The Girl on the Boat - Penn State University

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to be the door leading into the hall. He moved warily, but not warily enough to prevent his cannoning into and almost upsetting a small table with a vase on it. <strong>The</strong> table rocked and the vase jumped, and the first bit of luck that had come to Sam that night was when he reached out at a venture and caught it just as it was about to bound on to the carpet. He stood there, shaking. <strong>The</strong> narrowness of the escape turned him cold. If he had been an instant later, there would have been a crash loud enough to wake a dozen sleeping houses. This sort of thing could not go on. He must have light. It might be a risk; there might be a chance of somebody upstairs seeing it and coming down to investigate; but it was a risk that must be taken. He declined to go on stumbling about in this darkness any longer. He groped his way with infinite care to the door, on the wall adjoining which, he presumed, the electric-light switch would be. It was nearly ten years since he had last been inside Windles, and it never occurred to him that in this progressive age even a woman like his Aunt Adeline, of whom he could <strong>The</strong> <strong>Girl</strong> on the Boat 188 believe almost anything, would still be using candles and oil-lamps as a means of illumination. His only doubt was whether the switch was where it was in most houses, near the door. It is odd to reflect that, as his searching fingers touched the knob, a delicious feeling of relief came to Samuel Marlowe. This misguided young man actually felt at that moment that his troubles were over. He positively smiled as he placed a thumb on the knob and shoved. He shoved strongly and sharply, and instantaneously there leaped at him out of the darkness a blare of music which appeared to his disordered mind quite solid. It seemed to wrap itself round him. It was all over the place. In a single instant the world had become one vast bellow of Tosti’s “Good-bye.” How long he stood there, frozen, he did not know; nor can one say how long he would have stood there had nothing further come to invite his notice elsewhere. But, suddenly, drowning even the impromptu concert, there came from somewhere upstairs the roar of a gun; and, when he heard that, Sam’s rigid limbs relaxed and
a violent activity descended upon him. He bounded out into the hall, looking to right and to left for a hidingplace. One of the suits of armour which had been familiar to him in his boyhood loomed up in front of him, and with the sight came the recollection of how, when a mere child on his first visit to Windles, playing hide and seek with his cousin Eustace, he had concealed himself inside this very suit, and had not only baffled Eustace through a long summer evening but had wound up by almost scaring him into a decline by booing at him through the vizor of the helmet. Happy days, happy days! He leaped at the suit of armour. Having grown since he was last inside it, he found the helmet a tight fit, but he managed to get his head into it at last, and the body of the thing was quite roomy. “Thank heaven!” said Sam. He was not comfortable, but comfort just then was not his primary need. Smith the bulldog, well satisfied with the way the entertainment had opened, sat down, wheezing slightly, to await developments. P. G. Wodehouse 189 5 HE HAD NOT LONG to wait. In a few minutes the hall had filled up nicely. <strong>The</strong>re was Mr. Mortimer in his shirt-sleeves, Mr. Bennett in blue pyjamas and a dressing-gown, Mrs. Hignett in a travelling costume, Jane Hubbard with her elephant-gun, and Billie in a dinner dress. Smith welcomed them all impartially. Somebody lit a lamp, and Mrs. Hignett stared speechlessly at the mob. “Mr. Bennett! Mr. Mortimer!” “Mrs. Hignett! What are you doing here?” Mrs. Hignett drew herself up stiffly. “What an odd question, Mr. Mortimer! I am in my own house!” “But you rented it to me for the summer. At least, your son did.” “Eustace let you Windles for the summer!” said Mrs. Hignett incredulously. Jane Hubbard returned from the drawing-room,
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THE GIRL ON THE BOAT BY P. G. WODEH
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THE GIRL ON THE BOAT BY P. G. WODEH
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THE GIRL ON THE BOAT CHAPTER I A Di
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Breakfast was on the table in the s
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“Oh, no! I play cricket a bit and
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he had had to leave for England him
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“No?” “I’m not a man who
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eggs and a rasher of ham get cut of
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ellers off. There
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He had said nothing. Not a sound, e
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“She was an extraordinarily prett
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“Did you explain about the trouse
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He wore a bowler hat, and from time
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He was still busy with this congeni
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his middle, and accompanied him bel
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“Where is she?” “Where’s wh
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ing pea-green, rolled over on his s
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said it was all right. So it’s al
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as utterly heartless. Marlowe regar
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“Green. There is
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“I see!” said Sam. He shot his
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“While you’re down there, just
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and the males in the audience will
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“I am the Bandolero!” sang Sam
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which he had had through the portho
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in the mental scale. This morning,
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“Oh, hello!” “Why, Bream!”
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the only girl in the world! I have
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“Then,” said B
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iage under conditions like that. Wh
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“I think you were hard on him. A
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“How do I look?” Eustace Hignet
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“Ah, well, it’s seven years ago
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oosting in all your life, I’m goi
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other, had come back and rendered p
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like a man who was seeing some ghas
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to the door and took the note from
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“That’s good.” “But you’r
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of blacking up! You talk as though
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“what have you to say for yoursel
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a couple of days since my engagemen
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was stopping, are in a class of bun
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of Sam he laid down both engines of
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“Very well, Sir Mallaby.” “Th
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“Oh, what’s the good of answeri
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gines. Probably you have been feeli
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Sam started at his parent’s splen
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would chill her to the bone, and ri
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start. Cool and distant. Out of the
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“Awfully sorry, father! Don’t k
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“We do not require a large place,
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you it isn’t in that woman to cha
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and claimed that England had seen f
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It was a superb morning. It was as
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comfort was acute. Insects, some wi
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“Hullo!” said Bream, with amiab
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4 EVEN INTO THE BLACKEST days there
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Hignett had stirred his memory. “
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He brooded for half an hour, and, a
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knockout blow; his number was up; a
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“Good-night, sir.” “Stop a mo
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Mr. Bennett had no pistol, but he d
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Mr. Bennett drew himself up as haug
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nary ball with the mashie which he
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“Dropped my pen!” he gurgled ag
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comfortable. Yesterday afternoon fa
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“But he may be lurking out there
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instantly, for Jno. Peters was one
Page 137 and 138: Mortimer take a bowl of gold fish o
Page 139 and 140: consternation, he could not check a
Page 141 and 142: use. He had given this sensitive gi
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Page 145 and 146: Mr. Bennett scorched him with a loo
Page 147 and 148: “What do you mean, be very carefu
Page 149 and 150: dise which Nature had intended it t
Page 151 and 152: Grocery Stores in Windlehurst—app
Page 153 and 154: “Five!” ejaculated Mr. Bennett,
Page 155 and 156: me to America, because I thought I
Page 157 and 158: “Sitting on the gate, miss. Yes,
Page 159 and 160: foreground. How eagerly he would ju
Page 161 and 162: “Will you take this to Miss Benne
Page 163 and 164: heart, had bribed a tramp to simula
Page 165 and 166: to occupy Sam’s thoughts for a mo
Page 167 and 168: “Quite easily, sir. I can admit y
Page 169 and 170: those abridged passenger-lists whic
Page 171 and 172: All the proprietor in Mrs. Hignett
Page 173 and 174: auders was to be dislodged she must
Page 175 and 176: gagements, and she could by no mean
Page 177 and 178: eveller creeping up to bed in the d
Page 179 and 180: “Lie back quite comfortably, and
Page 181 and 182: A charming smile spread itself over
Page 183 and 184: She sat in her chair and gulped; an
Page 185 and 186: cream in front of a fire. T
Page 187: “Get out!” whispered Sam tensel
Page 191 and 192: finished leaping into the air. She
Page 193 and 194: “I’m going,” said Billie reso
Page 195 and 196: “If you don’t come quick, I’l
Page 197 and 198: “Yes,” said Mr. Bennett, remind
Page 199 and 200: “Get out and crank her.” Bream
Page 201 and 202: der her arms, lifted her like a kit
Page 203 and 204: There was a long s
Page 205 and 206: ing the helmet on the floor of the
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