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The Man Who Could Work Miracles 5




I could not answer that question in the tangle of my other problems ( ). They will think me mad ( ), I thought ( ). And suppose I vanish now ( , )! Amazing disappearance of a prominent politician ( )! That weighed with me ( ; to weigh with / . ./). A thousand inconceivably petty worldlinesses weighed with me in that crisis ( ; crisis , ; to conceive , ; ; ; , , ).

 

profile ['prqufaIl], saunter ['sLntq], thousand ['Tauzqnd], conceive [kqn'si:v]

 

We passed it talking. I passed it. I can still see the shadow of Gurkers marked profile, his opera hat tilted forward over his prominent nose, the many folds of his neck wrap going before my shadow and Ralphs as we sauntered past.

I passed within twenty inches of the door. If I say good-night to them, and go in, I asked myself, what will happen? And I was all a-tingle for that word with Gurker.

I could not answer that question in the tangle of my other problems. They will think me mad, I thought. And suppose I vanish now! Amazing disappearance of a prominent politician! That weighed with me. A thousand inconceivably petty worldlinesses weighed with me in that crisis.

 

Then he turned on me with a sorrowful smile, and, speaking slowly ( ; sorrow , , ; , ); Here I am (// )! he said.

Here I am ( )! he repeated ( ), and my chance has gone from me ( ). Three times in one year the door has been offered me ( = ) the door that goes into peace (, = ; peace , ; , , , ), into delight ( ), into a beauty beyond dreaming ( ), a kindness no man on earth can know ( , ). And I have rejected it, Redmond, and it has gone ( , , )

How do you know ( )?

 

peace [pJs], beyond [bI'jOnd], know [nqu]

 

Then he turned on me with a sorrowful smile, and, speaking slowly; Here I am! he said.

Here I am! he repeated, and my chance has gone from me. Three times in one year the door has been offered me the door that goes into peace, into delight, into a beauty beyond dreaming, a kindness no man on earth can know. And I have rejected it, Redmond, and it has gone

How do you know?

 

I know ( ). I know (). I am left now to work it out ( : ; to leave , ; to work out //; / . ./), to stick to the tasks that held me so strongly when my moments came ( , , ; to stick to ). You say, I have success ( , ) this vulgar, tawdry, irksome, envied thing ( , , , ; to envy ). I have it (// ). He had a walnut in his big hand ( ). If that was my success ( ), he said, and crushed it ( ), and held it out for me to see ( , ).

 

tawdry ['tLdrI], envied ['envId], walnut ['wLlnAt]

 

I know. I know. I am left now to work it out, to stick to the tasks that held me so strongly when my moments came. You say, I have success this vulgar, tawdry, irksome, envied thing. I have it. He had a walnut in his big hand. If that was my success, he said, and crushed it, and held it out for me to see.

 

Let me tell you something, Redmond (, - ). This loss is destroying me ( ). For two months ( ), for ten weeks nearly now ( ), I have done no work at all ( ), except the most necessary and urgent duties ( ). My soul is full of inappeasable regrets ( / ; to appease ; , , ). At nights ( ) when it is less likely I shall be recognised ( , ) I go out ( : ). I wander ( ). Yes (). I wonder what people would think of that if they knew (, , ). A Cabinet Minister ( ), the responsible head of that most vital of all departments ( ; vital ; // , , ; ), wandering alone ( ) grieving () sometimes near audibly lamenting ( /; to lament , ; , , ) for a door, for a garden ( , )!

 

necessary ['nesqsqrI], recognise ['rekqgnaIz], vital [vaItl], lament [lq'ment]

 

Let me tell you something, Redmond. This loss is destroying me. For two months, for ten weeks nearly now, I have done no work at all, except the most and urgent duties. My soul is full of inappeasable regrets. At nights when it is less likely I shall be recognised I go out. I wander. Yes. I wonder what people would think of that if they knew. A Cabinet Minister, the responsible head of that most vital of all departments, wandering alone grieving sometimes near audibly lamenting for a door, for a garden!

 

IV

I can see now his rather pallid face ( // ), and the unfamiliar sombre fire that had come into his eyes ( / , ). I see him very vividly to-night ( ). I sit recalling his words, his tones ( , , ), and last evenings Westminster Gazette still lies on my sofa ( ), containing the notice of his death ( = ; to contain ). At lunch to-day the club was busy with him and the strange riddle of his fate ( = ).

 

pallid ['pxlId], contain [kqn'teIn], death [deT], busy ['bIzI]

 

I can see now his rather pallid face, and the unfamiliar sombre fire that had come into his eyes. I see him very vividly to-night. I sit recalling his words, his tones, and last evenings Westminster Gazette still lies on my sofa, containing the notice of his death. At lunch to-day the club was busy with him and the strange riddle of his fate.

 

They found his body very early yesterday morning in a deep excavation near East Kensington Station ( ). It is one of two shafts ( ) that have been made in connection with an extension of the railway southward ( ). It is protected from the intrusion of the public by a hoarding upon the high road ( ), in which a small doorway has been cut for the convenience of some of the workmen ( ) who live in that direction ( ). The doorway was left unfastened through a misunderstanding between two gangers ( - /; to fasten , ; ; ), and through it he made his way ( - ; to make ones way ; )

 

intrusion [In'trHZn], hoarding ['hLdIN], convenience [kqn'vJnIqns], fasten [fa:sn]

 

They found his body very early yesterday morning in a deep excavation near East Kensington Station. It is one of two shafts that have been made in connection with an extension of the railway southward. It is protected from the intrusion of the public by a hoarding upon the high road, in which a small doorway has been cut for the convenience of some of the workmen who live in that direction. The doorway was left unfastened through a misunderstanding between two gangers, and through it he made his way

 

My mind is darkened with questions and riddles ( = ; to darken , ; , ; ; dark ).

It would seem he walked all the way from the House that night ( , ) he has frequently walked home during the past Session ( ) and so it is I figure his dark form coming along the late and empty streets, wrapped up, intent (/ / , , , ; to wrap up ). And then did the pale electric lights near the station cheat the rough planking into a semblance of white ( / / ; to cheat , , , ; planking ; , ; )? Did that fatal unfastened door awaken some memory ( - )?

Was there, after all, ever any green door in the wall at all ( , - - )?

 

frequently ['frJkwqntlI], rough [rAf], fatal ['feItql]

 

My mind is darkened with questions and riddles.

It would seem he walked all the way from the House that night he has frequently walked home during the past Session and so it is I figure his dark form coming along the late and empty streets, wrapped up, intent. And then did the pale electric lights near the station cheat the rough planking into a semblance of white? Did that fatal unfastened door awaken some memory?

Was there, after all, ever any green door in the wall at all?

 

I do not know ( ). I have told his story as he told it to me ( , ). There are times ( ) when I believe ( ) that Wallace was no more than the victim of the coincidence between a rare but not unprecedented type of hallucination and a careless trap ( , , , ), but that indeed is not my profoundest belief ( , , = ). You may think me superstitious if you will, and foolish ( , , ); but, indeed, I am more than half convinced that he had in truth (, , , ), an abnormal gift, and a sense, something ( , -) I know not what ( ) that in the guise of wall and door offered him an outlet ( ; in the guise of , ), a secret and peculiar passage of escape into another and altogether more beautiful world ( , , ). At any rate, you will say ( , ), it betrayed him in the end ( / / ; to betray ; ). But did it betray him ( / /)? There you touch the inmost mystery of these dreamers ( ), these men of vision and the imagination ( ).

 

coincidence [kqu'InsIdqns], profound [prq'faund], superstitious ["sjHpq'stISqs]

 

I do not know. I have told his story as he told it to me. There are times when I believe that Wallace was no more than the victim of the coincidence between a rare but not unprecedented type of hallucination and a careless trap, but that indeed is not my profoundest belief. You may think me superstitious if you will, and foolish; but, indeed, I am more than half convinced that he had in truth, an abnormal gift, and a sense, something I know not what that in the guise of wall and door offered him an outlet, a secret and peculiar passage of escape into another and altogether more beautiful world. At any rate, you will say, it betrayed him in the end. But did it betray him? There you touch the inmost mystery of these dreamers, these men of vision and the imagination.

 

We see our world fair and common ( ; common , ; , ; , ), the hoarding and the pit ( ). By our daylight standard ( ; daylight ; , ; , ) he walked out of security into darkness, danger and death ( , ). But did he see like that ( / // ; like that )?

 

fair [feq], security [sI'kjuqrItI], danger ['deInGq]

 

We see our world fair and common, the hoarding and the pit. By our daylight standard he walked out of security into darkness, danger and death. But did he see like that?

 

The New Accelerator

 

Certainly, if ever a man found a guinea when he was looking for a pin it is my good friend Professor Gibberne (, - - : , , ). I have heard before of investigators overshooting the mark ( , , ; to overshoot the mark / ), but never quite to the extent that he has done ( , ). He has really, this time at any rate ( , ), without any touch of exaggeration in the phrase ( ; touch -.; , , , , ; phrase ; , , , ), found something to revolutionise human life ( -, ; to revolutionise ; ). And that when he was simply seeking an all-round nervous stimulant to bring languid people up to the stresses of these pushful days ( //, , ; to bring smb. up to smth. -. -.; pushful , ; , ; to push ; push ; , ). I have tasted the stuff now several times ( : ), and I cannot do better than describe the effect the thing had on me ( , , ; to have effect , ). That there are astonishing experiences in store for all in search of new sensations will become apparent enough ( : , , ; in search of ).

 

guinea ['gInI], touch [tAC], search [sWC]

 

Certainly, if ever a man found a guinea when he was looking for a pin it is my good friend Professor Gibberne. I have heard before of investigators overshooting the mark, but never quite to the extent that he has done. He has really, this time at any rate, without any touch of exaggeration in the phrase, found something to revolutionise human life. And that when he was simply seeking an all-round nervous stimulant to bring languid people up to the stresses of these pushful days. I have tasted the stuff now several times, and I cannot do better than describe the effect the thing had on me. That there are astonishing experiences in store for all in search of new sensations will become apparent enough.

 

Professor Gibberne, as many people know ( , //), is my neighbour in Folkestone ( ). Unless my memory plays me a trick ( ; to play a trick , ; ), his portrait at various ages has already appeared in The Strand Magazine ( ) I think late in 1899 ( , 1899 ); but I am unable to look it up ( ) because I have lent that volume to some one who has never sent it back ( -, ). The reader may, perhaps, recall the high forehead and the singularly long black eyebrows that give such a Mephistophelian touch to his face (, , ; touch ; , ). He occupies one of those pleasant little detached houses in the mixed style ( ) that make the western end of the Upper Sandgate Road so interesting ( ).

 

neighbour ['neIbq], various ['veqrIqs], already [Ll'redI]

 

Professor Gibberne, as many people know, is my neighbour in Folkestone. Unless my memory plays me a trick, his portrait at various ages has already appeared in The Strand Magazine I think late in 1899; but I am unable to look it up because I have lent that volume to some one who has never sent it back. The reader may, perhaps, recall the high forehead and the singularly long black eyebrows that give such a Mephistophelian touch to his face. He occupies one of those pleasant little detached houses in the mixed style that make the western end of the Upper Sandgate Road so interesting.

 

His is the one with the Flemish gables and the Moorish portico ( // ), and it is in the little room with the mullioned bay window that he works when he is down here ( , ; down , ; mullion / /), and in which of an evening we have so often smoked and talked together ( ). He is a mighty jester ( ), but, besides, he likes to talk to me about his work (, , ); he is one of those men who find a help and stimulus in talking ( , ), and so I have been able to follow the conception of the New Accelerator right up from a very early stage ( ). Of course, the greater portion of his experimental work is not done in Folkestone (, ), but in Gower Street ( -), in the fine new laboratory next to the hospital that he has been the first to use ( , ).

 

mullion ['mAljqn], mighty ['maItI], laboratory [lq'bOrqtrI]

 

His is the one with the Flemish gables and the Moorish portico, and it is in the little room with the mullioned bay window that he works when he is down here, and in which of an evening we have so often smoked and talked together. He is a mighty jester, but, besides, he likes to talk to me about his work; he is one of those men who find a help and stimulus in talking, and so I have been able to follow the conception of the New Accelerator right up from a very early stage. Of course, the greater portion of his experimental work is not done in Folkestone, but in Gower Street, in the fine new laboratory next to the hospital that he has been the first to use.

 

As every one knows ( ), or at least as all intelligent people know ( , ), the special department in which Gibberne has gained so great and deserved a reputation among physiologists is the action of drugs upon the nervous system ( , , = ). Upon soporifics, sedatives, and anaesthetics he is, I am told, unequalled ( , = , ). He is also a chemist of considerable eminence ( ; eminence ; ; ), and I suppose in the subtle and complex jungle of riddles ( , ) that centres about the ganglion cell and the axis fibre ( ) there are little cleared places of his making ( , ), little glades of illumination ( : ), that, until he sees fit to publish his results, are still inaccessible to every other living man (, , : ). And in the last few years he has been particularly assiduous upon this question of nervous stimulants ( ), and already, before the discovery of the New Accelerator, very successful with them ( = ; successful ; success ). Medical science has to thank him for at least three distinct and absolutely safe invigorators of unrivalled value to practising men ( , , = ). In cases of exhaustion the preparation known as Gibbernes B Syrup has ( , , ), I suppose, saved more lives already than any lifeboat round the coast ( , , ; round , , ).

 

special ['speSql], anaesthetics ["xnIs'TetIks], science ['saIqns]

 

As every one knows, or at least as all intelligent people know, the special department in which Gibberne has gained so great and deserved a reputation among physiologists is the action of drugs upon the nervous system. Upon soporifics, sedatives, and anaesthetics he is, I am told, unequalled. He is also a chemist of considerable eminence, and I suppose in the subtle and complex jungle of riddles that centres about the ganglion cell and the axis fibre there are little cleared places of his making, little glades of illumination, that, until he sees fit to publish his results, are still inaccessible to every other living man. And in the last few years he has been particularly assiduous upon this question of nervous stimulants, and already, before the discovery of the New Accelerator, very successful with them. Medical science has to thank him for at least three distinct and absolutely safe invigorators of unrivalled value to practising men. In cases of exhaustion the preparation known as Gibbernes B Syrup has, I suppose, saved more lives already than any lifeboat round the coast.

 

But none of these little things begin to satisfy me yet ( : ), he told me nearly a year ago ( ). Either they increase the central energy without affecting the nerves ( = , ) or they simply increase the available energy by lowering the nervous conductivity ( ); and all of them are unequal and local in their operation ( = / ). One wakes up the heart and viscera and leaves the brain stupefied ( // ; viscera ), one gets at the brain champagne fashion and does nothing good for the solar plexus ( = , , ), and what I want ( , ) and what, if its an earthly possibility, I mean to have ( , , ; earthly ; , : = // ) is a stimulant that stimulates all round ( , = ), that wakes you up for a time from the crown of your head to the tip of your great toe ( ), and makes you go two ( ) or even three ( // ) to everybody elses one (- ). Eh ()? Thats the thing Im after ( ; to be after smth. -.).

 

energy ['enqGI], viscera ['vIsqrq], champagne [Sxm'peIn]

 

But none of these little things begin to satisfy me yet, he told me nearly a year ago. Either they increase the central energy without affecting the nerves or they simply increase the available energy by lowering the nervous conductivity; and all of them are unequal and local in their operation. One wakes up the heart and viscera and leaves the brain stupefied, one gets at the brain champagne fashion and does nothing good for the solar plexus, and what I want and what, if its an earthly possibility, I mean to have is a stimulant that stimulates all round, that wakes you up for a time from the crown of your head to the tip of your great toe, and makes you go two or even three to everybody elses one. Eh? Thats the thing Im after.

 

It would tire a man ( ), I said.

Not a doubt of it ( ). And youd eat double or treble ( ; treble ) and all that ( ). But just think what the thing would mean ( , ). Imagine yourself with a little phial like this ( ) he held up a little bottle of green glass and marked his points with it ( : ; point , ; , ) and in this precious phial is the power to think twice as fast ( = , / / ), move twice as quickly ( ), do twice as much work in a given time ( ) as you could otherwise do ( ).

But is such a thing possible ( )?

 

double [dAbl], imagine [I'mxGIn], phial ['faIql]

 





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