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The Dream Chapter the Seventh - Love And Death Parts 8 and 9 · The H. G. Wells Library

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Speaker 1: Section twenty three of The Dream, a Novel. This is
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Speaker 1: a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain.
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Speaker 1: For more information or to volunteer, please visit LibriVox dot org.
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Speaker 1: Read by Moonllith. The Dream, a Novel by H. G. Wells,
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Speaker 1: Section twenty three, Chapter the seventh, Love and Death, Parts
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Speaker 1: eight and nine, Part eight. For three or four days,
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Speaker 1: I did not feel this second separation from Hetty very greatly.
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Speaker 1: My mind was still busy with the details of her departure.
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Speaker 1: On the third day, she sent me a wireless message,
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Speaker 1: as we used to call it, to Thunderstone House well away.
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Speaker 1: She said, fine weather, endless love and gratitude. Then, slowly,
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Speaker 1: as the days passed, my sense of loss grew upon me.
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Speaker 1: The intimations of immense loneliness gathered and spread until they
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Speaker 1: became a cloud that darkened all my mental sky. I
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Speaker 1: was persuaded now that there was no human being who
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Speaker 1: could make me altogether happy but Hetty, and that for
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Speaker 1: the second time I was rejecting the possibility of companionship
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Speaker 1: with her. I had wanted love, I perceived without sacrifice,
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Speaker 1: and in that old world, it seems to me now
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Speaker 1: love was only possible at an exorbitant price, sacrifice of honor,
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Speaker 1: sacrifice of one's proper work in the world, humiliations and distresses.
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Speaker 1: I had shirked the price of Hetty, and she was
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Speaker 1: going from me, taking out of my life forever, all
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Speaker 1: those sweet, untellable things that were the essence of love,
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Speaker 1: the little names, the trivial, careless caresses, the exquisite gestures
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Speaker 1: of mind and body, the moments of laughter and pride
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Speaker 1: and perfect understanding. Day by day love went westward from me.
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Speaker 1: Day and night, I was haunted by a more and
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Speaker 1: more vivid realization of a great steamship throbbing and heaving
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Speaker 1: its way across the crests and swelling waves of the
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Speaker 1: Atlantic welter, the rolling black coal smoke from its towering
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Speaker 1: funnels poured before the wind. Now I would see that
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Speaker 1: big ocean going fabric in the daylight, now lit brightly
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Speaker 1: from stem to stern under the stars. I was full
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Speaker 1: of unappeasable regret. I indulged in endless reveries of a
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Speaker 1: flight across the Atlantic in pursuit of heaty, of a
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Speaker 1: sudden dramatic appearance before or Hetty. I can't I've come
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Speaker 1: and all the time, I stuck steadfastly to the course
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Speaker 1: I had chosen. I worked hard and late at Thunderstone House.
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Speaker 1: I did my best to shunt my imagination into new
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Speaker 1: channels by planning two new quasi educational publications. And I
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Speaker 1: set myself to take Milly out to restaurants, to dinner,
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Speaker 1: and to the theater and to interesting shows. And in
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Speaker 1: the midst of some picture show, perhaps I would find
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Speaker 1: my rebel mind speculating what sort of thing Hetty would
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Speaker 1: have said of it had she been there. There was
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Speaker 1: a little show of landscapes at the Alpine Gallery, and
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Speaker 1: several were pictures of downland scenery, and one showed a
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Speaker 1: sunlit hillside under drowsy white clouds. It was almost like
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Speaker 1: seeing Hetty. It was exactly a week after Hetty's landing
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Speaker 1: in New York that I first encountered Sumner. It was
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Speaker 1: my usual time of arrival, and I was just turning
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Speaker 1: out of Tottenham Court Road and to the side street
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Speaker 1: that led to the yard of Thunderstone House. There was
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Speaker 1: a small public house in this byway, and two men
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Speaker 1: were standing outside it in attitudes of expectation. One of
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Speaker 1: them stepped out to accost me. He was a little
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Speaker 1: flushed Jewish man, and for the moment I did not
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Speaker 1: recognize him at all, mister Smith said he and scrutinized
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Speaker 1: me queerly at your service, said I not by any chance,
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Speaker 1: mister Dyson or Dixon, eh, he asked with a leeer.
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Speaker 1: Bernardo cried my memory and placed him. My instant recognition
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Speaker 1: must have betrayed itself in my face. Our eyes met,
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Speaker 1: and there were no secrets between them, No, mister Bernardo,
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Speaker 1: I said, with incredible stupidity, my name's just plain Smith.
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Speaker 1: Don't mention it, mister Smith, don't mention it, said mister Bernardo,
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Speaker 1: with extreme politeness. I had a sort of fancy I
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Speaker 1: might have met you before, And turning to his companion
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Speaker 1: and raising his voice a little, he said, that's him,
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Speaker 1: all right, Sumner. Sure's eggs or eggs? Sumner. I glanced
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Speaker 1: at this man who had given my life so disastrous,
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Speaker 1: and he was very much my own height and build, fair,
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Speaker 1: with a blotched complexion, and wearing a checkered gray suit
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Speaker 1: and an experienced looking gray felt hat. He might have
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Speaker 1: been my unsuccessful half brother. Her eyes met in curiosity
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Speaker 1: and antagonism. I'm afraid I'm not the man you want,
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Speaker 1: I said to Bernardo, and went on my way. I
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Speaker 1: didn't see any advantage in an immediate discussion in that place.
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Speaker 1: I perceived that an encounter was inevitable, but I meant
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Speaker 1: it to happen amidst circumstances of my own choice, and
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Speaker 1: after I had time to consider the situation properly. I
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Speaker 1: heard something happened behind me, and Bernardo said, shut up,
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Speaker 1: you fool. You found out what you want to know.
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Speaker 1: I went through the passages and rooms of Thunderstone House
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Speaker 1: to my office, and there, when I was alone, I
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Speaker 1: sat down in my arm chair and swore very heartily.
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Speaker 1: Every day since the departure of Hetty, I had been
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Speaker 1: feeling more and more sure that this, at least was
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Speaker 1: not going to happen. I had thought that Sumner was
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Speaker 1: very easily and safely and completely out of the story.
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Speaker 1: I took my writing pad and began to sketch out
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Speaker 1: the situation ends to be secured. I wrote, Number one,
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Speaker 1: Hetty must not be traced. Number two Milly must hear
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Speaker 1: nothing of this. Number three no blackmailing, I considered. But
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Speaker 1: if a lump payment I began this, I scratched out again.
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Speaker 1: I had to scheme out the essential facts. What does
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Speaker 1: s know? What evidence exists of? What no clue to
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Speaker 1: lead to Fanny? There's nothing but that journey in the train.
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Speaker 1: You will have a moral certainty, but will it convince
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Speaker 1: anyone else? I wrote a new heading, how to handle them.
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Speaker 1: I began to sketch grotesques and arabesques over my paper
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Speaker 1: as I plotted. Finally, I tore it up into very
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Speaker 1: small fragments and dropped it into my waste paper basket.
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Speaker 1: A messenger girl wrapped and came in with a paper
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Speaker 1: slip bearing the names of Fred Sumner and Arthur Bernardo.
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Speaker 1: They've not put the business they want to talk about,
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Speaker 1: I remarked. They said, you'd know, sir, no excuse. I
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Speaker 1: want everybody to fill in that said, just say I'm
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Speaker 1: too busy to see strangers who don't state their business,
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Speaker 1: and ask them to complete the form. Back came the
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Speaker 1: form inquiry about mister Sumner's missing wife. I considered it calmly.
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Speaker 1: I don't believe we ever had the manuscript. Say I'm
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Speaker 1: engaged up to half past twelve, then I could have
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Speaker 1: a talk of ten minutes with mister Sumner alone. Make
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Speaker 1: that clear I don't see where mister Bernardo comes in.
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Speaker 1: Make it clear it's a privilege to see me. My
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Speaker 1: messenger did not reappear. I resume my meditations on the situation.
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Speaker 1: There was time for a lot of aggressive energy to
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Speaker 1: evaporate before half past twelve. Probably both of the men
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Speaker 1: had come in from the outskirts and would have nowhere
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Speaker 1: to wait for the streets or public house. Mister Bernardo
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Speaker 1: might want to be back upon his own business at
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Speaker 1: epsom he'd played his part in identifying me. Anyhow, I
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Speaker 1: didn't intend to have any talk with Sumner before witness.
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Speaker 1: If he reappeared with Bernardo, I should refuse to see them.
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Speaker 1: For Bernardo alone I had a plan, and for Sumner
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Speaker 1: I had a plan, but not for the two of
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Speaker 1: them together. My delaying policy was a good one, and
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Speaker 1: at half past twelve, Sumner came alone and was shown
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Speaker 1: up to me. Sit down there, I said abruptly, and
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Speaker 1: leaned back in my chair and stared at his face
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Speaker 1: and waited in silence for him to begin. For some
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Speaker 1: moments he did not speak. He had evidently expected me
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Speaker 1: to open with some sort of question, and he had
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Speaker 1: come ready loaded with a reply to be plumped into
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Speaker 1: a chair and looked at put him off his game.
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Speaker 1: He tried to glare at me, and I looked at
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Speaker 1: his face as if I was looking at a map.
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Speaker 1: As I did so, I found my hatred for him,
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Speaker 1: shrinking and changing. It wasn't a case for hatred. He
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Speaker 1: had such a poor meal, silly face, a weak arrangement
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Speaker 1: of plausibly handsome features. Every now and then it was
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Speaker 1: convulsed by a nervous twitch. His straw colored mustache was
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Speaker 1: clipped back more on one side than the other, and
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Speaker 1: his rather a frayed necktie had slipped down to display
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Speaker 1: his collar stud and the grubbiness of his collar. He
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Speaker 1: had pulled his mouth a little askew and thrust his
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Speaker 1: face forward in an attempt at fierceness, and his rather
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Speaker 1: watery blue eyes were as open and as protruded as
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Speaker 1: he could manage. Where's my wife? Smith? He said, at last,
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Speaker 1: out of my reach, mister Sumner, and out of yours.
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Speaker 1: Where you hit her? She's gone. I said, it's no
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Speaker 1: work of mine. She's come back to you. I shook
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Speaker 1: my head. You know where she is. She's gone, clear, Sumner.
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Speaker 1: You let her go, Let her go, You let her go,
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Speaker 1: but I'm not going to I'm not that sort. Here's
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Speaker 1: this girl you marry and mess about with, and when
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Speaker 1: she comes across a man who's a bit more of
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Speaker 1: a man than you are, and handles her as a
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Speaker 1: woman ought to be handled, you go and check her
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Speaker 1: out and divorce herr divorce her with her child coming,
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Speaker 1: and then start planning and plotting to get her away
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Speaker 1: from the man she's giving her love too. He stopped
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Speaker 1: for one of words or breath. He wanted to exasperate
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Speaker 1: me and start a shouting match. I said nothing. I
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Speaker 1: want Eddie back, he said. She's my wife and I
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Speaker 1: want her back. She's mine. And the sooner this foolery stops,
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Speaker 1: the better. I sat up to the desk and put
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Speaker 1: my elbows on it. You won't get her back, I said,
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Speaker 1: very quietly. What are you going to do about it?
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Speaker 1: My god? I'll have her back if I swing for it, exactly.
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Speaker 1: And what are you going to do? What can I do?
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Speaker 1: I'm her husband, Well you've got her, not a scrap
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Speaker 1: of she's missing. I can go to the police, go
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Speaker 1: to them. What will they do? I can put them
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Speaker 1: onto you, not a bit of it. They won't bother
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Speaker 1: about me. If your is missing and you go to
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Speaker 1: the police, they'll clear up all your gang with their inquiries.
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Speaker 1: They'll be only too glad of the chance trouble me.
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Speaker 1: They'll dig up the cellars in your house and in
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Speaker 1: your previous house to find the body. They'll search you
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Speaker 1: and ransack you. And what they don't do to you,
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Speaker 1: your pals will. Sumner leaned forward in grimace like a
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Speaker 1: gargoyle to give his words greater emphasis. You were the
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Speaker 1: last man scene with her, he said, not a scrap
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Speaker 1: of evidence. Somener cursed vigorously. He are you? I can
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Speaker 1: deny that, absolutely, frosty little witness. Your friend Bernardo, don't
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Speaker 1: be too sure. He'll stick it. Nasty business. If a
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Speaker 1: woman disappears and you find yourself trying to fix something
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Speaker 1: that won't hold water onto someone her husband dislikes, why
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Speaker 1: were you, Sumner? I wouldn't take that line. Even if
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Speaker 1: he backs you up. What does it prove you know
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Speaker 1: of nobody else who pretends to have seen me with Hetty?
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Speaker 1: You won't be able to find anybody. Mister Sumner extended
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Speaker 1: his hand towards my table. It was too far away
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Speaker 1: to bang it properly. So he pulled his chair up closer.
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Speaker 1: The bang when it came was an effective. Look here,
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Speaker 1: he said, and moistened his lips. I want my heady back,
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Speaker 1: and I'm going to have her back. You are precious,
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Speaker 1: cool and cucumberish and all that just now, But by god,
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Speaker 1: I'll warm you up before I've done with you. You
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Speaker 1: think you can get her away and bluff me off.
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Speaker 1: Never made such a mistake in your life. Suppose I
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Speaker 1: don't go to the police. Suppose I go for direct action.
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Speaker 1: Suppose I come around to your place and make a
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Speaker 1: fuss with your wife. That will be in new I said.
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Speaker 1: He followed up his advantage a masterpiece of a nuisance,
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Speaker 1: I considered the forced fierceness of his face. I shall
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Speaker 1: say I know nothing about your wife's disappearance, and that
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Speaker 1: you are a blackmailing liar. People will believe me. My
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Speaker 1: wife will certainly believe me. She'd make herself do so.
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Speaker 1: If your story was ten times as possible. Your friend
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Speaker 1: Bernardo and you will make a pretty couple of accusers.
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Speaker 1: I shall say you are a crazy, jealous fool, and
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Speaker 1: if you keep the game up, I shall have you
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Speaker 1: run in. I'd not be altogether sorry to have you
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Speaker 1: run in. There's one or two little things I don't
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Speaker 1: like you for, I'd not be so very sorry to
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Speaker 1: get quits. I had the better of him. He was
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Speaker 1: baffled and angry, but I saw now plainly that he
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Speaker 1: had no real fight in him. And you know where
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Speaker 1: she is, he said. I was too full of the
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Speaker 1: spirit of conflict now to be discreet. I know where
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Speaker 1: she is, and you don't get her whatever you do.
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Speaker 1: And as I said before, what can you do about it?
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Speaker 1: My god? He said, my own wife. I went back
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Speaker 1: with the air of a man who had finished an interview.
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Speaker 1: I looked at my wristwatch. He stood up. I looked
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Speaker 1: at him, brightly, well, I said, look here, he sputtered.
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Speaker 1: I don't stand this. By God, I tell you I
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Speaker 1: want Hetty. I want her. I want her, and I'll
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Speaker 1: do what I like with her. Do you think I'll
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Speaker 1: take this me? She's mine, your dirty thief. I took
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Speaker 1: up a drawing from an illustration and held it in
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Speaker 1: my hand, regarding him with an expression of mild patience.
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Speaker 1: Then maddened, Tim didn't I marry her when I needn't?
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Speaker 1: Have you wanted her? Why the devil didn't you keep
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Speaker 1: her when you had her? I tell you I won't
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Speaker 1: stand it, my dear sumner, as I said before, what
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Speaker 1: can you do about it? He leaned over the desk
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Speaker 1: shook a finger as though it was a pistol barrel
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Speaker 1: in my face. I'll let daylight through you, he said,
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Speaker 1: I'll let daylight through you. I'll take my chance of that,
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Speaker 1: I said. He expressed his opinion of me for a bit.
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Speaker 1: I won't argue your points, I said. I guess we're
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Speaker 1: about through with this interview. Don't shuck my clerk please
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Speaker 1: when she comes in, and I rang the bell on
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Speaker 1: my desk. His parting shot was, feeble, you've not heard
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Speaker 1: less to me. I mean what I told you? Mind
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Speaker 1: the step, said I. The door closed and left me
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Speaker 1: strung up and trembling with excitement, but triumphant. I felt
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Speaker 1: I had beaten him, and that I could go on
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Speaker 1: beating him. It might be he would shoot. He'd probably
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Speaker 1: got a revolver, but it was ten to one. He'd
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Speaker 1: take the trouble, take a fair chance at me, and
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Speaker 1: screw himself up to shooting pitch. And with his loose,
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Speaker 1: twitching face and shaky hand, it was ten to one
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Speaker 1: against his hitting me. He'd aim anyhow, he'd shoot too soon,
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Speaker 1: and if he shot me, it was ten to one.
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Speaker 1: He only wounded me slightly. Then I'd carry through my
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Speaker 1: story against him. Millie might be shaken for a time,
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Speaker 1: but I'd get the thing right again with her. I
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Speaker 1: sat for a long time, turning over the possibilities of
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Speaker 1: the case. The more I considered it, the more satisfied
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Speaker 1: I was with my position. It was two o'clock and
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Speaker 1: long past my usual lunchtime. When I went off to
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Speaker 1: my club. I treated myself to the unusual luxury of
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Speaker 1: a half bottle of Champagne Part nine. I never believed
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Speaker 1: Sumner would shoot me until I was actually shot. He
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Speaker 1: waylaid me in the passageway to the yard of Thunderstone
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Speaker 1: House as I was returning from lunch, just a week
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Speaker 1: after our first encounter, when I was beginning to hope
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Speaker 1: that he had accepted his defeat. He had been drinking,
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Speaker 1: and as soon as I saw his flushed face, half
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Speaker 1: angry and half scared, I saw an intimation of what
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Speaker 1: might befall. I remember that I thought then that if
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Speaker 1: anything happened, he must get away, because otherwise he might
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Speaker 1: be left to tell his tale after I was dead.
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Speaker 1: But I didn't really believe he was mad enough to shoot,
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Speaker 1: and even now I do not believe that he fired
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Speaker 1: through sheer lack of nervous and muscular coordination. He did
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Speaker 1: not produce his pistol until I was close up to
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Speaker 1: him now, then said he you're for it, where's my wife?
18:40
Speaker 1: And out came the pistol a yard for me. I
18:43
Speaker 1: forget my answer. I probably said put that away, or
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Speaker 1: something of that sort, and then I may have seemed
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Speaker 1: about to snatch it. The report of the pistol, which
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Speaker 1: sounded very loud to me kim at once, and a
18:57
Speaker 1: feeling as though I'd been kicked in the small the back.
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Speaker 1: The pistol was one of those that go on firing
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Speaker 1: automatically as long as the trigger is gripped. It's fired.
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Speaker 1: Two other shots and one got my knee and smashed it.
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Speaker 1: Damn the thing. He screamed, and threw it down as
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Speaker 1: though it had stung him. Get out, you fool, run,
19:19
Speaker 1: I said, as I lurched towards him, and then as
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Speaker 1: I fell, I came within a foot of his terrified
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Speaker 1: face as he dashed past me towards the main thoroughfare.
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Speaker 1: He thrust me back with his hand as I reeled
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Speaker 1: upon him. I think I rolled over onto my back
19:37
Speaker 1: into a sitting position after I fell, because I have
19:41
Speaker 1: a clear impression of him vanishing like the tail of
19:44
Speaker 1: a bolting rabbit into Tottenham Court Road. I saw a
19:49
Speaker 1: van in an omnibus pass across the space at the
19:52
Speaker 1: end of the street. He lists all together of the
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Speaker 1: pistol shots that it sounded so terrible in my ears.
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Speaker 1: A girl and a man passed with equal indifference. He
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Speaker 1: was clear, poor little beast, I had stolen his heady
20:09
Speaker 1: And now I was very clear headed, a little numbed
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Speaker 1: where I had been hit, but not in pain. I
20:16
Speaker 1: was chiefly aware of my smashed knee, which looked very silly,
20:20
Speaker 1: with its mixture of torn trouser and red stuff, and
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Speaker 1: a little splintered pink thing that I supposed was an
20:29
Speaker 1: end of bone. People from nowhere were standing about me
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Speaker 1: and saying things to me. They had come out of
20:35
Speaker 1: the yard of from the public house. I made a
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Speaker 1: swift decision. Pistol went off in my hand, I said,
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Speaker 1: and shut my eyes. Then a fear of a hospital
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Speaker 1: came upon me. My home quite handy I said, eight
20:51
Speaker 1: Chester Terrace, Regent's Park, get me there please. I heard
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Speaker 1: them repeating the address, and I recognized the voice of
20:59
Speaker 1: Crane and News's door porter. That's right, he was saying,
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Speaker 1: it's mister Mortimer Smith. Anything I can do for you,
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Speaker 1: mister Smith. I do not remember much of the details
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Speaker 1: of what followed. When they moved me, there was pain.
21:12
Speaker 1: I seem to have been holding on to what I
21:15
Speaker 1: meant to say and do. My memory does not seem
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Speaker 1: to have recorded anything else properly. It may have fainted
21:21
Speaker 1: once or twice. Newberry was in it somehow. I think
21:25
Speaker 1: he took me home in his car. How did it happen?
21:29
Speaker 1: He asked that I remember quite clearly. The thing went
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Speaker 1: off in my hand. I said one thing I was
21:37
Speaker 1: very certain about whatever happened. They were not going to
21:41
Speaker 1: hang that poor silly, hunted sheet Sumner. Whatever happened, the
21:48
Speaker 1: story of Hetty must not come out. If it did,
21:53
Speaker 1: Millie would think only one thing, that I had been
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Speaker 1: unfaithful to her and that Sumner had killed me. On
21:59
Speaker 1: that account, Hetty was all right now. I needn't bother
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Speaker 1: about Hetty anymore. I had to think of Milly and Sumner.
22:07
Speaker 1: It was queer, but I seemed to have known I
22:10
Speaker 1: was mortally wounded from the very instant I was shot.
22:15
Speaker 1: Milly appeared full of solicitude. Accident, I said to her,
22:20
Speaker 1: with all my strength went off in my hand, my
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Speaker 1: own bed clothes being cut away round my knee. The
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Speaker 1: cloth had stuck, the new gray suit which I'd mentioned
22:33
Speaker 1: last the whole summer. Then two strangers became conspicuous doctors,
22:39
Speaker 1: I suppose, whispering, and one of them had his sleeves
22:42
Speaker 1: up and showed a pair of fat, pink arms sponges
22:47
Speaker 1: and a tinkle of water tripping into a basin. They
22:50
Speaker 1: prodded me about damn that hurt, then stinging stuff? What
22:56
Speaker 1: was the good of it? I was in the body
22:58
Speaker 1: they were prodding, and I knew all about it, and
23:01
Speaker 1: I was sure that I was a dead man. Milly again,
23:05
Speaker 1: my dear, I whispered, dear, and her poor tearful face
23:10
Speaker 1: beamed love upon me. Valiant Milly, things had never been
23:15
Speaker 1: fair to her. Fanny had Newberry gone to fetch her anyhow,
23:20
Speaker 1: he had vanished. She'd say nothing about Hetty. She was
23:24
Speaker 1: safe as sick as what What did one say anything? Safe?
23:30
Speaker 1: Poor DearS? What a fuss they were all in. It
23:34
Speaker 1: seemed almost shameful to me to be glad that I
23:37
Speaker 1: was going out of it all. But I was glad
23:40
Speaker 1: the pistol shot had come with the smashing of a
23:43
Speaker 1: window and a stuffy room. My chief desire was to
23:47
Speaker 1: leave kind and comforting impressions on those poor survivors might
23:52
Speaker 1: still have to stay on in the world of muddle
23:55
Speaker 1: for years and years life. What a muddle and a
24:01
Speaker 1: blundering it had been. I'd never have to grow old now. Anyhow,
24:06
Speaker 1: there was an eruption people coming in from the dressing room.
24:09
Speaker 1: When was a police inspector in uniform. The others showed
24:12
Speaker 1: policemen through his plain clothes. Now is the time for it.
24:16
Speaker 1: I was quite clear headed, quite I must be careful
24:19
Speaker 1: what I said. If I didn't want to say anything,
24:22
Speaker 1: I could just close my eyes bleeding internally, said someone.
24:28
Speaker 1: Then the police inspector sat down on the bed. But
24:31
Speaker 1: a wail he was, and asked me questions. I wondered
24:35
Speaker 1: if anyone had caught a glimpse of Sumner. Sumner bolting
24:39
Speaker 1: like a rabbit, I must risk that it went off
24:44
Speaker 1: in my hand, I said, what was he saying how
24:48
Speaker 1: long had I had that revolver bought it this lunchtime?
24:52
Speaker 1: I said, Did he ask why he did keep up
24:56
Speaker 1: my shooting? Where? He wanted to know? Where? Or Highbury?
25:02
Speaker 1: What part of Highbury they wanted to chase the pistol
25:07
Speaker 1: that I want to do, Give mister inspector a paper
25:10
Speaker 1: chase near Highbury, not in Highbury. I decided to be
25:16
Speaker 1: faint and stupid that way, I said, faintally a pawn shop.
25:23
Speaker 1: Best not to answer then, as if by an effort,
25:27
Speaker 1: little shop and readeem pledges. I said nothing to that.
25:32
Speaker 1: I was thinking of another touch to the picture I
25:35
Speaker 1: was painting. I spoke with weak indignation. I didn't think
25:40
Speaker 1: it was loaded. How was I to know it was loaded?
25:44
Speaker 1: But ought not to have been sold loaded like that?
25:48
Speaker 1: I was just looking at it. I stopped short and
25:51
Speaker 1: shammed exhaustion. Then I felt that I was not shamming exhaustion.
25:57
Speaker 1: I was exhausted, God, but the stuffing was out of me.
26:03
Speaker 1: I was sinking, sinking out of the bedroom, out from
26:08
Speaker 1: among this group of people. They were getting little and
26:11
Speaker 1: faint and flimsy. Was there anything more to say? Too late?
26:16
Speaker 1: If there was, I was falling asleep, falling into a sleep,
26:22
Speaker 1: so profound, so fathomless. Far away now was the little
26:28
Speaker 1: room full of people, and infinitely small. He's going, somebody said,
26:35
Speaker 1: in a minute voice. I seemed to come back. For
26:38
Speaker 1: an instant. I heard the rustle of Milly's dress as
26:42
Speaker 1: she came across the room to me. And then then
26:46
Speaker 1: I heard Hetty's voice again, and opened my eyes and
26:50
Speaker 1: saw Hetty bending down over me, and that lovely place
26:54
Speaker 1: upon this mountain side. Only Hetty had become my dear
26:59
Speaker 1: son Ray, who is mistress of my life. And the
27:02
Speaker 1: sunshine was honest and on her face. And I stretched
27:07
Speaker 1: because my back was a little stiff, and one of
27:09
Speaker 1: my knees was twisted. Wake up, I said, said sunright,
27:14
Speaker 1: wake up. And I shook you. And then we came
27:17
Speaker 1: and laughed at you, said radiant Firefly, and I and
27:22
Speaker 1: you said. Then there is another life, said Firefly. And
27:27
Speaker 1: the tail is only a dream. It has been a
27:30
Speaker 1: good tale, Sarnac, And somehow you've made me think it
27:34
Speaker 1: was true as it is, said Sarnac. For I am
27:39
Speaker 1: as certain I was Henry Mortimore Smith yesterday, as I
27:44
Speaker 1: am that I am Sarnac here and now and of
27:51
Speaker 1: Section twenty three