and looking as stupid and crumpled as
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  Speaker 1: only a conjurer's rabbit can do. I resumed my hat,
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  Speaker 1: and the rabbit lolloped a lollap or so out of
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  Speaker 1: my way. Dadda, said Jip in a guilty whisper. What
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  Speaker 1: is it? Gip said, I I do like this shop, dadder,
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  Speaker 1: So should I, I said to myself, if the counter
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  Speaker 1: wouldn't suddenly extend itself to shut one off from the door.
• 12:45
  Speaker 1: But I didn't call Gip's attention to that pussy, he said,
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  Speaker 1: with a hand out to the rabbit, as it came
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  Speaker 1: lolloping past us do jip a magic, and his eyes
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  Speaker 1: followed it as it squeezed through a door I had
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  Speaker 1: certain not remarked a moment before. Then this door opened wider,
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  Speaker 1: and the man with one ear larger than the other
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  Speaker 1: appeared again. He was smiling still, but his eye met
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  Speaker 1: mine with something between amusement and defiance. You'd like to
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  Speaker 1: see our showroom, sir, he said, with an innocent suavity.
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  Speaker 1: Gyp tugged my finger forward. I glanced at the counter
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  Speaker 1: and met the shopman's eye again. I was beginning to
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  Speaker 1: think the magic just a little too genuine. We haven't
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  Speaker 1: very much time, I said, But somehow we were inside
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  Speaker 1: the showroom before I could finish that. All goods of
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  Speaker 1: the same quality, said the shopman, rubbing his flexible hands together,
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  Speaker 1: And that is the best. Nothing in the place that
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  Speaker 1: isn't genuine magic and warranted thoroughly rum excuse me, sir.
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  Speaker 1: I felt him pull at something that clung to my
• 13:55
  Speaker 1: coat sleeve, and then I saw he held a little
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  Speaker 1: wriggling red demon by the The little creature bit and
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  Speaker 1: fought and tried to get at his hand, and in
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  Speaker 1: a moment he tossed it carelessly behind a counter. No
• 14:08
  Speaker 1: doubt the thing was only an image of twisted India rubber,
• 14:11
  Speaker 1: but for the moment and his gesture was exactly that
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  Speaker 1: of a man who handles some petty, biting bit of vermin.
• 14:19
  Speaker 1: I glanced at Gip, but Gip was looking at a
• 14:22
  Speaker 1: magic rocking horse. I was glad he hadn't seen the thing,
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  Speaker 1: I say, I said, in an undertone, and indicating Gip
• 14:30
  Speaker 1: and the red demon with my eyes. You haven't many
• 14:34
  Speaker 1: things like that about, have you? None of ours? Probably
• 14:37
  Speaker 1: brought it with you, said the shopman, also in an undertone,
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  Speaker 1: and with a more dazzling smile than ever, Astonishing what
• 14:46
  Speaker 1: people will carry about with them unawares. And then to Gip,
• 14:51
  Speaker 1: do you see anything you fancy here? There were many
• 14:55
  Speaker 1: things that Gip fancied there. He turned to this astonishing
• 14:59
  Speaker 1: train sades with mingled confidence and respect. Is that a
• 15:03
  Speaker 1: magic sword, he said, a magic toy sword. It neither bends, breaks,
• 15:09
  Speaker 1: nor cuts the fingers. It renders the bearer invincible in
• 15:13
  Speaker 1: battle against any one under eighteen half a crown to
• 15:17
  Speaker 1: seven and sixpence according to size. These panoplies on cards
• 15:21
  Speaker 1: are for juvenile knights errant and very useful shield of safety,
• 15:26
  Speaker 1: sandals of swiftness, helmet of invisibility. Oh dadd gasped Gip.
• 15:33
  Speaker 1: I tried to find out what they cost, but the
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  Speaker 1: shopman did not heed me. He had got Gip. Now,
• 15:40
  Speaker 1: he had got him away from my finger. He had
• 15:43
  Speaker 1: embarked upon the exposition of all his confounded stock, and
• 15:47
  Speaker 1: nothing was going to stop him. Presently I saw, with
• 15:50
  Speaker 1: a qualm of distrust and something very like jealousy, that
• 15:55
  Speaker 1: Gip had hold of this person's finger, as usually he
• 15:58
  Speaker 1: has hold of mine. No doubt the fellow was interesting,
• 16:01
  Speaker 1: I thought, and had an interestingly faked lot of stuff,
• 16:05
  Speaker 1: really good faked stuff. Still I wandered after them, saying
• 16:11
  Speaker 1: very little, but keeping an eye on this pressed digital fellow.
• 16:15
  Speaker 1: After all, Chip was enjoying it, and no doubt when
• 16:18
  Speaker 1: the time came to go, we should all be able
• 16:21
  Speaker 1: to go quite easily. It was a long, rambling place,
• 16:25
  Speaker 1: that show room, a gallery broken up by stands and
• 16:29
  Speaker 1: stalls and pillars, with archways leading off to other departments,
• 16:33
  Speaker 1: in which the queerest looking assistants loafed and stared at
• 16:37
  Speaker 1: one and with perplexing mirrors and curtains so perplexing, indeed
• 16:42
  Speaker 1: were these that I was presently unable to make out
• 16:46
  Speaker 1: the door by which we had come. The shopman showed
• 16:50
  Speaker 1: Gip magic trains that ran without steam or clockwork, just
• 16:54
  Speaker 1: as you set the signals. And then some very very
• 16:58
  Speaker 1: valuable boxes of soldiers that all came alive directly you
• 17:02
  Speaker 1: took off the lead and said, I, myself haven't a
• 17:04
  Speaker 1: very quick ear. And it was a tongue twisting sound.
• 17:08
  Speaker 1: But Gip, he has his mother's ear, got it in
• 17:12
  Speaker 1: no time. Bravo, said the shopman, putting the men back
• 17:16
  Speaker 1: into the box unceremoniously and handing it to Gip. Now,
• 17:21
  Speaker 1: said the shopman, and in a moment, Gip had made
• 17:23
  Speaker 1: them all alive again. You'll take that box, asked the shopman.
• 17:28
  Speaker 1: We'll take that box, said I, unless you charge its
• 17:32
  Speaker 1: full value, in which case it would need a trust
• 17:34
  Speaker 1: magnate dear heart. No, and the shopman swept the little
• 17:39
  Speaker 1: man back again, shut the lid, waved the box in
• 17:42
  Speaker 1: the ear, and there it was in brown paper, tied up,
• 17:46
  Speaker 1: and with JIP's full name and address on the paper.
• 17:50
  Speaker 1: The shopman laughed at my amazement. This is the genuine magic,
• 17:56
  Speaker 1: he said, the real thing. It's the little too genuine
• 18:01
  Speaker 1: for my taste, I said again. After that he fell
• 18:04
  Speaker 1: to showing gip tricks, odd tricks, and still odder. The
• 18:09
  Speaker 1: way they were done, he explained them. He turned them
• 18:12
  Speaker 1: inside out, and there was the dear little chap nodding
• 18:16
  Speaker 1: his busy bit of a head in the sagest manner.
• 18:19
  Speaker 1: I did not attend as well as I might. Hey presto,
• 18:22
  Speaker 1: said the magic shopman, and then would come the clear,
• 18:26
  Speaker 1: small hey presto of the boy. But I was distracted
• 18:30
  Speaker 1: by other things. It was being borne in upon me
• 18:33
  Speaker 1: just how tremendously rum this place was. It was, so
• 18:37
  Speaker 1: to speak, inundated by a sense of rumness. There was
• 18:41
  Speaker 1: something a little rum about the fixtures, even about the ceiling,
• 18:44
  Speaker 1: about the floor, About the casually distributed chairs. I had
• 18:48
  Speaker 1: a queer feeling that whenever I wasn't looking at them straight,
• 18:52
  Speaker 1: they went askew and moved about and played a noiseless
• 18:56
  Speaker 1: puts in the corner behind my back. And the cornice
• 18:59
  Speaker 1: had a serpentine design with masks, masks altogether too expressive
• 19:05
  Speaker 1: for proper plaster. Then abruptly my attention was caught by
• 19:08
  Speaker 1: one of the odd looking assistants. He was some way
• 19:12
  Speaker 1: off and evidently unaware of my presence. I saw a
• 19:16
  Speaker 1: sort of three quarter length of him over a pile
• 19:18
  Speaker 1: of toys and through an arch, and you know, he
• 19:22
  Speaker 1: was leaning against a pillar in an idle sort of way,
• 19:26
  Speaker 1: doing the most horrid things with his features. The particular
• 19:31
  Speaker 1: horrid thing he did was with his nose. He did
• 19:34
  Speaker 1: it just as though he was idle and wanted to
• 19:36
  Speaker 1: amuse himself. First of all, it was a short, blobby nose,
• 19:41
  Speaker 1: and then suddenly he shut it out like a telescope,
• 19:44
  Speaker 1: and then out it flew and became thinner and thinner,
• 19:47
  Speaker 1: until it was like a long red, flexible whip, like
• 19:50
  Speaker 1: a thing in a night mare. It was. He flourished
• 19:53
  Speaker 1: it about and flung it forth as a fly fisher
• 19:56
  Speaker 1: flings his line. My instant thought was that Jip mustn't him.
• 20:01
  Speaker 1: I turned about, and there was Gip, quite preoccupied with
• 20:04
  Speaker 1: the shopman and thinking no evil. They were whispering together
• 20:08
  Speaker 1: and looking at me. Gip was standing on a little stool,
• 20:12
  Speaker 1: and the shopman was holding a sort of big drum
• 20:14
  Speaker 1: in his hand. I don't seek that, cried Gip. You're
• 20:18
  Speaker 1: he And before I could do anything to prevent it.
• 20:21
  Speaker 1: The shopman had clapped the big drum over him. I
• 20:25
  Speaker 1: saw what was up directly, take that off, I cried,
• 20:28
  Speaker 1: this instant, you'll frighten the boy. Take it off. The shopman,
• 20:33
  Speaker 1: with the unequal ears, did so without a word, and
• 20:37
  Speaker 1: held the big cylinder towards me to show its emptiness,
• 20:40
  Speaker 1: And the little stool was vacant. In that instant, my
• 20:44
  Speaker 1: boy had utterly disappeared. You know, perhaps that sinister something
• 20:49
  Speaker 1: that comes like a hand out of the unseen and
• 20:53
  Speaker 1: grips your heart about. You know, it takes your common
• 20:56
  Speaker 1: self away and leaves you tense and deliberate, neither slow
• 21:00
  Speaker 1: nor hasty, neither angry nor afraid. So it was with me.
• 21:05
  Speaker 1: I came up to this grinning shopman and kicked his
• 21:08
  Speaker 1: stool aside. Stop this folly, I said, where is my boy?
• 21:12
  Speaker 1: You see, he said, still displaying the drum's interior. There
• 21:17
  Speaker 1: is no deception. I put out my hand to grip him,
• 21:20
  Speaker 1: and he eluded me by a dexterous movement. I snatched again,
• 21:24
  Speaker 1: and he turned from me and pushed open a door
• 21:26
  Speaker 1: to escape. Stop, I said, and he laughed, receding. I
• 21:31
  Speaker 1: leapt after him into utter darkness. Thud, Lord, bless my heart.
• 21:37
  Speaker 1: I didn't see you coming, sir. I was in Regent Street,
• 21:40
  Speaker 1: and I had collided with a decent looking working man,
• 21:43
  Speaker 1: and a yard away perhaps, and looking a little perplexed
• 21:47
  Speaker 1: with himself, was Jip. There was some sort of apology,
• 21:51
  Speaker 1: and then Gyp had turned and come to me with
• 21:53
  Speaker 1: a bright little smile, as though for a moment he
• 21:56
  Speaker 1: had missed me, And he was carrying four parcels in
• 22:00
  Speaker 1: his arm. He secured immediate possession of my finger. For
• 22:04
  Speaker 1: the second I was rather at a loss. I stared
• 22:08
  Speaker 1: round to see the door of the magic shop, and behold,
• 22:12
  Speaker 1: it was not there. There was no door, no shop, nothing,
• 22:15
  Speaker 1: only the common pilaster between the shop where they sell
• 22:18
  Speaker 1: pictures and the window with the chicks. I did the
• 22:21
  Speaker 1: only thing possible in that mental tumult. I walked straight
• 22:26
  Speaker 1: to the curbstone and held up my umbrella for a
• 22:29
  Speaker 1: cab ansoms, said Gip, in a note of culminating exultation.
• 22:34
  Speaker 1: I helped him in, recalled my address with an effort,
• 22:38
  Speaker 1: and got in. Also, something unusual proclaimed itself in my
• 22:42
  Speaker 1: tail coat pocket, and I felt and discovered a glass
• 22:46
  Speaker 1: ball with a petulant expression. I flung it into the street.
• 22:51
  Speaker 1: Gyp said nothing. For a space, neither of us spoke.
• 22:56
  Speaker 1: Dab said, Gip. At last, that was a proper shop.
• 23:00
  Speaker 1: I came round with that to the problem of just
• 23:04
  Speaker 1: how the whole thing had seemed to him. He looked
• 23:07
  Speaker 1: completely undamaged, so far good. He was neither scared nor unhinged.
• 23:13
  Speaker 1: He was simply tremendously satisfied with the afternoon's entertainment. And
• 23:18
  Speaker 1: there in his arms were the four parcels. Confounded what
• 23:22
  Speaker 1: could be in them? Um m, I said, little boys
• 23:26
  Speaker 1: can't go to shops like that every day. He received
• 23:30
  Speaker 1: this with his usual stoicism, and for a moment I
• 23:33
  Speaker 1: was sorry. I was his father and not his mother,
• 23:36
  Speaker 1: and so couldn't Suddenly there Coram Publico in our handsome
• 23:41
  Speaker 1: kiss him. After all, I thought the thing wasn't so
• 23:45
  Speaker 1: very bad. But it was only when we opened the
• 23:49
  Speaker 1: parcels that I really began to be reassured. Three of
• 23:53
  Speaker 1: them contained boxes of soldiers, quite ordinary lead soldiers, but
• 23:57
  Speaker 1: of so good a quality as to make altogether forget
• 24:01
  Speaker 1: that originally these parcels had been magic tricks of the
• 24:05
  Speaker 1: only genuine sort. And the fourth contained a kitten, a
• 24:09
  Speaker 1: little living white kitten, in excellent health and appetite and temper.
• 24:16
  Speaker 1: I saw this unpacking with a sort of provisional relief.
• 24:21
  Speaker 1: I hung about in the nursery for quite an unconscionable time.
• 24:26
  Speaker 1: That happened six months ago, and now I am beginning
• 24:30
  Speaker 1: to believe it is all right. The kitten had only
• 24:33
  Speaker 1: the magic natural to all kittens, and the soldiers seemed
• 24:38
  Speaker 1: as steady a company as any colonel could desire. And Gyp,
• 24:43
  Speaker 1: the intelligent parent, will understand that I have to go
• 24:46
  Speaker 1: cautiously with GYP. But I went so far as this.
• 24:49
  Speaker 1: One day, I said, how would you like your soldiers
• 24:53
  Speaker 1: to come alive, Gyp and march about by themselves? Mine do?
• 24:57
  Speaker 1: Said Gip. I just have to say a word, I know,
• 25:00
  Speaker 1: before I open the lid. Then they march about alone. Oh,
• 25:04
  Speaker 1: quite data. I shouldn't like them if they didn't do that.
• 25:08
  Speaker 1: I displayed no unbecoming surprise, and since then I have
• 25:13
  Speaker 1: taken occasion to drop in upon him once or twice unannounced,
• 25:17
  Speaker 1: when the soldiers were about. But so far I have
• 25:21
  Speaker 1: never discovered them performing in anything like a magical manner.
• 25:25
  Speaker 1: It's so difficult to tell there's also a question of finance.
• 25:31
  Speaker 1: I have an incurable habit of paying bills. I have
• 25:34
  Speaker 1: been up and down Regent Street several times looking for
• 25:39
  Speaker 1: that shop. I am inclined to think, indeed, that in
• 25:43
  Speaker 1: that manner, honor is satisfied, and that since Gyp's name
• 25:47
  Speaker 1: and address are known to them, I may very well
• 25:50
  Speaker 1: leave it to these people, whoever they may be, to
• 25:53
  Speaker 1: send in their bill in their own time. End of
• 25:58
  Speaker 1: Section twenty nine