1984 - Planet eBook

Chapter 3‘We can come here once again,’ said Julia. ‘It’s generally safeto use any hide-out twice. But not for another month ortwo, of course.’As soon as she woke up her demeanour had changed. Shebecame alert and business-like, put her clothes on, knottedthe scarlet sash about her waist, and began arrangingthe details of the journey home. It seemed natural to leavethis to her. She obviously had a practical cunning whichWinston lacked, and she seemed also to have an exhaustiveknowledge of the countryside round London, storedaway from innumerable community hikes. The route shegave him was quite different from the one by which he hadcome, and brought him out at a different railway station.‘Never go home the same way as you went out,’ she said, asthough enunciating an important general principle. Shewould leave first, and Winston was to wait half an hour beforefollowing her.She had named a place where they could meet after work,four evenings hence. It was a street in one of the poorerquarters, where there was an open market which was generallycrowded and noisy. She would be hanging about amongthe stalls, pretending to be in search of shoelaces or sewingthread.If she judged that the coast was clear she would blowher nose when he approached; otherwise he was to walk