Transcript

029 - Chapter 7 · Pirate

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Speaker 1: Chapter seven of the Pirate by Sir Walter Scott. This
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Speaker 1: LibriVox recording is in the public domain. Read by Dion
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Speaker 1: Jin's Salt Lake City, Utah thrice from the cavern's darksome womb,
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Speaker 1: her groaning voice arose, and come, my daughter, fearless, Come
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Speaker 1: and fearless, tell thy woes Michel the dwelling of Norna.
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Speaker 1: Though none but a native of Zetland, familiar during his
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Speaker 1: whole life with every variety of rock scenery, could have
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Speaker 1: seen anything ludicrous in this situation, was not unaptly compared
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Speaker 1: by Magnus Troyle to the iri of the osprey or
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Speaker 1: sea eagle. It was very small, and had been fabricated
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Speaker 1: out of one of those dens which are called Bergh's
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Speaker 1: and Picks houses in Zetlanland and duns on the mainland
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Speaker 1: of Scotland and the Hebrides, and which seemed to be
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Speaker 1: the first effort at architecture. The connecting link betwixt a
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Speaker 1: fox's hole in a cairn of loose stones, and an
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Speaker 1: attempt to construct a human habitation out of the same
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Speaker 1: materials without the use of lime or cement of any kind,
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Speaker 1: without any timber, so far as can be seen from
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Speaker 1: their remains without any knowledge of the arch or of
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Speaker 1: the stair, such as they are. However, the numerous remains
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Speaker 1: of these dwellings, for there is one found on every headland, islet,
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Speaker 1: or point of vantage, which could afford the inhabitants' additional
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Speaker 1: means of defense, tend to prove that the remote people
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Speaker 1: by whom these burghs were constructed were a numerous race,
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Speaker 1: and that the islands had then a much greater population
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Speaker 1: than from other circumstances we might have been led to
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Speaker 1: anticipate the burgh of which we at present speak, had
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Speaker 1: been altered and repaired at a later period, probably by
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Speaker 1: some petty despot or sea rover, who, tempted by the
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Speaker 1: security of the situation, which occupied the whole of a
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Speaker 1: projecting point of rock and was divided from the mainland
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Speaker 1: by a rent or chasm of some doubt, had built
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Speaker 1: some additions to it in the rudest style of Gothic
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Speaker 1: defensive architecture, had plastered the inside with lime and clay,
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Speaker 1: and broken out windows for the admission of light and air,
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Speaker 1: and finally, by roofing it over and dividing it into
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Speaker 1: stories by means of beams of wreck wood had converted,
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Speaker 1: did the hole into a tower resembling a pyramidical dovecot,
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Speaker 1: formed by a double wall, still containing within its thickness
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Speaker 1: that set of circular galleries or concentric rings, which is
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Speaker 1: proper to all the fords of this primitive construction, and
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Speaker 1: which seemed to have constituted the only shelter which they
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Speaker 1: were originally qualified to afford to their shivering inhabitants. This
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Speaker 1: singular habitation, built out of the loose stones which lay
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Speaker 1: scattered around and exposed for ages to the vicissitudes of
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Speaker 1: the elements, was as gray, weather beaten and wasted as
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Speaker 1: the rock on which it was founded, and from which
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Speaker 1: it could not easily be distinguished. So completely did it
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Speaker 1: resemble in color, and so little did it differ in
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Speaker 1: regularity of shape from a pinnacle or fragment of the cliff.
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Speaker 1: Minna's habitual indifference to all that of late had passed
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Speaker 1: around her was for a moment suspended by the sight
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Speaker 1: of an abode which, at another and happier period of
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Speaker 1: her life would have attracted at once her curiosity and
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Speaker 1: her wonder. Even now, she seemed to feel interest as
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Speaker 1: she gazed upon this singular retreat and recollected. It was
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Speaker 1: that of certain misery and probable insanity, connected, as its
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Speaker 1: inhabitant asserted, and Minna's faith admitted, with power over the
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Speaker 1: elements and the capacity of intercourse with the invisible world.
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Speaker 1: Our kinswoman, she muttered, has chosen her dwelling well with
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Speaker 1: no more of earth than a seafel might rest upon,
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Speaker 1: and all around sightless temp pists and raging waves, despair
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Speaker 1: and magical power could not have a fitter residence. Brenda,
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Speaker 1: on the other hand, shuddered when she looked on the
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Speaker 1: dwelling to which they were advancing, by a difficult, dangerous
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Speaker 1: and precarious path, which, sometimes, to her great terror, approached
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Speaker 1: to the verge of the precipice, So that zetlander as
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Speaker 1: she was, and confident as she had reason to be,
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Speaker 1: in the steadiness and sagacity of the sure footed pony,
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Speaker 1: she could scarce suppress an inclination to giddiness, especially at
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Speaker 1: one point when, being foremost of the party and turning
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Speaker 1: a sharp angle of the rock, her feet as they
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Speaker 1: projected from the side of the pony, hung for an
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Speaker 1: instant sheer over the ledge of the precipice, so that
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Speaker 1: there was nothing save empty space betwixt the sole of
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Speaker 1: her shoe and the white foam of the vexed ocean,
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Speaker 1: which dashed, howled and foamed five hundred feet below. What
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Speaker 1: would have driven a maiden of another country into delirium
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Speaker 1: gave her but a momentary uneasiness, which was instantly lost
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Speaker 1: in the hope that the impression which the scene appeared
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Speaker 1: to make on her sister's imagination might be favorable to
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Speaker 1: her cure. She could not help looking back to see
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Speaker 1: how Minna should pass the point of peril which she
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Speaker 1: herself had just rounded, and could hear the strong voice
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Speaker 1: of the u Dollar, though to him such rough paths
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Speaker 1: were familiar as the smooth sea beach call in a
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Speaker 1: tone of some anxiety, take heed Jarto as Minna, with
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Speaker 1: an eager look, dropped her bridle and stretched forward her
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Speaker 1: arms and even her body over the precipice, in the
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Speaker 1: attitude of the wild swan, when balancing itself and spreading
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Speaker 1: its broad pinions it prepares to launch from the cliff
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Speaker 1: upon the bosom of the winds. Brenda felt at that
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Speaker 1: instant a pang of unutterable terror, which left a strong
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Speaker 1: impression on her nerves, even when relieved, as it instantly
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Speaker 1: was by her sister, recovering herself and sitting upright on
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Speaker 1: her saddle, the opportunity and temptation, if she felt it,
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Speaker 1: passing away as the quiet, steady animal which supported her
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Speaker 1: rounded the projecting angle and turned its patient and firm
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Speaker 1: step from the verge of the precipice. They now attained
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Speaker 1: a more level and open space of ground, being the
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Speaker 1: flat top of an isthmus of projecting rows, narrowing again
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Speaker 1: towards a point where it was terminated by the chasm
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Speaker 1: which separated the small peak or stack occupied by Norno's
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Speaker 1: habitation from the main ridge of cliff and precipice. This
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Speaker 1: natural foss, which seemed to have been the work of
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Speaker 1: some convulsion of nature, was deep, dark and irregular, narrower
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Speaker 1: towards the bottom which could not be distinctly seen, and
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Speaker 1: widest at top, having the appearance as if that part
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Speaker 1: of the cliff occupied by the building had been half
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Speaker 1: rent away from the isthmus which it terminated, an idea
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Speaker 1: favored by the angle at which it seemed to recede
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Speaker 1: from the land and lean towards the sea with the
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Speaker 1: building which crowned it. This angle of projection was so
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Speaker 1: considerable that it required recollection to spell the idea that
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Speaker 1: the rock, so much removed from the perpendicular, was about
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Speaker 1: to precipitate itself seaward with its old tower, and a
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Speaker 1: timorous person would have been afraid to put foot upon it,
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Speaker 1: lest an addition of weight so inconsiderable as that of
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Speaker 1: the human body should hasten a catastrophe which seemed at
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Speaker 1: every instant impending. Without troubling himself about such fantasies, the
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Speaker 1: u Dollar rode towards the tower, and there, dismounting along
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Speaker 1: with his daughters, gave the ponies in charge to one
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Speaker 1: of their domestics, with directions to disencumber them of their
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Speaker 1: burdens and turn them out for rest and refreshment upon
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Speaker 1: the nearest heath. This done, they approached the gate, which
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Speaker 1: seemed formerly to have been connected with the land by
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Speaker 1: a rude drawbridge, some of the apparatus of which was
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Speaker 1: still visible, but the rest had been long demolished, and
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Speaker 1: was replaced by a stationary footbridge formed of barrel staves
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Speaker 1: covered with turf, very narrow and ledgeless, and supported by
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Speaker 1: a sort of arch constructed out of the jaw bones
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Speaker 1: of the whale. Along this brig of dread, the U
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Speaker 1: Dollar stepped with his usual portly majesty of stride, which
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Speaker 1: threatened its demolition and his own. At the same time,
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Speaker 1: his daughters trode more lightly and more safely after him,
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Speaker 1: and the whole party stood before the low and rugged
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Speaker 1: portal of Norna's habitation. If she should be abroad after all,
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Speaker 1: said Magnus, as he plied the black oaken door with
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Speaker 1: repeated blows. But if so, we will at least lie
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Speaker 1: by a day for her return, and make Nick Strumpffer
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Speaker 1: pay the demurage in bland and brandy. As he spoke,
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Speaker 1: the door opened and displayed, to the alarm of Brenda
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Speaker 1: and the surprise of Menna herself, a square made dwarf
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Speaker 1: about four feet five inches high, with a head of
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Speaker 1: most portentous size and features correspondent, namely a huge mouth,
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Speaker 1: a tremendous nose with large black nostrils which seemed to
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Speaker 1: have been slit upwards, blubber lips of an unconscionable size,
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Speaker 1: and huge wall eyes with which he leered, sneered, grinned,
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Speaker 1: and goggled on the U Dollar as an old acquaintance
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Speaker 1: without uttering a single word. The young women could hardly
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Speaker 1: persuade themselves that they did not see before their eyes
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Speaker 1: the very demon trolled who made such a distinguished figure
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Speaker 1: in Norse legend. Their father went on addressing this uncouth
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Speaker 1: apparition in terms of such condescending friendship as the better
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Speaker 1: sort apply to their inferiors when they wish, for any
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Speaker 1: immediate purpose to conciliate or coax them atone by the bye,
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Speaker 1: which generally contains in its very familiarity as much offense
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Speaker 1: as the more direct assumption of distance and superiority. Ha Nick.
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Speaker 1: Honest Nick said the U Dollar. Here, you are lively
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Speaker 1: and lovely as Saint Nicholas, your namesake, when he is
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Speaker 1: carved with an axe for the headpiece of a Dutch dogger.
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Speaker 1: How dost thou do, Nick, or pacilette, if you like
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Speaker 1: that better? Nicholas, Here are my two daughters, nearly as
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Speaker 1: handsome as thyself. Thou seest Nick ran and did a
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Speaker 1: clumsy obeisance by way of courtesy, but kept his broad,
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Speaker 1: misshapen person firmly placed in the doorway. Daughters continued the
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Speaker 1: U Dollar, who seemed to have his reasons for speaking
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Speaker 1: this cerberous fair, at least according to his own notions
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Speaker 1: of propitiation. This is Nick strumpfer Maidens, whom his mistress
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Speaker 1: calls Paselette, being a light limbed dwarf as you see
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Speaker 1: like him that wont to fly about like a scouri
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Speaker 1: on his wooden hobby horse in the old story book
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Speaker 1: of Valentine and Orson that you Menna used to read
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Speaker 1: whilst you were a child. I assure you he can
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Speaker 1: keep his mistress's counsel, and never told one of her
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Speaker 1: secrets in his life. Ha ha ha. The ugly dwarf
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Speaker 1: grinned ten times wider than before, and showed the meaning
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Speaker 1: of the u Dollar's jest by opening his immense jaws
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Speaker 1: and throwing back his head so as to discover that
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Speaker 1: in the immense cavity of his mouth there only remained
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Speaker 1: the small, shriveled remnant of a tongue, capable perhaps of
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Speaker 1: assisting him in swallowing his food, but unequal to the
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Speaker 1: formation of articulate sounds. Whether this organ had been curtailed
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Speaker 1: by cruelty or injured by disease, it was impossible to guess,
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Speaker 1: but that the unfortunate being had not been originally dumb
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Speaker 1: was evident from his retaining the sense of hearing. Having
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Speaker 1: made this horrible exhibition, he repaid the U Dollar's mirth
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Speaker 1: with a loud, horrid, and discordant laugh, which had something
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Speaker 1: in it the more hideous that his mirth seemed to
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Speaker 1: be exc by his own misery. The sisters looked on
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Speaker 1: each other in silence and fear, and even the U
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Speaker 1: dollar appeared disconcerted. And how now he proceeded, after a
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Speaker 1: minute's pause, When didst thou wash that throat of thine
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Speaker 1: that is about the width of the pentland frith with
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Speaker 1: a cup of brandy? Ha? Nick, I have that with me,
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Speaker 1: which is sound stuff, boy ha. The dwarf bent his
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Speaker 1: beetle brows, shook his misshapen head, and made a quick
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Speaker 1: sharp indication, throwing his right hand up to his shoulder,
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Speaker 1: with the thumb pointed backwards. What my kinswoman, said the
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Speaker 1: U dollar, comprehending the signal, will be angry. Well, shalt
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Speaker 1: have a flask to carouse when she is from home,
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Speaker 1: old acquaintance. Lips and throats may swallow, though they cannot
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Speaker 1: speak pasol. It grinned a grim assent, and now said
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Speaker 1: the U dollar stand out of the way, pacolet and
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Speaker 1: let me carry my daughters to see their kinswoman, by
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Speaker 1: the bones of Saint Madness, it shall be a good
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Speaker 1: turn in thy way. Nay, never shake thy head man,
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Speaker 1: for if thy mistress be at home, see her we will.
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Speaker 1: The dwarf again intimated the impossibility of their being admitted,
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Speaker 1: partly by signs, partly by mumbling some uncouth and most
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Speaker 1: disagreeable sounds, and the u dollar's mood began to arise.
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Speaker 1: Tittle tattle man said he trouble not me with thy gibberish,
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Speaker 1: but stand out of the way, and the blame, if
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Speaker 1: there be any, shall rest with me. So saying Madness,
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Speaker 1: Troyl laid his sturdy hand upon the collar of the
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Speaker 1: recusant dwarf's jacket of blue wadmile, and with a strong
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Speaker 1: but not a violent grasp, removed him from the doorway,
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Speaker 1: pushed him gently aside, and entered, followed by his two daughters, whom,
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Speaker 1: a sense of apprehension arising out of all which they
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Speaker 1: saw and heard, kept very close to him. A crooked
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Speaker 1: and dusky passage through which Magnus led the way was
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Speaker 1: dimly enlightened by a shothold communicating with the interior of
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Speaker 1: the building, and originally intended, doubtless to command the entrance
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Speaker 1: by a hagbit or culverin. As they approached nearer, for
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Speaker 1: they walked slowly and with hesitation, the light, imperfect as
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Speaker 1: it was, was suddenly obscured, and on looking upward to
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Speaker 1: discern the cause, Brenda was startled to observe the pale
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Speaker 1: and obscurely seen countenance of Norna, gazing downward upon them
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Speaker 1: without speaking a word. There was nothing extraordinary in this,
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Speaker 1: as the mistress of the mansion might be naturally enough
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Speaker 1: looking out to see what guests were thus suddenly and
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Speaker 1: unceremoniously intruding themselves on her presence. Still, however, the natural
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Speaker 1: paleness of her features, exaggerated by the light in which
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Speaker 1: they were at present, exhibited the immovable sternness of her look,
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Speaker 1: which showed neither kindness nor courtesy of civil reception. Her
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Speaker 1: dead silence, and the singular appearance of everything about her
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Speaker 1: dwelling augmented the dismay which Brenda had already conceived. Magnus
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Speaker 1: Troyle and Minna had walked slowly forward without observing the
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Speaker 1: apparition of their singular hostess, end of chapter seven,