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… he answered, and I have never seen a man foam at the mouth before. ‘If you don’t stop, I shall come into your house—in this car—and drive upstairs and—kill you!’ |
This is from “The Vortex”, in A Diversity of Creatures. The storyteller encounters Mr Lingnam, a talkative theorist ofi Empire, who holds forth endlessly about elaborate schemes for bringing British territories together to meet future challenges. Out on a drive with friends. they approach a village, crowded with people, where on a hot summer’s day there are various festivities going on. With Mr Lingnam at the wheel, they knock a delivery boy off his bicycle. He had been carrying four boxes of bees, which swarm out into the village, stinging everyone in their path. Chaos ensues, and Mr Lingnam e takes refuge, a bedraggled and much-stung figure, in a pond. He is made to take the blame for everything, and pay for the wrecked bicycle, which he wrecks anew. All desire for further negotiation or discussion has left him. |
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