Latest / Historical Adventure Audiobooks / 🟡 Make-Believe Man (Full Audiobook) | Richard Harding Davis

Transcript

🟡 Make-Believe Man (Full Audiobook) | Richard Harding Davis · Historical Adventure Audiobooks

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: I had made up my mind that when my vacation
• 0:01
  Speaker 1: came I would spend it seeking adventures. I have always
• 0:30
  Speaker 1: wished for adventures, but though I am old enough, I
• 0:34
  Speaker 1: was 25 last October, and have always gone halfway to
• 0:39
  Speaker 1: meet them, adventures avoid me. Kinney says it is my fault.
• 0:45
  Speaker 1: He holds that if you want adventures, you must go
• 0:48
  Speaker 1: after them. Kinney sits next to me at Joyce and Carboys,
• 0:53
  Speaker 1: the woolen manufacturers, where I am a stenographer and Kinney
• 0:57
  Speaker 1: is a clerk. and we both have rooms at Mrs
• 1:01
  Speaker 1: Shaw's boarding house. Kenny is only a year older than myself,
• 1:07
  Speaker 1: but he is always meeting with adventures. At night, when
• 1:11
  Speaker 1: I have set up late reading law so that I
• 1:14
  Speaker 1: may fit myself for court reporting, and in the hope
• 1:18
  Speaker 1: that someday I may become a member of the bar,
• 1:21
  Speaker 1: he will knock at my door and tell me some
• 1:24
  Speaker 1: surprising thing that has just happened to him. Sometimes he
• 1:30
  Speaker 1: has followed a fire engine and helped people from a
• 1:33
  Speaker 1: fire escape, or he has pulled the shield off a policeman,
• 1:38
  Speaker 1: or at the bar of the Hotel Nicaboca has made
• 1:42
  Speaker 1: friends with a stranger who turns out to be no
• 1:45
  Speaker 1: less than a nobleman or an actor. And women, especially
• 1:51
  Speaker 1: beautiful women, are always pursuing Kinney in taxi cabs and
• 1:56
  Speaker 1: calling upon him for assistance. Just to look at Kinney,
• 2:01
  Speaker 1: without knowing how clever he is at getting people out
• 2:04
  Speaker 1: of their difficulties, he does not appear to be a
• 2:08
  Speaker 1: man to whom you would turn in time of trouble.
• 2:12
  Speaker 1: You would think women in distress would appeal to someone
• 2:15
  Speaker 1: bigger and stronger, would sooner ask a policeman. But on
• 2:20
  Speaker 1: the contrary, it is to Kinney that women always turn, especially,
• 2:26
  Speaker 1: as I have said, beautiful women. Nothing of the sort
• 2:31
  Speaker 1: ever happens to me. I suppose, as Kinney says, it
• 2:37
  Speaker 1: is because he was born and brought up in New
• 2:39
  Speaker 1: York City and looks and acts like a New York man,
• 2:43
  Speaker 1: while I, until a year ago, have always lived at Fairport.
• 2:49
  Speaker 1: Fairport is a very pretty harbor, but it does not
• 2:53
  Speaker 1: train one for adventures. We arranged to take our vacations
• 2:58
  Speaker 1: at the same time, and together. At least Kinney so
• 3:03
  Speaker 1: arranged it. I see a good deal of him, and
• 3:06
  Speaker 1: in looking forward to my vacation, not the least pleasant
• 3:10
  Speaker 1: feature of it was that everything connected with Joyce and
• 3:15
  Speaker 1: Carboy and Mrs. Shaw's boarding-house would be left behind me.
• 3:21
  Speaker 1: But when Kinney proposed we should go together, I could
• 3:24
  Speaker 1: not see how, without being rude, I could refuse his company.
• 3:29
  Speaker 1: and when he pointed out that for an expedition in
• 3:32
  Speaker 1: search of adventure I could not select a better guide,
• 3:36
  Speaker 1: I felt that he was right. Sometimes, he said, I
• 3:41
  Speaker 1: can see you don't believe that half the things I
• 3:44
  Speaker 1: tell you have happened to me really have happened. Now,
• 3:48
  Speaker 1: isn't that so? To find the answer that would not
• 3:53
  Speaker 1: hurt his feelings I hesitated, but he did not wait
• 3:56
  Speaker 1: for my answer. He seldom does. Well, on this trip,
• 4:02
  Speaker 1: he went on, you will see Kinney on the job.
• 4:05
  Speaker 1: You won't have to take my word for it. You
• 4:08
  Speaker 1: will see adventures walk up and eat out of my hand.
• 4:13
  Speaker 1: Our vacation came on the 1st of September, but we
• 4:16
  Speaker 1: began to plan for it in April, and up to
• 4:19
  Speaker 1: the night before we left New York we never ceased planning.
• 4:24
  Speaker 1: Our difficulty was that having been brought up at Fairport
• 4:28
  Speaker 1: which is on the Sound, north of New London, I
• 4:32
  Speaker 1: was homesick for a smell of salt marshes and for
• 4:35
  Speaker 1: the sight of water and ships. Though they were only
• 4:39
  Speaker 1: schooners carrying cement, I wanted to sit in the sun
• 4:43
  Speaker 1: on the string piece of a wharf and watch them.
• 4:46
  Speaker 1: I wanted to beat about the harbour in a cat's
• 4:49
  Speaker 1: boat and feel the tug and pull off the tiller.
• 4:54
  Speaker 1: Kinney protested that that was no way to spend a
• 4:57
  Speaker 1: vacation or to invite adventure. His face was set against Fairport.
• 5:04
  Speaker 1: The conversation of clam-diggers, he said, did not appeal to him,
• 5:09
  Speaker 1: and he complained that at Fairport our only chance of
• 5:13
  Speaker 1: adventure would be my capsizing the catboat or rubbing a
• 5:17
  Speaker 1: lobster pot. He insisted we should go to the mountains-
• 5:22
  Speaker 1: where we would meet what he always calls our best people.
• 5:27
  Speaker 1: In September, he explained, everybody goes to the mountains to
• 5:31
  Speaker 1: recuperate after the enervating atmosphere of the seashore. To this
• 5:36
  Speaker 1: I objected that the little sea air we had inhaled
• 5:39
  Speaker 1: at Mrs. Shaw's basement dining room and in the subway
• 5:44
  Speaker 1: need cause us no anxiety. And so, along these lines,
• 5:50
  Speaker 1: throughout the sleepless, sultry nights of june july and august
• 5:56
  Speaker 1: we fought it out there was not a summer resort
• 6:00
  Speaker 1: within five hundred miles of new york city we did
• 6:03
  Speaker 1: not consider from the information bureaus and passenger agents of
• 6:08
  Speaker 1: every railroad leaving new york kinney procured a library of
• 6:14
  Speaker 1: time-tables maps, folders and pamphlets, illustrated with the most attractive
• 6:21
  Speaker 1: pictures of summer hotels, golf links, tennis courts and boathouses.
• 6:27
  Speaker 1: For two months he carried on a correspondence with the
• 6:31
  Speaker 1: proprietors of these hotels, and in comparing the different prices
• 6:36
  Speaker 1: they asked him for suits of rooms and sun parlours
• 6:40
  Speaker 1: derived constant satisfaction. The Outlook house, he would announce, wants
• 6:49
  Speaker 1: $ 24 a day for bedroom, parlor, and private bath, while
• 6:54
  Speaker 1: for the same accommodations the Cartered Arms asks only $ 20,
• 6:59
  Speaker 1: but the Cartered has no tennis court, and then again,
• 7:02
  Speaker 1: the Outlook has no garage, nor are dogs allowed in
• 7:06
  Speaker 1: the bedrooms. As Kinney could not play lawn tennis... and
• 7:13
  Speaker 1: as neither of us owned an automobile or a dog,
• 7:17
  Speaker 1: or twenty-four dollars, these details to me seemed superfluous, but
• 7:23
  Speaker 1: there was no health in pointing that out to Kinney, because,
• 7:27
  Speaker 1: as he himself says, he has so vivid an imagination
• 7:31
  Speaker 1: that what he lacks he can make believe he has,
• 7:35
  Speaker 1: and the pleasure of possession is his. Kinney gives a
• 7:41
  Speaker 1: great deal of thought to his clothes, and the question
• 7:45
  Speaker 1: of what he should wear on his vacation was upon
• 7:47
  Speaker 1: his mind. When I said I thought it was nothing
• 7:51
  Speaker 1: to worry about, he snorted indignantly.' You wouldn't,' he said.'
• 7:57
  Speaker 1: If I'd been brought up in a catboat and had
• 8:01
  Speaker 1: a tan like a red Indian and hair like a
• 8:04
  Speaker 1: Broadway blonde, I wouldn't worry either.' Mrs Shaw says you
• 8:09
  Speaker 1: look exactly like a British peer in disguise. I had
• 8:14
  Speaker 1: never seen a British peer with or without his disguise,
• 8:18
  Speaker 1: and I admit I was interested. Why are the girls
• 8:23
  Speaker 1: in this house, demanded Kinney, always running to your room
• 8:28
  Speaker 1: to borrow matches? Because they admire your clothes? If they're
• 8:34
  Speaker 1: crazy about clothes... Why don't they come to me for matches?
• 8:40
  Speaker 1: You are always out at night, I said. You know
• 8:44
  Speaker 1: that's not the answer, he protested. Why do the typewriter
• 8:49
  Speaker 1: girls at the office always go to you to sharpen
• 8:52
  Speaker 1: their pencils and to tell them how to spell the
• 8:55
  Speaker 1: hard words? Why do the girls in the lunchrooms serve
• 8:59
  Speaker 1: you first? Because they're hypnotized by your clothes? Is that it?
• 9:06
  Speaker 1: Do they? I asked. I hadn't noticed. Kinney snorted and
• 9:12
  Speaker 1: tossed up his arms. He hadn't noticed, he kept repeating.
• 9:17
  Speaker 1: He hadn't noticed. For his vacation, Kinney bought a second-hand suitcase.
• 9:24
  Speaker 1: It was covered with labels of hotels in France and Switzerland. Joe,
• 9:30
  Speaker 1: I said, if you carry that bag, you will be
• 9:33
  Speaker 1: a walking falsehood. Kinney's name is Joseph Forbes Kinney. He
• 9:40
  Speaker 1: dropped the Joseph because he said it did not appear
• 9:43
  Speaker 1: often enough in the social register and could be found
• 9:47
  Speaker 1: only in the Old Testament, and he has asked me
• 9:51
  Speaker 1: to call him Forbes. Having first known him as Joe,
• 9:55
  Speaker 1: I occasionally forget. My name is Norman. Joe, he said sternly,
• 10:03
  Speaker 1: and I have as much right to carry a second-hand
• 10:05
  Speaker 1: bag as a new one. The bag says it has
• 10:08
  Speaker 1: been to Europe. It does not say that I have
• 10:11
  Speaker 1: been there. But you probably will, I pointed out. and
• 10:17
  Speaker 1: then someone who has really visited those places. Listen, commanded Kinney.
• 10:24
  Speaker 1: If you want adventures, you must be somebody of importance.
• 10:28
  Speaker 1: No one will go shares in an adventure with Joe Kinney,
• 10:31
  Speaker 1: a twenty-dollar-a-week clerk, the human adding machine, the hall-room boy.
• 10:37
  Speaker 1: But Forbes Kinney, Esquire, with a bag from Europe and
• 10:42
  Speaker 1: a Harvard ribbon round his hat... Is that a Harvard
• 10:47
  Speaker 1: ribbon around your hat? I asked. It is, declared Kenny.
• 10:53
  Speaker 1: And I have a Yale ribbon and a Turf Club ribbon, too.
• 10:57
  Speaker 1: They come on hooks and you hook them on to
• 10:59
  Speaker 1: match your clothes or the company you keep. And what's more,
• 11:04
  Speaker 1: he continued with some heat, I've borrowed a tennis racket
• 11:08
  Speaker 1: and a golf bag full of sticks and you take
• 11:11
  Speaker 1: care you don't give me away. I see, I returned.
• 11:16
  Speaker 1: that you are going to get us into a lot
• 11:17
  Speaker 1: of trouble. I was thinking, said Kinney, looking at me
• 11:23
  Speaker 1: rather doubtfully, it might help a lot if for the
• 11:26
  Speaker 1: first week you acted as my secretary, and during the
• 11:30
  Speaker 1: second week I was your secretary. Sometimes, when Mr. Joyce
• 11:35
  Speaker 1: goes on a business trip, he takes me with him
• 11:38
  Speaker 1: as his private stenographer. and the change from office is
• 11:43
  Speaker 1: very pleasant, but I could not see why I should
• 11:46
  Speaker 1: spend one week of my holiday writing letters for Kinney.
• 11:51
  Speaker 1: You wouldn't write any letters, he explained, but if I
• 11:55
  Speaker 1: could tell people you were my private secretary, it would
• 11:59
  Speaker 1: naturally give me a certain importance. If it will make
• 12:04
  Speaker 1: you any happier, I said, you can tell people I
• 12:07
  Speaker 1: am a British peer in disguise. There's no use in
• 12:12
  Speaker 1: being nasty about it, protested Kinney. I am only trying
• 12:16
  Speaker 1: to show you a way that would lead to adventure.
• 12:21
  Speaker 1: It surely would, I assented. It would lead us to jail.
• 12:27
  Speaker 1: The last week in August came, and as to where
• 12:30
  Speaker 1: we were to go, we still were undecided. I suggested
• 12:35
  Speaker 1: we leave it to chance. The first thing I pointed
• 12:40
  Speaker 1: out is to get away from this awful city. The
• 12:44
  Speaker 1: second thing is to get away cheaply. Let us write
• 12:48
  Speaker 1: down the names of the summer resorts to which we
• 12:50
  Speaker 1: can travel by rail or by boat for two dollars,
• 12:54
  Speaker 1: and put them in a hat. The name of the
• 12:57
  Speaker 1: place we draw will be the one for which we
• 12:59
  Speaker 1: start Saturday afternoon. The idea, I urged, is in itself
• 13:05
  Speaker 1: full of adventure. Kinney agreed, but reluctantly. What chiefly disturbed
• 13:12
  Speaker 1: him was the thought that the places near New York
• 13:15
  Speaker 1: to which one could travel for so little money were
• 13:19
  Speaker 1: not likely to be fashionable. I have a terrible fear,
• 13:25
  Speaker 1: he declared, that with this limit of yours we will
• 13:29
  Speaker 1: wake up in Asbury Park. Friday night came and found
• 13:35
  Speaker 1: us prepared for departure, and at midnight we held our lottery,
• 13:40
  Speaker 1: In a pillowcase we placed twenty slips of paper, on
• 13:44
  Speaker 1: each of which was written the name of a summer resort.
• 13:48
  Speaker 1: Ten of these places were selected by Kinney, and ten
• 13:52
  Speaker 1: by myself. Kinney dramatically rolled up his sleeve, and plunging
• 13:57
  Speaker 1: his bared arm into our grab-bag, drew out a slip
• 14:02
  Speaker 1: of paper and read aloud, New Bedford via New Bedford
• 14:08
  Speaker 1: Steamboat Line. The choice was one of mine. New Bedford,
• 14:16
  Speaker 1: shouted Kinney. His tone expressed the keenest disappointment. It's a
• 14:22
  Speaker 1: mill town, he exclaimed. It's full of cotton mills. That
• 14:29
  Speaker 1: may be, I protested, but it's also a most picturesque
• 14:33
  Speaker 1: old seaport, one of the oldest in America. You can
• 14:38
  Speaker 1: see whaling vessels at the wharfs there, and wooden figureheads
• 14:42
  Speaker 1: and harpoons. Is this an expedition to dig up buried cities,
• 14:49
  Speaker 1: interrupted Kinney, or a pleasure trip? I don't want to
• 14:53
  Speaker 1: see harpoons. I wouldn't know a harpoon if you stuck
• 14:57
  Speaker 1: one into me. I prefer to see hatpins. The patients
• 15:02
  Speaker 1: did not sail until six o'clock, but we were so
• 15:06
  Speaker 1: anxious to put New York behind us that at five
• 15:10
  Speaker 1: we were on board. Our cabin was an outside one
• 15:14
  Speaker 1: with two berths. After placing our suitcases in it, we
• 15:19
  Speaker 1: collected camp chairs and settled ourselves in a cool place
• 15:23
  Speaker 1: on the boat deck. Kinney had bought all the afternoon
• 15:27
  Speaker 1: papers and, as later I had reason to remember, was
• 15:31
  Speaker 1: greatly interested over the fact that the young Earl of
• 15:35
  Speaker 1: Ivy had at last arrived in this country.' For some
• 15:40
  Speaker 1: weeks the papers had been giving more space than seemed
• 15:43
  Speaker 1: necessary to that young Irishman and to the young lady
• 15:47
  Speaker 1: he was coming over to marry. There had been pictures
• 15:51
  Speaker 1: of his different country houses, pictures of himself in uniform,
• 15:57
  Speaker 1: in the robes he wore at the coronation, on a
• 16:00
  Speaker 1: polo pony, as master of foxhounds, and there had been
• 16:05
  Speaker 1: pictures of Miss Aldridge and of her country places at
• 16:09
  Speaker 1: Newport and on the Hudson. From the afternoon papers, Kinney
• 16:14
  Speaker 1: learned that, having sailed under his family name of Meehan,
• 16:18
  Speaker 1: the young man and Lady Moya, his sister, had that
• 16:22
  Speaker 1: morning landed in New York, but before the reporters had
• 16:26
  Speaker 1: discovered them, had escaped from the wharf and disappeared. Inquiries
• 16:33
  Speaker 1: at the different hotels, read Kinney impressively, failed to establish
• 16:38
  Speaker 1: the whereabouts of his lordship and Lady Moya and disbelieved
• 16:43
  Speaker 1: they had once left by train for Newport. With awe,
• 16:48
  Speaker 1: Kinney pointed at the red funnels of the Mauritania. There
• 16:53
  Speaker 1: is the boat that brought them to America, he said.
• 16:58
  Speaker 1: I see, he added. that in this picture of him
• 17:01
  Speaker 1: playing golf he wears one of those knit jackets the
• 17:04
  Speaker 1: eiselbaum has just marked down to three dollars and seventy-five
• 17:09
  Speaker 1: cents i wish he added regretfully you can get one
• 17:15
  Speaker 1: at new bedford i suggested I wish, he continued, we
• 17:21
  Speaker 1: had gone to Newport. All of our best people will
• 17:25
  Speaker 1: be there for the wedding. It is the most important
• 17:29
  Speaker 1: social event of the season. You might almost call it
• 17:32
  Speaker 1: an alliance. I went forward to watch them take on
• 17:38
  Speaker 1: the fright, and Kinney stationed himself at the rail above
• 17:41
  Speaker 1: the passengers' gangway, where he could see the other passengers arrive.
• 17:47
  Speaker 1: He had dressed himself with much care and was wearing
• 17:50
  Speaker 1: his Yale hat band, but when a very smart-looking youth
• 17:55
  Speaker 1: came up the gangplank wearing a Harvard ribbon, Kinney hastily
• 18:00
  Speaker 1: retired to our cabin and returned with one like it.
• 18:05
  Speaker 1: A few minutes later I found him and the young
• 18:08
  Speaker 1: man seated in camp chairs side by side, engaged in
• 18:12
  Speaker 1: a conversation in which Kinney seemed to bear the greater part. Indeed,
• 18:18
  Speaker 1: to what Kinney was saying the young man paid not
• 18:22
  Speaker 1: the slightest attention. Instead, his eyes were fastened on the
• 18:27
  Speaker 1: gangplank below, and when a young man of his own age,
• 18:31
  Speaker 1: accompanied by a girl in a dress of rough tweed,
• 18:35
  Speaker 1: appeared upon it, he leaped from his seat. Then, with
• 18:39
  Speaker 1: a conscious look at Kinney, sank back. The girl in
• 18:44
  Speaker 1: the tweed suit was sufficiently beautiful to cause any man
• 18:49
  Speaker 1: to rise and to remain standing. She was the most
• 18:53
  Speaker 1: beautiful girl I had ever seen. She had grey eyes
• 18:57
  Speaker 1: and hair like goldenrod, worn in a fashion with which
• 19:02
  Speaker 1: I was not familiar, and her face was so lovely
• 19:06
  Speaker 1: that in my surprise at the sight of it I
• 19:09
  Speaker 1: felt a sudden catch at my throat. and my heart
• 19:13
  Speaker 1: stopped with awe and wonder and gratitude. After a brief moment,
• 19:20
  Speaker 1: the young man in the real Harvard hatband rose restlessly and,
• 19:27
  Speaker 1: with a nod to Kinney, went below. I also rose
• 19:32
  Speaker 1: and followed him. I had an uncontrollable desire to again
• 19:36
  Speaker 1: look at the girl with the golden-rod hair, I did
• 19:40
  Speaker 1: not mean that she should see me, never before had
• 19:43
  Speaker 1: I done such a thing, but never before had I
• 19:46
  Speaker 1: seen anyone who had moved me so strangely. Seeking her,
• 19:52
  Speaker 1: I walked the length of the main saloon and back again,
• 19:55
  Speaker 1: but could not find her. The delay gave me time
• 19:59
  Speaker 1: to see that my conduct was impertinent. The very fact
• 20:04
  Speaker 1: that she was so lovely to look upon should have
• 20:07
  Speaker 1: been her protection. it afforded me no excuse to follow
• 20:11
  Speaker 1: and spy upon her. With this thought, I hastily returned
• 20:16
  Speaker 1: to the upper deck to bury myself in my book.
• 20:21
  Speaker 1: If it did not serve to keep my mind from
• 20:23
  Speaker 1: the young lady, at least it would prevent my eyes
• 20:27
  Speaker 1: from causing her annoyance. I was about to take the
• 20:32
  Speaker 1: chair that the young man had left vacant when Kinney objected,
• 20:36
  Speaker 1: He was very much interested in our conversation, Kinney said,
• 20:41
  Speaker 1: and he may return. I had not noticed any eagerness
• 20:46
  Speaker 1: on the part of the young man to talk to
• 20:48
  Speaker 1: Kinney or to listen to him, but I did not
• 20:51
  Speaker 1: sit down. I should not be surprised a bit, said Kinney,
• 20:57
  Speaker 1: if that young man is no end of a swell.
• 21:00
  Speaker 1: He is a Harvard man, and his manner was most polite. That,
• 21:05
  Speaker 1: explained Kinney, is one way you can always tell a
• 21:09
  Speaker 1: real swell. They're not high and mighty with you. Their
• 21:13
  Speaker 1: social position is so secure that they can do as
• 21:17
  Speaker 1: they like. For instance, did you notice that he smoked
• 21:21
  Speaker 1: a pipe? I said I had not noticed it. For
• 21:26
  Speaker 1: his holiday, Kinney had purchased a box of cigars of
• 21:29
  Speaker 1: a quality more expensive than those he can usually afford.
• 21:34
  Speaker 1: He was smoking one of them at the moment, and
• 21:37
  Speaker 1: as it grew less, had been carefully moving the gold
• 21:41
  Speaker 1: band with which it was encircled from the lighted end.
• 21:46
  Speaker 1: But as he spoke he regarded it apparently with distaste,
• 21:50
  Speaker 1: and then dropped it overboard. Keep my chair, he said, rising.
• 21:56
  Speaker 1: I am going to my cabin to get my pipe.
• 22:00
  Speaker 1: I sat down and fastened my eyes upon my book.
• 22:03
  Speaker 1: but neither did I understand what I was reading nor
• 22:06
  Speaker 1: see the printed page. Instead, before my eyes, confusing and
• 22:12
  Speaker 1: blinding me, was the lovely, radiant face of the beautiful lady.
• 22:19
  Speaker 1: In perplexity I looked up and found her standing not
• 22:23
  Speaker 1: two feet from me. Something pulled me out of my chair,
• 22:28
  Speaker 1: something made me move it toward her. I lifted my
• 22:32
  Speaker 1: hat and backed away, but the eyes of the lovely
• 22:36
  Speaker 1: lady halted me. To my perplexity, her face expressed both
• 22:42
  Speaker 1: surprise and pleasure. It was as though either she thought
• 22:46
  Speaker 1: she knew me, or that I reminded her of some
• 22:49
  Speaker 1: man she did know. Were the latter the case, he
• 22:53
  Speaker 1: must have been a friend, for the way in which
• 22:55
  Speaker 1: she looked at me was kind. And there was, besides...
• 23:00
  Speaker 1: the expression of surprise and as though something she saw
• 23:04
  Speaker 1: pleased her. Maybe it was the quickness with which I
• 23:08
  Speaker 1: had offered my chair. Still looking at me, she pointed
• 23:13
  Speaker 1: to one of the skyscrapers. Could you tell me, she asked,
• 23:18
  Speaker 1: the name of that building? Had her question not proved it,
• 23:23
  Speaker 1: her voice would have told me not only that she
• 23:26
  Speaker 1: was a stranger, but that she was Irish. It was
• 23:30
  Speaker 1: particularly soft, low and vibrant. It made the commonplace question
• 23:36
  Speaker 1: she asked sound as though she had sung it. I
• 23:40
  Speaker 1: told her the name of the building, and that farther uptown,
• 23:44
  Speaker 1: as she would see when we moved into midstream, there
• 23:48
  Speaker 1: was another still taller. She listened, regarding me brightly, as
• 23:53
  Speaker 1: though interested, but before her I was embarrassed, and fearing
• 23:59
  Speaker 1: I intruded, I again made a movement to go away.
• 24:03
  Speaker 1: With another question she stopped me. I could see no
• 24:07
  Speaker 1: reason for her doing so, but it was almost as
• 24:11
  Speaker 1: though she had asked the question only to detain me.
• 24:16
  Speaker 1: What is that odd boat, she said, pumping water into
• 24:20
  Speaker 1: the river? I explained that it was a fireboat testing
• 24:25
  Speaker 1: her hose lines, and then as we moved into the channel,
• 24:29
  Speaker 1: I gained courage, and found myself pointing out the Statue
• 24:33
  Speaker 1: of Liberty, Governor's Island, and the Brooklyn Bridge. The fact
• 24:38
  Speaker 1: that it was a stranger who was talking did not
• 24:41
  Speaker 1: seem to disturb her. I cannot tell how she conveyed
• 24:44
  Speaker 1: the idea, but I soon felt that she felt, no
• 24:48
  Speaker 1: matter what unconventional thing she chose to do, people would
• 24:52
  Speaker 1: not be rude or misunderstand. I considered telling her my name.
• 24:59
  Speaker 1: At first it seemed that would be more polite. Then
• 25:03
  Speaker 1: I saw to do so would be forcing myself upon
• 25:06
  Speaker 1: her that she was interested in me only as a
• 25:09
  Speaker 1: guide to New York Harbor. When we passed the Brooklyn
• 25:14
  Speaker 1: Navy Yard, I talked so much and so eagerly of
• 25:18
  Speaker 1: the battleships at anchor there that the lady must have
• 25:22
  Speaker 1: thought I had followed the sea, for she asked, Are
• 25:26
  Speaker 1: you a sailor man? It was the first question that
• 25:30
  Speaker 1: was in any way personal. I used to sail a
• 25:35
  Speaker 1: cat boat, I said. My answer seemed to puzzle her,
• 25:40
  Speaker 1: and she frowned. Then she laughed delightedly, like one having
• 25:44
  Speaker 1: made a discovery. You don't say sailor man, she said.
• 25:49
  Speaker 1: What do you ask over here when you want to
• 25:52
  Speaker 1: know if a man is in the Navy? She spoke
• 25:56
  Speaker 1: as though she were talking in a different language. We
• 26:00
  Speaker 1: ask if he is in the Navy, I answered. She
• 26:04
  Speaker 1: laughed again at that, quite as though I had said
• 26:07
  Speaker 1: something clever. And are you not? No, I said. I
• 26:13
  Speaker 1: am in Joyce and Carboy's office. I am a stenographer. Again,
• 26:20
  Speaker 1: my answer seemed both to puzzle and to surprise her.
• 26:24
  Speaker 1: She regarded me doubtfully. I could see that she thought,
• 26:28
  Speaker 1: for some reason, I was misleading her.' In an office,'
• 26:33
  Speaker 1: she repeated. Then, as though she had caught me, she said,'
• 26:37
  Speaker 1: How do you keep so fit?' She asked the question directly,
• 26:43
  Speaker 1: as a man would have asked it, and as she
• 26:46
  Speaker 1: spoke I was conscious that her eyes were measuring me
• 26:50
  Speaker 1: and my shoulders.' as though she were wondering to what
• 26:53
  Speaker 1: weight I could strip. It's only lately I've worked in
• 26:58
  Speaker 1: an office, I said. Before that I always worked out
• 27:02
  Speaker 1: of doors, oystering and clamming, and in the fall, scalloping,
• 27:07
  Speaker 1: and in the summer I played ball on a Hotel Nine.
• 27:12
  Speaker 1: I saw that to the beautiful lady my explanation carried
• 27:16
  Speaker 1: no meaning whatsoever, but before I could explain... The young
• 27:20
  Speaker 1: man with whom she had come on board walked toward us.
• 27:25
  Speaker 1: Neither did he appear to find her talking to a
• 27:27
  Speaker 1: stranger anything embarrassing. He halted and smiled. His smile was pleasant,
• 27:34
  Speaker 1: but entirely vague. In the few minutes I was with him,
• 27:39
  Speaker 1: I learned that it was no sign that he was
• 27:41
  Speaker 1: secretly pleased. It was merely his expression. It was as
• 27:47
  Speaker 1: though a photographer had said, Smile, please, and he had smiled.
• 27:53
  Speaker 1: When he joined us, out of deference to the young
• 27:56
  Speaker 1: lady I raised my hat, but the youth did not
• 27:59
  Speaker 1: seem to think that outward show of respect was necessary,
• 28:03
  Speaker 1: and kept his hands in his pockets. Neither did he
• 28:07
  Speaker 1: cease smoking. His first remark to the lovely lady somewhat
• 28:12
  Speaker 1: startled me. Have you got a brass bed in your room?
• 28:17
  Speaker 1: he asked. THE BEAUTIFUL LADY SAID SHE HAD. SO HAVE I,
• 28:23
  Speaker 1: SAID THE YOUNG MAN. THEY DO YOU RATHER WELL, DON'T THEY?
• 28:27
  Speaker 1: AND IT'S ONLY THREE DOLLARS. HOW MUCH IS THAT? FOUR
• 28:32
  Speaker 1: TIMES THREE WOULD BE TWELVE, SAID THE LADY. TWELVE SHILLINGS.
• 28:38
  Speaker 1: THE YOUNG MAN WAS SMOKING A CIGARETTE IN A LONG
• 28:42
  Speaker 1: AMBER CIGARETTE HOLDER. I NEVER HAD SEEN ONE SO LONG.
• 28:47
  Speaker 1: He examined the end of his cigarette holder and apparently
• 28:51
  Speaker 1: surprised and relieved at finding a cigarette there, again smiled contentedly.
• 28:59
  Speaker 1: The lovely lady pointed at the marble shaft rising above
• 29:02
  Speaker 1: Madison Square. That is the tallest skyscraper, she said, in
• 29:09
  Speaker 1: New York. I had just informed her of that fact.
• 29:14
  Speaker 1: The young man smiled as though he were being introduced
• 29:17
  Speaker 1: to the building, but exhibited no interest. Is it, he remarked.
• 29:24
  Speaker 1: His tone seemed to show that had she said, that
• 29:28
  Speaker 1: is a rabbit, he would have been equally gratified. Someday,
• 29:34
  Speaker 1: he stated, with the same startling abruptness with which he
• 29:38
  Speaker 1: had made his first remark, our warships will lift the
• 29:42
  Speaker 1: roofs off those skyscrapers. The remark struck me in the
• 29:49
  Speaker 1: wrong place. It was unnecessary. Already I resented the manner
• 29:54
  Speaker 1: of the young man towards the lovely lady. It seemed
• 29:57
  Speaker 1: to me lacking in courtesy. He knew her and yet
• 30:01
  Speaker 1: treated her with no deference, while I, a stranger, felt
• 30:06
  Speaker 1: so grateful to her for being what I knew one
• 30:09
  Speaker 1: with such a face must be, that I could have
• 30:13
  Speaker 1: knelt at her feet, so I rather resented the remark.
• 30:18
  Speaker 1: If the warships you sent over here, I said doubtfully,
• 30:23
  Speaker 1: aren't more successful in lifting things than your yachts, you'd
• 30:28
  Speaker 1: better keep them at home and save call. Seldom have
• 30:33
  Speaker 1: I made so long a speech or so rude a speech,
• 30:36
  Speaker 1: and as soon as I had spoken, on account of
• 30:40
  Speaker 1: the lovely lady, I was sorry. But after a pause
• 30:44
  Speaker 1: of half a second, she laughed delightedly. I see, she cried,
• 30:51
  Speaker 1: as though it were a sort of a game. He
• 30:53
  Speaker 1: means Lipton. We can't lift the cup. We can't lift
• 30:57
  Speaker 1: the roofs. Don't you see, Stumps? she urged. In spite
• 31:02
  Speaker 1: of my rude remark, the young man she called Stumps
• 31:06
  Speaker 1: had continued to smile happily. Now his expression changed to
• 31:11
  Speaker 1: one of discomfort and utter gloom and then broke out
• 31:16
  Speaker 1: into a radiant smile. I say, he cried, that's awfully good.
• 31:23
  Speaker 1: If your warships aren't any better at lifting things, Oh,
• 31:26
  Speaker 1: I say, really, he protested, that's awfully good. He seemed
• 31:33
  Speaker 1: to be afraid I would not appreciate the rare excellence
• 31:36
  Speaker 1: of my speech. You know, really, he pleaded, it is
• 31:42
  Speaker 1: awfully good. We were interrupted by the sudden appearance, in
• 31:47
  Speaker 1: opposite directions, of Kinney and the young man with the
• 31:52
  Speaker 1: real hatband. Both were excited and disturbed. At the sight
• 31:57
  Speaker 1: of the young man, Stumps turned appealingly to the goldenrod girl.
• 32:02
  Speaker 1: He groaned aloud, and his expression was that of a
• 32:05
  Speaker 1: boy who had been caught playing truant. Oh, Lord, he exclaimed,
• 32:12
  Speaker 1: what's the huffy about now? He told me I could
• 32:16
  Speaker 1: come on deck as soon as we started. The girl
• 32:21
  Speaker 1: turned upon me a sweet and lovely smile and nodded. Then,
• 32:26
  Speaker 1: with stumps at her side, she moved to meet the
• 32:29
  Speaker 1: young man. When he saw them coming, he halted, and
• 32:34
  Speaker 1: when they joined him, began talking earnestly, almost angrily. As
• 32:40
  Speaker 1: he did so, much to my bewilderment, he glared at me.
• 32:45
  Speaker 1: At the same moment, Kinney grabbed me by the arm.
• 32:50
  Speaker 1: Come below, he commanded. His tone was hoarse and thrilling
• 32:55
  Speaker 1: with excitement. Our adventures, he whispered, have begun. End of
• 33:02
  Speaker 1: chapter 1 Chapter 2 Part 1 of The Make-Believe Man
• 33:17
  Speaker 1: by Richard Harding Davis This LibriVox recording is in the
• 33:21
  Speaker 1: public domain. I felt, for me, adventures had already begun,
• 33:33
  Speaker 1: for my meeting with the beautiful lady was the event
• 33:37
  Speaker 1: of my life, and though Kinney and I had agreed
• 33:40
  Speaker 1: to share our adventures, of this one I knew I
• 33:44
  Speaker 1: could not even speak to him. I wanted to be alone,
• 33:49
  Speaker 1: where I could delight in it, where I could go
• 33:51
  Speaker 1: over what she had said, what I had said. I
• 33:55
  Speaker 1: would share it with no one. It was too wonderful,
• 33:59
  Speaker 1: too sacred. But Kinney would not be denied. He led
• 34:03
  Speaker 1: me to our cabin and locked the door. I'm sorry,
• 34:08
  Speaker 1: he began, but this adventure is one I cannot share
• 34:11
  Speaker 1: with you. The remark was so in keeping with my
• 34:15
  Speaker 1: own thoughts that with sudden unhappy doubt, I wondered if Kinney, too,
• 34:21
  Speaker 1: had felt the charm of the beautiful lady, but he
• 34:25
  Speaker 1: quickly undeceived me. I have been doing a little detective work,
• 34:31
  Speaker 1: he said. His voice was low and sepulchral. And I
• 34:36
  Speaker 1: have come upon a real adventure. There are reasons why
• 34:39
  Speaker 1: I cannot share it with you, but as it develops
• 34:42
  Speaker 1: you can follow it. About half an hour ago, he explained,
• 34:46
  Speaker 1: I came here to get my pipe The window was open,
• 34:50
  Speaker 1: the lattice was only partly closed. Outside was that young
• 34:54
  Speaker 1: man from Harvard who tried to make my acquaintance, and
• 34:59
  Speaker 1: the young Englishman who came on board with that blonde.
• 35:03
  Speaker 1: Kinney suddenly interrupted himself. You were talking to her just now,
• 35:08
  Speaker 1: he said. I hated to hear him speak of the
• 35:12
  Speaker 1: Irish lady as that blonde. I hated to hear him
• 35:16
  Speaker 1: speak of her at all. So to shut him off,
• 35:18
  Speaker 1: I answered briefly, She asked me about the Singer building.
• 35:24
  Speaker 1: I see, said Kenny. Well, these two men were just
• 35:28
  Speaker 1: outside my window, and while I was searching for my pipe,
• 35:33
  Speaker 1: I heard the American speaking. He was very excited and angry.
• 35:37
  Speaker 1: I tell you, he said, every boat and railroad station
• 35:42
  Speaker 1: is watched. You won't be safe till we get away
• 35:45
  Speaker 1: from New York. You must go to your cabin and
• 35:48
  Speaker 1: stay there. And the other one answered, I am sick
• 35:53
  Speaker 1: of hiding and dodging. Kenny paused dramatically and frowned. Well,
• 36:01
  Speaker 1: I asked, what of it? What of it, he cried.
• 36:06
  Speaker 1: He exclaimed aloud with pity and impatience. No wonder, he cried,
• 36:11
  Speaker 1: you never have adventures. Why, it's as plain as printing.
• 36:16
  Speaker 1: They are criminals escaping. The Englishman certainly is escaping. I
• 36:22
  Speaker 1: was concerned only for the lovely lady, but I asked,
• 36:27
  Speaker 1: You mean the Irishman called Stumps? Stumps! exclaimed Kinney. What
• 36:33
  Speaker 1: a strange name! Too strange to be true. It's an alias.
• 36:39
  Speaker 1: I was incensed that Kinney should charge the friends of
• 36:43
  Speaker 1: the lovely lady with being criminals. Had it been anyone else,
• 36:48
  Speaker 1: I would have at once resented it, but to be
• 36:51
  Speaker 1: angry with Kinney is difficult. I could not help but
• 36:55
  Speaker 1: remember that he is the slave of his own imagination.
• 36:59
  Speaker 1: It plays tricks and runs away with him. And if
• 37:02
  Speaker 1: it leads him to believe innocent people are criminals, it
• 37:06
  Speaker 1: also leads him to believe that every woman in the
• 37:08
  Speaker 1: subway to whom he gives his seat is a great
• 37:11
  Speaker 1: lady- a leader of society on her way to work
• 37:15
  Speaker 1: in the slums. Joe, I protested, those men aren't criminals.
• 37:22
  Speaker 1: I talked to that Irishman and he hasn't sense enough
• 37:25
  Speaker 1: to be a criminal. The railroads are watched, repeated Kimmy.
• 37:31
  Speaker 1: Do honest men care a darn whether a railroad is
• 37:35
  Speaker 1: watched or not? Do you care? Do I care? And
• 37:39
  Speaker 1: did you notice how angry the American got when he
• 37:42
  Speaker 1: found Stumps talking with you? I had noticed it, and
• 37:47
  Speaker 1: I also recalled the fact that Stumps had said to
• 37:50
  Speaker 1: the lovely lady, he told me I could come on
• 37:53
  Speaker 1: deck as soon as we started. The words seemed to
• 37:58
  Speaker 1: bear out what Kinney claimed he had overheard, but not
• 38:02
  Speaker 1: wishing to encourage him, of what I had heard I
• 38:05
  Speaker 1: said nothing. He may be dodging a summons, I suggested.
• 38:12
  Speaker 1: He is wanted probably only as a witness. It might
• 38:16
  Speaker 1: be a civil suit, or his chauffeur might have hit somebody.
• 38:21
  Speaker 1: Kinney shook his head sadly. Excuse me, he said, but
• 38:26
  Speaker 1: I fear you lack imagination. Those men are rascals, dangerous rascals,
• 38:32
  Speaker 1: and the woman is their accomplice. What they have done
• 38:35
  Speaker 1: I don't know, but I have already learned enough to
• 38:37
  Speaker 1: arrest them as suspicious characters. Listen. Each of them has
• 38:42
  Speaker 1: a separate stateroom forward. The window of the American's room
• 38:46
  Speaker 1: was open, and his suitcase was on the bed. On
• 38:50
  Speaker 1: it were the initials HPA. The stateroom is number 24,
• 38:54
  Speaker 1: but when I examined the purse's list, pretending I wished
• 38:58
  Speaker 1: to find out if a friend of mine was on board...
• 39:01
  Speaker 1: I found that the man in 24 had given his
• 39:03
  Speaker 1: name as James Preston. Now, he demanded, why should one
• 39:08
  Speaker 1: of them hide under an alias and the other be
• 39:11
  Speaker 1: afraid to show himself until we leave the wharf? He
• 39:15
  Speaker 1: did not wait for my answer. I have been talking
• 39:18
  Speaker 1: to Mr. HPA, alias Preston, he continued. I pretended I
• 39:24
  Speaker 1: was a person of some importance. I hinted I was rich.
• 39:27
  Speaker 1: My object, Kinney added hastily,' was to encourage him to
• 39:32
  Speaker 1: try some of his tricks on me, to try to
• 39:35
  Speaker 1: rob me, so that I could obtain evidence. I also,'
• 39:40
  Speaker 1: he went on with some embarrassment,' told him that you
• 39:44
  Speaker 1: too were wealthy and of some importance.' I thought of
• 39:49
  Speaker 1: the lovely lady and I felt myself blushing indignantly. You
• 39:54
  Speaker 1: did very wrong, I cried. You had no right. You
• 39:58
  Speaker 1: may involve us both most unpleasantly. You are not involved
• 40:03
  Speaker 1: in any way, protested Kinney. As soon as we reach
• 40:07
  Speaker 1: New Bedford, you can slip on shore and wait for
• 40:09
  Speaker 1: me at the hotel. When I've finished with these gentlemen,
• 40:13
  Speaker 1: I'll join you. Finished with them, I exclaimed. What do
• 40:18
  Speaker 1: you mean to do to them? Arrest them, cried Kinney sternly,
• 40:25
  Speaker 1: as soon as they step upon the wharf. You can't
• 40:30
  Speaker 1: do it, I gasped. I have done it, answered Kinney.
• 40:36
  Speaker 1: It's good as done. I have notified the chief of
• 40:39
  Speaker 1: police at New Bedford, he declared proudly, to meet me
• 40:44
  Speaker 1: at the wharf. I used the wireless. Here is my message.
• 40:49
  Speaker 1: From his pocket he produced a paper and with great
• 40:52
  Speaker 1: importance read aloud, Meet me at wharf on arrival steamer patients.
• 40:58
  Speaker 1: Two well-known criminals on board escaping New York police will
• 41:03
  Speaker 1: personally lay charges against them. Forbes Kinney. As soon as
• 41:09
  Speaker 1: I could recover from my surprise I made violent protest.
• 41:14
  Speaker 1: I pointed out to Kinney that his conduct was outrageous,
• 41:17
  Speaker 1: that in making such serious charges on such evidence he
• 41:21
  Speaker 1: would lay himself open to punishment. He was not in
• 41:25
  Speaker 1: the least dismayed.' I take it, then,' he said importantly,'
• 41:30
  Speaker 1: that you do not wish to appear against them?'' I
• 41:34
  Speaker 1: do not wish to appear in it at all,' I cried.'
• 41:37
  Speaker 1: You have no right to annoy that young lady. You
• 41:40
  Speaker 1: must wire the police you are mistaken.' I have no
• 41:44
  Speaker 1: desire to arrest the woman, said Kinney stiffly. In my
• 41:49
  Speaker 1: message I did not mention her. If you want an
• 41:51
  Speaker 1: adventure of your own, you might help her to escape
• 41:54
  Speaker 1: while I arrest her accomplices. I object, I cried, to
• 42:00
  Speaker 1: your applying the word accomplice to that young lady. And
• 42:04
  Speaker 1: suppose they are criminals, I demanded. How will arresting them
• 42:09
  Speaker 1: help you? Kinney's eyes flashed with excitement.' Think of the newspapers,'
• 42:17
  Speaker 1: he cried.' They' ll be full of it.' Already in imagination
• 42:22
  Speaker 1: he saw the headlines.' A clever hole,' Hugh quoted.' Noted
• 42:27
  Speaker 1: band of crooks elude New York police but are captured
• 42:31
  Speaker 1: by Forbes Kinney.' He sighed contentedly.' And they'll probably print
• 42:37
  Speaker 1: my picture, too,' he added.' I knew I should be
• 42:42
  Speaker 1: angry with him, but instead I could only feel sorry.
• 42:46
  Speaker 1: I have known Kinney for a year, and I have
• 42:48
  Speaker 1: learned that his make-believe is always innocent. I suppose that
• 42:52
  Speaker 1: he is what is called a snob, but with him
• 42:55
  Speaker 1: snobbishness is not an unpleasant weakness. In his case it
• 42:59
  Speaker 1: takes the form of thinking that people who have certain
• 43:03
  Speaker 1: things he does not possess are better than himself, and
• 43:07
  Speaker 1: that therefore they must be worth knowing- and he tries
• 43:10
  Speaker 1: to make their acquaintance. But he does not think that
• 43:14
  Speaker 1: he himself is better than anyone. His life is very
• 43:17
  Speaker 1: bare and narrow. In consequence, on many things he places
• 43:22
  Speaker 1: false values. As, for example, his desire to see his
• 43:27
  Speaker 1: name in the newspapers, even as an amateur detective. So,
• 43:32
  Speaker 1: while I was indignant, I was also sorry. Joe, I said.
• 43:38
  Speaker 1: you're going to get yourself into an awful lot of
• 43:41
  Speaker 1: trouble and though i am not in this adventure you
• 43:44
  Speaker 1: know if i can help you i will he thanked
• 43:48
  Speaker 1: me and we went to the dining saloon there at
• 43:52
  Speaker 1: a table near ours we saw the lovely lady in
• 43:55
  Speaker 1: stumps and the american she again smiled at me but
• 44:00
  Speaker 1: this time so it seemed a little doubtfully in the
• 44:04
  Speaker 1: mind of the american on the contrary There was no doubt.
• 44:08
  Speaker 1: He glared both at Kinney and myself, as though he
• 44:12
  Speaker 1: would like to boil us in oil. After dinner, in
• 44:16
  Speaker 1: spite of my protests, Kinney set forth to interview him and,
• 44:21
  Speaker 1: as he described it, to lead him on to commit himself.
• 44:26
  Speaker 1: I feared Kinney was much more likely to commit himself
• 44:30
  Speaker 1: than the other, and when I saw them seated together
• 44:33
  Speaker 1: I watched from a distance with much anxiety. An hour later,
• 44:38
  Speaker 1: while I was alone, a steward told me the purser
• 44:42
  Speaker 1: would like to see me. I went to his office
• 44:45
  Speaker 1: and found gathered there Stumps, his American friend, the night
• 44:49
  Speaker 1: watchman of the boat, and the purser. As though inviting
• 44:54
  Speaker 1: him to speak, the purser nodded to the American. That
• 45:00
  Speaker 1: gentleman addressed me in an excited and belligerent manner. My
• 45:05
  Speaker 1: name is Aldrich, he said. I wanted to know what
• 45:09
  Speaker 1: your name is. I did not quite like his tone,
• 45:14
  Speaker 1: nor did I like being summoned to the purser's office
• 45:17
  Speaker 1: to be questioned by a stranger. Why? I asked. Because,
• 45:24
  Speaker 1: said Aldrich, it seems you have several names, as one
• 45:29
  Speaker 1: of them belongs to this gentleman, he pointed at Stump's,
• 45:33
  Speaker 1: He wants to know why you are using it. I
• 45:37
  Speaker 1: looked at Stumps and he greeted me with the vague
• 45:39
  Speaker 1: and genial smile that was habitual to him, but on
• 45:43
  Speaker 1: being caught in the act by Aldrich he hurriedly frowned.
• 45:48
  Speaker 1: I have never used any name but my own, I said, and,
• 45:53
  Speaker 1: I added pleasantly, if I were choosing a name I
• 45:56
  Speaker 1: wouldn't choose Stumps. Aldrich fairly gasped. His name is not Stamps,
• 46:04
  Speaker 1: he cried indignantly. He is the Earl of Ivy. He
• 46:10
  Speaker 1: evidently expected me to be surprised at this, and I
• 46:14
  Speaker 1: was surprised. I stared at the much-advertised young Irishman with interest.
• 46:21
  Speaker 1: Aldrich misunderstood my silence, and in a triumphant tone which
• 46:25
  Speaker 1: was far from pleasant, continued, So you see, he sneered.
• 46:31
  Speaker 1: When you choose to pass yourself off as Ivy, you
• 46:34
  Speaker 1: should have picked out another boat. The thing was too
• 46:39
  Speaker 1: absurd for me to be angry, and I demanded with patience,
• 46:44
  Speaker 1: but why should I pass myself off as Lord Ivy?
• 46:49
  Speaker 1: That's what we intend to find out, snapped Aldrich. Anyway,
• 46:54
  Speaker 1: we stopped your game for tonight, and tomorrow you can
• 46:57
  Speaker 1: explain to the police. Your pal, he taunted, has told
• 47:02
  Speaker 1: everyone on this boat that you are Lord Ivy, and
• 47:05
  Speaker 1: he's told me lies enough about himself to prove he's
• 47:09
  Speaker 1: an imposter too. I saw what had happened, and that
• 47:14
  Speaker 1: if I were to protect poor Kinney I must not,
• 47:17
  Speaker 1: as I felt inclined, use my fists but my head.
• 47:23
  Speaker 1: I laughed with apparent unconcern and turned to the person. Oh,
• 47:28
  Speaker 1: that's it, is it? I cried. I might have known
• 47:32
  Speaker 1: it was Kinney. He's always playing practical jokes on me.
• 47:37
  Speaker 1: I turned to Aldrich. My friend has been playing a
• 47:41
  Speaker 1: joke on you too, I said. He didn't know who
• 47:44
  Speaker 1: you were, but he saw you were an Anglomaniac and
• 47:47
  Speaker 1: he's been having fun with you. Has he? roared Aldrich.
• 47:53
  Speaker 1: He raged down to his pocket and pulled out a
• 47:56
  Speaker 1: piece of paper. This, he cried, shaking it at me.
• 48:01
  Speaker 1: is a copy of a wireless that I've just sent
• 48:04
  Speaker 1: to the chief of police at New Bedford. With great
• 48:08
  Speaker 1: satisfaction he read it in a loud and threatening voice.
• 48:13
  Speaker 1: Two imposters on this boat representing themselves to be Lord Ivy,
• 48:17
  Speaker 1: my future brother-in-law, and his secretary. Lord Ivy himself on board.
• 48:24
  Speaker 1: Send police to meet boat. We will make charges. Henry
• 48:28
  Speaker 1: Philip Aldrich. It occurred to me that after receiving two
• 48:34
  Speaker 1: such sensational telegrams and getting out of bed to meet
• 48:38
  Speaker 1: the boat at six in the morning, the chief of
• 48:41
  Speaker 1: police would be in a state of mind to arrest
• 48:44
  Speaker 1: almost anybody and that his choice would certainly fall on
• 48:48
  Speaker 1: Kinney and myself. It was ridiculous, but it was also
• 48:53
  Speaker 1: likely to prove extremely humiliating. So I said, speaking to
• 48:58
  Speaker 1: Lord Ivey... There's been a mistake all around. Send for Mr.
• 49:03
  Speaker 1: Kinney and I will explain it to you. Lord Ivy,
• 49:08
  Speaker 1: who was looking extremely bored, smiled and nodded, but young
• 49:12
  Speaker 1: Aldridge laughed ironically. Mr. Kinney is in his stateroom, he said,
• 49:19
  Speaker 1: with a steward guarding the door and window. You can
• 49:23
  Speaker 1: explain to-morrow to the police. I rounded indignantly upon the purser.
• 49:30
  Speaker 1: Are you keeping Mr. Kinney a prisoner in his stateroom?
• 49:34
  Speaker 1: I demanded. If you are— He doesn't have to stay there,
• 49:40
  Speaker 1: protested the purser sulkily. When he found the stewards were
• 49:44
  Speaker 1: following him, he went to his cabin. I will see
• 49:48
  Speaker 1: him at once, I said, and if I catch any
• 49:51
  Speaker 1: one of your stewards following me, I'll drop them overboard.
• 49:56
  Speaker 1: No one tried to stop me. Indeed, knowing I could
• 49:59
  Speaker 1: not escape, they seemed pleased at my departure, and I
• 50:04
  Speaker 1: went to my cabin. CHAPTER II. KINNEY, SEATED ON THE
• 50:15
  Speaker 1: EDGE OF THE BIRTH, GREETED ME WITH A HOLLOW GROAN.
• 50:36
  Speaker 1: His expression was one of utter misery, as though begging
• 50:40
  Speaker 1: me not to be angry, he threw out his arms appealingly.'
• 50:45
  Speaker 1: How the devil,' he began,' was I to know that
• 50:50
  Speaker 1: a little red-headed shrimp like that was the Earl of Ivy,
• 50:55
  Speaker 1: and that that tall blonde girl,' he added indignantly,' that
• 51:01
  Speaker 1: I thought was an accomplice, is Lady Moya, his sister?'
• 51:07
  Speaker 1: What happened? I asked. Kinney was wearing his hat. He
• 51:12
  Speaker 1: took it off and hurled it to the floor. It
• 51:16
  Speaker 1: was that damned hat, he cried. It's a Harvard ribbon,
• 51:21
  Speaker 1: all right, but only men on the crew can wear it.
• 51:25
  Speaker 1: How was I to know that? I saw Aldrich looking
• 51:29
  Speaker 1: at it in a puzzled way, and when he said,
• 51:32
  Speaker 1: I see you are on the crew, I guessed what
• 51:36
  Speaker 1: it meant, and I said I was on last year's crow. Unfortunately,
• 51:41
  Speaker 1: he was on last year's crow. That's what made him
• 51:45
  Speaker 1: suspect me, and after dinner he put me through a
• 51:48
  Speaker 1: third degree. I must have given the wrong answers, for
• 51:52
  Speaker 1: suddenly he jumped up and called me a swindler and
• 51:56
  Speaker 1: an imposter. I got back by telling him he was
• 52:00
  Speaker 1: a crook and that I was a detective, and that
• 52:03
  Speaker 1: I had sent a wireless to have him arrested at
• 52:06
  Speaker 1: New Bedford. He challenged me to prove I was a detective,
• 52:11
  Speaker 1: and of course I couldn't, and he called up two
• 52:14
  Speaker 1: stewards and told them to watch me while he went
• 52:18
  Speaker 1: after the purser. I didn't fancy being watched, so I
• 52:22
  Speaker 1: came here. When did you tell him I was the
• 52:26
  Speaker 1: Earl of Ivy?' Kinney ran his fingers through his hair
• 52:31
  Speaker 1: and groaned dismally.'' That was before the boat started,'' he said.''
• 52:38
  Speaker 1: It was only a joke. He didn't seem to be
• 52:41
  Speaker 1: interested in my conversation, so I thought I'd liven it
• 52:45
  Speaker 1: up a bit by saying I was a friend of
• 52:47
  Speaker 1: Lord Ivey's. And you happened to pass, and I happened
• 52:52
  Speaker 1: to remember Mrs Shaw saying you looked like a British peer,
• 52:55
  Speaker 1: so I said,'' That is my friend.'' Lord Ivy, I
• 53:00
  Speaker 1: said I was your secretary and he seemed greatly interested and,
• 53:05
  Speaker 1: Kinney added dismally, I talked too much. I'm so sorry,
• 53:12
  Speaker 1: he begged. It's going to be awful for you. His
• 53:16
  Speaker 1: eyes suddenly lit with hope. Unless, he whispered, we can escape.
• 53:24
  Speaker 1: The same thought was in my mind, but the idea
• 53:27
  Speaker 1: was absurd and impracticable. I knew there was no escape.
• 53:32
  Speaker 1: I knew we were sentenced at sunrise to a most
• 53:35
  Speaker 1: humiliating and disgraceful experience. The newspapers would regard anything that
• 53:41
  Speaker 1: concerned Lord Ivey as news. In my turn, I also
• 53:45
  Speaker 1: saw the hideous headlines— what would my father and mother
• 53:50
  Speaker 1: at fairport think what would my old friends there think
• 53:55
  Speaker 1: and what was of even greater importance how would joyce
• 53:59
  Speaker 1: and carboy act what chance was there left me after
• 54:04
  Speaker 1: i had been arrested as an impostor to become a
• 54:07
  Speaker 1: stenographer in the law courts in time a member of
• 54:11
  Speaker 1: the bar but i found that what for the moment
• 54:16
  Speaker 1: distressed me most was that the lovely lady would consider
• 54:20
  Speaker 1: me a knave or a fool The thought made me
• 54:24
  Speaker 1: exclaim with exasperation. Had it been possible to abandon Kinney,
• 54:29
  Speaker 1: I would have dropped overboard and made for shore. The
• 54:33
  Speaker 1: night was warm and foggy, and the short journey to land,
• 54:38
  Speaker 1: to one who had been brought up like a duck,
• 54:41
  Speaker 1: meant nothing more than a wetting. But I did not
• 54:44
  Speaker 1: see how I could desert Kinney.' Can you swim?' I asked.'
• 54:51
  Speaker 1: Of course not,' he answered gloomily.' And besides,' he added,'
• 54:56
  Speaker 1: our names are on the suitcases.' We couldn't take them
• 55:00
  Speaker 1: with us and they'd find out who we are.' If
• 55:03
  Speaker 1: we could only steal a boat,' he exclaimed eagerly,' one
• 55:08
  Speaker 1: of those on the Davids,' he urged,' we could put
• 55:12
  Speaker 1: our suitcases in it and then, after everyone is asleep,'
• 55:16
  Speaker 1: we could lower it into the water.' The smallest boat
• 55:21
  Speaker 1: on board was certified to hold 25 persons, and without
• 55:26
  Speaker 1: waking the entire ship's company, we could as easily have
• 55:30
  Speaker 1: moved the charter home. This I pointed out. Don't make objections,
• 55:37
  Speaker 1: Kinney cried petulantly. He was rapidly recovering his spirits. The
• 55:43
  Speaker 1: imminence of danger seemed to inspire him. Think, he commanded.
• 55:49
  Speaker 1: Think of some way by which we can get off
• 55:52
  Speaker 1: this boat before she reaches New Bedford. We must. We
• 55:56
  Speaker 1: must not be arrested. It would be too awful. He
• 56:01
  Speaker 1: interrupted himself with an excited exclamation. I have it, he
• 56:06
  Speaker 1: whispered hoarsely. I will ring in the fire alarm. The
• 56:10
  Speaker 1: crew will run to quarters. The boats will be lowered.
• 56:14
  Speaker 1: We will cut one of them adrift. In the confusion—
• 56:19
  Speaker 1: What was to happen in the confusion that his imagination
• 56:22
  Speaker 1: had conjured up, I was not to know, for what
• 56:26
  Speaker 1: actually happened was so confused that of nothing am I
• 56:31
  Speaker 1: quite certain. First, from the water of the sound that
• 56:35
  Speaker 1: was lapping pleasantly against the side, I heard the voice
• 56:40
  Speaker 1: of a man raised in terror. Then came a rush
• 56:44
  Speaker 1: of feet, oaths, and yells, then a shock that threw
• 56:49
  Speaker 1: us to our knees, and a crunching, ripping and tearing roar,
• 56:55
  Speaker 1: like that made by the roof of a burning building
• 56:58
  Speaker 1: when it plunges to the cellar. And the next instant
• 57:03
  Speaker 1: a large bow-spirit entered our cabin window. There was left
• 57:09
  Speaker 1: me just enough to wrench the door open and grabbing
• 57:14
  Speaker 1: kinney who was still on his knees i dragged him
• 57:18
  Speaker 1: into the alleyway he scrambled upright and clasped his hands
• 57:23
  Speaker 1: to his head where's my hat he cried i could
• 57:28
  Speaker 1: hear the water pouring into the lower deck and sweeping
• 57:31
  Speaker 1: the fright and trunks before it A horse in a
• 57:35
  Speaker 1: box stall was squealing like a human being and many
• 57:40
  Speaker 1: human beings were screaming and shrieking like animals. My first
• 57:46
  Speaker 1: intelligent thought was of the lovely lady. I shook Kimmy
• 57:50
  Speaker 1: by the arm. The uproar was so great that to
• 57:54
  Speaker 1: make him hear I was forced to shout. Where is
• 57:58
  Speaker 1: Lord Ivy's cabin? I cried. You said it's next to
• 58:03
  Speaker 1: his sister's. Take me there. Kinney nodded and ran down
• 58:08
  Speaker 1: the corridor and into an alleyway on which opened three cabins.
• 58:13
  Speaker 1: The doors were ajar and as I looked into each
• 58:16
  Speaker 1: I saw that the beds had not been touched and
• 58:19
  Speaker 1: that the cabins were empty. I knew then that she
• 58:23
  Speaker 1: was still on deck. I felt that I must find her.
• 58:28
  Speaker 1: We ran towards the companionway.' Women and children first!' Kinney
• 58:34
  Speaker 1: was yelling.' Women and children first!' As we raced down
• 58:39
  Speaker 1: the slanting floor of the saloon, he kept repeating this mechanically.
• 58:45
  Speaker 1: At that moment the electric lights went out, and except
• 58:48
  Speaker 1: for the oil lamps, the ship was in darkness. Many
• 58:53
  Speaker 1: of the passengers had already gone to bed. These now
• 58:56
  Speaker 1: burst from the state rooms in strange garments. carrying life preservers, handbags,
• 59:04
  Speaker 1: their arms full of clothing. One man in one hand
• 59:08
  Speaker 1: clutched a sponged in the other an umbrella. With this
• 59:13
  Speaker 1: he beat at those who blocked his flight. He hit
• 59:16
  Speaker 1: a woman over the head, and I hit him, and
• 59:19
  Speaker 1: he went down. Finding himself on his knees, he began
• 59:24
  Speaker 1: to pray volubly. When we reached the upper deck we
• 59:29
  Speaker 1: pushed out of the crush at the gangway and, to
• 59:32
  Speaker 1: keep our footing, for there was a strong list to port,
• 59:36
  Speaker 1: clung to the big flagstaff at the stern. At each
• 59:41
  Speaker 1: rail the crew were swinging the boats over the side,
• 59:45
  Speaker 1: and around each boat was a crazy, fighting mob. Above
• 59:50
  Speaker 1: our starboard rail towered the foremast of a schooner, She
• 59:54
  Speaker 1: had rammed us fair amid ships, and in her bows
• 59:58
  Speaker 1: was a hole through which she could have rowed a boat.
• 1:00:02
  Speaker 1: Into this the water was rushing and sucking her down.
• 1:00:05
  Speaker 1: She was already settling at the stern. By the light
• 1:00:09
  Speaker 1: of a swinging lantern I saw three of her crew
• 1:00:12
  Speaker 1: lift a yawl from her deck and lower it into
• 1:00:15
  Speaker 1: the water. Into it they hurled oars and a sail,
• 1:00:19
  Speaker 1: and one of them had already started to slide down
• 1:00:22
  Speaker 1: the painter, when the schooner lurched drunkenly, and in a
• 1:00:27
  Speaker 1: panic all three of the men ran forward and leaped
• 1:00:31
  Speaker 1: to our lower deck. The yawl, abandoned, swung idly between
• 1:00:37
  Speaker 1: the patients and the schooner. Kinney, seeing what I saw,
• 1:00:42
  Speaker 1: grabbed me by the arm. There, he whispered, pointing, there's
• 1:00:48
  Speaker 1: our chance. I saw that, with safety, the yawl could
• 1:00:53
  Speaker 1: hold a third person, and as to who the third
• 1:00:57
  Speaker 1: passenger would be I had already made up my mind.
• 1:01:01
  Speaker 1: Wait here, I said. On the patience there were many immigrants,
• 1:01:06
  Speaker 1: only that afternoon released from Ellis Island. They had swarmed
• 1:01:11
  Speaker 1: into the lifeboats even before they were swung clear, and
• 1:01:15
  Speaker 1: when the ship's officers drove them off, the poor souls...
• 1:01:20
  Speaker 1: not being able to understand, believed they were being sacrificed
• 1:01:24
  Speaker 1: for the safety of the other passengers. So each was fighting,
• 1:01:29
  Speaker 1: as he thought, for his life and for the lives
• 1:01:32
  Speaker 1: of his wife and children. At the edge of the
• 1:01:36
  Speaker 1: scrimmage I dragged out two women who had been knocked
• 1:01:39
  Speaker 1: off their feet and who were in danger of being trampled,
• 1:01:43
  Speaker 1: but neither was the woman I sought. In the half-darkness
• 1:01:47
  Speaker 1: I saw one of the immigrants, a girl with a
• 1:01:50
  Speaker 1: kerchief on her head, struggling with her life belt. A stoker,
• 1:01:56
  Speaker 1: as he raced past, seized it and made for the rail.
• 1:02:00
  Speaker 1: In my turn I took it from him, and he
• 1:02:02
  Speaker 1: fought for it, shouting, It's every man for himself now.
• 1:02:07
  Speaker 1: All right, I said, for I was excited and angry.
• 1:02:11
  Speaker 1: Look out for yourself, then. I hit him on the chin,
• 1:02:15
  Speaker 1: and he let go of the life belt and dropped.
• 1:02:19
  Speaker 1: I heard at my elbow a low, excited laugh, and
• 1:02:22
  Speaker 1: a voice said, Well, bold, you never learned that in
• 1:02:26
  Speaker 1: an office. I turned and saw the lovely lady. I
• 1:02:31
  Speaker 1: tossed the immigrant girl her life belt, and as though
• 1:02:34
  Speaker 1: I had known Lady Moya all my life, I took
• 1:02:37
  Speaker 1: her by the hand and dragged her after me down
• 1:02:40
  Speaker 1: the deck. You come with me, I commanded. I found
• 1:02:45
  Speaker 1: that I was trembling. and that a weight of anxiety
• 1:02:48
  Speaker 1: of which I had not been conscious had been lifted.
• 1:02:52
  Speaker 1: I found I was still holding her hand and pressing
• 1:02:55
  Speaker 1: it in my own. Thank God, I said, I thought
• 1:03:00
  Speaker 1: I had lost you. Lost me, repeated Lady Moya, but
• 1:03:06
  Speaker 1: she made no comment. I must find my brother, she said.
• 1:03:11
  Speaker 1: You must come with me, I ordered. Go with Mr.
• 1:03:15
  Speaker 1: Kinney to the lower deck. I will bring that rowboat
• 1:03:18
  Speaker 1: under the stern. You will jump into it. I cannot
• 1:03:23
  Speaker 1: leave my brother, said Lady Moya. Upon the word, as
• 1:03:27
  Speaker 1: though shot from a cannon, the human whirlpool that was
• 1:03:31
  Speaker 1: sweeping the deck amid ships cast out Stumps and hurled
• 1:03:35
  Speaker 1: him toward us. His sister gave a little cry of relief.
• 1:03:40
  Speaker 1: Stumps recovered his balance and shook himself like a dog
• 1:03:43
  Speaker 1: that has been in the water. I thought I'd never
• 1:03:47
  Speaker 1: get out of it alive, he remarked complacently. In the
• 1:03:51
  Speaker 1: darkness I could not see his face, but I was
• 1:03:54
  Speaker 1: sure he was still vaguely smiling. Worse than a football night,
• 1:03:59
  Speaker 1: he exclaimed. Worse than Maeve King night. His sister pointed
• 1:04:05
  Speaker 1: to the yawl. This gentleman is going to bring that
• 1:04:09
  Speaker 1: boat here and take us away in it, she told him.
• 1:04:12
  Speaker 1: We had better go when we can. Right-o! assented Stumps cheerfully.
• 1:04:19
  Speaker 1: How about Phil? He's just behind me. As he spoke,
• 1:04:23
  Speaker 1: only a few yards from us a peevish voice pierced
• 1:04:27
  Speaker 1: the tumult. I tell you, it cried, you must find
• 1:04:32
  Speaker 1: Lord Ivy, if Lord Ivy... A voice with a strong
• 1:04:37
  Speaker 1: and brutal American accent yelled in answer, to hell with
• 1:04:41
  Speaker 1: Lord Ivy. Lady Moya chuckled. Get to the lower deck,
• 1:04:47
  Speaker 1: I commanded. I am going for the yawl. As I
• 1:04:51
  Speaker 1: slipped my leg over the rail, I heard Lord Ivy say,
• 1:04:55
  Speaker 1: I'll find Phil and meet you. I dropped and caught
• 1:04:59
  Speaker 1: the rail of the deck below, and hanging from it,
• 1:05:02
  Speaker 1: shoved with my knees and fell into the water. Two
• 1:05:06
  Speaker 1: strokes brought me to the yawl, and scrambling into her
• 1:05:10
  Speaker 1: and casting her off, I paddled back to the steamer.
• 1:05:15
  Speaker 1: As I lay under the stern, I heard from the
• 1:05:17
  Speaker 1: lower deck the voice of Kinney, raised importantly. Ladies first,
• 1:05:23
  Speaker 1: he cried. Her ladyship first, I mean, he corrected. Even
• 1:05:28
  Speaker 1: on leaving what he believed to be a sinking ship,
• 1:05:31
  Speaker 1: Kinney could not forget his manners. But Mr. Aldrich had
• 1:05:35
  Speaker 1: evidently forgotten his. I heard him shout indignantly, I'll be
• 1:05:40
  Speaker 1: damned if I do. The voice of Lady Moya laughed.
• 1:05:45
  Speaker 1: You'll be drowned if you don't, she answered. I saw
• 1:05:49
  Speaker 1: a black shadow poised upon the rail. Steady below there,
• 1:05:53
  Speaker 1: her voice called, and the next moment, as lightly as
• 1:05:56
  Speaker 1: a squirrel, she dropped to the thwart and stumbled into
• 1:06:00
  Speaker 1: my arms. The voice of Aldrich was again raised in anger.
• 1:06:05
  Speaker 1: I'd rather drown, he cried. Lord Ivy responded with unexpected spirit.
• 1:06:12
  Speaker 1: Well then, drown. The water is warm and it's a
• 1:06:15
  Speaker 1: pleasing death. After that, with a bump, he fell in
• 1:06:19
  Speaker 1: a heap at my feet. Easy, Kinney, I shouted. Don't
• 1:06:24
  Speaker 1: swamp us. I'll be careful, he called, and the next
• 1:06:29
  Speaker 1: instance hit my shoulders and I shook him off on
• 1:06:31
  Speaker 1: top of Lord Ivey. Get off my head, shouted his lordship.
• 1:06:37
  Speaker 1: Kinney apologised to everyone profusely. Lady Moya raised her voice.
• 1:06:43
  Speaker 1: For the last time, Phil, she called, are you coming
• 1:06:46
  Speaker 1: or are you not? Not with those swindlers, I'm not,
• 1:06:51
  Speaker 1: he shouted. I think you two are mad. I'd prefer
• 1:06:55
  Speaker 1: to drown. There was an uncomfortable silence. My position was
• 1:07:00
  Speaker 1: a difficult one, and not knowing what to say, I
• 1:07:03
  Speaker 1: said nothing. If one must drown, exclaimed Lady Moya briskly,
• 1:07:09
  Speaker 1: I can't see it matters who one drowns with. In
• 1:07:13
  Speaker 1: his strangely explosive manner, Lord Ivy shouted suddenly,' Phil, you're
• 1:07:20
  Speaker 1: a silly ass!'' Push off!' commanded Lady Moya. I think,
• 1:07:27
  Speaker 1: from her tone, the order was given more for the
• 1:07:30
  Speaker 1: benefit of Aldrich than for myself. Certainly it was effective,
• 1:07:35
  Speaker 1: for on the instant there was a heavy splash. Lord
• 1:07:39
  Speaker 1: Ivy sniffed scornfully and and manifested no interest. Ah, he exclaimed,
• 1:07:46
  Speaker 1: he prefers to drown. Sputtering and gasping, Aldrich rose out
• 1:07:53
  Speaker 1: of the water, and while we balanced the boat, climbed
• 1:07:57
  Speaker 1: over the side. Understand, he cried even while he was
• 1:08:02
  Speaker 1: still gasping, I am here under protest, I am here
• 1:08:06
  Speaker 1: to protect you and Stums, I am under obligation to
• 1:08:10
  Speaker 1: no one, I am Can you row, I asked. Why
• 1:08:15
  Speaker 1: don't you ask your pal, he demanded savagely. He rowed
• 1:08:19
  Speaker 1: on last year's crew. Fill, cried Lady Moya. Her voice
• 1:08:25
  Speaker 1: suggested a temper I had not suspected. You will row
• 1:08:29
  Speaker 1: or you can get out and walk. Take the oars,
• 1:08:33
  Speaker 1: she commanded, and be civil. Lady Moya, with the tiller
• 1:08:38
  Speaker 1: in her hand, sat in the stand, stumps with kinney
• 1:08:42
  Speaker 1: huddled at his knees was stowed away forward i took
• 1:08:47
  Speaker 1: the stroke and aldrich the bow oars we will make
• 1:08:52
  Speaker 1: for the connecticut shore i said and pulled from under
• 1:08:55
  Speaker 1: the stern of the patients in a few moments we
• 1:08:59
  Speaker 1: had lost all sight and, except for her whistle, all
• 1:09:03
  Speaker 1: sound of her, and we ourselves were lost in the fog.
• 1:09:07
  Speaker 1: There was another eloquent and embarrassing silence. Unless, in the panic,
• 1:09:12
  Speaker 1: they trampled upon each other, I had no real fear
• 1:09:16
  Speaker 1: for the safety of those on board the steamer, Before
• 1:09:19
  Speaker 1: we had abandoned her I had heard the wireless frantically sputtering,
• 1:09:23
  Speaker 1: the standby call, and I was certain that already the
• 1:09:27
  Speaker 1: big boats of the full river, Providence and Joy Lines,
• 1:09:32
  Speaker 1: and launches from every wireless station between Bridgeport and Newport
• 1:09:37
  Speaker 1: were making toward her. But the margin of safety, which
• 1:09:42
  Speaker 1: to my thinking was broad enough for all the other passengers,
• 1:09:46
  Speaker 1: for the lovely lady was in no way sufficient. That
• 1:09:50
  Speaker 1: mob-swept deck was no place for her. I was happy that,
• 1:09:54
  Speaker 1: on her account, I had not waited for a possible rescue.
• 1:09:59
  Speaker 1: In the yawl she was safe. The water was smooth
• 1:10:03
  Speaker 1: and the Connecticut shore was, I judged, no more than
• 1:10:07
  Speaker 1: three miles distant. In an hour, unless the fog confused us,
• 1:10:12
  Speaker 1: I felt sure the lovely lady would again walk safely
• 1:10:15
  Speaker 1: upon dry land. Selfishly, on Kinney's account and my own,
• 1:10:21
  Speaker 1: I was delighted to find myself free of the steamer,
• 1:10:25
  Speaker 1: and from any chance of her landing us where police
• 1:10:28
  Speaker 1: waited with open arms. The avenging angel in the person
• 1:10:33
  Speaker 1: of Aldrich was still near us, so near that I
• 1:10:36
  Speaker 1: could hear the water dripping from his clothes, but his
• 1:10:39
  Speaker 1: power to harm was gone. I was congratulating myself on this,
• 1:10:45
  Speaker 1: when suddenly he undeceived me. Apparently he had been considering
• 1:10:49
  Speaker 1: his position toward Kinney and myself, and having arrived at
• 1:10:53
  Speaker 1: a conclusion, was anxious to announce it. I wish to repeat,
• 1:10:59
  Speaker 1: he exclaimed suddenly, that I am under obligations to nobody,
• 1:11:03
  Speaker 1: just because my friends, he went on defiantly, chose to
• 1:11:08
  Speaker 1: trust themselves with persons who ought to be in jail,
• 1:11:12
  Speaker 1: I can't desert them. It's all the more reason why
• 1:11:16
  Speaker 1: I shouldn't desert them. That's why I'm here, and I
• 1:11:19
  Speaker 1: want it understood as soon as I get on shore
• 1:11:22
  Speaker 1: I'm going to a police station and have those persons arrested.
• 1:11:28
  Speaker 1: Rising out of the fog that had rendered each of
• 1:11:31
  Speaker 1: us invisible to the other, his words sounded fantastic and unreal.
• 1:11:36
  Speaker 1: In the dripping silence, broken only by hoarse warnings that
• 1:11:41
  Speaker 1: came from no direction, and within the mind of each
• 1:11:44
  Speaker 1: the conviction that we were lost, police stations did not
• 1:11:48
  Speaker 1: immediately concern us. So no one spoke, and in the
• 1:11:53
  Speaker 1: fog the words died away and were drowned. But I
• 1:11:57
  Speaker 1: was glad he had spoken. At least I was forewarned.
• 1:12:01
  Speaker 1: I now knew that I had not escaped, that Kimmy
• 1:12:04
  Speaker 1: and I were still in danger. I determined that so
• 1:12:08
  Speaker 1: far as it lay with me, our yawl would be
• 1:12:11
  Speaker 1: beached at that point on the coast of Connecticut, farthest removed,
• 1:12:16
  Speaker 1: not only from police stations but from all human habitation.
• 1:12:22
  Speaker 1: As soon as we were out of hearing of the
• 1:12:24
  Speaker 1: patient and her whistle, we completely lost our bearings. It
• 1:12:29
  Speaker 1: may be that Lady Moya was not a skilled cockswain,
• 1:12:34
  Speaker 1: or it may be that Aldrich understands a racing skull
• 1:12:37
  Speaker 1: better than a yawl, and pulled too heavily on his right,
• 1:12:41
  Speaker 1: but whatever the cause we soon were hopelessly lost. In
• 1:12:46
  Speaker 1: this predicament we were not alone. The night was filled
• 1:12:50
  Speaker 1: with foghorns, whistles, bells, and the throb of engines, but
• 1:12:56
  Speaker 1: we never were near enough to hail the vessels from
• 1:12:59
  Speaker 1: which the sounds came, and when we rode toward them,
• 1:13:03
  Speaker 1: they invariably sank into silence. After two hours, Stumps and
• 1:13:09
  Speaker 1: Kinney insisted on taking a turn at the oars, and
• 1:13:13
  Speaker 1: Lady Moya moved to the bow. We gave her our coats,
• 1:13:17
  Speaker 1: and making cushions of these, she announced that she was
• 1:13:21
  Speaker 1: going to sleep. Whether she slept or not, I do
• 1:13:25
  Speaker 1: not know, but she remained silent. For three more dreary
• 1:13:30
  Speaker 1: hours we took turns at the oars, or dozed at
• 1:13:33
  Speaker 1: the bottom of the boat, while we continued aimlessly to
• 1:13:37
  Speaker 1: drift upon the face of the waters. It was now
• 1:13:41
  Speaker 1: five o'clock, and the fog had so far lighted that
• 1:13:44
  Speaker 1: we could see each other and a stretch of open water.
• 1:13:49
  Speaker 1: At intervals, the foghorns of vessels passing us, but hidden
• 1:13:53
  Speaker 1: from us, tormented Aldrich to a state of extreme exasperation.
• 1:13:59
  Speaker 1: He hailed them with frantic shrieks and shouts, and Stumps
• 1:14:04
  Speaker 1: and the Lady Moya shouted with him. I fear Kinney
• 1:14:08
  Speaker 1: and myself did not contribute any great volume of sound
• 1:14:12
  Speaker 1: to the general chorus. To be rescued was the last
• 1:14:16
  Speaker 1: thing we desired. The yacht or tug that would receive
• 1:14:21
  Speaker 1: us on board would also put us on shore, where
• 1:14:24
  Speaker 1: the vindictive Aldrich would have us at his mercy.' We
• 1:14:28
  Speaker 1: preferred the freedom of our yawl and the shelter of
• 1:14:32
  Speaker 1: the fog. Our silence was not lost upon Aldrich. For
• 1:14:36
  Speaker 1: some time he had been crouching in the bow, whispering
• 1:14:40
  Speaker 1: indignantly to Lady Moya. Now he exclaimed aloud, What did
• 1:14:45
  Speaker 1: I tell you? he cried contemptuously. They got away in
• 1:14:49
  Speaker 1: this boat because they were afraid of me, not because
• 1:14:52
  Speaker 1: they were afraid of being drowned. If they've nothing to
• 1:14:56
  Speaker 1: be afraid of, Why are they so anxious to keep
• 1:14:59
  Speaker 1: us drifting around all night in this fog? Why don't
• 1:15:02
  Speaker 1: they help us stop one of those tugs? Lord Ivy
• 1:15:08
  Speaker 1: exploded suddenly. Rot, he exclaimed. If they're afraid of you,
• 1:15:14
  Speaker 1: why did they ask you to go with them? They didn't,
• 1:15:18
  Speaker 1: cried Aldrich, truthfully and triumphantly. They kidnapped you and Moya
• 1:15:24
  Speaker 1: because they thought they could square themselves with you, but
• 1:15:28
  Speaker 1: they didn't want me. The issue had been fairly stated,
• 1:15:33
  Speaker 1: and no longer with self-respect could I remain silent. We
• 1:15:38
  Speaker 1: don't want you now, I said. Can't you understand? I
• 1:15:42
  Speaker 1: went on with as much self-restraint as I could muster.
• 1:15:46
  Speaker 1: We are willing and anxious to explain ourselves to Lord Ivy.
• 1:15:50
  Speaker 1: or even to you, but we don't want to explain
• 1:15:53
  Speaker 1: to the police. My friend thought you and Lord Ivy
• 1:15:56
  Speaker 1: were crooks escaping. You think we are crooks escaping. You both...
• 1:16:02
  Speaker 1: Aldrich snorted contemptuously. That's a likely story, he cried. No
• 1:16:09
  Speaker 1: wonder you don't want to tell that to the police.
• 1:16:14
  Speaker 1: From the bow came an exclamation and Lady Moya rose
• 1:16:18
  Speaker 1: to her feet. Phil, she said, you bore me. She
• 1:16:23
  Speaker 1: picked her way across the thwart to where Kinney sat
• 1:16:26
  Speaker 1: at the stroke oar. My brother and I often row together,
• 1:16:31
  Speaker 1: she said. I will take your place. When she had
• 1:16:35
  Speaker 1: seated herself, we were so near that her eyes looked
• 1:16:38
  Speaker 1: directly into mine. Drawing in the oars, she leaned upon
• 1:16:43
  Speaker 1: them and smiled. Now then, she commanded, tell us all
• 1:16:48
  Speaker 1: about it. Before I could speak, there came from behind
• 1:16:52
  Speaker 1: her a sudden radiance, and as though a curtain had
• 1:16:55
  Speaker 1: been snatched aside, the fog flew apart, and the sun, dripping,
• 1:17:01
  Speaker 1: crimson and gorgeous, sprang from the waters. From the others
• 1:17:07
  Speaker 1: there was a cry of wonder and delight, and from
• 1:17:10
  Speaker 1: Lord Ivy a shriek of incredulous laughter. Lady Moya clapped
• 1:17:16
  Speaker 1: her hands joyfully and pointed past me. I turned and looked.
• 1:17:22
  Speaker 1: Directly behind me, not fifty feet from us, was a
• 1:17:25
  Speaker 1: shelving beach and a stone wharf, and above it a
• 1:17:29
  Speaker 1: vine-covered cottage, from the chimney of which smoke curled cheerily.
• 1:17:35
  Speaker 1: Had the yawl, while Lady Moya was taking the oars,
• 1:17:40
  Speaker 1: not swung in a circle, and had the sun not risen,
• 1:17:44
  Speaker 1: in three minutes more we would have bumped ourselves into
• 1:17:47
  Speaker 1: the state of Connecticut. The cottage stood on one horn
• 1:17:51
  Speaker 1: of a tiny harbour. Beyond it, water-beaten shingled houses, sail-lofts
• 1:17:58
  Speaker 1: and wharfs stretched cosily in a half-circle. Back of them
• 1:18:04
  Speaker 1: rose splendid elms and the delicate spire of a church,
• 1:18:09
  Speaker 1: and from the unruffled surface of the harbour the masts
• 1:18:13
  Speaker 1: of many fishing-boats. Across the water, on a grass-grown point,
• 1:18:19
  Speaker 1: A white-washed lighthouse blushed in the crimson glory of the sun.
• 1:18:25
  Speaker 1: Except for an oyster-man in his boat at the end
• 1:18:27
  Speaker 1: of the wharf, and the smoke from the chimney of
• 1:18:30
  Speaker 1: his cottage, the little village slept, the harbour slept. It
• 1:18:36
  Speaker 1: was a picture of perfect content, confidence and peace.' Oh!'
• 1:18:42
  Speaker 1: cried the Lady Moya.' How pretty! How pretty!' Lodai V.
• 1:18:50
  Speaker 1: swung the bow about and raced toward the wharf. The
• 1:18:54
  Speaker 1: others stood up and cheered hysterically. At this sound and
• 1:18:59
  Speaker 1: at the sight of us emerging so mysteriously from the fog,
• 1:19:02
  Speaker 1: the man in the fishing-boat raised himself to his full height,
• 1:19:06
  Speaker 1: and stared as incredulously as though he beheld a mermaid.
• 1:19:11
  Speaker 1: He was an old man, but straight and tall, and
• 1:19:15
  Speaker 1: the oysterman's boots stretching to his hips made him appear
• 1:19:19
  Speaker 1: even taller than he was. He had a bristling white beard,
• 1:19:24
  Speaker 1: and his face was tanned to a fierce copper colour,
• 1:19:28
  Speaker 1: but his eyes were blue and young and gentle. They
• 1:19:31
  Speaker 1: lit suddenly with excitement and sympathy.' Are you from the patients?'
• 1:19:37
  Speaker 1: he shouted. In a chorus we answered that we were,
• 1:19:41
  Speaker 1: and Ivy pulled the yawl alongside the fisherman's boat. But
• 1:19:45
  Speaker 1: already the old man had turned, and making a megaphone
• 1:19:49
  Speaker 1: of his hand, was shouting to the cottage.' Mother!' he cried.' Mother,
• 1:19:56
  Speaker 1: here are folks from the wreck! Get coffee and blankets
• 1:20:00
  Speaker 1: and— and bacon and eggs!' May the Lord bless him! exclaimed
• 1:20:07
  Speaker 1: the Lady Moya devoutly. But Aldrich, excited and eager, pulled
• 1:20:12
  Speaker 1: out a roll of bills and shook them at the man.
• 1:20:16
  Speaker 1: Do you want to earn ten dollars? he demanded. Then
• 1:20:19
  Speaker 1: chase yourself to the village and bring the constable. Lady
• 1:20:24
  Speaker 1: Moya exclaimed bitterly. Lord Ivey swore. Kinney, in despair, uttered
• 1:20:29
  Speaker 1: a dismal howl and dropped his head in his hands.
• 1:20:35
  Speaker 1: It's no use, Mr. Aldrich, I said. Seated in the stern,
• 1:20:40
  Speaker 1: the others had hidden me from the fishermen. Now I
• 1:20:43
  Speaker 1: stood up and he saw me. I laid one hand
• 1:20:46
  Speaker 1: on his and pointed to the tin badge on his suspender.
• 1:20:52
  Speaker 1: He is the village constable himself, I explained. I turned
• 1:20:57
  Speaker 1: to the lovely lady. Lady Moya, I said. I want
• 1:21:02
  Speaker 1: to introduce you to my father. I pointed to the
• 1:21:06
  Speaker 1: vine-covered cottage. That's my home, I said. I pointed to
• 1:21:11
  Speaker 1: the sleeping town. That, I told her, is the village
• 1:21:16
  Speaker 1: of Fairport. Most of it belongs to my father. You
• 1:21:20
  Speaker 1: are all very welcome. End of chapter 2 End of
• 1:21:28
  Speaker 1: The Make-Believe Man by Richard Harding Davies Read by Carolyn,
• 1:21:34
  Speaker 1: one evening in June, in the middle of allergy season,
• 1:21:38
  Speaker 1: in Hanover, Germany.