Latest / The H. G. Wells Library / The Wheels of Chance Chapters 6 to 8

Transcript

The Wheels of Chance Chapters 6 to 8 · The H. G. Wells Library

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: Part three of the Wheels of Chance. This is a
• 0:04
  Speaker 1: LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain.
• 0:09
  Speaker 1: For more information or to volunteer, please visit LibriVox dot org.
• 0:15
  Speaker 1: The Wheels of Chance by H. G. Wells, Chapter six.
• 0:19
  Speaker 1: On the Road to Ripley, in the fullness of time,
• 0:23
  Speaker 1: mister hoopdriver drew near the Marquise of Granby at Esher,
• 0:27
  Speaker 1: And as he came under the railway arch and saw
• 0:30
  Speaker 1: the inn in front of him, he mounted his machine
• 0:32
  Speaker 1: again and rode bravely up to the doorway. Burton and
• 0:36
  Speaker 1: biscuit and cheese he had, which indeed is burton in
• 0:40
  Speaker 1: its proper company. And as he was eating, there came
• 0:44
  Speaker 1: a middle aged man in a drab cycling suit, very
• 0:47
  Speaker 1: red and moist and angry in the face, and asked
• 0:50
  Speaker 1: bitterly for a lemon squat. He sat down a seat
• 0:53
  Speaker 1: in the bar and mopped his face, But scarcely had
• 0:56
  Speaker 1: he sat down before he got up again and started
• 0:58
  Speaker 1: out of the doorway. Damn he said, Then, damn fool,
• 1:04
  Speaker 1: I said mister hoopdriver, looking around. Suddenly, with a piece
• 1:07
  Speaker 1: of cheese in his cheek. The man and drab faced
• 1:10
  Speaker 1: him I called myself a damn fool, sir. Have you
• 1:13
  Speaker 1: any objection? Oh? None, none, said mister hoopdriver. I thought
• 1:19
  Speaker 1: you spoke to me. I didn't hear what you said.
• 1:22
  Speaker 1: To have a complaintive disposition and an energetic temperament, sir,
• 1:25
  Speaker 1: is hell hell, I tell you I caught a play
• 1:28
  Speaker 1: of disposition and a phlegmatic temperament. All very well, but
• 1:32
  Speaker 1: energy and philosophy. Mister Hoopdriver looked as intelligent as he could,
• 1:37
  Speaker 1: but said nothing. There's no hurry, sir, none whatever. I
• 1:42
  Speaker 1: came out for exercise, general exercise, and to notice the
• 1:45
  Speaker 1: scenery and to botanize. And no sooner do I get
• 1:48
  Speaker 1: on that accursed machine than off, I go, hammer and tongs.
• 1:52
  Speaker 1: I never looked to right or left, never noticed a flower,
• 1:56
  Speaker 1: never saw a view, got hot, juicy red like a
• 1:59
  Speaker 1: grilled chop. Here. I am, sir, come from Guildford in
• 2:02
  Speaker 1: something under an hour. Why, sir, Mister Hoopdriver shook his head.
• 2:08
  Speaker 1: Because I'm a damned fool, sir. Because I've reservoirs and
• 2:11
  Speaker 1: reservoirs of muscular energy, and one or other of them
• 2:14
  Speaker 1: is always leaking. It's a most interesting road. Birds and
• 2:17
  Speaker 1: trees I've no doubt, and wayside flowers and there's nothing
• 2:21
  Speaker 1: I should enjoy more than watching them. But I can't
• 2:25
  Speaker 1: get me on that machine, and I have to go,
• 2:27
  Speaker 1: get me on anything, and I have to go, and
• 2:30
  Speaker 1: I don't want to go a bit. Why should a
• 2:32
  Speaker 1: man rush about like a rocket all pace and fizzle?
• 2:36
  Speaker 1: Why it makes me furious, I can assure you, sir.
• 2:39
  Speaker 1: I go scorching along the road and cursing aloud at
• 2:41
  Speaker 1: myself for doing it. A quiet, dignified, philosophical man, that's
• 2:45
  Speaker 1: what I am at bottom. And here I am dancing
• 2:48
  Speaker 1: with rage and swearing like a drunken tinker at a
• 2:51
  Speaker 1: perfect stranger. But my ways wasted. I've lost all the
• 2:55
  Speaker 1: country road, and now I'm on the fringe of London,
• 2:57
  Speaker 1: and I might have loitered all the morning. Uugh, Thank heaven, sir,
• 3:01
  Speaker 1: you have not the irritable temperament that you are not
• 3:04
  Speaker 1: to go to to madness by your indogenous sneers, by
• 3:07
  Speaker 1: the eternal wrangling of an uncomfortable soul and body. I
• 3:11
  Speaker 1: tell you I lead a cat and dog life. But
• 3:14
  Speaker 1: what is the use of talking? It's all of a piece.
• 3:18
  Speaker 1: He tossed his head with unspeakable self disgust, pitched the
• 3:21
  Speaker 1: lemon squash into his mouth, paid for it, and without
• 3:24
  Speaker 1: any further remark, strode to the door. Mister Hoopdriver was
• 3:28
  Speaker 1: still wondering what to say when his interlocutor vanished. There
• 3:32
  Speaker 1: was a noise of a foot spurning the gravel, and
• 3:35
  Speaker 1: when mister Hoopdriver reached the doorway, the man in drab
• 3:38
  Speaker 1: was a score of yards London word. He had already
• 3:42
  Speaker 1: gathered pace. He peddled with ill suppressed anger, and his
• 3:46
  Speaker 1: head was going down. In another moment, he flew swiftly
• 3:49
  Speaker 1: out of sight under the railway arch, and mister Hoopdriver
• 3:52
  Speaker 1: psalm no more. Chapter seven. After this whirlwind, mister Hoopdriver
• 3:59
  Speaker 1: paid his rect and, being now a little rested about
• 4:02
  Speaker 1: the muscles of the knees, resumed his saddle and rode
• 4:05
  Speaker 1: off in the direction of Ripley along an excellent but
• 4:08
  Speaker 1: undulating road. He was pleased to find his command over
• 4:12
  Speaker 1: his machine already sensibly increased. He set himself little exercises
• 4:16
  Speaker 1: as he went along, and performed them with varying success.
• 4:21
  Speaker 1: There was, for instance, steering in between a couple of stones,
• 4:24
  Speaker 1: say a foot of part a deed of little difficulty
• 4:27
  Speaker 1: so far as the front wheel is concerned, But the
• 4:29
  Speaker 1: back wheel, not being under the sway of the human eye,
• 4:32
  Speaker 1: is apt to take a vicious jump over the obstacle,
• 4:35
  Speaker 1: which sense of violent concussion all along the spine to
• 4:38
  Speaker 1: the skull, and will even jerk a loose fastened hat
• 4:42
  Speaker 1: over the eyes, and so lead to much confusion. And
• 4:45
  Speaker 1: again there was taking the hand or hands off the handlebar,
• 4:50
  Speaker 1: a sing and a dimple thing in itself, but complex
• 4:52
  Speaker 1: in its consequences. This particularly was a feat mister Hoopdriver
• 4:57
  Speaker 1: desired to do for several divergent reasons, but at present
• 5:01
  Speaker 1: it simply led to convulsive balancings and novel inelegant modes
• 5:05
  Speaker 1: of dismounting. The human nose is at best a needless excrescence.
• 5:12
  Speaker 1: There are those who consider it ornamental, and would regard
• 5:14
  Speaker 1: a face deprived of its assistance with pity or derision.
• 5:18
  Speaker 1: But it is doubtful whether our esteemed is dedicated so
• 5:21
  Speaker 1: much by a sense of its absolute beauty as by
• 5:24
  Speaker 1: the vitiating effect of a universally prevalent fashion. In the
• 5:29
  Speaker 1: case of bicycle students, as the young of both sexes,
• 5:33
  Speaker 1: its inutility is aggravated by its persistent annoyance. It requires
• 5:38
  Speaker 1: constant attention until one can ride with one hand and
• 5:42
  Speaker 1: search for secure and use a pocket handkerchief with the other.
• 5:45
  Speaker 1: Cycling is necessarily a constant series of descents. Nothing can
• 5:50
  Speaker 1: be further from the author's ambition than a wanton realism.
• 5:54
  Speaker 1: But mister Hoopdriver's nose is a plain and salient fact,
• 5:58
  Speaker 1: and face it we must. And in addition to this inconvenience,
• 6:02
  Speaker 1: there are flies. Until the cyclist can steer with one hand,
• 6:06
  Speaker 1: his face is given over to beezelbub Contemplative flies stroll
• 6:11
  Speaker 1: over it a trifle absently with its most sensitive surfaces.
• 6:15
  Speaker 1: The only way to dislodge them is to shake the
• 6:17
  Speaker 1: head forcibly and to writhe one's features violently. This is
• 6:21
  Speaker 1: not only a lengthy and frequently ineffectual method, but one
• 6:25
  Speaker 1: exceedingly terrifying to foot passengers. And again, sometimes the beginner
• 6:30
  Speaker 1: rides for a space with one eye closed by perspiration,
• 6:34
  Speaker 1: giving him a waggish air foreign to his mood and
• 6:37
  Speaker 1: ill calculated to overawe the impertinent. However, you will appreciate
• 6:42
  Speaker 1: now the motive of mister Hoopdriver's experiments. He presently attained
• 6:46
  Speaker 1: sufficient dexterity to slap himself smartly and violently in the
• 6:50
  Speaker 1: face with his right hand, without certainly overturning the machine.
• 6:54
  Speaker 1: But his pocket handkerchief might have been in California for
• 6:57
  Speaker 1: any good it was to him while he was in
• 6:59
  Speaker 1: the saddle. Yet you must not think that because mister
• 7:02
  Speaker 1: Hoopdriver was a little uncomfortable, he was unhappy in the
• 7:05
  Speaker 1: slightest degree. In the background of his consciousness was the
• 7:09
  Speaker 1: sense that about this time Briggs would be half way
• 7:12
  Speaker 1: through his window, dressing and gossling, the apprentice busy with
• 7:17
  Speaker 1: a chair turned over to the counter and his ears
• 7:19
  Speaker 1: very red, trying to roll a piece of huckaback. Only
• 7:23
  Speaker 1: those who have rolled pieces of huckaback know quite how
• 7:26
  Speaker 1: detestable huckaback is to roll. And the shop would be dusty,
• 7:30
  Speaker 1: and perhaps the governor about and snappy, And here was
• 7:36
  Speaker 1: quiet and greenery, and one mucked about as the desire
• 7:39
  Speaker 1: took one without a soul to see. And here was
• 7:43
  Speaker 1: no wailing of saying, no folding of remnants, no voice
• 7:47
  Speaker 1: to shout, hoopdriver forward. And once he almost ran over
• 7:51
  Speaker 1: something wonderful, a little low red beast with a yellowish
• 7:55
  Speaker 1: tail that went rushing across the road before him. It
• 7:58
  Speaker 1: was the first weasel he had ever seen in his
• 8:01
  Speaker 1: cockney life. There were miles of this, scores of miles
• 8:06
  Speaker 1: of this before him, pinewood and oak forest, purple heathery moorland,
• 8:11
  Speaker 1: and grassy down lush meadows, where shining rivers wound their
• 8:15
  Speaker 1: lazy ways, villages with square towered flint churches and rabbling,
• 8:21
  Speaker 1: cheap and hardy inns, clean white country towns, long downhill stretches,
• 8:26
  Speaker 1: where one might ride at one's ease, overlooking a jolt
• 8:30
  Speaker 1: or so, and far away, at the end of it
• 8:33
  Speaker 1: all the sea. What mattered a fly or so? In
• 8:36
  Speaker 1: the dawn of these delights, perhaps he had been dashed
• 8:40
  Speaker 1: a minute by the shameful episode of the young lady
• 8:42
  Speaker 1: in gray, And perhaps the memory of it was making
• 8:45
  Speaker 1: itself a little layer in a corner of his brain,
• 8:48
  Speaker 1: from which it could distress him in the retrospect by
• 8:51
  Speaker 1: suggesting that he looked like a fool. But for the
• 8:54
  Speaker 1: present that that trouble was altogether in abeyance. The man
• 8:59
  Speaker 1: in drag, evidently a swell had spoken to him as
• 9:03
  Speaker 1: his equal, and the knees of his brown suit, and
• 9:06
  Speaker 1: the checkered stockings were ever before his eyes, or rather
• 9:10
  Speaker 1: you could see the stockings by carrying the head a
• 9:13
  Speaker 1: little to one side, and to feel little by little
• 9:16
  Speaker 1: his mastery over this delightful, treacherous machine, growing and growing
• 9:22
  Speaker 1: every half mile or so. His knees reasserted themselves, and
• 9:25
  Speaker 1: he dismounted and sat awhile by the roadside. It was
• 9:29
  Speaker 1: at a charming little place between Esher and Cobbhoam, where
• 9:33
  Speaker 1: a bridge crosses a stream, that mister Hoopdriver came across
• 9:36
  Speaker 1: the other cyclist in brown. It is well to notice
• 9:40
  Speaker 1: the fact here, although the interview was of the slightest,
• 9:43
  Speaker 1: because it happened that subsequently Hoopdriver saw a great deal
• 9:46
  Speaker 1: more of this other man in brown. The other cyclist
• 9:50
  Speaker 1: in Brown had a machine of dazzling newness and a
• 9:52
  Speaker 1: punctured pneumatic lay across his knees. He was a man
• 9:56
  Speaker 1: of thirty or more, with a whitish face and aquiline
• 9:59
  Speaker 1: mines nose, a lank, flaxen mustache, and very fair hair,
• 10:05
  Speaker 1: and he scowled at the job before him. At the
• 10:08
  Speaker 1: sight of him, mister Hoopdriver pulled himself together and rode
• 10:12
  Speaker 1: by with the air of one born to the wheel.
• 10:15
  Speaker 1: A splendid morning, said mister hoopdriver. A fine surface the morning,
• 10:20
  Speaker 1: and you and the surface be everlastingly damned, said the
• 10:23
  Speaker 1: other man in brown. As Hoopdriver receded. Hoopdriver heard the
• 10:27
  Speaker 1: mumble and did not distinguish the words, and he felt
• 10:31
  Speaker 1: a pleasing sense of having duly asserted the wide sympathy
• 10:34
  Speaker 1: that by cyclists together, of having behaved himself as becomes
• 10:40
  Speaker 1: one of the brotherhood of the wheel. The other man
• 10:43
  Speaker 1: in brown watched his receding aspect. Greasy proletarian, said the
• 10:47
  Speaker 1: other man in brown, feeling a prophetic dislike, got a
• 10:51
  Speaker 1: suit of brown. The very picture of this, one would
• 10:54
  Speaker 1: think his sole aim of in life had been to
• 10:57
  Speaker 1: character me. It's fortune's way with me. Look at the
• 11:00
  Speaker 1: insteps of the treadles. Why does Heaven make such men?
• 11:04
  Speaker 1: And having lit a cigarette, the other man in brown
• 11:06
  Speaker 1: returned to the business in hand. Mister hoopdriver worked up
• 11:10
  Speaker 1: the hill towards Cobham to a point that he felt
• 11:13
  Speaker 1: sure was out of sight of the other man in brown,
• 11:16
  Speaker 1: and then he dismounted and pushed his machine until the
• 11:19
  Speaker 1: proximity of the village and a proper pride drove him
• 11:23
  Speaker 1: into the saddle again. Chapter eight, Beyond Cobham came a
• 11:30
  Speaker 1: delightful incident. Delightful that is in its beginning, if a
• 11:34
  Speaker 1: trifle indeterminate in the retrospect. It was perhaps half way
• 11:38
  Speaker 1: between Cobham and Ripley. Mister Hoopdriver dropped down a little
• 11:43
  Speaker 1: hill where, unfenced from the road, fine mossy trees and
• 11:47
  Speaker 1: bracken lay on either side, and looking up he saw
• 11:50
  Speaker 1: an open country before him, covered with heather and set
• 11:54
  Speaker 1: with pines, and a yellow road running across it, and
• 11:57
  Speaker 1: half a mile away, perhaps a figure by the wayside
• 12:01
  Speaker 1: waving something white. Never, said mister Hoopdriver. With his hands
• 12:06
  Speaker 1: tightening on the handles, he resumed the treadles, staring away
• 12:10
  Speaker 1: before him, jolted over a stone, wabled, recovered, and began
• 12:14
  Speaker 1: riding faster at once, with his eyes ahead. It can't be,
• 12:19
  Speaker 1: said Hoopdriver. He rode his straightest and kept his petals spinning,
• 12:23
  Speaker 1: albeit a limp. Numbness had resumed possession of his legs.
• 12:27
  Speaker 1: It can't be, he repeated, feeling every moment more assured
• 12:31
  Speaker 1: that it was. Lord, I don't know even now, said
• 12:35
  Speaker 1: mister Hoopdriver's legs a whirling, and then blow my legs.
• 12:39
  Speaker 1: But he kept on and drew nearer and nearer, breathing
• 12:42
  Speaker 1: hard and gathering flies like a fly paper in the
• 12:46
  Speaker 1: valley he was hidden. Then the road began to rise,
• 12:49
  Speaker 1: and the resistance of the petals grew. As he crested
• 12:53
  Speaker 1: the hill, he saw her, not a hundred yards away
• 12:55
  Speaker 1: from him. It's her, he said. It's her, right enough,
• 13:00
  Speaker 1: it's the suits that's done it, which was truer even
• 13:03
  Speaker 1: than mister hoopdriver thought. But now she was not waving
• 13:06
  Speaker 1: her handkerchief. She was not even looking at him. She
• 13:09
  Speaker 1: was wheeling her machine slowly along the road towards him,
• 13:12
  Speaker 1: and admiring the pretty wooden hills toward Weybridge. She might
• 13:16
  Speaker 1: have been unaware of his existence, for all the recognition
• 13:19
  Speaker 1: he got. For a moment, horrible doubts troubled mister hoopdriver.
• 13:24
  Speaker 1: Had that handkerchief been a dream? Besides which he was
• 13:27
  Speaker 1: deliquescent and scarlet and felt so it must be her coquetry?
• 13:33
  Speaker 1: The handkerchief was indisputable. Should he ride up to her
• 13:36
  Speaker 1: and get off, or get off and walk up to her.
• 13:40
  Speaker 1: It was as well she didn't look, because he would
• 13:43
  Speaker 1: certainly capsize if he lifted his cap. Perhaps that was
• 13:47
  Speaker 1: her consideration. Even as he hesitated, he was upon her.
• 13:52
  Speaker 1: She must have heard his breathing. He gripped the brake steady,
• 13:56
  Speaker 1: His right leg waved in the air, and he came
• 13:58
  Speaker 1: down heavily and staggered, but erect. She turned her eyes
• 14:02
  Speaker 1: upon him with admirable surprise. Mister hoopdriver tried to smile pleasantly,
• 14:07
  Speaker 1: hold up his machine, raise his cap, and bow gracefully. Indeed,
• 14:12
  Speaker 1: he felt that he did as much. He was a
• 14:14
  Speaker 1: man singularly devoid of the minute of self consciousness, and
• 14:18
  Speaker 1: he was quite unaware of a tale of damp hair
• 14:20
  Speaker 1: lying across his forehead and just clearing the eyes, and
• 14:24
  Speaker 1: of the general disorder of his coiffure. There was an
• 14:28
  Speaker 1: interrogative pause. What can I have the pleasure? Began mister hoopdriver, insinuatingly,
• 14:34
  Speaker 1: I mean, remembering his emancipation, and abruptly assuming his most
• 14:38
  Speaker 1: aristocratic intonation, can I be of any assistance to you?
• 14:44
  Speaker 1: The young lady in gray bit her lower lip and said,
• 14:47
  Speaker 1: very prettily, none, thank you. She glanced away from him
• 14:51
  Speaker 1: and made as if she would proceed. Oh, said mister hoopdriver,
• 14:56
  Speaker 1: taken aback and suddenly crestfallen again. It was so unexpected,
• 15:00
  Speaker 1: he tried to grasp the situation. Was she cook heading?
• 15:05
  Speaker 1: Or had he excuse me? One minute, he said, as
• 15:09
  Speaker 1: she began to wheel her machine again. Yes, she said,
• 15:13
  Speaker 1: stopping and staring a little, with the color in her
• 15:15
  Speaker 1: cheeks deepening. I should not have alighted if I had
• 15:19
  Speaker 1: not imagined that you wave something white, he paused. She
• 15:24
  Speaker 1: looked at him, doubtfully he had seen it. She decided
• 15:27
  Speaker 1: that he was not an unredeemable ruff taking advantage of
• 15:31
  Speaker 1: a mistake, but an innocent soul meaning well while seeking happiness.
• 15:36
  Speaker 1: I did wave my handkerchief, she said. I'm very sorry.
• 15:40
  Speaker 1: I'm expecting a friend, a gentleman. She seemed to flush
• 15:43
  Speaker 1: pink for a moment. He is riding a bicycle and
• 15:46
  Speaker 1: dressed in brown, and at a distance. You know, oh quite,
• 15:50
  Speaker 1: said mister hoopdriver, bearing up in a manly fashion against
• 15:53
  Speaker 1: his bitter disappointment. Certainly, I'm awfully sorry, you know, troubling
• 15:58
  Speaker 1: you to dismount and all that. No trouble, I assure you,
• 16:02
  Speaker 1: said mister hoopdriver, mechanically and bowing over his saddle as
• 16:05
  Speaker 1: if it was a counter. Somehow, he could not find
• 16:08
  Speaker 1: it in his heart to tell her that the man
• 16:11
  Speaker 1: was beyond there with a punctured pneumatic. He looked back
• 16:14
  Speaker 1: along the road and tried to think of something else
• 16:16
  Speaker 1: to say, But the gulf in the conversation widened rapidly
• 16:20
  Speaker 1: and hopelessly. There's nothing further, began mister hoopdriver, desperately, recurring
• 16:26
  Speaker 1: his stock of cliches. Nothing. Thank you, she said, decisively,
• 16:31
  Speaker 1: and immediately. This is Ripley Road. Certainly, said mister hoopdriver.
• 16:36
  Speaker 1: Ripley is about two miles from here, according to the milestones.
• 16:41
  Speaker 1: Thank you, she said, warmly. Thank you so much. I
• 16:44
  Speaker 1: felt sure there was no mistake, and I really am
• 16:47
  Speaker 1: awfully sorry. Don't mention it, said mister hoopdriver. Don't mention it.
• 16:52
  Speaker 1: He hesitated, and gripped his handles to mount. It's me,
• 16:56
  Speaker 1: he said, ought to be sorry, should he say it?
• 17:00
  Speaker 1: Was it an impertinence anyhow, not being the other gentleman,
• 17:04
  Speaker 1: you know. He tried a quietly insinuating smile that he
• 17:08
  Speaker 1: knew for a grin. Even as he smiled, felt she disapproved.
• 17:13
  Speaker 1: Then she despised him, was overcome with shame at her expression,
• 17:17
  Speaker 1: turned his back upon her and began very clumsily to mount.
• 17:22
  Speaker 1: He did so with a horrible swerve and went peddling off,
• 17:25
  Speaker 1: riding very badly as he was only too painfully aware. Nevertheless,
• 17:31
  Speaker 1: thank Heaven for mounting. He could not see her because
• 17:34
  Speaker 1: it was so dangerous for him to look round, but
• 17:36
  Speaker 1: he could imagine her, indignant and pitiless. He felt an
• 17:40
  Speaker 1: unspeakable idiot. One had to be so careful what one
• 17:44
  Speaker 1: said two young ladies, and he had gone and treated
• 17:47
  Speaker 1: her just as though she was only a larky girl.
• 17:49
  Speaker 1: It was unforgivable. He always was a fool. You could
• 17:53
  Speaker 1: tell from her manner. She didn't think him a gentleman.
• 17:56
  Speaker 1: One glance and she seemed to look clear through him,
• 17:59
  Speaker 1: and all pretense. What rot it was venturing to speak
• 18:04
  Speaker 1: to a girl like that, With her education she was
• 18:06
  Speaker 1: bound to see through him at once. How nicely she
• 18:09
  Speaker 1: spoke too, nice, clear cut words. She made him feel
• 18:13
  Speaker 1: what slush his own accent was. And that last silly remark,
• 18:18
  Speaker 1: what was it not being the other gentleman? You know,
• 18:22
  Speaker 1: no point in it? And gentlemen, what could she be
• 18:24
  Speaker 1: thinking of him? But really, the young Lady in Gray
• 18:28
  Speaker 1: had dismissed Hoopdriver from her thoughts almost before he had
• 18:31
  Speaker 1: vanished round the corner. She had thought no ill of him.
• 18:34
  Speaker 1: His manifest awe and admiration of her had given her
• 18:38
  Speaker 1: not an atom of offense. But for her just now
• 18:41
  Speaker 1: there were weightier things to think about, things that would
• 18:44
  Speaker 1: affect all the rest of her life. She continued slowly
• 18:47
  Speaker 1: walking her machine. London word Presently she stopped. Oh why
• 18:51
  Speaker 1: doesn't he come, she said, and stamped her foot petulantly, Then,
• 18:56
  Speaker 1: as if in answer, coming down the hill among the trees,
• 18:59
  Speaker 1: appeared the other man, and Brown dismounted and wheeling his machine.
• 19:04
  Speaker 1: And of Part three