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27 - Gadfly by Ethel Lilian Voynich · Gadfly

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: Epilog, Gemma, there's a man downstairs who wants to see you.
• 0:05
  Speaker 1: Martini spoke in this subdued tone which they had both
• 0:09
  Speaker 1: unconsciously adopted during these last ten days. That and a
• 0:14
  Speaker 1: certain slow evenness of speech and movement were the sole
• 0:18
  Speaker 1: expression which either of them gave to their grief. Emma,
• 0:22
  Speaker 1: with bare arms and an apron over her dress, was
• 0:26
  Speaker 1: standing at a table putting up little packages of cartridges
• 0:29
  Speaker 1: for distribution. She had stood over the work since early morning,
• 0:34
  Speaker 1: and now in the glaring afternoon, her face looked haggard
• 0:38
  Speaker 1: with fatigue. A man, caesar, What does he want? I
• 0:42
  Speaker 1: don't know, dear. He wouldn't tell me. He said, he
• 0:45
  Speaker 1: must speak to you alone. Very well. She took off
• 0:49
  Speaker 1: her apron and pulled down the sleeves of her dress.
• 0:52
  Speaker 1: I must go to him, I suppose, but it's very
• 0:55
  Speaker 1: likely it's only a spy. In any case, I shall
• 0:59
  Speaker 1: be in the next room within call. As soon as
• 1:02
  Speaker 1: you get rid of him. You had better go and
• 1:04
  Speaker 1: lie down a bit. You have been standing too long
• 1:07
  Speaker 1: to day. Oh no, I would rather go on working.
• 1:11
  Speaker 1: She went slowly down the stairs, Martini following in silence.
• 1:16
  Speaker 1: She had grown to look ten years older in these
• 1:19
  Speaker 1: few days, and the gray streak across her hair had
• 1:22
  Speaker 1: widened into a broad band. She mostly kept her eyes
• 1:26
  Speaker 1: lowered now, but when by chance she raised them, he
• 1:30
  Speaker 1: shivered at the horror in their shadows. In the little
• 1:33
  Speaker 1: parlor she found a clumsy looking man standing with his
• 1:37
  Speaker 1: heels together in the middle of the floor. His whole
• 1:40
  Speaker 1: figure and the half frightened way he looked up when
• 1:44
  Speaker 1: she came in suggested to her that he must be
• 1:47
  Speaker 1: one of the Swiss guards. He wore a country man's blouse,
• 1:51
  Speaker 1: which evidently did not belong to him, and kept glancing
• 1:55
  Speaker 1: round as though afraid of detection. Can you speak German?
• 2:00
  Speaker 1: He asked, in the heavy Zurich. Patois a little I
• 2:04
  Speaker 1: hear you want to see me? You are, said Noora Bolah.
• 2:08
  Speaker 1: I've brought you a letter, a letter. She was beginning
• 2:11
  Speaker 1: to tremble, and rested one hand on the table to
• 2:14
  Speaker 1: steady herself. I am one of the guard over there,
• 2:18
  Speaker 1: he pointed out of the window to the fortress on
• 2:20
  Speaker 1: the hill. It's from the man that was shot last week.
• 2:25
  Speaker 1: He wrote it the night before. I promised him. I'd
• 2:28
  Speaker 1: give it into your own hand myself. She bent her
• 2:32
  Speaker 1: head down, so he had written. After all, that's why
• 2:36
  Speaker 1: I've been so long bringing it, the soldier went on.
• 2:40
  Speaker 1: He said, I was not to give it to any
• 2:42
  Speaker 1: one but you, and I couldn't get off before they
• 2:46
  Speaker 1: watched me, so I had to borrow these things to
• 2:49
  Speaker 1: come in. He was fumbling in the breast of his blouse.
• 2:53
  Speaker 1: The weather was hot, and the sheet of folded paper
• 2:56
  Speaker 1: that he pulled out was not only dirty and crumpled.
• 2:59
  Speaker 1: But he stood for a moment, shuffling his feet uneasily,
• 3:04
  Speaker 1: then put up one hand and scratched the back of
• 3:07
  Speaker 1: his head. You won't say anything, he began again, timidly,
• 3:11
  Speaker 1: with a distrustful glance at her. It's as much as
• 3:14
  Speaker 1: my life's worth to have come here. Of course, I
• 3:18
  Speaker 1: shall not say anything. No, wait a minute. As he
• 3:22
  Speaker 1: turned to go, she stopped him, feeling for her purse,
• 3:25
  Speaker 1: but he drew back, offended. I don't want your money,
• 3:29
  Speaker 1: he said roughly. I did it for him because he
• 3:32
  Speaker 1: asked me to. I'd have done more than that for him.
• 3:36
  Speaker 1: He'd been good to me. God help me. The little
• 3:40
  Speaker 1: catch in his voice made her look up. He was
• 3:43
  Speaker 1: slowly rubbing a grimy sleeve across his eyes. We had
• 3:47
  Speaker 1: to shoot. He went on under his breath. My mates
• 3:50
  Speaker 1: and I a man must obey orders. We bungled it
• 3:54
  Speaker 1: and had the fire again, and he left at us.
• 3:57
  Speaker 1: He called us the awkward squad, and he'd been good
• 4:01
  Speaker 1: to me. There was silence in the room. A moment
• 4:04
  Speaker 1: later he straightened himself up, made a clumsy military salute,
• 4:09
  Speaker 1: and went away. She stood still for a little while
• 4:12
  Speaker 1: with the paper in her hand, then sat down by
• 4:15
  Speaker 1: the open window to read. The letter was closely written
• 4:19
  Speaker 1: in pencil, and in some parts hardly legible, but the
• 4:24
  Speaker 1: first two words stood out quite clear upon the page,
• 4:27
  Speaker 1: and they were in English, Dear jem. The writing grew
• 4:31
  Speaker 1: suddenly blurred and misty, and she had lost him again,
• 4:36
  Speaker 1: had lost him again. At the sight of the familiar
• 4:40
  Speaker 1: childish nickname, all the hopelessness of her bereavement came over
• 4:44
  Speaker 1: her afresh, and she put out her hands in blind desperation,
• 4:49
  Speaker 1: as though the weight of the earth clods that lay
• 4:52
  Speaker 1: above him were pressing on her heart. Presently, she took
• 4:56
  Speaker 1: up the paper again and went on reading. I am
• 4:59
  Speaker 1: to be shore at sunrise tomorrow, So if I am
• 5:03
  Speaker 1: to keep at all my promise, to tell you everything.
• 5:06
  Speaker 1: I must keep it now. But after all, there is
• 5:10
  Speaker 1: not much need of explanations between you and me. We
• 5:14
  Speaker 1: always understood each other without many words, even when we
• 5:18
  Speaker 1: were little things. And so you see, my dear, you
• 5:22
  Speaker 1: had no need to break your heart over that old
• 5:25
  Speaker 1: story of the blow. It was a hard hit, of course,
• 5:28
  Speaker 1: but I have had plenty of others as hard, and
• 5:32
  Speaker 1: yet I have managed to get over them, even to
• 5:35
  Speaker 1: pay back a few of them. And here I am
• 5:37
  Speaker 1: still like the mackerel in our nursery book I forgot
• 5:41
  Speaker 1: its name, alive and kicking. Oh this is my last kick, though.
• 5:46
  Speaker 1: And then tomorrow morning, and Benita la comedia, you and
• 5:52
  Speaker 1: I will translate that the variety show is over, and
• 5:56
  Speaker 1: will give thanks to the gods that they have had
• 5:58
  Speaker 1: at least so much mercy on us. It is not much,
• 6:03
  Speaker 1: but it is something, and for this and all other blessings,
• 6:07
  Speaker 1: may we be truly thankful about that same time tomorrow morning,
• 6:12
  Speaker 1: I want both you and Martini to understand clearly that
• 6:16
  Speaker 1: I am quite happy and satisfied and could ask no
• 6:19
  Speaker 1: better thing of fate. Tell that to Martini as a
• 6:23
  Speaker 1: message from me. He is a good fellow and a
• 6:26
  Speaker 1: good comrade, and he will understand you. See, Dear, I
• 6:30
  Speaker 1: know that the stick in the mud people are doing
• 6:33
  Speaker 1: us a good turn and themselves a bad one by
• 6:36
  Speaker 1: going back to secret trials and executions so soon. And
• 6:40
  Speaker 1: I know that if you who are left stand together
• 6:44
  Speaker 1: steadily and hit hard, you will see great things. As
• 6:49
  Speaker 1: for me, I shall go out into the courtyard with
• 6:52
  Speaker 1: as light a heart as any child starting home for
• 6:56
  Speaker 1: the holidays. I have done my share of the work,
• 6:59
  Speaker 1: and this death sentence is the proof that I have
• 7:02
  Speaker 1: done it thoroughly. They kill me because they are afraid
• 7:05
  Speaker 1: of me. And what more can any man's heart desire?
• 7:10
  Speaker 1: It desires just one thing more. Though a man who
• 7:13
  Speaker 1: is going to die has a right to a personal fancy,
• 7:17
  Speaker 1: and mine is that you should see why I have
• 7:20
  Speaker 1: always been such a sulky brute to you, and so
• 7:24
  Speaker 1: slow to forget old scores. Of course, though you understand why,
• 7:29
  Speaker 1: and I tell you only for the pleasure of writing
• 7:32
  Speaker 1: the words. I loved you, Gemma, when you were an
• 7:35
  Speaker 1: ugly little girl in a gingham fraught with a scratchy
• 7:38
  Speaker 1: tucker and your hair in a pigtail down your back.
• 7:42
  Speaker 1: And I love you still. Do you remember that day
• 7:45
  Speaker 1: when I kissed your hand, and when you so piteously
• 7:48
  Speaker 1: begged me never to do that again. It was a
• 7:52
  Speaker 1: scoundrelly trick to play, I know, but you must forgive that.
• 7:56
  Speaker 1: And now I kiss the paper where I have written
• 7:58
  Speaker 1: your name. So I have kissed you twice, and both
• 8:02
  Speaker 1: times without your consent. That is all. Goodbye, my dear.
• 8:07
  Speaker 1: There was no signature, but a verse, which they had
• 8:10
  Speaker 1: learned together as children, was written under the letter. Then
• 8:15
  Speaker 1: am I a happy fly? If I live or if
• 8:18
  Speaker 1: I die? Half an hour later, Martini entered the room
• 8:23
  Speaker 1: and startled out of the silence of half a lifetime,
• 8:27
  Speaker 1: threw down the placard he was carrying, and flung his
• 8:30
  Speaker 1: arms about her. Gemma, what is it? For God's sake,
• 8:34
  Speaker 1: don't sob like that? You that never cry, Gemma, Gemma,
• 8:40
  Speaker 1: my darling, nothing cizar. I will tell you afterwards. I
• 8:45
  Speaker 1: can't talk about it just now. She hurriedly slipped the
• 8:49
  Speaker 1: tear stained letter into her pocket, and rising, leaned out
• 8:54
  Speaker 1: of the window to hide her face. Martini held his
• 8:57
  Speaker 1: tongue and bit his mustache. After all all these years,
• 9:00
  Speaker 1: he had betrayed himself like a schoolboy, and she had
• 9:04
  Speaker 1: not even noticed it. The cathedral bell is tolling, she said,
• 9:08
  Speaker 1: after a little while, looking round with recovered self command.
• 9:12
  Speaker 1: Someone must be dead. That is what I came to
• 9:15
  Speaker 1: show you, Martini answered in his everyday voice. He picked
• 9:19
  Speaker 1: up the placard from the floor and handed it to
• 9:22
  Speaker 1: her hastily. Printed in large type was a black bordered
• 9:26
  Speaker 1: announcement that our dearly beloved Bishop, his eminence, the Cardinal
• 9:31
  Speaker 1: Monsignor Lorenzo Montanelli, had died suddenly at Ravenna from the
• 9:38
  Speaker 1: rupture of an anneurism of the heart. She glanced up
• 9:41
  Speaker 1: quickly from the paper, and Martini answered the unspoken suggestion
• 9:46
  Speaker 1: in her eyes with a shrug of his shoulders. What
• 9:49
  Speaker 1: would you have, Madonna? Aneurism is as good a word
• 9:53
  Speaker 1: as any other. End of epilogue, End of the guidefly
• 9:59
  Speaker 1: by Ethel Lilian Boynette m