Inside of the Cup, the — Volume 03 by Winston Churchill
page 55 of 86 (63%)
page 55 of 86 (63%)
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girl darted past them with a pitcher of beer. When they reached the
sidewalk Mr. Bentley halted. "If you were intending to telephone Dr. Jarvis, Mr. Hodder, there is a public station in the drug store just above here. I know that clergymen are busy persons, and I am passing it, if you are pressed for time." "My only concern is to get Jarvis here," said the rector. "If I may go with you--" Once again in the hot sunlight, reaction had set in. Hodder was suddenly unstrung, and the kindly old gentleman beside him seemed for the instant the only fixture in a chaotic universe. It was not until later reflection that he realized Mr. Bentley might, by an intuitive sympathy, a depth of understanding, have drained something of his state, since the incidents which followed were to be accounted for on no other grounds. In such elemental moments the frail conventions are swept away: Mr. Bentley, whoever he might be, was no longer a stranger; and it seemed wholly natural to be walking with him up the street, to hear him saying, --not with perfunctory politeness but in a tone that was itself an invitation,--"With pleasure, sir, we'll go together. And let us trust that the doctor will be at home." Nor did Hodder stop to wonder, then, why Mr. Bentley should have sought in his conversation to dissipate something of the hideous blackness of a tragedy which must have moved him profoundly. How fortunate, he declared, that they should have arrived before it was too late! For it was plain to be seen that these Garvins were good people who had been broken by adversity . . . . The boy had struck him particularly--a lovable, merry little fellow whose clothes, Mr. Bentley observed, were |
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