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The Wheels of Chance Chapters 30 & 31 · The H. G. Wells Library

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  Speaker 1: Part eleven of the Wheels of Chance. This is a
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  Speaker 1: The Wheels of Chance by H. G. Wells, Chapter thirty
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  Speaker 1: the rescue expedition. And now to tell of those energetic
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  Speaker 1: chevaliers Widgery, Dangle and Phipps, and of that distressed beauty
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  Speaker 1: Thomas Planktignet, well known in society. So the paragraphs said,
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  Speaker 1: as miss Milton we left them at Midhurst station, if
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  Speaker 1: I remember rightly, waiting in a state of fine emotion
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  Speaker 1: for the Chichester train. It was clearly understood by the
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  Speaker 1: entire rescue party that Miss Milton was bearing up bravely
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  Speaker 1: against almost overwhelming grief. The three gentlemen outdid one another
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  Speaker 1: in sympathetic expedients. They watched her gravely, almost tenderly. The
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  Speaker 1: substantial Widgery tugged at his mustache and looked his unspeakable
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  Speaker 1: feelings at her with those dog like brown eyes of his.
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  Speaker 1: The slender Dangle tugged at his mustache and did what
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  Speaker 1: he could with unsympathetic gray ones. Phipps unhappily had no
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  Speaker 1: mustache to run any risks with, so he folded his
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  Speaker 1: arms and talked in a brave, indifferent, bearing up tone
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  Speaker 1: about the London, Brighton and South Coast Railway, just to
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  Speaker 1: cheer the poor woman up a little. And even miss
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  Speaker 1: Milton really felt that exalted melancholy to the very bottom
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  Speaker 1: of her heart, and tried to show it in a
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  Speaker 1: dozen little, delicate, feminine ways. There's nothing to do until
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  Speaker 1: we got to Chichester, said Dangle, Nothing, said Widgery, And
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  Speaker 1: aside in her ear, you really ate scarcely anything. You know.
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  Speaker 1: Their trains are always late, said Phipps, with his fingers
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  Speaker 1: along the edge of his collar. Dangle, you must understand,
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  Speaker 1: was a sub editor and reviewer, and his pride was
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  Speaker 1: to be Thomas Planktignet's intellectual companion. Widgery, the big man
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  Speaker 1: was manager of a bank and a mighty golfer, and
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  Speaker 1: his conception of his relations to her never came into
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  Speaker 1: his mind without those charming old lines. Douglas, Douglas, tender
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  Speaker 1: and true. His name was Douglas Douglas Widgery and Phipps
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  Speaker 1: Phipps was a medical student. Still the heart of a
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  Speaker 1: man of the world. She was kind to them all
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  Speaker 1: in her way, and insisted on their being friends together
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  Speaker 1: in spite of a disposition to a reciprocal criticism they displayed.
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  Speaker 1: Dangle thought Widgery a philistine, appreciating but coarsely the merits
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  Speaker 1: of a soul untrammeled. And Widgery thought Dangle lacked humanity,
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  Speaker 1: would talk insincerely to say a clever thing. Both Dangle
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  Speaker 1: and Widgery thought Phipps a bit of a cub, and
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  Speaker 1: Phipps thought both Dangle and Widgery a couple of thundering bounders.
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  Speaker 1: They would have got to Chichester in time for lunch,
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  Speaker 1: said dangll in the train after perhaps, And there's no
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  Speaker 1: sufficient place on the road. So soon as we get there,
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  Speaker 1: Phipps must inquire at the Chief Hotels to see if
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  Speaker 1: anyone answering to her description has lunched there. Oh, I'll inquire,
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  Speaker 1: said Phipps willingly. I suppose you and Widgery will just
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  Speaker 1: hang about. He saw an expression of pain on Miss
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  Speaker 1: Milton's gentle face and stopped abruptly. Oh, said Dangle, we
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  Speaker 1: shan't hang about, as you put it. There are two
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  Speaker 1: places in Chichester where tourists might go, The cathedral and
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  Speaker 1: a remarkably fine museum. I shall go to the cathedral
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  Speaker 1: and make an inquiry or so while Widgery the museum
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  Speaker 1: very well. And after that there's a little thing or
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  Speaker 1: two I thought of myself, said Widgery. To begin with,
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  Speaker 1: they took miss Milton in a kind of procession to
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  Speaker 1: the Red Hotel and established her there with some tea.
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  Speaker 1: You are so kind to me, she said, all of you.
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  Speaker 1: They signified that it was nothing and dispersed to their inquiries.
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  Speaker 1: By six they returned their zeal a little damp without news.
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  Speaker 1: Widgery came back with Dangle. Phipps was the last to return.
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  Speaker 1: You're quite sure, said Widgery, that there isn't any flaw
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  Speaker 1: in that inference of yours. Quite, said Dangle. Rather shortly,
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  Speaker 1: of course, said Widgery. They're starting for Midhurst on the
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  Speaker 1: Chichester Road. Doesn't absolutely bind them not to change their minds,
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  Speaker 1: my dear fellow, It does, really it does. You must
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  Speaker 1: allow me to have enough intelligence to think of cross roads.
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  Speaker 1: Really you must. There aren't any cross roads to tempt them.
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  Speaker 1: Would they turn aside here? No? Would they turn there?
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  Speaker 1: Many more things are inevitable than you fancy. We shall
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  Speaker 1: see at once, said Widgery at the window. Here comes Phipps.
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  Speaker 1: For my own part, Phipps said, Miss Milton, is he hurrying?
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  Speaker 1: Does he look? She rose in her eagerness, biting her
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  Speaker 1: trembling lip, and went towards the window. No news, said Phipps,
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  Speaker 1: entering Dah said Widgery, None said Dangle, Well, said Phipps.
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  Speaker 1: One fellow had got hold of a queer story of
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  Speaker 1: a man in bicycling clothes who was asking to say,
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  Speaker 1: question about this time yesterday? What question, said miss Milton.
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  Speaker 1: In the shadow of the window, she spoke, in a
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  Speaker 1: low voice, almost a whisper. Why have you seen a
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  Speaker 1: young lady in a gray bicycling costume? Dangle caught at
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  Speaker 1: his lower lip. What's that? He said? Yesterday? A man
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  Speaker 1: asking after her? Then? What can that mean? Heaven knows,
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  Speaker 1: said Phipps, sitting down wearily. You'd better infer what kind
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  Speaker 1: of man? Said Dangle. How should I know? In bicycling costume?
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  Speaker 1: The fellow said, but what height? What complexion? Didn't ask,
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  Speaker 1: said Phipps. Didn't ask, nonsense, said Dangle. Ask em yourself,
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  Speaker 1: said Phipps. He's the ostler chap at the white heart
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  Speaker 1: short thickets set fellow with a red face and a
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  Speaker 1: crusty manner, leaning up against the gate post, smells of whisky.
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  Speaker 1: Go and ask em, of course, said Dangle, taking his
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  Speaker 1: straw hat from the shade over the stuffed bird on
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  Speaker 1: the cheffuronnier, and turning towards the door. I might have known.
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  Speaker 1: Phipps's mouth opened and shut. You're tired, I'm sure, mister Phipps,
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  Speaker 1: said the lady soothingly. Let me ring for some tea
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  Speaker 1: for you. It suddenly occurred to Phipps that he had
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  Speaker 1: lapsed a little for his chivalry. I was a little
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  Speaker 1: annoyed at the way he rushed me to do all
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  Speaker 1: this business, he said, But I'd do it a hundred
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  Speaker 1: times as much if it would bring you any nearer
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  Speaker 1: to her pause. I would like a little tea. I
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  Speaker 1: don't want to raise any false hopes, said Widgery. But
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  Speaker 1: I do not believe they even came to Chichester. Dangle's
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  Speaker 1: a very clever fellow, of course, but sometimes these inferences
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  Speaker 1: of his chuck, said Phipps. Suddenly, what is it, said
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  Speaker 1: miss Milton. Something I've forgotten. I went right out from here,
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  Speaker 1: went to every other hotel in the place, and never thought.
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  Speaker 1: But never mind, I'll ask when the waiter comes. You
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  Speaker 1: don't mean a tap and the door opened. Tea, ma'am, Yes, ma'am,
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  Speaker 1: said the waiter. One minute, said Phipps. Was a lady
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  Speaker 1: in gray, A cycling lady stopped here yesterday, Yes, sir,
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  Speaker 1: stop the night with her brother, Sir, A young gent brother,
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  Speaker 1: said Miss Milton in a low tone. Thank god. The
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  Speaker 1: waiter glanced at her and understood everything. A young gent, sir,
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  Speaker 1: he said, very free with his money, give the name
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  Speaker 1: of Beaumont. He proceeded to some rambling particulars and was
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  Speaker 1: cross examined by widgery on the plans of the young couple.
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  Speaker 1: Haven't where's haven't, said Phipps. I seem to remember it.
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  Speaker 1: Somewhere was the man, tall, said Miss Milton, intently distinguished
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  Speaker 1: looking with a long flaxen mustache, and spoke with a drawl. Well,
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  Speaker 1: said the waiter in thought. His mustache, ma'am was scarcely long, scrubby,
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  Speaker 1: more and young, looking about thirty five. He was, no, ma'am,
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  Speaker 1: more like five and twenty. Not that, dear me, said
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  Speaker 1: Miss Milton, speaking in a curious, hollow voice, fumbling for
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  Speaker 1: her salts and showing the finest self control. It must
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  Speaker 1: have been her younger brother must have been. That will do,
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  Speaker 1: thank you, said Widgery, officiously, feeling that she would be
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  Speaker 1: easier under this new surprise if the man were dismissed.
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  Speaker 1: The waiter turned to go and almost collided with Dangle,
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  Speaker 1: who was entering the room, panting excitedly and with a
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  Speaker 1: pocket handkerchief held to his right eye. Hullo said, Dangle,
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  Speaker 1: what's up? What's up with you? Said Phipps. Nothing in altercation,
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  Speaker 1: merely with that drunken ostler of yours. He thought it
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  Speaker 1: was a plot to annoy him. That young lady in
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  Speaker 1: gray was mythical judge from your manner. I've got a
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  Speaker 1: piece of raw meat to keep over it. You have
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  Speaker 1: some news I see? Did the man hit you? Asked Woodry.
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  Speaker 1: Miss Milton rose and approached Dangle. Cannot I do anything?
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  Speaker 1: Dangle was heroic. Only tell me your news, he said,
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  Speaker 1: round the corner of his handkerchief. It was in this way,
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  Speaker 1: said Phipps, and explained rather sheepishly while he was doing so.
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  Speaker 1: With a running fire of commentary from Woodry, the waiter
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  Speaker 1: brought in a tray of tea a time table, said Dangle, promptly,
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  Speaker 1: for haven't Miss Milton poured two cups, and Phipps and
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  Speaker 1: Dangle partook in passover form. They caught the train by
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  Speaker 1: a hair's bred so to Haven't and inquiries. Dangle was
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  Speaker 1: puffed up to find that his guess of Haven't was
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  Speaker 1: right in view of the fact that beyond Haven't the
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  Speaker 1: Southampton Road has a steep hill continuously on the right
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  Speaker 1: hand side and the sea on the left. He hit
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  Speaker 1: up on a magnificent scheme for heading the young folks off.
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  Speaker 1: He and Miss Milton would go on to Fareham. Widgery
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  Speaker 1: and Phipps should alight one each at the intermediate stations
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  Speaker 1: of Cousum and Portchester, and come on by the next
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  Speaker 1: train if they had no news. If they did not
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  Speaker 1: come on, a wire to the Fareham Post office was
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  Speaker 1: to explain why it was Napoleonic, and more than consoled
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  Speaker 1: Dangle for the open derision of the Haven't street boys
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  Speaker 1: and the handkerchief which still protected his damaged eye. Moreover,
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  Speaker 1: the scheme answered to perfection. The fugitive escaped by a
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  Speaker 1: hair's breadth. They were outside the gold An anchor at
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  Speaker 1: Farrum and preparing to mount as Miss Milton and Dangle
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  Speaker 1: came round the corner from the station. It's her, said
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  Speaker 1: miss Milton, and would have screamed hissed, said Dangle, gripping
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  Speaker 1: the lady's arm, removing his handkerchief in his excitement, leaving
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  Speaker 1: the piece of meat over his eye. An extraordinary appearance
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  Speaker 1: which seemed unexpectedly to calm her. Be cool, said Dangle,
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  Speaker 1: glaring under the meat. They must not see us. They
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  Speaker 1: will get away else were there flies at the station.
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  Speaker 1: The young couple mounted and vanished round the corner of
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  Speaker 1: the Winchester Road. Had it not been for the publicity
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  Speaker 1: of the business, Miss Milton would have fainted. Save her,
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  Speaker 1: she said, Ah, a conveyance, said Dangle. One minute. He
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  Speaker 1: left her in a most pathetic attitude, with her hand
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  Speaker 1: pressed to her heart, and rushed to the Golden anchor
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  Speaker 1: dog cart. In ten minutes emerged The meat had gone
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  Speaker 1: now and one saw the cooling puffiness over his eye.
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  Speaker 1: I will conduct you back to the station, said Dangle.
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  Speaker 1: Hurry back and pursue them. You will meet Widgery and
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  Speaker 1: Phipps and tell them I am in pursuit. She was
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  Speaker 1: whirled back to the railway station and left there on
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  Speaker 1: a hard, blistered wooden seat in the sun she felt
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  Speaker 1: tired and dreadfully ruffled and agitated, and Dusty Dangle was
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  Speaker 1: no doubt most energetic and devoted, but for a kindly
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  Speaker 1: helpful manner, commend her to Douglas Widgery. Meanwhile, Dangle, his
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  Speaker 1: face golden in the evening sun, was driving as well
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  Speaker 1: as he could a large black horse harnessed into a
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  Speaker 1: thing called a gig, northwestward towards Winchester. Dangle, barring his
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  Speaker 1: swollen eye, was a refined looking little man, and he
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  Speaker 1: wore a deer stalker cap and was dressed in dark gray.
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  Speaker 1: His neck was long and slender. Perhaps you know what
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  Speaker 1: gigs are, huge, big wooden things, and very high. And
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  Speaker 1: the horse too was huge and big and high, with
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  Speaker 1: knobby legs, a long face, a hard mouth, and a
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  Speaker 1: whacking trick of pacing smacksmack'smack. It went along the road
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  Speaker 1: and hard by the church. It shied vigorously at a
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  Speaker 1: hooded perambulator. The history of the rescue expedition now becomes confused.
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  Speaker 1: It appears that Widgery was extremely indignant to find Miss
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  Speaker 1: Milton left about upon the Ferreum platform. The day had
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  Speaker 1: irritated him somehow, though he had started with the noblest intentions,
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  Speaker 1: and he seemed glad to find an outlet for justifiable indignation.
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  Speaker 1: He's such a spasmodic creature, said Widgery, rushing off. And
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  Speaker 1: I suppose we're to wait here until he comes back.
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  Speaker 1: It's likely he's so egotistical. Is Dangle always wants to
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  Speaker 1: mismanage everything himself. He means to help me, said miss Milton,
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  Speaker 1: a little reproachfully touching his arm. Widgery was highlid in
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  Speaker 1: the mood to be mollified at once. He need not
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  Speaker 1: prevent me, he said, and stopped. It's no good talking,
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  Speaker 1: you know, and you are tired. I can go on,
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  Speaker 1: she said, brightly, if only we find her. While I
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  Speaker 1: was cooling my heel and Causum, I brought a county
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  Speaker 1: map and produced and opened it. Here, you see is
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  Speaker 1: the road out of Aerum. He proceeded, with the calm
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  Speaker 1: deliberation of a business man, to develop a proposal of
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  Speaker 1: taking train forthwith to Winchester. They must be going to Winchester,
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  Speaker 1: he explained, It was inevitable tomorrow Sunday, Winchester, a cathedral
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  Speaker 1: town road going nowhere else of the slightest importance. But
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  Speaker 1: mister Dangle he will simply go on until he has
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  Speaker 1: to pass something, and then he will break his neck.
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  Speaker 1: I have seen Dangle drive before. It's scarcely like a
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  Speaker 1: dog cart, especially a hired dog cart, will overtake bicycles
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  Speaker 1: in the cool of the evening. Rely upon me, Miss Milton.
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  Speaker 1: I am in your hands, she said, with pathetic littleness,
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  Speaker 1: looking up at him, and for the moment he forgot
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  Speaker 1: the exasperation of the day. Phipps, during this conversation had
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  Speaker 1: stood in a somewhat depressed attitude, leaning on a stick,
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  Speaker 1: feeling his collar, and looking from one speaker to the other.
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  Speaker 1: The ice leaving Dangle behind seemed to him an excellent one.
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  Speaker 1: We might leave a message at the place where he
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  Speaker 1: got the dog cart, he suggested. When he saw their
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  Speaker 1: eyes meeting. There was a cheerful alacrity about all three
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  Speaker 1: at the proposal, but they never got beyond boatly, for
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  Speaker 1: even as their train ran into the station, a mighty
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  Speaker 1: rumbling was heard. There was a shouting overhead. The guard
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  Speaker 1: stood astonished on the platform, and Phipps, thrusting his head
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  Speaker 1: out of the window, cried, there he goes, and sprang
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  Speaker 1: out of the carriage. Miss Milton following an alarm, just
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  Speaker 1: saw it from Widgery. It was hidden Boutley Station lies
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  Speaker 1: in a cutting. Overhead was the roadway, and across the
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  Speaker 1: lemon yellows and flushed pinks of the sunset, there whirled
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  Speaker 1: a great black mass, a horse like a long nosed
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  Speaker 1: chest night the upper works of a gig and dangle
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  Speaker 1: in transit from front to back. A monstrous shadow aped
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  Speaker 1: him across the cutting. It was the event of a
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  Speaker 1: second Dangle seemed to jump hang in the air moment
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  Speaker 1: tarily and vanish, and after a moment's pause came our
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  Speaker 1: heart trending smash. Then the two black heads running swiftly.
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  Speaker 1: Better get out, said Phipps to Miss Milton, who stood
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  Speaker 1: fascinated in the doorway. In another moment, all three were
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  Speaker 1: hurrying up the steps. They found Dangle hatless, standing up
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  Speaker 1: with cut hands extended, having his hands brushed by an
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  Speaker 1: officious small boy. A broad, ugly road ran downhill in
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  Speaker 1: a long vista, and in the distance was a little
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  Speaker 1: group of Botley inhabitants holding the big black horse. Even
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  Speaker 1: at that distance they could see the expression of conscious
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  Speaker 1: pride on the monster's visage. It was as wooden face
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  Speaker 1: a horse as you can imagine. The beasts in the
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  Speaker 1: Tower of London on which the men in armor are
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  Speaker 1: perched aren't the only horses I've ever seen at all
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  Speaker 1: like it. However, we are not concerned now with the horse,
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  Speaker 1: but with Dangle hurt, asked Phipps, eagerly leading mister Dangle,
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  Speaker 1: cried Miss Milton, clasping her hands. Hullo, said Dan, not
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  Speaker 1: surprised in the slightest glad you've come. I may want
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  Speaker 1: you bit of a mess I'm in, eh, but I've
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  Speaker 1: caught em at the very place I expected to cought em,
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  Speaker 1: said Widgery. Where are they up there? He said, with
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  Speaker 1: a backward motion of his head, about a mile up
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  Speaker 1: the hill I left em. I had to. I don't understand,
• 16:21
  Speaker 1: said Miss Milton, with the rapt painful look. Again, have
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  Speaker 1: you found Jesse I have? I wish I could wash
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  Speaker 1: the gravel out of my hands. Somewhere it was like this,
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  Speaker 1: you know, came on them suddenly round a corner, horse
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  Speaker 1: shied at the bicycles. They were sitting by the roadside,
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  Speaker 1: botanizing flowers. I just had time to shout, Jesse Milton,
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  Speaker 1: We've been looking for you. And then that confounded brute bolted.
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  Speaker 1: I didn't dare turn round. I had all my work
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  Speaker 1: to do to save myself being turned over as it
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  Speaker 1: was so long as I did. I mean, I just shouted,
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  Speaker 1: return to your friends, all will be forgiven, and off
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  Speaker 1: I came, clatter clatter. Whether they heard? Take me to her,
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  Speaker 1: said Miss Milton, with intensity turning towards Widgery. Certainly, said Widgery,
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  Speaker 1: suddenly becoming active. How far is it, Dangle? Mile and
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  Speaker 1: a half or two miles? I was determined to find them,
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  Speaker 1: you know, I say, though, look at my hands, but
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  Speaker 1: I beg your pardon, Miss Milton. He turned to Phipps. Phipps,
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  Speaker 1: I say, where shall I wash the gravel out? And
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  Speaker 1: have a look at my knee? There's the station, said Phipps,
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  Speaker 1: becoming helpful. Dangle made a step and a damaged knee
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  Speaker 1: became evident. Take my arm, said Phipps. Where can we
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  Speaker 1: get a conveyance, asked Widgery of two small boys. The
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  Speaker 1: two small boys failed to understand. They looked at one another.
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  Speaker 1: There's not a cab, not a go cart in sight,
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  Speaker 1: said Widgery. It's a case of a horse. A horse
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  Speaker 1: My kingdom for a horse. Thus a horse iront yarneder,
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  Speaker 1: sang one of the small boys with the movement of
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  Speaker 1: the hand. Don't you know where we can hire traps?
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  Speaker 1: Asked Widgery, after glaring harshly at the boy for ten
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  Speaker 1: seconds or so. Or a cart or anything, asked Miss Milton.
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  Speaker 1: John ooker's got a cart, but no one can't iron carts.
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  Speaker 1: He got drunk and smash the sharps half of 'em,
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  Speaker 1: said the larger of the small boys, patiently averting his
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  Speaker 1: face and staring down at the road and making a
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  Speaker 1: song of it. And so wonder my father, for his
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  Speaker 1: leg us broke not a cart even evidently, what shall
• 18:20
  Speaker 1: we do? It occurred to Miss Milton that if Widgery
• 18:23
  Speaker 1: was the man for courtly devotion, Dangle was infinitely readier
• 18:27
  Speaker 1: of resource. I suppose, she said timidly, Perhaps if you
• 18:31
  Speaker 1: were to ask mister Dangle, and then all the guilt
• 18:34
  Speaker 1: came off Widgery, He answered, quite rudely, confounded, Dangle, hasn't
• 18:38
  Speaker 1: he messed us up enough? He must needs drive after
• 18:41
  Speaker 1: them in a trap to tell them we're coming, And
• 18:44
  Speaker 1: now you want me to ask him? Her beautiful blue
• 18:47
  Speaker 1: eyes were filled with tears. He stopped abruptly, I'll go
• 18:51
  Speaker 1: and ask dangle, he said shortly, if you wish it,
• 18:54
  Speaker 1: and went striding into the station and down the steps,
• 18:57
  Speaker 1: leaving her in the road under the quiet inspection of
• 18:59
  Speaker 1: the the two little boys, and with a kind of
• 19:01
  Speaker 1: ballad refrain running through her head, where are the knights
• 19:05
  Speaker 1: of the olden time? And feeling tired to death and
• 19:07
  Speaker 1: hungry and dusty and out of curl, and in short
• 19:11
  Speaker 1: a martyr woman, Chapter thirty one, It goes to my
• 19:17
  Speaker 1: heart to tell of the end of that day, How
• 19:19
  Speaker 1: the fugitives vanished into immensity, how there were no more trains,
• 19:23
  Speaker 1: How Botley stared unsympathetically with a palpable disposition to derision,
• 19:28
  Speaker 1: denying conveyances, How the landlord of the heron was suspicious.
• 19:33
  Speaker 1: How the next day was Sunday, and the hot summer's
• 19:36
  Speaker 1: day had crumpled the collar of Phips and screened the
• 19:38
  Speaker 1: skirts of Miss Milton, and dimmed the radiant emotions of
• 19:41
  Speaker 1: the whole party. Dangle with sticking plaster and a black eye,
• 19:45
  Speaker 1: felt absurdity of the pose of the wounded night, and
• 19:49
  Speaker 1: abandoned it after the faintest efforts. Recriminations never perhaps held
• 19:54
  Speaker 1: the foreground of the talk, but they played like summer
• 19:57
  Speaker 1: lightning on the edge of the conversation, and deep in
• 20:00
  Speaker 1: the hearts of all was a gaaling sense of the
• 20:03
  Speaker 1: ridiculous jesse they thought was most to blame. Apparently too,
• 20:08
  Speaker 1: the worst which would have made the whole business tragic,
• 20:11
  Speaker 1: was not happening. Here was a young woman, young woman,
• 20:15
  Speaker 1: do I say, a mere girl, had chosen to leave
• 20:18
  Speaker 1: a comfortable home in Surbiton and all the delights of
• 20:21
  Speaker 1: a refined intellectual circle, and had rushed off, trailing us
• 20:24
  Speaker 1: after her posing hard, mutually jealous, and now tired and
• 20:29
  Speaker 1: weather worn, to flick us off at last, mere mud
• 20:32
  Speaker 1: from her heel into a detestable village on a Saturday night.
• 20:37
  Speaker 1: And she had done it not for love and passion,
• 20:39
  Speaker 1: which our serious excuses one may recognize, even if one
• 20:43
  Speaker 1: must reprobate, but just for a freak, just for a
• 20:47
  Speaker 1: fantastic idea, for nothing, in fact, but the outraging of
• 20:51
  Speaker 1: common sense. Yet withal such was our restraint that we
• 20:56
  Speaker 1: talked of her still as one misguided, as one who
• 21:00
  Speaker 1: burthened us with anxiety, as a lamb astray. And miss Milton,
• 21:05
  Speaker 1: having eaten, continued to show the finest feelings on the matter.
• 21:10
  Speaker 1: She sat, I may mention, in the cushioned basket chair,
• 21:13
  Speaker 1: the only comfortable chair in the room, and we sat
• 21:16
  Speaker 1: on incredibly hard horsehair things, having anti massacres tied to
• 21:20
  Speaker 1: the backs by means of lemon colored bows. It was
• 21:24
  Speaker 1: different from those dear old talks at Surbiton. Somehow she
• 21:28
  Speaker 1: sat facing the window, which was open. The night was
• 21:31
  Speaker 1: so tranquil and warm, and the dim light, for we
• 21:34
  Speaker 1: did not use the lamp, suited her admirably. She talked
• 21:38
  Speaker 1: in a low voice that told you she was tired,
• 21:41
  Speaker 1: and she seemed inclined to state a case against herself
• 21:44
  Speaker 1: in the matter of a soul untrammeled. It was such
• 21:47
  Speaker 1: an evening as might live in a sympathetic memoir, but
• 21:50
  Speaker 1: it was a little dull while it lasted. I feel
• 21:53
  Speaker 1: she said that I am to blame. I have developed
• 21:57
  Speaker 1: that first book of mine. I do not go back
• 21:59
  Speaker 1: upon a word of it, mind, but it has been misunderstood, misapplied,
• 22:05
  Speaker 1: it has said widgery, trying to look so deeply sympathetic
• 22:08
  Speaker 1: as to be visible in the dark, deliberately misunderstood. Don't
• 22:13
  Speaker 1: say that, said the lady, not deliberately. I try and
• 22:16
  Speaker 1: think that critics are honest after their lights. I was
• 22:20
  Speaker 1: not thinking of critics, but she I mean, she paused
• 22:23
  Speaker 1: in interrogation. It is possible, said Dangle, scrutinizing his sticking plaster.
• 22:30
  Speaker 1: I write a book and state a case. I want
• 22:33
  Speaker 1: people to think as I recommend, not do as I recommend.
• 22:37
  Speaker 1: It is just teaching, only I make it into a story.
• 22:41
  Speaker 1: I want to teach new ideas, new lessons, to promulgate ideas.
• 22:45
  Speaker 1: Then when the ideas have been spread abroad, things will
• 22:48
  Speaker 1: come about. Only now it is madness to fly in
• 22:51
  Speaker 1: the face of the established order. Bernard Shaw, you know,
• 22:55
  Speaker 1: has explained that with regards to socialism, we all know
• 22:58
  Speaker 1: that to earn all that you consumed is right, and
• 23:01
  Speaker 1: that living on invested capital is wrong. Only we cannot
• 23:05
  Speaker 1: begin while we are so few. It is those others,
• 23:09
  Speaker 1: precisely said Widgery. It is those others they must begin first.
• 23:13
  Speaker 1: And meanwhile you go on banking. And if I didn't,
• 23:16
  Speaker 1: some one else would. And I live on mister Milton's
• 23:19
  Speaker 1: lotion while I try to gain a footing in literature. Try,
• 23:24
  Speaker 1: said Phipps. You have done so, and that's different, said Dangle.
• 23:28
  Speaker 1: At the same time, you are so kind to me.
• 23:31
  Speaker 1: But in this matter, of course, Georgina Griffiths in my
• 23:35
  Speaker 1: book lived alone in a flat in Paris and went
• 23:37
  Speaker 1: to life classes and had men visitors. But then she
• 23:40
  Speaker 1: was over twenty one. Jessica is only eighteen and girlish.
• 23:45
  Speaker 1: For that, said Dangle. It alters everything that child. It
• 23:49
  Speaker 1: is different with a woman. And Georgina Griffiths never flaunted
• 23:52
  Speaker 1: her freedom on a bicycle in country places, in this country,
• 23:57
  Speaker 1: where everyone is so particular, fancy sleeping away from home.
• 24:01
  Speaker 1: It's dreadful. If it gets about, it spells ruin for her. Ruin,
• 24:06
  Speaker 1: said Widrey. No man would marry a girl like that,
• 24:09
  Speaker 1: said Phipps. It must be hushed up, said Dangle. It
• 24:12
  Speaker 1: always seems to me that life is made up of individuals,
• 24:15
  Speaker 1: of individual cases. We must weigh each person against his
• 24:18
  Speaker 1: or her circumstances. General rules don't apply. I often feel
• 24:22
  Speaker 1: the force of that, said Widdry. Those are my rules,
• 24:26
  Speaker 1: of course, my books. It's different, altogether different, said Dangle.
• 24:30
  Speaker 1: A novel deals with a typical case, and life is
• 24:33
  Speaker 1: not so typical, said Widrey, with immense profoundity. Then suddenly,
• 24:38
  Speaker 1: unintentionally being himself most surprised and shocked of any in
• 24:41
  Speaker 1: the room. Phipps yawned. The failing was infectuous, and the gathering, having,
• 24:46
  Speaker 1: as you can easily understand, talked itself, weary, dispersed on
• 24:51
  Speaker 1: trivial pretenses, but not to sleep. Immediately directly Dangle was alone.
• 24:56
  Speaker 1: He began with infinite disgust to scrutinize his darkling eyes,
• 25:01
  Speaker 1: for he was a neat minded little man in spite
• 25:03
  Speaker 1: of his energy. The whole business, so near a capture
• 25:07
  Speaker 1: was horribly vexatious, and going back to Faram was certain
• 25:11
  Speaker 1: to be disagreeable. Phipps sat on his bed for some time,
• 25:15
  Speaker 1: examining with equal disgust a collar he would have thought
• 25:18
  Speaker 1: incredible for Sunday, twenty four hours before Miss Milton fell
• 25:22
  Speaker 1: amusing on the mortality of even big, fat men with
• 25:26
  Speaker 1: dog like eyes. And Woodery was unhappy because he had
• 25:29
  Speaker 1: been so cross to her at the station, because so
• 25:32
  Speaker 1: far he did not feel that he had scored over Dangle. Also,
• 25:35
  Speaker 1: he was angry with Dangle, and all four of them,
• 25:38
  Speaker 1: being souls living very much upon the appearance of things,
• 25:41
  Speaker 1: had a painful mental middle distance of Botley, derisive and suspicious,
• 25:46
  Speaker 1: and a remoter background of London humorous and surbiton speculative,
• 25:51
  Speaker 1: Where they really, after all, behaving absurdly. If they were
• 25:55
  Speaker 1: not behaving absurdly, why was it they were all so
• 25:58
  Speaker 1: irritated and ashamed and of Part eleven