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The Sleeper Awakes Chapter 4 - The Sound of a Tumult · The H. G. Wells Library

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  Speaker 1: Chapter four of The Sleeper Awakes. This is a LibriVox recording.
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  Speaker 1: All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. For more
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  Speaker 1: information or to volunteer, please visit LibriVox dot org. This
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  Speaker 1: reading by Kara Shallenberg. The Sleeper Awakes by H. G. Wells,
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  Speaker 1: Chapter four, The sound of a tumult. Graham's last impression
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  Speaker 1: before he fainted was of the ringing of bells. He
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  Speaker 1: learnt afterwards that he was insensible, hanging between life and
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  Speaker 1: death for the better part of an hour. When he
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  Speaker 1: recovered his senses, he was back on his translucent couch,
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  Speaker 1: and there was a stirring warmth at heart and throat.
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  Speaker 1: The dark apparatus he perceived had been removed from his arm,
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  Speaker 1: which was bandaged. The white framework was still about him,
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  Speaker 1: but the greenish transparent substance that had filled it was
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  Speaker 1: altogether gone. A man in a deep violet robe, one
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  Speaker 1: of those who had been on the balcony, was looking
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  Speaker 1: keenly into his face. Remote but insistent was a clamor
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  Speaker 1: of bells and confused sounds that suggested to his mind
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  Speaker 1: the picture of a great number of people shouting together.
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  Speaker 1: Something seemed to fall across this tumult. A door suddenly closed.
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  Speaker 1: Graham moved his head. What does this all mean? He said, slowly?
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  Speaker 1: Where am I? He saw the red haired man who
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  Speaker 1: had been first to discover him. A voice seemed to
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  Speaker 1: be asking what he had said, and was abruptly stilled.
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  Speaker 1: The man in violet answered, in a soft voice, speaking
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  Speaker 1: English with a slightly foreign accent, or so, at least
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  Speaker 1: it seemed to the sleeper's ears. You are quite safe.
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  Speaker 1: You were hither from where you fell asleep. It is
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  Speaker 1: quite safe. You have been here some time, sleeping in
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  Speaker 1: a trance. He said something further that Graham could not hear,
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  Speaker 1: and a little file was handed across to him. Graham
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  Speaker 1: felt a cooling spray. A fragrant mist played over his
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  Speaker 1: forehead for a moment, and his sense of refreshment increased.
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  Speaker 1: He closed his eyes in satisfaction. Better, asked the man
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  Speaker 1: in violet. As Graham's eyes reopened. He was a pleasant
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  Speaker 1: faced man of thirty, perhaps, with a pointed flexen beard
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  Speaker 1: and a clasp of gold at the neck of his
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  Speaker 1: violet robe. Yes, said Graham, you have been asleep some
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  Speaker 1: time in a cataleptic trance. You have heard catalepsy. It
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  Speaker 1: may seem strange to you at first, but I can
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  Speaker 1: assure you everything is well. Graham did not answer, but
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  Speaker 1: these words served their reassuring purpose. His eyes went from
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  Speaker 1: face to face of the three people about him. They
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  Speaker 1: were regarding him strangely. He knew he ought to be
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  Speaker 1: somewhere in Cornwall, but he could not square these things
• 3:14
  Speaker 1: with that impression. A matter that had been in his
• 3:19
  Speaker 1: mind during his last waking moments at Bosscastle recurred, a
• 3:23
  Speaker 1: thing resolved upon and somehow neglected. He cleared his throat.
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  Speaker 1: Have you wired my cousin? He asked e Warming twenty
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  Speaker 1: seven Chancery Lane. They were all assiduous to hear, but
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  Speaker 1: he had to repeat it. What an odd blur in
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  Speaker 1: his accent, whispered the red haired man. Wire, sir, said
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  Speaker 1: the young man with the flaxen beard, evidently puzzled, he
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  Speaker 1: means send an electric telegram, volunteered the third, a pleasant
• 3:58
  Speaker 1: faced youth of nineteen or twenty. The flaxen bearded man
• 4:02
  Speaker 1: gave a cry of comprehension, how stupid of me. You
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  Speaker 1: may be sure everything shall be done, sir, He said
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  Speaker 1: to Graham, I am afraid it would be difficult to
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  Speaker 1: wire to your cousin. He is not in London now,
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  Speaker 1: but don't trouble about arrangements. Yet you have been asleep
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  Speaker 1: a very long time, and the important thing is to
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  Speaker 1: get over that. Sir. Graham concluded. The word was sir,
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  Speaker 1: but this man pronounced it sire. Oh, said Graham, and
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  Speaker 1: became quiet. It was all very puzzling. But apparently these
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  Speaker 1: people in unfamiliar dress knew what they were about. Yet
• 4:44
  Speaker 1: they were odd, and the room was odd. It seemed
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  Speaker 1: he was in some newly established place. He had a
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  Speaker 1: sudden flash of suspicion. Surely this wasn't some hall of
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  Speaker 1: public exhibition. If it was, he would give warming a
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  Speaker 1: piece of his mind. But it scarcely had that character,
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  Speaker 1: and in a place of public exhibition, he would not
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  Speaker 1: have discovered himself naked. Then, suddenly, quite abruptly, he realized
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  Speaker 1: what had happened. There was no perceptible interval of suspicion,
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  Speaker 1: no dawn to his knowledge. Abruptly he knew that his
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  Speaker 1: trance had lasted for a vast interval, as if, by
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  Speaker 1: some processes of thought reading he interpreted the awe in
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  Speaker 1: the faces that peered into his He looked at them
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  Speaker 1: strangely full of intense emotion. It seemed they read his eyes.
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  Speaker 1: He framed his lips to speak and could not. A
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  Speaker 1: queer impulse to hide his knowledge came into his mind
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  Speaker 1: almost at the moment of his discovery. He looked at
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  Speaker 1: his bare feet, regarding them silently. His impulse to speak past.
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  Speaker 1: He was trembling exceedingly. They gave him some pink fluid
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  Speaker 1: with a greenish fluorescence and a meaty taste, and the
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  Speaker 1: assurance of returning strength grew. That that makes me feel better,
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  Speaker 1: he said hoarsely, and there were murmurs of respectful approval.
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  Speaker 1: He knew now quite clearly. He made to speak again,
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  Speaker 1: and again he could not. He pressed his throat and
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  Speaker 1: tried a third time. How long, he asked, in a
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  Speaker 1: level voice. How long have I been asleep? Some considerable time,
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  Speaker 1: said the flaxen bearded man, glancing quickly at the others.
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  Speaker 1: How long A very long time? Yes, yes, said Graham,
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  Speaker 1: suddenly testy. But I want is it? It is? Some years?
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  Speaker 1: Many years? There was something I forget what I feel confused?
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  Speaker 1: But you, he sobbed, You need not fence with me.
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  Speaker 1: How long? He stopped breathing irregularly. He squeezed his eyes
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  Speaker 1: with his knuckles, and sat waiting for an answer. They
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  Speaker 1: spoke in undertones, five or six, he asked, faintly, More
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  Speaker 1: very much more than that. More more. He looked at them,
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  Speaker 1: and it seemed as though imps were twitching the muscles
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  Speaker 1: of his face. He looked his question, Many years, said
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  Speaker 1: the man with the red beard. Graham struggled into a
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  Speaker 1: sitting position. He wiped a roomy tear from his face
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  Speaker 1: with a lean hand. Many years, he repeated. He shut
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  Speaker 1: his eyes tight, opened them, and sat looking about him,
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  Speaker 1: from one unfamiliar thing to another. How many years, he asked,
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  Speaker 1: You must be prepared to be surprised, well more than
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  Speaker 1: a gross of years. He was irritated at the strange
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  Speaker 1: word more than a what. Two of them spoke together,
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  Speaker 1: some quick remarks that were made about decimal He did
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  Speaker 1: not catch. How long did you say, asked Graham, How long?
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  Speaker 1: Don't look like that? Tell me? Among the remarks in
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  Speaker 1: an undertone, his ear caught six words, more than a
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  Speaker 1: couple of centuries? What, he cried, turning on the youth
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  Speaker 1: whom he thought had spoken, Who says? What was that?
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  Speaker 1: A couple of centuries? Yes, said the man with a
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  Speaker 1: red beard. Two hundred years, Graham repeated the words he
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  Speaker 1: had been prepared to hear of a vast repose, and
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  Speaker 1: yet these concrete centuries defeated him. Two hundred years, he
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  Speaker 1: said again, with the figure of a great gulf opening
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  Speaker 1: very slowly in his mind. And then, oh, but they
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  Speaker 1: said nothing, you did you say two hundred years? Two
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  Speaker 1: centuries of years, said the man with the red beard.
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  Speaker 1: There was a pause. Graham looked at their faces and
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  Speaker 1: saw that what he had heard was indeed true. But
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  Speaker 1: it can't be, he said querulously. I am dreaming trances.
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  Speaker 1: Trances don't last. That is not right. This is a
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  Speaker 1: joke you have played upon me. Tell me some days ago,
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  Speaker 1: perhaps I was walking along the coast of Cornwall. His
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  Speaker 1: voice failed him. The man with the flaxen beard hesitated.
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  Speaker 1: I'm not very very strong in history, sir, he said weakly,
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  Speaker 1: and glanced at the others. That was it, sir, said
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  Speaker 1: the youngster, Bosscastle, in the old Duchy of Cornwall. It's
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  Speaker 1: in the southwest country, beyond the dairy meadows. There is
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  Speaker 1: a house there still. I have been there, Bosscastle. Graham
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  Speaker 1: turned his eyes to the youngster. That was it, Bosscastle?
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  Speaker 1: Little Bosscastle. I fell asleep somewhere there. I don't exactly remember.
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  Speaker 1: I don't exactly remember. He pressed his brows and whispered
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  Speaker 1: more than two hundred years. He began to speak quickly
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  Speaker 1: with a twitching face, but his heart was cold within him.
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  Speaker 1: But if it is two hundred years, every soul I know,
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  Speaker 1: every human being that ever I saw or spoke to
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  Speaker 1: before I went to sleep, must be dead. They did
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  Speaker 1: not answer him. The Queen and the royal family, her
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  Speaker 1: ministers of church and state, high and low, rich and
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  Speaker 1: poor one with another. Is there England? Still? That's a comfort?
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  Speaker 1: Is there London? This is London? Eh? And you are
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  Speaker 1: my assistant custodian. Assistant custodian, and these eh assistant custodians too.
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  Speaker 1: He sat with a gaunt stare on his face. But
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  Speaker 1: why am I here? No, don't talk, be quiet, let me.
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  Speaker 1: He sat silent, rubbed his eyes, and, uncovering them, found
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  Speaker 1: another little glass of pinkish fluid held towards him. He
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  Speaker 1: took the dose directly he had taken it. He began
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  Speaker 1: to weep naturally and refreshingly. Presently he looked at their faces,
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  Speaker 1: suddenly laughed through his tears a little foolishly, but two
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  Speaker 1: hundred years, he said. He grimaced hysterically and covered his
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  Speaker 1: face again. After a space, he grew calm. He sat up,
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  Speaker 1: his hands hanging over his knees, in almost precisely the
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  Speaker 1: same attitude in which Ibister had found him on the
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  Speaker 1: cliff at Pentargon. His attention was attracted by a thick,
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  Speaker 1: domineering voice, the footsteps of an advancing personage. What are
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  Speaker 1: you doing? Why was I not warned? Surely you could tell?
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  Speaker 1: Some one will suffer for this. The man must be
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  Speaker 1: kept quiet. Are the doorways closed, all the doorways? He
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  Speaker 1: must be kept perfectly quiet. He must not be told.
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  Speaker 1: Has he been told anything? The man with the fair
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  Speaker 1: beard made some inaudible remark, and Graham, looking over his shoulder,
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  Speaker 1: saw approaching a very short, fat, and thick set, beardless
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  Speaker 1: man with aquiline nose and heavy neck and chin. Very thick,
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  Speaker 1: black and slightly sloping eyebrows that almost met over his nose,
• 12:57
  Speaker 1: and overhung deep gray eyes gave his face face an
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  Speaker 1: oddly formidable expression. He scowled momentarily at Graham, and then
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  Speaker 1: his regard returned to the man with the flaxen beard.
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  Speaker 1: These others, he said, in a voice of extreme irritation.
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  Speaker 1: You had better go, go, said the red bearded man. Certainly,
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  Speaker 1: go now, but see the doorways are closed as you go.
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  Speaker 1: The two men addressed turned obediently after one reluctant glance
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  Speaker 1: at Graham, and instead of going through the archway as
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  Speaker 1: he expected, walked straight to the dead wall of the apartment.
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  Speaker 1: Opposite the archway, a long strip of this apparently solid
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  Speaker 1: wall rolled up with a snap, hung over the two
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  Speaker 1: retreating men, and fell again. And immediately Graham was alone
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  Speaker 1: with the newcomer and the purple robed man with the
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  Speaker 1: flaxen beard for a space. The thick set man took
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  Speaker 1: not the slightest notice of Graham, but proceeded to interrogate
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  Speaker 1: the other, obviously his subordinate, upon the treatment of their charge.
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  Speaker 1: He spoke clearly, but in phrases only partially intelligible. To Graham,
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  Speaker 1: the awakening seemed not only a matter of surprise, but
• 14:13
  Speaker 1: of consternation and annoyance. To him, he was evidently profoundly excited.
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  Speaker 1: You must not confuse his mind by telling him things,
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  Speaker 1: he repeated, again and again. You must not confuse his
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  Speaker 1: mind his questions answered, he turned quickly and eyed the
• 14:32
  Speaker 1: awakened sleeper with an ambiguous expression. Feel queer, He asked, very,
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  Speaker 1: the world, what you see of it seems strange to you?
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  Speaker 1: I suppose I have to live in it, strange as
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  Speaker 1: it seems. I suppose so. Now in the first place,
• 14:53
  Speaker 1: hadn't I better have some clothes, they said the thickset man,
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  Speaker 1: and stopped, and the flaxen bearded man met his eye
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  Speaker 1: and went away. You will very speedily have clothes, said
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  Speaker 1: the thickset man. Is it true, indeed that I have
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  Speaker 1: been asleep two hundred, asked Graham. They have told you that,
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  Speaker 1: have they? Two hundred and three? As a matter of fact?
• 15:21
  Speaker 1: Graham accepted the indisputable. Now with raised eyebrows and a
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  Speaker 1: depressed mouth, he sat silent for a moment, and then
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  Speaker 1: asked a question. Is there a mill or a dynamo
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  Speaker 1: near here? He did not wait for an answer. Things
• 15:37
  Speaker 1: have changed tremendously, I suppose, he said. What is that shouting?
• 15:43
  Speaker 1: He asked abruptly, Nothing, said the thickset man, impatiently. It's people.
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  Speaker 1: You'll understand better later. Perhaps as you say things have changed.
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  Speaker 1: He spoke shortly. His brows were knit, and he glanced
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  Speaker 1: about him, like a man trying to decide in an emergency.
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  Speaker 1: We must get you clothes and so forth. At any rate,
• 16:07
  Speaker 1: better wait here until they can be procured. No one
• 16:10
  Speaker 1: will come near you you want shaving. Graham rubbed his chin.
• 16:17
  Speaker 1: The man with the flaxen beard came back towards them,
• 16:20
  Speaker 1: turned suddenly, listened for a moment, lifted his eyebrows at
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  Speaker 1: the older man, and hurried off through the archway towards
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  Speaker 1: the balcony. The tumult of shouting grew louder, and the
• 16:31
  Speaker 1: thick set man turned and listened also. He cursed suddenly
• 16:35
  Speaker 1: under his breath, and turned his eyes upon Graham with
• 16:38
  Speaker 1: an unfriendly expression. It was a surge of many voices,
• 16:42
  Speaker 1: rising and falling, shouting and screaming, and once came a
• 16:45
  Speaker 1: sound like blows or sharp cries, and then a snapping,
• 16:49
  Speaker 1: like the crackling of dry sticks. Graham strained his ears
• 16:54
  Speaker 1: to draw some single thread of sound from the woven tumult.
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  Speaker 1: Then he perceived, repeated again and again, a certain formula.
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  Speaker 1: For a time he doubted his ears, But surely these
• 17:05
  Speaker 1: were the words, show us the sleeper, Show us the sleeper.
• 17:12
  Speaker 1: The thickset man rushed suddenly to the archway wild He cried,
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  Speaker 1: how do they know? Do they know? Or is it guessing?
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  Speaker 1: There was perhaps an answer, I can't come, said the
• 17:26
  Speaker 1: thickset man. I have him to see too, But shout
• 17:29
  Speaker 1: from the balcony. There was an inaudible reply, say he
• 17:35
  Speaker 1: is not awake anything. I leave it to you. He came,
• 17:39
  Speaker 1: hurrying back to Graham. You must have clothes at once,
• 17:43
  Speaker 1: he said, you cannot stop here, and it will be
• 17:45
  Speaker 1: impossible to He rushed away, Graham, shouting unanswered questions after him.
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  Speaker 1: In a moment, he was back, I can't tell you
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  Speaker 1: what is happening. It is too complex to explain. In
• 17:58
  Speaker 1: a moment. You shall have your clothes, yes, in a moment,
• 18:01
  Speaker 1: and then I can take you away from here. You
• 18:03
  Speaker 1: will find out our troubles soon enough. But those voices,
• 18:09
  Speaker 1: they were shouting something about the sleeper. That's you. They
• 18:13
  Speaker 1: have some twisted idea. I don't know what it is.
• 18:16
  Speaker 1: I know nothing. A shrill bell jetted acutely across the
• 18:20
  Speaker 1: indistinct mingling of remote noises, and this brusque person sprang
• 18:24
  Speaker 1: to a little group of appliances in the corner of
• 18:26
  Speaker 1: the room. He listened for a moment, regarding a ball
• 18:30
  Speaker 1: of crystal, nodded and said a few indistinct words. Then
• 18:35
  Speaker 1: he walked to the wall through which the two men
• 18:37
  Speaker 1: had vanished. It rolled up again like a curtain, and
• 18:40
  Speaker 1: he stood waiting. Graham lifted his arm and was astonished
• 18:46
  Speaker 1: to find what strength the restoratives had given him. He
• 18:49
  Speaker 1: thrust one leg over the side of the couch, and
• 18:52
  Speaker 1: then the other. His head no longer swam, he could
• 18:55
  Speaker 1: scarcely credit his rapid recovery. He sat feeling his limbs.
• 19:01
  Speaker 1: The man with the flaxen beard re entered from the archway,
• 19:04
  Speaker 1: and as he did so, the cage of the lift
• 19:07
  Speaker 1: came sliding down in front of the thickset man, and
• 19:10
  Speaker 1: a lean, gray bearded man carrying a roll and wearing
• 19:13
  Speaker 1: a tightly fitting costume of dark green appeared Therein this
• 19:19
  Speaker 1: is the tailor, said the thickset man, with an introductory gesture.
• 19:23
  Speaker 1: It will never do for you to wear that black.
• 19:25
  Speaker 1: I cannot understand how it got here, but I shall,
• 19:28
  Speaker 1: I shall. You will be as rapid as possible, he
• 19:31
  Speaker 1: said to the tailor. The man in green bowed, and advancing,
• 19:37
  Speaker 1: seated himself by Graham on the bed. His manner was calm,
• 19:41
  Speaker 1: but his eyes were full of curiosity. You will find
• 19:46
  Speaker 1: the fashions altered, sire, he said. He glanced from under
• 19:50
  Speaker 1: his brows at the thickset man. He opened the roller
• 19:55
  Speaker 1: with a quick movement, and a confusion of brilliant fabrics
• 19:58
  Speaker 1: poured out over his knee. You lived, sire, in a
• 20:04
  Speaker 1: period essentially cylindrical, the Victorian, with a tendency to the hemisphere,
• 20:10
  Speaker 1: in hats, circular curves always Now he flicked out a
• 20:15
  Speaker 1: little appliance the size and appearance of a keyless watch.
• 20:19
  Speaker 1: Whirled the knob, and behold a little figure in white
• 20:22
  Speaker 1: appeared kinetoscope fashion on the dial. Walking and turning, the
• 20:28
  Speaker 1: tailor caught up a pattern of bluish white satin. That
• 20:32
  Speaker 1: is my conception of your immediate treatment, he said. The
• 20:37
  Speaker 1: thickset man came and stood by the shoulder of Graham.
• 20:41
  Speaker 1: We have very little time, he said, Trust me, said
• 20:45
  Speaker 1: the tailor. My machine follows. What do you think of this?
• 20:50
  Speaker 1: What is that? Asked the man from the nineteenth century.
• 20:55
  Speaker 1: In your days, they showed you a fashion plate, said
• 20:58
  Speaker 1: the tailor. But this is our moder and development. See here.
• 21:02
  Speaker 1: The little figure repeated its evolutions, but in a different
• 21:06
  Speaker 1: costume or this, and with a click, another small figure
• 21:11
  Speaker 1: in a more voluminous type of robe marched on to
• 21:14
  Speaker 1: the dial. The tailor was very quick in his movements
• 21:17
  Speaker 1: and glanced twice towards the lift. As he did these things.
• 21:23
  Speaker 1: It rumbled again, and a crop haired, anemic lad with
• 21:27
  Speaker 1: features of the Chinese type, clad in coarse, pale blue canvas, appeared,
• 21:31
  Speaker 1: together with a complicated machine, which he pushed noiselessly on
• 21:35
  Speaker 1: little casters into the room. Incontinently, the little kinetoscope was dropped.
• 21:41
  Speaker 1: Graham was invited to stand in front of the machine,
• 21:44
  Speaker 1: and the tailor muttered some instructions to the crop haired lad,
• 21:47
  Speaker 1: who answered in guttural tones and with words Graham did
• 21:50
  Speaker 1: not recognize. The boy then went to conduct an incomprehensible
• 21:57
  Speaker 1: monolog in the corner, and the tailor pulled out a
• 22:00
  Speaker 1: number of slotted arms terminating in little discs, pulling them
• 22:04
  Speaker 1: out until the discs were flat against the body of Graham,
• 22:07
  Speaker 1: one at each shoulder blade, one at the elbows, one
• 22:11
  Speaker 1: at the neck, and so forth, so that at last
• 22:13
  Speaker 1: there were perhaps two score of them upon his body
• 22:16
  Speaker 1: and limbs. At the same time, some other person entered
• 22:20
  Speaker 1: the room by the lift. Behind Graham, the tailor sat
• 22:23
  Speaker 1: moving a mechanism that initiated a faint sounding rhythmic movement
• 22:27
  Speaker 1: of parts in the machine, and in another moment he
• 22:30
  Speaker 1: was knocking up the levers, and Graham was released. The
• 22:35
  Speaker 1: tailor replaced his cloak of black, and the man with
• 22:37
  Speaker 1: the flaxen beard proffered him a little glass of some
• 22:40
  Speaker 1: refreshing fluid. Graham saw over the rim of the glass
• 22:44
  Speaker 1: a pale faced young man regarding him with a singular fixity.
• 22:50
  Speaker 1: The thickset man had been pacing the room fretfully, and
• 22:53
  Speaker 1: now turned and went through the archway towards the balcony,
• 22:57
  Speaker 1: from which the noise of a distant crowd still came
• 22:59
  Speaker 1: in gusts and cadences. The crop headed lad handed the
• 23:04
  Speaker 1: tailor a roll of the bluish satin, and the two
• 23:07
  Speaker 1: began fixing this in the mechanism in a manner reminiscent
• 23:10
  Speaker 1: of a roll of paper in a nineteenth century printing machine.
• 23:15
  Speaker 1: Then they ran the entire thing on its easy, noiseless
• 23:18
  Speaker 1: bearings across the room to a remote corner, where a
• 23:21
  Speaker 1: twisted cable looped rather gracefully from the wall. They made
• 23:25
  Speaker 1: some connection, and the machine became energetic and swift. What
• 23:31
  Speaker 1: is that doing, asked Graham, pointing with the empty glass
• 23:35
  Speaker 1: to the busy figures and trying to ignore the scrutiny
• 23:37
  Speaker 1: of the newcomer. Is that some sort of force laid on? Yes,
• 23:45
  Speaker 1: said the man with the flaxen beard. Who is that?
• 23:50
  Speaker 1: He indicated the archway behind him. The man in purple
• 23:53
  Speaker 1: stroked his little beard, hesitated, and answered in an undertone,
• 23:58
  Speaker 1: he is a Howard, your chief guardian. You see, sire,
• 24:03
  Speaker 1: it's a little difficult to explain. The council appoints a
• 24:06
  Speaker 1: guardian and assistance. This hall has, under certain restrictions, been
• 24:11
  Speaker 1: public in order that people might satisfy themselves. We have
• 24:15
  Speaker 1: barred the doorways for the first time. But I think
• 24:18
  Speaker 1: if you don't mind, I will leave him to explain,
• 24:23
  Speaker 1: odd said Graham, guardian counsel. Then, turning his back on
• 24:29
  Speaker 1: the newcomer, he asked, in an undertone, why is this
• 24:32
  Speaker 1: man glaring at me? Is he a mesmerist? Mesmerist? He
• 24:38
  Speaker 1: is a capillotomist. Capillotomist, yes, one of the chief His
• 24:44
  Speaker 1: yearly fee is six dozen lions. It sounded sheer nonsense,
• 24:51
  Speaker 1: Graham snatched at the last phrase with an unsteady mind.
• 24:55
  Speaker 1: Six does lions, he said, Didn't you have lions? I
• 25:00
  Speaker 1: suppose not. You had the old pounds. They are our
• 25:04
  Speaker 1: monetary units. But what was that you said? Six dozen? Yes,
• 25:11
  Speaker 1: six dozen, sire. Of course, things, even these little things,
• 25:15
  Speaker 1: have altered. You lived in the days of the decimal system,
• 25:18
  Speaker 1: the Arab system, tens and little hundreds and thousands. We
• 25:23
  Speaker 1: have eleven numerals. Now we have single figures for both
• 25:27
  Speaker 1: ten and eleven. Two figures for a dozen and a
• 25:30
  Speaker 1: dozen dozen makes a gross a great hundred. You know,
• 25:33
  Speaker 1: a dozen gross, a dozen and a dozen dozen a myriad.
• 25:38
  Speaker 1: Very simple, I suppose, so, said Graham. But about this cap,
• 25:44
  Speaker 1: what was it? The man with the flaxen beard glanced
• 25:49
  Speaker 1: over his shoulder. Here are your clothes, he said. Graham
• 25:54
  Speaker 1: turned round sharply and saw the tailor standing at his elbow,
• 25:57
  Speaker 1: smiling and holding some palpably new garments over his arm.
• 26:02
  Speaker 1: The crop headed boy, by means of one finger, was
• 26:05
  Speaker 1: impelling the complicated machine towards the lift by which he
• 26:08
  Speaker 1: had arrived. Graham stared at the completed suit. You don't
• 26:13
  Speaker 1: mean to say, just made, said the tailor. He dropped
• 26:18
  Speaker 1: the garments at the feet of Graham, walked to the
• 26:20
  Speaker 1: bed on which Graham had so recently been lying, flung
• 26:23
  Speaker 1: out the translucent mattress, and turned up the looking glass.
• 26:28
  Speaker 1: As he did so, a furious bell summoned the thickset
• 26:30
  Speaker 1: man to the corner. The man with the flaxen beard
• 26:34
  Speaker 1: rushed across to him, and then hurried out by the archway.
• 26:38
  Speaker 1: The tailor was assisting Graham into a dark purple combination
• 26:42
  Speaker 1: garment stockings, vest and pants in one. As the thickset
• 26:46
  Speaker 1: man came back from the corner to meet the man
• 26:49
  Speaker 1: with the flaxen beard returning from the balcony, they began
• 26:52
  Speaker 1: speaking quickly in an undertone. Their bearing had an unmistakable
• 26:56
  Speaker 1: quality of anxiety. Over the purple un under garment came
• 27:00
  Speaker 1: a complex garment of bluish white, and Graham was clothed
• 27:04
  Speaker 1: in the fashion once more, and saw himself sallow faced,
• 27:08
  Speaker 1: unshaven and shaggy still but at least naked no longer,
• 27:12
  Speaker 1: and in some indefinable, unprecedented way graceful. I must shave,
• 27:19
  Speaker 1: he said, regarding himself in the glass. In a moment,
• 27:24
  Speaker 1: said Howard, the persistent stare ceased. The young man closed
• 27:30
  Speaker 1: his eyes, reopened them, and with a lean hand extended
• 27:34
  Speaker 1: advanced on Graham. Then he stopped, with his hand slowly gesticulating,
• 27:39
  Speaker 1: and looked about him. A seat, said Howard impatiently, and
• 27:44
  Speaker 1: in a moment the flaxen bearded man had a chair
• 27:47
  Speaker 1: behind Graham. Sit down, please, said Howard. Graham hesitated, and
• 27:54
  Speaker 1: in the other hand of the wild eyed man, he
• 27:56
  Speaker 1: saw the glint of steel. Don't you under stand, sire,
• 28:00
  Speaker 1: cried the flaxen bearded man with hurried politeness. He is
• 28:04
  Speaker 1: going to cut your hair, Oh, cried Graham, enlightened. But
• 28:10
  Speaker 1: you called him a capillotomist. Precisely. He is one of
• 28:14
  Speaker 1: the finest artists in the world. Graham sat down abruptly,
• 28:20
  Speaker 1: the flaxen bearded man disappeared. The capillotomist came forward, examined
• 28:25
  Speaker 1: Graham's ears and surveyed him, felt the back of his head,
• 28:29
  Speaker 1: and would have sat down again to regard him, but
• 28:31
  Speaker 1: for Howard's inaudible impatience. Forthwith, with rapid movements and a
• 28:36
  Speaker 1: succession of deftly handled implements, he shaved Graham's chin, clipped
• 28:41
  Speaker 1: his mustache, and cut and arranged his hair. All this
• 28:45
  Speaker 1: he did without a word, with something of the rapt
• 28:47
  Speaker 1: air of a poet inspired. And as soon as he
• 28:51
  Speaker 1: had finished, Graham was handed a pair of shoes. Suddenly
• 28:56
  Speaker 1: a loud voice shouted, it seemed from a piece of
• 28:59
  Speaker 1: machinery in the corner. At once, at once, the people
• 29:03
  Speaker 1: know all over the city work is being stopped, Work
• 29:05
  Speaker 1: is being stopped. Wait for nothing, but come. This shout
• 29:11
  Speaker 1: appeared to perturb Howard exceedingly by his gestures. It seemed
• 29:16
  Speaker 1: to Graham that he hesitated between two directions. Abruptly he
• 29:20
  Speaker 1: went towards the corner where the apparatus stood about the
• 29:23
  Speaker 1: little crystal ball. As he did so, the undertone of
• 29:26
  Speaker 1: tumultuous shouting from the archway that had continued during all
• 29:29
  Speaker 1: these occurrences rose to a mighty sound, roared as if
• 29:33
  Speaker 1: it were sweeping past, and fell again, as if receding swiftly.
• 29:38
  Speaker 1: It drew Graham after it with an irresistible attraction. He
• 29:42
  Speaker 1: glanced at the thickset man, and then obeyed his impulse.
• 29:46
  Speaker 1: In two strides he was down the steps and in
• 29:49
  Speaker 1: the passage, and in a score he was out upon
• 29:51
  Speaker 1: the balcony upon which the three men had been standing.
• 30:00
  Speaker 1: End of Chapter four, read by Kara Shallenberg www. Dot
• 30:04
  Speaker 1: Ka dot org on May nineteenth, two thousand seven, in Oceanside, California,