Rites of Passage – William Golding - bzelbublive.info

Properly announced, then, a s the door was held open, Istepped into a scene of animation that resembled morethan anything else what you might find i n the parlour ordining room o f a coaching inn. A ll that distinguished thepresent gathering from such a job lot was the blue horizona little tilted and visible above the crowded heads throughthe panes of the great stem window. The announcement ofmy name caused a silence for a moment or two and Iwrite in the evening or night when sleep is hard to come by,m y candle shortens imperceptibly a s stalactites andstalagmites form i n a grotto. Then all at once, time, thisindefinable commodity is in short supply and a sheaf ofhours has fled I know not whither!Where was I? Ah yes! Well then-I proceeded t o thepassenger saloon t o keep m y rendez-vous with the firstlieutenant only to find that his invitation had been extendedto every passenger in this part of the vessel and was nomore than a kind of short preliminary to dinner! I have foundo u t since, tha t the y ha ve heard s uc h gatherings arecustomary in packets and company ships and indeed,wherever ladies and gentlemen take a sea voyage. Thelieutenants have concluded to do the same in this vessel, tooffset, I suspect, the peremptory and unmannerlyprohibitions the captain has displayed in his "Ordersregarding the Behaviour of the Ladies and Gentlemen whohave been afforded" -afforded, mark you, not taken-“Passage.”