Latest / Man Who Was Thursday, A Nightmare (Dramatic Reading) / 11 - Man Who Was Thursday, A Nightmare (Dramatic Reading) by G K Chesterton

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11 - Man Who Was Thursday, A Nightmare (Dramatic Reading) by G K Chesterton · Man Who Was Thursday, A Nightmare (Dramatic Reading)

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: The duel Sime sat down at a cafe table with
• 0:05
  Speaker 1: his companions, his blue eyes sparkling like the bright sea below,
• 0:10
  Speaker 1: and ordered a bottle of sommer with a pleased impatience.
• 0:14
  Speaker 1: He was, for some reason in a condition of curious hilarity.
• 0:18
  Speaker 1: His spirits were already unnaturally high. They rose as the
• 0:22
  Speaker 1: sommer sank, and in half an hour his talk was
• 0:26
  Speaker 1: a torrent of nonsense. He professed to be making out
• 0:30
  Speaker 1: a plan of the conversation which was going to ensue
• 0:33
  Speaker 1: between himself and the deadly Marquis. He jotted it down
• 0:37
  Speaker 1: wildly with a pencil. It was arranged like a printed catechism,
• 0:42
  Speaker 1: with questions and answers, and was delivered with an extraordinary
• 0:47
  Speaker 1: rapidity of utterance.
• 0:49
  Speaker 2: I shall approach, before taking of his hat, but sick
• 0:52
  Speaker 2: of fayon, I shall say the Marquis de Saint Eustache.
• 0:55
  Speaker 2: I believe he'll say, the celebrated mister Syme. I presume
• 0:59
  Speaker 2: he'll saying, the most exquisite French, how are you? I
• 1:02
  Speaker 2: shall reply, in the most exquisite cockney. Oh just the sign.
• 1:06
  Speaker 1: Oh shut it, said the man in spectacles.
• 1:10
  Speaker 3: Put yourself together and chuck away that bit of paper.
• 1:13
  Speaker 3: What are you really going to do?
• 1:16
  Speaker 4: But there was lovely catechism.
• 1:19
  Speaker 1: Said Sime pathetically.
• 1:21
  Speaker 4: Do let me read it for you. It has only
• 1:23
  Speaker 4: forty three questions and answers, and some of the marquise
• 1:26
  Speaker 4: answers are wonderfully witty. I like to be just to
• 1:30
  Speaker 4: my enemy.
• 1:31
  Speaker 3: But what's the good of it all?
• 1:34
  Speaker 1: Asked doctor Bull in exasperation.
• 1:37
  Speaker 4: It leads up to my challenge.
• 1:38
  Speaker 1: Don't you see, said Sime, beaming, when the Marquis.
• 1:43
  Speaker 4: Is given the thirty ninth reply, which runs Haw's it.
• 1:46
  Speaker 5: Very any chance occurred to.
• 1:48
  Speaker 1: You, asked the professor, with a ponderous simplicity, that.
• 1:52
  Speaker 5: The mark which may not say all the forty three
• 1:55
  Speaker 5: things you've put it down for him. In that case
• 2:01
  Speaker 5: your own hypigrams may appear somewhat more forced.
• 2:06
  Speaker 1: Sime struck the table with a radiant face. Why holps you,
• 2:10
  Speaker 1: that is, he said?
• 2:12
  Speaker 4: And another thought of it, sir, you have an internet
• 2:15
  Speaker 4: beyond the common You will make a name.
• 2:18
  Speaker 3: Oh you are as drunk as an owl, said the doctor.
• 2:22
  Speaker 1: It only remains, continue to Sime, quite unperturbed.
• 2:27
  Speaker 4: To adopt some other method of breaking the ice, if
• 2:30
  Speaker 4: I may so express it, But to whom myself and
• 2:32
  Speaker 4: the man I wished to kill. And since the cause
• 2:35
  Speaker 4: of a dialog cannot be predicted by one of its
• 2:37
  Speaker 4: parties alone, as you pointed out, with such recondit a cuman,
• 2:42
  Speaker 4: the only thing to be done, I suppose, is for
• 2:45
  Speaker 4: one party, as far as possible, to do all the
• 2:48
  Speaker 4: dialogue by himself, And so I will by George.
• 2:53
  Speaker 1: And he stood up suddenly, his yellow hair blowing in
• 2:56
  Speaker 1: the slight sea breeze. A band was playing in a
• 3:00
  Speaker 1: cafe chantant hidden somewhere among the trees, and a woman
• 3:04
  Speaker 1: had just stopped singing on Syme's heated head. The bray
• 3:09
  Speaker 1: of the brass band seemed like the jar and jingle
• 3:12
  Speaker 1: of that barrel organ in Leicester Square, to the tune
• 3:15
  Speaker 1: of which he had once stood up to die. He
• 3:18
  Speaker 1: looked across to the little table where the Marquis sat.
• 3:22
  Speaker 1: The man had two companions, now solemn frenchmen in frock
• 3:26
  Speaker 1: coats and silk hats, one of them with the red
• 3:29
  Speaker 1: rosette of the Legion of Honor, evidently people of a
• 3:33
  Speaker 1: solid social position. Besides these black cylindrical costumes, the Marquis,
• 3:40
  Speaker 1: in his loose straw hat and light spring clothes looked
• 3:44
  Speaker 1: bohemian and even barbaric, But he looked the marquis. Indeed,
• 3:50
  Speaker 1: one might say that he looked the king, with his
• 3:53
  Speaker 1: animal elegance, his scornful eyes, and his proud head lifted
• 3:58
  Speaker 1: against the purple sea. But he was no Christian king
• 4:02
  Speaker 1: at any rate. He was rather some swarthy despot, half Greek,
• 4:08
  Speaker 1: half Asiatic, who, in the days when slavery seemed natural,
• 4:12
  Speaker 1: looked down on the Mediterranean, on his galley and his
• 4:16
  Speaker 1: groaning slaves. Just so, Sime thought, would the brown gold
• 4:21
  Speaker 1: face of such a tyrant have shown against the dark
• 4:24
  Speaker 1: green olives and the burning blue?
• 4:28
  Speaker 5: Are you going to address the meeting?
• 4:30
  Speaker 1: Asked the professor, peevishly, Seeing that Sime still stood up
• 4:34
  Speaker 1: without moving, Sime drained his last glass of sparkling wine.
• 4:40
  Speaker 1: I am, he said, pointing across to the Marquis and
• 4:44
  Speaker 1: his companions.
• 4:46
  Speaker 4: That meeting, that meeting displeases me. I'm going to pull
• 4:50
  Speaker 4: that meeting's great, ugly, mahogany colored nose.
• 4:54
  Speaker 1: He stepped across swiftly, if not quite steadily. The marquist,
• 4:59
  Speaker 1: seeing him, arched his black, Assyrian eyebrows in surprise, but
• 5:03
  Speaker 1: smiled politely.
• 5:06
  Speaker 6: You are mister Sime, I think, he said.
• 5:10
  Speaker 4: Sime bowed, and you are the Marquis de Saint Eustasch,
• 5:15
  Speaker 4: he said, gracefully, permit me to pull your nose.
• 5:20
  Speaker 1: He leaned over to do so, but the Marquist started backwards,
• 5:24
  Speaker 1: upsetting his chair, and the two men in top hats
• 5:28
  Speaker 1: held sim back by the shoulders.
• 5:31
  Speaker 4: This man has insulted me.
• 5:33
  Speaker 1: Said Sime, with gestures of explanation. Insulted you, cried the
• 5:39
  Speaker 1: gentleman with the red rosette. When, oh, just now, said
• 5:44
  Speaker 1: Sime recklessly.
• 5:46
  Speaker 4: He insulted my mother.
• 5:48
  Speaker 5: Insulted your mother.
• 5:50
  Speaker 1: Exclaimed the gentleman incredulously. Well, anyhow, said Sime, conceding a point.
• 5:58
  Speaker 4: My aunt.
• 6:00
  Speaker 7: How can the markers have insulted your aunt just now.
• 6:04
  Speaker 1: Said the second gentleman, with some legitimate wonder.
• 6:08
  Speaker 7: He has been sitting here all the time.
• 6:13
  Speaker 1: Ah, it was what he said, said Sime darkly.
• 6:18
  Speaker 6: He said nothing at all, said the marquis, except something
• 6:23
  Speaker 6: about Sabande. He only said that I like Vagner played well.
• 6:28
  Speaker 1: It was an allusion to my family, said Sime firmly.
• 6:33
  Speaker 4: My aunt played Vagner badly. It was a painful subject.
• 6:36
  Speaker 4: Who has been insulted about it?
• 6:39
  Speaker 7: This seems most extraordinary.
• 6:42
  Speaker 1: Said the gentleman, who was decores, looking doubtfully at the marquis.
• 6:46
  Speaker 1: How I assure you, said Sime earnestly.
• 6:51
  Speaker 4: The whole of your conversation was simply packed with sinister
• 6:54
  Speaker 4: allusions to my aunt's weaknesses.
• 6:56
  Speaker 1: This is nonsense, said the second gentlemen. I, for.
• 7:01
  Speaker 7: One, have said nothing for half an hour except that
• 7:05
  Speaker 7: I liked the singing of that girl with black hair.
• 7:10
  Speaker 1: There you are, again, said sim indignantly.
• 7:14
  Speaker 4: My aunt's was red.
• 7:16
  Speaker 1: It seems to me, said the other.
• 7:20
  Speaker 7: That you are simply seeking a pretext to insult the
• 7:25
  Speaker 7: marquess by.
• 7:27
  Speaker 1: George, said Sime, facing round and looking at him.
• 7:31
  Speaker 4: What clever chap you are.
• 7:34
  Speaker 1: The Marquis started up, with eyes flaming like a tiger's.
• 7:39
  Speaker 6: See King a quarry with me, he cried, seeking to
• 7:43
  Speaker 6: fight with me. There was never a man who had
• 7:45
  Speaker 6: to seek long, she said, gentleman, will perhaps act for me.
• 7:50
  Speaker 6: They are still for as of daylight. Let us fight
• 7:53
  Speaker 6: this evening.
• 7:56
  Speaker 1: Sime bowed with a quite beautiful graciousness.
• 8:00
  Speaker 4: Marquis, he said, your action is worthy of your fame
• 8:04
  Speaker 4: and blood. Permit me to consult for a moment with
• 8:07
  Speaker 4: the gentleman in whose hands I shall place myself.
• 8:11
  Speaker 1: In three long strides, he rejoined his companions, and they,
• 8:15
  Speaker 1: who had seen his Champagne inspired attack and listened to
• 8:19
  Speaker 1: his idiotic explanations, were quite startled at the look of him.
• 8:24
  Speaker 1: For now that he came back to them, he was
• 8:27
  Speaker 1: quite sober, a little pale, and he spoke in a
• 8:30
  Speaker 1: low voice of passionate practicality. I've done it, he said hoarsely.
• 8:37
  Speaker 4: I've fixed a fight on the beast. But look here
• 8:40
  Speaker 4: and listen carefully. There's no time for talk. You are
• 8:44
  Speaker 4: my seconds, and everything must come from you.
• 8:47
  Speaker 6: Now.
• 8:47
  Speaker 4: You must insist, and insist absolutely on the jewel coming
• 8:51
  Speaker 4: off after seven to morrow, so as to give me
• 8:53
  Speaker 4: the chance of preventing him from catching the seven forty
• 8:56
  Speaker 4: five for Paris. If he misses d he misses his crime.
• 9:00
  Speaker 4: He can't refuse to meet you on such small point
• 9:02
  Speaker 4: of time and place. But this is what he will do.
• 9:06
  Speaker 4: He will choose a field somewhere near away side station
• 9:09
  Speaker 4: where he could pick up the train. He's a very
• 9:11
  Speaker 4: good swordsman, and he will trust to killing me in
• 9:13
  Speaker 4: time to catch it. But I confence well too, and
• 9:17
  Speaker 4: I think I can keep him in play at any
• 9:19
  Speaker 4: rate until the train is lost. Then perhaps he may
• 9:22
  Speaker 4: kill me to console his feelings. You understand very well,
• 9:26
  Speaker 4: then let me introduce you some charming friends of mine.
• 9:30
  Speaker 1: And leading them quickly across the parade, he presented them
• 9:34
  Speaker 1: to the Marquess his seconds by two very aristocratic names
• 9:37
  Speaker 1: of which they had not previously heard. Sime was subject
• 9:42
  Speaker 1: to spasms of singular common sense, not otherwise a part
• 9:46
  Speaker 1: of his character. They were, as he said, of his
• 9:50
  Speaker 1: impulse about the spectacles, poetic intuitions, and they sometimes rose
• 9:55
  Speaker 1: to the exaltation of prophecy. He had correctly keptulated in
• 10:00
  Speaker 1: this case the policy of his opponent. When the Marquess
• 10:04
  Speaker 1: was informed by his Seconds that Sime could only fight
• 10:07
  Speaker 1: in the morning, he must fully have realized that an
• 10:11
  Speaker 1: obstacle had suddenly arisen between him and his bomb throwing
• 10:14
  Speaker 1: business in the capitol. Naturally, he could not explain this
• 10:18
  Speaker 1: objection to his friends, so he chose the course which
• 10:22
  Speaker 1: Sime had predicted. He induced his seconds to settle on
• 10:26
  Speaker 1: a small meadow not far from the railway, and he
• 10:30
  Speaker 1: trusted to the fatality of the first engagement. When he
• 10:34
  Speaker 1: came down very coolly to the field of honor. No
• 10:38
  Speaker 1: one could have guessed that he had any anxiety about
• 10:41
  Speaker 1: a journey. His hands were in his pockets, his straw
• 10:45
  Speaker 1: hat on the back of his head, his handsome face
• 10:48
  Speaker 1: brazen in the sun. But it might have struck a
• 10:51
  Speaker 1: stranger as odd that there appeared in his train not
• 10:55
  Speaker 1: only his seconds carrying the sword case, but two of
• 10:59
  Speaker 1: his servants carrying a portmanteau and a luncheon basket. Early,
• 11:04
  Speaker 1: as was the hour, the sun soaked everything in warmth,
• 11:08
  Speaker 1: and Sime was vaguely surprised to see so many spring
• 11:11
  Speaker 1: flowers burning gold and silver in the tall grass in
• 11:15
  Speaker 1: which the whole company stood almost knee deep. With the
• 11:19
  Speaker 1: exception of the marquis, all the men were in somber
• 11:22
  Speaker 1: and solemn morning dress, with hats like black chimney pots.
• 11:27
  Speaker 1: The little doctor, especially with the addition of his black spectacles,
• 11:31
  Speaker 1: looked like an undertaker in a farce. Sime could not
• 11:35
  Speaker 1: help feeling a comic contrast between this funereal church parade
• 11:39
  Speaker 1: of apparel and the rich and glistening meadow growing wild
• 11:43
  Speaker 1: flowers everywhere. But indeed, this comic contrast between the yellow
• 11:49
  Speaker 1: blossoms and the black hats was but a symbol of
• 11:52
  Speaker 1: the tragic contrast between the yellow blossoms and the black business.
• 11:58
  Speaker 1: On his right was a little wood. Far away to
• 12:01
  Speaker 1: his left lay the long curve of the railway line,
• 12:04
  Speaker 1: which he was, so to speak, guarding from the Marquis,
• 12:08
  Speaker 1: whose goal and escape it was in front of him.
• 12:12
  Speaker 1: Behind the black group of his opponents, he could see,
• 12:16
  Speaker 1: like a tinted cloud, a small almond bush in flower
• 12:20
  Speaker 1: against the faint line of the sea. The member of
• 12:24
  Speaker 1: the Legion of Honor, whose name it seemed was Colonel Ducois,
• 12:28
  Speaker 1: approached the Professor and doctor Bull with great politeness and
• 12:32
  Speaker 1: suggested that the play should terminate with the first considerable hurt.
• 12:37
  Speaker 1: Doctor Bull, however, having been carefully coached by Sime, upon
• 12:41
  Speaker 1: this point of policy, insisted with great dignity and in
• 12:46
  Speaker 1: very bad French, that it should continue until one of
• 12:50
  Speaker 1: the combatants was disabled. Sime had made up his mind
• 12:54
  Speaker 1: that he could avoid disabling the Marquis and prevent the
• 12:58
  Speaker 1: Marquis from disabling him for at least twenty minutes. In
• 13:03
  Speaker 1: twenty minutes, the Paris train would have gone.
• 13:05
  Speaker 5: By to a man of the world, Descieur and Vella,
• 13:11
  Speaker 5: a monsieur de Saint Eustache.
• 13:13
  Speaker 1: Said the professor solemnly.
• 13:16
  Speaker 5: It must be a matter of indifference which method is adopted,
• 13:20
  Speaker 5: and a principle has strong reasons for demanding the longer encounter,
• 13:26
  Speaker 5: reasons the delicacy of which prevent me from being explicit,
• 13:31
  Speaker 5: but for the just and honorable nature of which I
• 13:34
  Speaker 5: can Peste.
• 13:36
  Speaker 1: Broke from the marquess behind, whose face had suddenly darkened.
• 13:41
  Speaker 6: Let us stop talking and to begin.
• 13:43
  Speaker 1: And he slashed off the head of a tall flower
• 13:46
  Speaker 1: with his stick. Simon understood his rude impatience and instinctively
• 13:51
  Speaker 1: looked over his shoulder to see whether the train was
• 13:54
  Speaker 1: coming in sight, but there was no smoke on the horizon.
• 13:59
  Speaker 1: Colonel de cour Awe knelt down and unlocked the case,
• 14:02
  Speaker 1: taking out a pair of twin swords, which took the
• 14:05
  Speaker 1: sunlight and turned to two streaks of white fire. He
• 14:10
  Speaker 1: offered one to the marquis, who snatched it without ceremony,
• 14:14
  Speaker 1: and another to Sime, who took it, bent it, and
• 14:18
  Speaker 1: poised it with as much delay as was consistent with dignity.
• 14:23
  Speaker 1: Then the Colonel took out another pair of blades, and
• 14:26
  Speaker 1: taking one himself and giving another to doctor Bull, proceeded
• 14:30
  Speaker 1: to place the men. Both combatants had thrown off their
• 14:34
  Speaker 1: coats and waistcoats and stood sword in hand. The seconds
• 14:39
  Speaker 1: stood on each side of the line of fight with
• 14:41
  Speaker 1: drawn swords, also, but still somber in their dark frock
• 14:45
  Speaker 1: coats and hats. The principals saluted, The colonel said quietly, engage,
• 14:53
  Speaker 1: and the two blades touched and tingled. When the jar
• 14:57
  Speaker 1: of the joined iron ran up Time's arm, all the
• 15:01
  Speaker 1: fantastic fears that have been the subject of this story
• 15:04
  Speaker 1: fell from him, like dreams from a man waking up
• 15:07
  Speaker 1: in bed. He remembered them clearly and in order, as
• 15:12
  Speaker 1: mere delusions of the nerves. How the fear of the
• 15:16
  Speaker 1: professor had been the fear of the tyrannic accidents of nightmare,
• 15:20
  Speaker 1: and how the fear of the doctor had been the
• 15:22
  Speaker 1: fear of the airless vacuum of science. The first was
• 15:26
  Speaker 1: the old fear that any miracle might happen, the second
• 15:30
  Speaker 1: the more hopeless modern fear that no miracle can ever happen.
• 15:35
  Speaker 1: But he saw that these fears were fancies, for he
• 15:38
  Speaker 1: found himself in the presence of the great fact of
• 15:41
  Speaker 1: the fear of death, with its coarse and pitiless common sense,
• 15:47
  Speaker 1: He felt like a man who had dreamed all night
• 15:49
  Speaker 1: of falling over precipices, and had woke up on the
• 15:52
  Speaker 1: morning when he was to be hanged. For as soon
• 15:56
  Speaker 1: as he had seen the sunlight run down the channel
• 15:58
  Speaker 1: of his foes foreshore and blade, and as soon as
• 16:01
  Speaker 1: he had felt the two tongues of steel touch, vibrating
• 16:05
  Speaker 1: like two living things, he knew that his enemy was
• 16:08
  Speaker 1: a terrible fighter, and that probably his last hour had come.
• 16:14
  Speaker 1: He felt a strange and vivid value in all the
• 16:17
  Speaker 1: earth around him, In the grass under his feet, he
• 16:21
  Speaker 1: felt the love of life in all living things. He
• 16:24
  Speaker 1: could almost fancy that he heard the grass growing. He
• 16:28
  Speaker 1: could almost fancy that even as he stood, fresh flowers
• 16:32
  Speaker 1: were springing up and breaking into blossom in the meadow,
• 16:35
  Speaker 1: flowers blood red and burning, gold and blue, fulfilling the
• 16:40
  Speaker 1: whole pageant of the spring. And whenever his eyes strayed
• 16:44
  Speaker 1: for a flash from the calm, staring, hypnotic eyes of
• 16:48
  Speaker 1: the marquis, they saw the little tuft of almond tree
• 16:51
  Speaker 1: against the skyline. He had the feeling that if by
• 16:54
  Speaker 1: some miracle he escaped, he would be ready to sit
• 16:58
  Speaker 1: forever before that almond tree, desiring nothing else in the world.
• 17:04
  Speaker 1: But while earth and sky and everything had the living
• 17:07
  Speaker 1: beauty of a thing lost, the other half of his
• 17:10
  Speaker 1: head was as clear as glass, and he was parrying
• 17:14
  Speaker 1: his enemy's point with a kind of clockwork skill of
• 17:17
  Speaker 1: which he had hardly supposed himself capable. Once his enemy's
• 17:21
  Speaker 1: point ran along his wrist, leaving a slight streak of blood,
• 17:25
  Speaker 1: but it either was not noticed or was tacitly ignored.
• 17:30
  Speaker 1: Every now and then he reposted, and once or twice
• 17:33
  Speaker 1: he could almost fancy that he felt his point go home.
• 17:36
  Speaker 1: But as there was no blood on blade or shirt,
• 17:40
  Speaker 1: he supposed he was mistaken. Then came an interruption and
• 17:45
  Speaker 1: a change. At the risk of losing all the marquis.
• 17:49
  Speaker 1: Interrupting his quiet stare, flashed one glance over his shoulder
• 17:53
  Speaker 1: at the line of railway on his right. Then he
• 17:57
  Speaker 1: turned on sim a face transfigured to that of a
• 18:00
  Speaker 1: and began to fight, as if with twenty weapons. The
• 18:04
  Speaker 1: attack came so fast and furious that the one shining
• 18:08
  Speaker 1: sword seemed a shower of shining arrows. Sime had no
• 18:12
  Speaker 1: chance to look at the railway, but also he had
• 18:15
  Speaker 1: no need he could guess the reason of the Marquis's
• 18:18
  Speaker 1: sudden madness of battle. The Paris train was in sight,
• 18:24
  Speaker 1: but the Marquis's morbid energy overreached itself. Twice, Sime, parrying
• 18:29
  Speaker 1: knocked his opponent's point far out of the fighting circle,
• 18:33
  Speaker 1: and the third time his repost was so rapid that
• 18:36
  Speaker 1: there was no doubt about the hit. This time, Sime's
• 18:40
  Speaker 1: sword actually bent under the weight of the Marquess's body,
• 18:43
  Speaker 1: which it had pierced. Sime was as certain that he
• 18:47
  Speaker 1: had stuck his blade into his enemy as a gardener
• 18:50
  Speaker 1: that he had stuck his spade into the ground. Yet
• 18:53
  Speaker 1: the Marquis sprang back from the stroke without a stagger,
• 18:57
  Speaker 1: and Sime stood staring at his own sword point like
• 19:00
  Speaker 1: an idiot. There was no blood on it at all.
• 19:04
  Speaker 1: There was an instant of rigid silence, and then Sime,
• 19:08
  Speaker 1: in his turn, fell furiously on the other, filled with
• 19:12
  Speaker 1: a flaming curiosity. The Marquis was probably, in a general sense,
• 19:17
  Speaker 1: a better fencer than he, as he had surmised at
• 19:20
  Speaker 1: the beginning, But at the moment the Marquis seemed distraught
• 19:24
  Speaker 1: and at a disadvantage. He fought wildly and even weakly,
• 19:30
  Speaker 1: and he constantly looked away at the railway line, almost
• 19:33
  Speaker 1: as if he feared the train more than the pointed steel.
• 19:37
  Speaker 1: Sim on the other hand, fought fiercely, but still carefully,
• 19:41
  Speaker 1: in an intellectual fury, eager to solve the riddle of
• 19:45
  Speaker 1: his own bloodless sword. For this purpose, he aimed less
• 19:49
  Speaker 1: at the Marquis's body and more at his throat and head.
• 19:54
  Speaker 1: A minute and a half afterwards, he felt his point
• 19:57
  Speaker 1: enter the man's neck below the jaw. It came out clean,
• 20:02
  Speaker 1: half mad. He thrust again and made what should have
• 20:05
  Speaker 1: been a bloody scar on the Marquess's cheek, but there
• 20:08
  Speaker 1: was no scar. For one moment, the heaven of Sime
• 20:13
  Speaker 1: again grew black with supernatural terrors. Surely the man had
• 20:18
  Speaker 1: a charmed life, but this new spiritual dread was a
• 20:22
  Speaker 1: more awful thing than had been the mere spiritual topsy
• 20:26
  Speaker 1: turvy done symbolized by the paralytic who pursued him. The
• 20:30
  Speaker 1: professor was only a goblin. This man was a devil.
• 20:35
  Speaker 1: Perhaps he was the devil. Anyhow, this was certain that
• 20:40
  Speaker 1: three times had a human sword been driven into him
• 20:44
  Speaker 1: and made no mark. When Syme had that thought, he
• 20:49
  Speaker 1: drew himself up, and all that was good in him
• 20:52
  Speaker 1: sang high up in the air as a high wind
• 20:55
  Speaker 1: sings in the trees. He thought of all the human
• 20:58
  Speaker 1: things in his story of the Chinese lanterns in Saffron Park,
• 21:03
  Speaker 1: of the girl's red hair, in the garden, of the
• 21:06
  Speaker 1: honest beer swilling sailors down by the dock, of his
• 21:10
  Speaker 1: loyal companions standing by. Perhaps he had been chosen as
• 21:15
  Speaker 1: a champion of all these fresh and kindly things to
• 21:19
  Speaker 1: cross swords with the enemy of all creation. After all,
• 21:25
  Speaker 1: he said to himself, I am more.
• 21:27
  Speaker 4: Than a devil. I am a man. I could do
• 21:31
  Speaker 4: the one thing which Satan himself cannot do. I can die.
• 21:37
  Speaker 1: And as the word went through his head, he heard
• 21:39
  Speaker 1: a faint and far off hoot, which would soon be
• 21:43
  Speaker 1: the roar of the Paris train. He fell to fighting
• 21:47
  Speaker 1: again with a supernatural levity, like a Mohammedan, panting for paradise.
• 21:53
  Speaker 1: As the train came nearer and nearer, he fancied he
• 21:56
  Speaker 1: could see people putting up the floor arches in Paris.
• 22:00
  Speaker 1: He joined in the growing noise and the glory of
• 22:03
  Speaker 1: the great Republic, whose gait he was guarding against hell.
• 22:07
  Speaker 1: His thoughts rose higher and higher with the rising roar
• 22:11
  Speaker 1: of the train, which ended, as if proudly in a
• 22:14
  Speaker 1: long and piercing whistle. The train stopped suddenly, to the
• 22:20
  Speaker 1: astonishment of every one. The Marquis sprang back, quite out
• 22:24
  Speaker 1: of sword reach, and threw down his sword. The leap
• 22:28
  Speaker 1: was wonderful, and not less wonderful because Simon had plunged
• 22:31
  Speaker 1: his sword a moment before into the man's thigh. Stop,
• 22:37
  Speaker 1: said the Marquis, in a voice that compelled in momentary obedience.
• 22:42
  Speaker 6: I want to say something.
• 22:44
  Speaker 1: What is the matter, asked Colonel Ducroix, staring.
• 22:49
  Speaker 8: Has there ben foul play?
• 22:52
  Speaker 3: There has been foul play somewhere.
• 22:54
  Speaker 1: Said doctor Bull, who was a little pale.
• 22:58
  Speaker 3: Our principal has wounded the mind key four times at least,
• 23:01
  Speaker 3: and he is none the worse.
• 23:04
  Speaker 1: The Marquis put up his hand with a curious air
• 23:06
  Speaker 1: of ghastly patience.
• 23:09
  Speaker 6: Please let me speak, he said. It is rather important
• 23:14
  Speaker 6: miss the time.
• 23:16
  Speaker 1: He continued, turning to his opponent.
• 23:19
  Speaker 6: We are fighting today, if I remember right, because you
• 23:22
  Speaker 6: expressed a wish which I sought irrational to pull my nose,
• 23:28
  Speaker 6: will you oblige me by pulling my nose now as
• 23:31
  Speaker 6: quickly as possible. I have to catch a train.
• 23:35
  Speaker 3: I protest if this is most irregular.
• 23:39
  Speaker 1: Said doctor Bull indignantly.
• 23:42
  Speaker 8: Here it is certainly somewhat opposed to precedent.
• 23:46
  Speaker 1: Said Colonel Ducour, looking wistfully at his principle.
• 23:51
  Speaker 8: There is I think one case on record, Captain Belgarde
• 23:56
  Speaker 8: and Baron zoomed, in which the weapons were chasedged in
• 24:00
  Speaker 8: the middle of the encounter at the request of one
• 24:03
  Speaker 8: of the combatants. But one can hardly call one's nose
• 24:07
  Speaker 8: a weapon.
• 24:09
  Speaker 6: Will you or will you not? Pull my nose?
• 24:12
  Speaker 1: Said the marquis in exasperation.
• 24:15
  Speaker 6: Come come, mister sim you wanted to do it, do it.
• 24:19
  Speaker 6: You can have no conception of how important it is
• 24:22
  Speaker 6: to me. Don't be so selfish. Pull my nose at
• 24:26
  Speaker 6: once when they ask you.
• 24:28
  Speaker 1: And he bent slightly forward with a fascinating smile. The
• 24:32
  Speaker 1: Paris train, panting and groaning, had grated into a little
• 24:36
  Speaker 1: station behind the neighboring hill. Sim had the feeling he
• 24:40
  Speaker 1: had more than once had in these adventures, the sense
• 24:44
  Speaker 1: that a horrible and sublime wave lifted to heaven was
• 24:48
  Speaker 1: just toppling over walking in a world he half understood.
• 24:53
  Speaker 1: He took two paces forward and seized the Roman nose
• 24:56
  Speaker 1: of this remarkable nobleman. He pulled it hard, and it
• 25:01
  Speaker 1: came off in his hand. He stood for some seconds
• 25:05
  Speaker 1: with a foolish solemnity, with the pasteboard proboscis still between
• 25:10
  Speaker 1: his fingers, looking at it, while the sun and the
• 25:13
  Speaker 1: clouds and the wooded hills looked down upon this imbecile scene.
• 25:18
  Speaker 1: The Marquis broke the silence in a loud and cheerful voice.
• 25:22
  Speaker 6: If any one has any use for my left eyebrow,
• 25:26
  Speaker 6: he said, you can have it. Conelocroix, do excelf to
• 25:31
  Speaker 6: my left eyebrow. It is a kind of thing that
• 25:34
  Speaker 6: might come in useful any day.
• 25:37
  Speaker 1: And he gravely tore off one of his swarthy, Assyrian brows,
• 25:41
  Speaker 1: bringing about half his brown forehead with it, and politely
• 25:45
  Speaker 1: offered it to the colonel, who stood crimson and speechless
• 25:49
  Speaker 1: with rage.
• 25:51
  Speaker 8: If I hadn't known, he spluttered, that I was acting
• 25:55
  Speaker 8: for a patroon who pat himself to fight.
• 25:59
  Speaker 6: Oh I know, I.
• 26:00
  Speaker 1: Said, the marquis, recklessly, throwing various parts of himself right
• 26:05
  Speaker 1: and left about the field.
• 26:07
  Speaker 6: You're making a mistake, But that I can't be explained.
• 26:10
  Speaker 6: Just now, I tell you the train has come into
• 26:13
  Speaker 6: the station.
• 26:15
  Speaker 1: Yes, said doctor Bull fiercely.
• 26:18
  Speaker 3: And the train shall go out of this station. It
• 26:22
  Speaker 3: shall go out without you. We know well enough for
• 26:25
  Speaker 3: what devil's work.
• 26:26
  Speaker 1: The mysterious marquis lifted his hands with a desperate gesture.
• 26:31
  Speaker 1: He was a strange scarecrow standing there in the sun,
• 26:34
  Speaker 1: with half his old face peeled off and half another
• 26:37
  Speaker 1: face glaring and grinning from underneath.
• 26:41
  Speaker 6: Will you drive me mad? He cried the train.
• 26:46
  Speaker 4: You shall not go by the train.
• 26:48
  Speaker 1: Said Sime firmly, and grasped his sword. The wild figure
• 26:53
  Speaker 1: turned towards Sime and seemed to be gathering itself for
• 26:56
  Speaker 1: a sublime effort before.
• 26:59
  Speaker 6: Speaking, your great fat blasted, blee eyed, bluddering, thundering brain,
• 27:04
  Speaker 6: as God was saying, darling them.
• 27:06
  Speaker 1: Fool, he said, without taking breath.
• 27:10
  Speaker 6: Your great, silly, pink, fast towheaded turn up you.
• 27:14
  Speaker 4: You shall not go by this train.
• 27:17
  Speaker 1: Repeated Simon.
• 27:18
  Speaker 6: And why at the infernal blazes, roared the other. Should
• 27:23
  Speaker 6: I want to go by the train?
• 27:26
  Speaker 1: We knew all, said the professor sternly.
• 27:30
  Speaker 5: You are going to perish to throw a bomb.
• 27:33
  Speaker 6: Going to Jakoto.
• 27:35
  Speaker 1: Throw a jabberwock, cried the other, tearing his hair which
• 27:39
  Speaker 1: came off easily.
• 27:41
  Speaker 6: Have you all got softening us a brain that you
• 27:43
  Speaker 6: don't realize what I am? Did you really think I
• 27:47
  Speaker 6: wanted to catch that train? Twenty period trains may go
• 27:50
  Speaker 6: by for me, them Paris trains.
• 27:54
  Speaker 5: Then what did you care about?
• 27:57
  Speaker 1: Began the professor, What did I care?
• 28:00
  Speaker 6: I didn't care about catching that train. I cared about
• 28:04
  Speaker 6: whether that train caught me, and now by charge, it
• 28:07
  Speaker 6: has caught me.
• 28:09
  Speaker 1: I regret to inform you, said Sime, with restraint.
• 28:13
  Speaker 4: If your remarks conveyed no impression to my mind, perhaps
• 28:17
  Speaker 4: if you were to remove the remains of your original
• 28:19
  Speaker 4: forehead in some portion of what was once your chin,
• 28:23
  Speaker 4: your meaning would become clearer. Mental lucidity fulfills itself in
• 28:27
  Speaker 4: many ways. What do you mean by saying that the
• 28:30
  Speaker 4: train has caught you? It may be my literary fancy,
• 28:33
  Speaker 4: but somehow I feel that it ought to mean something.
• 28:37
  Speaker 1: It means everything, said the other, and.
• 28:41
  Speaker 6: The ender to everything. Sunday has a sir. Now with
• 28:45
  Speaker 6: the harlure of his hand.
• 28:48
  Speaker 1: USh, repeated the professor, as if stupefied.
• 28:52
  Speaker 5: What do you mean by USh?
• 28:55
  Speaker 6: The police, of course.
• 28:57
  Speaker 1: Said the marquis, and tore off his scalp and half
• 29:00
  Speaker 1: his face. The head which emerged was the blonde, well brushed,
• 29:05
  Speaker 1: smooth haired head, which is common in the English constabulary,
• 29:09
  Speaker 1: but the face was terribly pale.
• 29:12
  Speaker 6: I am Inspector Ratcliffe, he.
• 29:15
  Speaker 1: Said, with a sort of haste that verged on harshness.
• 29:19
  Speaker 6: My name is pretty well known to the police, and
• 29:21
  Speaker 6: I can see well enough that you belong to them.
• 29:24
  Speaker 6: But if there is any doubt about my position, I
• 29:26
  Speaker 6: have a cod and.
• 29:28
  Speaker 1: He began to pull a blue card from his pocket.
• 29:32
  Speaker 1: The professor gave a tired gesture.
• 29:35
  Speaker 5: Oh, don't show it.
• 29:37
  Speaker 1: Us, he said, wearily.
• 29:39
  Speaker 5: We've got enough of them to quip a paper chase.
• 29:44
  Speaker 1: The little man named Bull had, like many men who
• 29:47
  Speaker 1: seemed to be of a mere vivacious vulgarity, sudden movements
• 29:51
  Speaker 1: of good taste. Here he certainly saved the situation. In
• 29:56
  Speaker 1: the midst of this staggering transformation scene. He stepped forward
• 30:00
  Speaker 1: with all the gravity and responsibility of a second and
• 30:04
  Speaker 1: addressed the two seconds of the marquess.
• 30:08
  Speaker 3: Gentlemen, He said, we all owe you a serious apology,
• 30:13
  Speaker 3: but I assure you that you have not been made
• 30:16
  Speaker 3: the victims of such a low joke as you imagine
• 30:19
  Speaker 3: or indeed of anything undignified in a man of honor.
• 30:22
  Speaker 3: You have not wasted your time. You have helped to
• 30:25
  Speaker 3: save the world. We are not buffoons, but very desperate
• 30:28
  Speaker 3: men at war with a vast conspiracy. A secret society
• 30:32
  Speaker 3: of anarchists is hunting us like hares. Not such unfortunate
• 30:36
  Speaker 3: madmen as may hear their thorough bomb through starvation or
• 30:40
  Speaker 3: German philosophy, but a rich and powerful and fanatical church,
• 30:45
  Speaker 3: a church of Eastern pessimism, which holds it wholly to
• 30:48
  Speaker 3: destroy mankind like a vermin. How hard they hunt us,
• 30:51
  Speaker 3: you can gather from the fact that we are driven
• 30:54
  Speaker 3: to such disguises as those for which I apologize, and
• 30:57
  Speaker 3: to such pranks as this one by which we suffer.
• 31:00
  Speaker 1: The younger second of the marquis, a short man with
• 31:03
  Speaker 1: a black mustache, bowed politely and said.
• 31:08
  Speaker 7: Of course I accept the apology, but you will, in
• 31:12
  Speaker 7: your turn forgive me if I decline to follow you
• 31:17
  Speaker 7: further into your difficulties, and permit myself to say good morning.
• 31:24
  Speaker 7: The sight of an acquaintance and distinguished fellow townsmen coming
• 31:30
  Speaker 7: to pieces in the open air is unusual, and upon
• 31:34
  Speaker 7: the whole sufficient for one day, Colonel de Croix, I
• 31:40
  Speaker 7: would in no way influence your actions. But if you
• 31:44
  Speaker 7: feel with me that our present society is a little abnormble,
• 31:49
  Speaker 7: I am now going to walk back to the town.
• 31:54
  Speaker 1: Colonel Ducroix moved mechanically, but then tugged abruptly at his
• 31:59
  Speaker 1: white mustache and broke out no.
• 32:02
  Speaker 8: By George, I won't. If these gentlemen are really in
• 32:07
  Speaker 8: a mess with a lot of low wreckers like that,
• 32:10
  Speaker 8: I'll see them through it. I have fought for Franz,
• 32:14
  Speaker 8: and it is hard if I can't fight for civilization.
• 32:18
  Speaker 1: Doctor Bull took off his hat and waved it, cheering
• 32:21
  Speaker 1: as at a public meeting. Don't make too much noise,
• 32:26
  Speaker 1: said Inspector Ratcliffe.
• 32:28
  Speaker 6: Sendy, may hear you Sunday.
• 32:31
  Speaker 1: Cried Bull, and dropped his hat. Yes, retorted Ratcliffe.
• 32:37
  Speaker 6: He may be with them with whom, asked Sime, with
• 32:42
  Speaker 6: the people out of that train.
• 32:44
  Speaker 1: Said the other.
• 32:46
  Speaker 4: What'd he say? Seems acting wild?
• 32:48
  Speaker 1: Began Sime.
• 32:50
  Speaker 4: Why as a matter of fact, But my faud.
• 32:54
  Speaker 1: He cried out suddenly, like a man who sees an
• 32:57
  Speaker 1: explosion a long way off.
• 33:00
  Speaker 4: This is true, oh boy. Lots of us and the
• 33:02
  Speaker 4: anarchist Council were against anarchy. Every ball now is a
• 33:06
  Speaker 4: detective except the President and his personal secretary.
• 33:10
  Speaker 6: What it mein mean?
• 33:13
  Speaker 1: Said the new policeman, with incredible violence.
• 33:16
  Speaker 6: It means that we are struck dead. Don't you know, Sundy?
• 33:20
  Speaker 6: Don't you know that his jokes are always so big
• 33:23
  Speaker 6: and simple that one has never thought of them. Can
• 33:26
  Speaker 6: you think of anything more like Sunday than this, that
• 33:30
  Speaker 6: he should put all his powerful enemies on the Supreme
• 33:33
  Speaker 6: Council and then take care that it was not supreme.
• 33:37
  Speaker 6: I tell you he has bought every trust, He has
• 33:39
  Speaker 6: captured every cable. He has control of every railway line,
• 33:43
  Speaker 6: especially of that railway line.
• 33:46
  Speaker 1: And he pointed a shaking finger towards the small wayside station.
• 33:52
  Speaker 6: The whole movement was controlled by him. Half the world
• 33:55
  Speaker 6: was ready to rise for him. But there were just
• 33:58
  Speaker 6: five people, perhaps who would have resisted him, and the
• 34:02
  Speaker 6: old devil put them on the Supreme Council to waste
• 34:05
  Speaker 6: their time in watching each other. Idiots that we are.
• 34:09
  Speaker 6: He planned the whole of our idiocies. Sunday knew that
• 34:13
  Speaker 6: the Professor would chase Sime through London. The Sime would
• 34:16
  Speaker 6: fight me in France, and he was combining great masses
• 34:20
  Speaker 6: of capital and seizing great lines of telegraphy, while we
• 34:24
  Speaker 6: five idiots were running after each other like a lot
• 34:28
  Speaker 6: of confounded babies playing blind man's buff, Well.
• 34:33
  Speaker 1: Asked Sime, with a sort of steadiness, Well replied the
• 34:38
  Speaker 1: other with sudden serenity.
• 34:41
  Speaker 6: He has found us playing blind man's buff today, in
• 34:45
  Speaker 6: a field of great rustic beauty and extreme solitude. He
• 34:49
  Speaker 6: has probably captured the world. It only remains to him
• 34:53
  Speaker 6: to capture this field and all the fools in it.
• 34:57
  Speaker 6: And since you really want to know what was my
• 35:00
  Speaker 6: objection to the arrival of that train, I will tell you.
• 35:04
  Speaker 6: My objection was that Sunday or his secretary has just
• 35:08
  Speaker 6: this moment got out of it.
• 35:11
  Speaker 1: Sime uttered an involuntary cry, and they all turned their
• 35:15
  Speaker 1: eyes towards the far off station. It was quite true
• 35:19
  Speaker 1: that a considerable bulk of people seemed to be moving
• 35:22
  Speaker 1: in their direction, but they were too distant to be
• 35:25
  Speaker 1: distinguished in any way.
• 35:28
  Speaker 6: It was the habit of the late marqay de Saint Eustache.
• 35:32
  Speaker 1: Said the new policeman, producing a leather case.
• 35:36
  Speaker 6: Always to get a pair of opera glasses. Either the
• 35:39
  Speaker 6: president of the Secretary is coming after us with that mob.
• 35:43
  Speaker 6: They have caught us in a nice, quiet place where
• 35:46
  Speaker 6: we under no temptation to break our roles by calling
• 35:49
  Speaker 6: the police. Doctor Bull, I have a suspicion that you
• 35:52
  Speaker 6: will see better through these than through your own highly
• 35:56
  Speaker 6: decorative spectacles.
• 35:58
  Speaker 1: He handed the filled glasses to the doctor, who immediately
• 36:01
  Speaker 1: took off his spectacles and put the apparatus to his eyes.
• 36:06
  Speaker 5: It cannot be as bad as you say.
• 36:09
  Speaker 1: Said the professor, somewhat shaken.
• 36:12
  Speaker 5: They are a good number of them, certainly, but they
• 36:15
  Speaker 5: may easily be ordinary tourists.
• 36:19
  Speaker 1: Do ordinary tourists, asked Bull, with the field glasses to
• 36:23
  Speaker 1: his eyes.
• 36:25
  Speaker 3: Wear black masks half way down the face.
• 36:29
  Speaker 1: Sime almost tore the glasses out of his hand and
• 36:33
  Speaker 1: looked through them. Most men in the advancing mob really
• 36:37
  Speaker 1: looked ordinary enough, but it was quite true that two
• 36:41
  Speaker 1: or three of the leaders in front wore black half
• 36:44
  Speaker 1: masks almost down to their mouths. This disguise is very complete,
• 36:49
  Speaker 1: especially at such a distance, and Sime found it impossible
• 36:53
  Speaker 1: to conclude anything from the clean shaven jaws and chins
• 36:57
  Speaker 1: of the men talking in the front. But presently, as
• 37:01
  Speaker 1: they talked, they all smiled, and one of them smiled
• 37:05
  Speaker 1: on one side end of Chapter ten,