The Beetle - Richard Marsh (top romance novels txt) š
- Author: Richard Marsh
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I paid no heed to what he said. I poured two stiff doses into a couple of tumblers. Without seeming to be aware of what it was that he was doing he disposed of the better half of the one I gave him at a draught. Putting his glass upon the table, he dropped his head upon his hands, and groaned.
āWhat would Marjorie think of me if she saw me now?ā
āThink?ā ānothing. Why should she think of a man like you, when she has so much better fish to fry?ā
āIām feeling frightfully ill!ā āIāll be drunk before Iāve done!ā
āThen be drunk!ā āonly, for gracious sake, be lively drunk, not deadly doleful.ā āCheer up, Percy!ā I clapped him on the shoulderā āalmost knocking him off his seat on to the floor. āI am now going to show you that little experiment of which I was speaking!ā āYou see that cat?ā
āOf course I see it!ā āthe beast!ā āI wish youād let it go!ā
āWhy should I let it go?ā āDo you know whose cat that is? That catās Paul Lessinghamās.ā
āPaul Lessinghamās?ā
āYes, Paul Lessinghamāsā āthe man who made the speechā āthe man whom Marjorie went away with.ā
āHow do you know itās his?ā
āI donāt know it is, but I believe it isā āI choose to believe it is!ā āI intend to believe it is!ā āIt was outside his house, therefore itās his catā āthatās how I argue. I canāt get Lessingham inside that box, so I get his cat instead.ā
āWhatever for?ā
āYou shall see.ā āYou observe how happy it is?ā
āIt donāt seem happy.ā
āWeāve all our ways of seeming happyā āthatās its way.ā
The creature was behaving like a cat gone mad, dashing itself against the sides of its glass prison, leaping to and fro, and from side to side, squealing with rage, or with terror, or with both. Perhaps it foresaw what was comingā āthere is no fathoming the intelligence of what we call the lower animals.
āItās a funny way.ā
āWe some of us have funny ways, beside cats. Now, attention! Observe this little toyā āyouāve seen something of its kind before. Itās a spring gun; you pull the springā ādrop the charge into the barrelā ārelease the springā āand the charge is fired. Iāll unlock this safe, which is built into the wall. Itās a letter lock, the combination just now, is āwhisky,āā āyou see, thatās a hint to you. Youāll notice the safe is strongly madeā āitās airtight, fireproof, the outer casing is of triple-plated drill-proof steelā āthe contents are valuableā āto me!ā āand devilish dangerousā āIād pity the thief who, in his innocent ignorance, broke in to steal. Look insideā āyou see itās full of ballsā āglass balls, each in its own little separate nest; light as feathers; transparentā āyou can see right through them. Here are a couple, like tiny pills. They contain neither dynamite, nor cordite, nor anything of the kind, yet, given a fair field and no favour, theyāll work more mischief than all the explosives man has fashioned. Take hold of oneā āyou say your heart is broken!ā āsqueeze this under your noseā āit wants but a gentle pressureā āand in less time than no time youāll be in the land where they say there are no broken hearts.ā
He shrunk back.
āI donāt know what youāre talking about.ā āI donāt want the thing.ā āTake it away.ā
āThink twiceā āthe chance may not recur.ā
āI tell you I donāt want it.ā
āSure?ā āConsider!ā
āOf course Iām sure!ā
āThen the cat shall have it.ā
āLet the poor brute go!ā
āThe poor bruteās goingā āto the land which is so near, and yet so far. Once more, if you please, attention. Notice what I do with this toy gun. I pull back the spring; I insert this small glass pellet; I thrust the muzzle of the gun through the opening in the glass box which contains the Apostleās catā āyouāll observe it fits quite close, which, on the whole, is perhaps as well for us.ā āI am about to release the spring.ā āClose attention, please.ā āNotice the effect.ā
āAtherton, let the brute go!ā
āThe bruteās gone! Iāve released the springā āthe pellet has been dischargedā āit has struck against the roof of the glass boxā āit has been broken by the contactā āand, hey presto! the cat lies deadā āand that in face of its nine lives. You perceive how still it isā āhow still! Letās hope that, now, itās really happy. The cat which I choose to believe is Paul Lessinghamās has received its quietus; in the morning Iāll send it back to him, with my respectful compliments. Heāll miss it if I donāt.ā āReflect! think of a huge bomb, filled with what weāll call Athertonās Magic Vapour, fired, say, from a hundred and twenty ton gun, bursting at a given elevation over the heads of an opposing force. Properly managed, in less than an instant of time, a hundred thousand menā āquite possibly more!ā āwould drop down dead, as if smitten by the lightning of the skies. Isnāt that something like a weapon, sir?ā
āIām not well!ā āI want to get away!ā āI wish Iād never come!ā
That was all Woodville had to say.
āRubbish!ā āYouāre adding to your stock of information every second, and, in these days, when a member of Parliament is supposed to know all about everything, informationās the one thing wanted. Empty your glass, manā āthatās the time of day for you!ā
I handed him his tumbler. He drained what was left of its contents, then, in a fit of tipsy, childish temper he flung the tumbler from him. I had placedā ācarelessly enoughā āthe second pellet within a foot of the edge of the table. The shock of the heavy beaker striking the board close to it, set it rolling. I was at the other side. I started forward to stop its motion, but I was too late. Before I could reach the crystal globule, it had fallen off the edge of the table on to the floor at Woodvilleās feet, and smashed in falling. As it smashed, he was looking down, wondering, no doubt, in his stupidity, what the pother was aboutā āfor I was shouting, and making something of a clatter in my efforts to prevent the catastrophe which I saw was coming. On the instant, as the vapour secreted in the broken pellet gained access to the air, he
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