Kipps H. G. Wells (best thriller novels to read .txt) š
- Author: H. G. Wells
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He came back long after dark, and Ann met him in the passage.
āWhere you been, Artie?ā she asked, with a strained note in her voice.
āI been walking and walkingā ātrying to tire myself out. All the time I been thinking what shall I do. Trying to fix something up all out of nothing.ā
āI didnāt know you meant to be out all this time.ā
Kipps was gripped by compunction.ā āā ā¦
āI canāt think what we ought to do,ā he said, presently.
āYou canāt do anything much, Artie, not till you hear from Mr. Bean.ā
āNo; I canāt do anything much. Thatās jest it. And all this time I keep feelinā if I donāt do something the top of my āeadāll bust.ā āā ā¦ Been trying to make up advertisements āarf the time I been outā āābout finding a place, good salesman and stock-keeper, and good Manchester dresses, window-dressingā āLorā! Fancy that all beginning again!ā āā ā¦ If you went to stay with Sid a bitā āif I sent every penny I got to youā āI dunno! I dunno!ā
When they had gone to bed there was an elaborate attempt to get to sleep.ā āā ā¦ In one of their great waking pauses Kipps remarked in a muffled tone: āI didnāt mean to frighten you, Ann, being out so late. I kepā on walking and walking, and someāow it seemed to do me good. I went out to the āilltop ever so far beyond Stanford, and sat there ever so long, and it seemed to make me better. Just looking over the marsh like, and seeing the sun set.āā āā ā¦
āVery likely,ā said Ann, after a long interval, āit isnāt so bad as you think it is, Artie.ā
āItās bad,ā said Kipps.
āVery likely, after all, it isnāt quite so bad. If thereās only a littleā āā
There came another long silence.
āAnn,ā said Kipps in the quiet darkness.
āYes,ā said Ann.
āAnn,ā said Kipps, and stopped as though he had hastily shut a door upon speech.
āI kepā thinking,ā he said, trying again, āI kepā thinkingā āafter allā āI been cross to you and a fool about thingsā āabout them cards, Ann; butāā āhis voice shook to piecesā āāwe āave been āappy, Annā āā ā¦ someāowā āā ā¦ togever.ā
And with that he and then she fell into a passion of weeping. They clung very tightly togetherā ācloser than they had been since ever the first brightness of their married days turned to the grey of common life again.
All the disaster in the world could not prevent their going to sleep at last with their poor little troubled heads close together on one pillow. There was nothing more to be done, there was nothing more to be thought; Time might go on with his mischiefs, but for a little while at least they still had one another.
Kipps returned from his second interview with Mr. Bean in a state of strange excitement. He let himself in with his latchkey and slammed the door. āAnn!ā he shouted, in an unusual note; āAnn!ā
Ann replied distantly.
āSomething to tell you,ā said Kipps; āsomething noo!ā
Ann appeared apprehensive from the kitchen.
āAnn,ā he said, going before her into the little dining-room, for his news was too dignified for the passage, āvery likely, Ann, oā Bean says, we shall āaveā āā He decided to prolong the suspense. āGuess!ā
āI canāt, Artie.ā
āThink of a lot of money!ā
āA āundred pounds pāraps?ā
He spoke with immense deliberation. āOver a fousand pounds!ā
Ann stared and said nothing, only went a shade whiter.
āOver, he said. Aāmost certainly over.ā
He shut the dining-room door and came forward hastily, for Ann, it was clear, meant to take this mitigation of their disaster with a complete abandonment of her self-control. She came near flopping; she fell into his arms.
āArtie,ā she got to at last and began to weep, clinging tightly to him.
āPretty near certain,ā said Kipps, holding her. āA fousand pounds!ā
āI said, Artie,ā she wailed on his shoulder with the note of accumulated wrongs, āvery likely it wasnāt so bad.āā āā ā¦
āThereās things,ā he said, when presently he came to particulars, āāāe couldnāt touch. The noo place! Itās freehold and paid for, and with the bit of building on it, thereās five or six āundred pound pārapsā āsay worf free āundred, for safety. We canāt be sold up to finish it, like we thought. Oā Bean says we can very likely sell it and get money. āE says you often get a chance to sell a āouse lessen āarf done, āspecially freeāold. Very likely, āe say. Then thereās Hughenden. Hughenden āasnāt been mortgaged not for more than āarf its value. Thereās a āundred or so to be got on that, and the furniture and the rent for the summer still coming in. āE says thereās very likely other things. A fousand pounds, thatās what āe said. āE said it might even be more.āā āā ā¦
They were sitting now at the table.
āIt alters everything,ā said Ann.
āI been thinking that, Ann, all the way āome. I came in the motor car. First ride Iāve āad since the smash. We neednāt send off Gwendolen, leastways not till after. You know. We neednāt turn out of āereā ānot for a long time. What we been doing for the oā people we can go on doing aāmost as much. And your mother!ā āā ā¦ I wanted to āoller coming along. I pretty near run coming down the road by the hotel.ā
āOh, I am glad we can stop āere and be comfortable a bit,ā said Ann. āI am glad for that.ā
āI pretty near told the driver on the motorā āonly āe was the sort wonāt talk.ā āā ā¦ You see, Ann, weāll be able to start a shop, weāll be able to get into something like. All about our āaving to go back to places and that; all that doesnāt matter any more.ā
For a while they abandoned themselves to ejaculating transports. Then they fell talking to shape an idea to themselves of the new prospect that opened before them.
āWe must start a sort of shop,ā said Kipps,
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