September 24, 2025 • 21 mins
This intriguing book begins with a theoretical exploration of a catastrophic geological event but quickly evolves into a profound reflection on the essence of English identity. As it unfolds, it culminates in a passionate defense of America, offering readers a unique perspective on both nations. (Summary by Judi Mason)
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Chapter six, Part one of the Evacuation of England by L. P.
Gratacap this librivax recording as in the public domain, the
terror of it. Leocraft and Jim reached the hotel at
the Caledonian Station in a crowd of breathless men, all
(00:22):
anxious to escape to more reassuring neighborhoods. Thompson and the
young lady, so opportunely rescued, had availed themselves of the
restorative resources of the hotel, and had largely recovered from
the exposure and scare of their experience. Loocraft met Sir
John c standing at the entrance of the hotel, his
(00:43):
face clouded with grief and anxiety. Strained to the last
limit of endurance by his unwearied exertion to secure the
safety of the people, and almost prostrated by the desolating
sorrow of deserting the great city. The distinguished publisher expressed
in his head looks his intense misery of mind. Layocraft
(01:04):
expressed a few words of condolence, which were hardly noticed,
and then hurried to the former writing room of the hotel,
where he found a fire burning and a hastily prepared luncheon,
around which a dense crowd of men were collected, filling
the room almost to suffocation, greedily devouring the welcome repast,
and muttering doubts of their eventually escaping at all if
(01:27):
they remained any longer. Sir John hates to get away,
commented one. He just can't make up his mind to go.
His heart is broke. But what's the use. We can't
stay here and be buried alive. The trainmen say it's
a hard job now to get through, and all the
way to glen Arkin is full of big drifts. I say,
(01:48):
we must shake this. And it's nobody's right to run
our heads into danger for the whim of a little
love for the old town. Sure, we are all hard
enough up, and it's we that has not got a
roof to our heads, nor a bite to our stomachs
that has the worst to fear. It's a cruel suffering
to think of it at all, but so it is,
and it's no use fashing wheel wheel, said another. It's
(02:13):
an awful plight, and nobody can say what's next. We
want better be dead than to pit our heads in
a pother of snaw and wait for next summer to
melt us out simmer Man is it exclaimed a rough
cartman with a huge ham sandwich in each hand and
his jaws working on the remnants of their predecessor, simmer
It's all up with the Simmers, frying out to the
(02:35):
end of the world. It's Bonnie Scotland, goodbye, and mind
you man. You'll never see Gores again on the Queen's drive,
I'm thinking. And you'll never take your bonnet off on
Arthur's seat, nor pluck the daisy on Holy Rude mead.
You'll never canter to the pentlands, nor hear the sang
of praise, Go up fry the Lawslan Chapel, and you'll
(02:57):
nigh hear the bell toll Fred Grayfriars Kirk, nor mark
time with the Highlanders and Saint Giles. And you'll never
buide the chance when you can see old Hayes shop
in High Street, nor watch the middle and stare there
e'en out of John Knox's aim. It's oer by now,
and the good fellow turned away in a choking effort
(03:17):
to repress his own tears and swallow the generous morsels
he had bitten from his overloaded hands lay a craft
pressed by these disturbed groups, and found, after he had
inducted Jim to the hospitalities of the various tables, his
own strength and composure deserting him. He sank into a
chair and covered his face with his hands. It seemed
(03:39):
as if he had lived through some dreadful nightmare, and
the weird and sickening sense of yet more miseries rising
thick and fast, covering with gloom and nation's happiness, stunned him.
A soft voice awoke him. He looked up hastily and
saw the lady whose arms half an hour before had
clung unred existingly around his neck. She was unquestionably very pretty,
(04:04):
and the returning flush upon her cheeks gave the alabaster's
clearness of her brow a singular effrontery of beauty. Elsewhere,
or under different circumstances, it would have produced in Laocraft
a momentary suspicion of artifice. As it was, it held
his attention long enough for him to notice that the
hair covering her head luxuriantly was a raven black, and
(04:28):
was gathered beneath the hood of a soft brown sealskin
fur which clothed her form. While two wonderful opal bracelets,
relieved with ruby jewels in alternating lynks, most incongruously grazed
her wrists. The gloves on her fingers were evidently distended
by rings, and a superb necklace of diamonds and paridos
(04:50):
circled closely her neck. Seen through the half opened cape,
Leocraft rose mechanically to his feet, still conscious of effort,
and looked wonderingly at the young face and at that
of her companion, mister Thompson, the Scotchman, my cousin, and I.
The voice was exquisitely gentle and expressive, can never repay you.
(05:12):
It is a slight thing to say to you how
much we thank you. But it is not impossible that
we can both yet show you our gratitude in some
manner that will mean more than words, mean as much
for you as your sacrifice meant for us. Is not
that so? Ned She turned to mister Thompson, who advanced
an accosted Licraft with courteous alacrity. I am sure, sir,
(05:36):
you appreciate our sense of devotion to yourself. You extricated
my cousin and myself from a certain and dangerous imprisonment.
It might have been something more dreadful, and perhaps with
a reluctant gaze at the young woman and a smile
of understanding for Liograft, you may wish to understand better
how the perilous predicament you found us in occurred. It
(05:58):
was very simple. This lady, miss ethel Tobitt Liocraft bowed,
was left with myself her cousin, at the home of
her father and mother on Pitt Street, to complete the
packing of a quantity of valuables, which were at the
last moment to be placed in a safe and left
there for recovery later. It does now seem as if
(06:19):
that word was a poor mask, for never we had
brought food for the house and felt no fears of
escaping before the streets became impassable. Then this last storm broke,
and this afternoon late in the day, we started out,
But we had waited too long. My cousin sank under
the exertion. I was disabled by a fall in which
(06:41):
my side was seriously bruised. We took refuge in Saint
Andrew's Church, whose doors stood providently unclosed, though to swing
them out I had to dig with my hands a
crevice for their movement in the rising snow banks, forcing
them constantly back our Vigi began. The city in all
(07:02):
directions around us was deserted. We could hear the workers
on Prince's Street occasionally in the lulls of the hurricane,
and the whistle from the station sent thrills of anguish
through us, as we felt we should soon be alone
in an empty city. It was as impossible for us,
in our crippled state, to return to the house in
(07:22):
Pitt Street as to reach Prince's Street. We then began calling,
and it was you, sir, who responded. I think hunger
and thirst would have made it impossible, even in the
day for us to have left our retreat, and only
the don't ned, cried the quivering girl. Don't don't. It's
(07:43):
too awful to think of We need all our best
spirits as it is, but to think, oh, it's too horrible,
And she hid her face against her cousin's breast and
broke into sobs. Laycraft felt the embarrassment and was ill
at ease, though somehow, at that mournful moment, the sight
(08:03):
of a beautiful woman seemed a compensation, and in this case,
as she lifted her tearful face to Liocraft, piteously struggling
to smile. It awoke in him a kind of ardor
to always be near her. He looked almost tenderly at
her and said, I think I have every reason to
thank my good fortune and this remarkable weather for a
(08:26):
very pleasant adventure. Well, no, he continued, as he caught
the reproachful and grieving glance of Miss Tobitt. That is
too cynical. Heaven knows we are all broken hearted enough
tonight to relinquish any false gaiety, even the appearance of it.
But certainly, miss Tobot, I hope this chance acquaintance will
(08:46):
establish a friendship between us. It will be the only
compensation for this night of agony, and perhaps for all
the other nights of agony that still await us. You
will not refuse it. Miss Tobin turned in distinctively to
her friend, and Laycraft, betrayed into an earnestness, perhaps somewhat
out of place, had a fleeting glance of an evanescent smile,
(09:09):
And then the words, even more sweetly spoken then at
first came to his ears. It would be all your
own fault if we fail to be friends. I am
sure I can keep my side of the contract. Mister
Thompson watched this brief exchange of promises, not altogether with approval,
if the faintly forming frown on his face meant anything,
(09:32):
and the evident inclination to take Miss Tobitt away from
Laycraft's proximity. But he was entirely courteous, and with a
half whispered comment that it would not do now to
tire their benefactor any more, he moved off and drew
the lady with him, And then the summons came from
the other end of the room that all was in readiness,
(09:55):
that Sir John was on the train, and that the
attempt to reach the south was to be made. There
was much confusion in some indecent precipitation to gain the door,
and in the rush, Liacraft lost sight of his newly
made friends, but found, to his great satisfaction Jim at
his side. For Jim had turned out to be that
(10:17):
sort of a fellow that meets predicaments with coolness and
quietly without words, instills confidence. Laircraft was a little nettled
over his seriousness with Miss Tobitt, because it revealed again
to himself that prosaic stiffness of language, which he consciously
recognized as having formed an element of failure with miss Garrett,
(10:40):
whose plastic wit found in it a source of amusement.
He walked towards the door, wondering bitterly why women placed
so much value on a turn of speech or the
accent of a compliment. When his musing discontent was interrupted
by a hand laid on his arm, he turned around
and saw a member of the common Council of the city,
(11:02):
associated with Sir John c in the last days of
the city's government. The stranger accosted him, Mister Leocraft, the
Provost Marshal wishes you to share his compartment. He has
a great desire to speak with you on the affairs
of the city and the dreadful things which seemed to
be before us this way, sir, and he motioned to
(11:23):
a large parlor coach in the center of the train.
Loocraft retained him, placing his hand on Jim's shoulder, he said,
this man goes with me. The councilman, for a moment,
looked puzzled, but almost instantly rejoined, certainly, Sir, your personal
attendants are welcome Liocraft laughed and exclaimed, no, Sir, this
(11:44):
is no personal attendant of mine. This is only a
brave man whom I am proud to call my friend.
And as he turned to Jim, the latter gave him
a glance of the sincerest gratitude and pride. The councilman
waived the privilege of question, and, nodding vigorously, his ascent
led Leocraft and Jim to the car of Sir John.
(12:06):
It was a car of an American type, and comfortably
provided with couches and seats, tables and easy chairs. A
number of men were already in it, and some refreshments.
With the circulation of bottles of Irish whisky showed Leocraft
the unappeasable claims of man's appetite, even in the ruins
of his own fortune. Sir John occupied a chair at
(12:28):
a round table in a further corner of the compartment,
and as Loocraft made his way towards him, the eyes
of the city's chief gazed at him in return with
inexpressible weariness and sadness. Leocraft motioned Jim to a seat
and took the proffered hand of Sir John. Who let
his arm fall heavily on the table and still kept
(12:50):
his eyes fixed on Laocraft, motionless and silent. It was
Leocraft who first spoke. I think, sir John, that it
was a few years ago that I secured your intervention
for a poor fellow who was condemned off hand, and
you were willing to help me turn the law back
in its course, that it might have an opportunity to
(13:12):
find out what it was made for, murder or justice. Yes,
I do recall it. And mister Alecraft, do you know,
replied sir John, that that day seems unmercifully far away.
It seems as if you and I lived then in
another world, and as if we perhaps had died and
were living in a quite different one now, and one
(13:35):
very much worse, however bad the old one was. I
am too dazed with all this. I feel as if
I must wake up and find it all a horrible nightmare.
But there can be no excuse or self deception with me.
I have studied this question. I am one of the
most convinced that Scotland is doomed. Yes, and the speaker
(13:58):
straightened himself with the move of exhaustion that England is
doomed too, that we are about to see primal conditions returning,
which are normal physiographic states, but which will destroy our civilization. Listen,
and as Loocraft sank into a chair near him, he
leaned again upon the table and spoke with a sort
(14:19):
of eager impatience at his own logic, as if he
invited and expected and hoped for contradiction. Listen, the isothermals
as they existed before this calamity were a travesty on
the map. They were an outrage upon meteorological symmetry see here.
And Sir John drew out a portfolio, which he opened
(14:40):
on the table before him. He opened it and displayed
a Mercado projection of the world. He was about to
continue when a shout, which had mingled with it a
throb of grief like a loud wail, entered their ears.
Laocraft noticed at the moment that the train was moving.
It had and moving for some time. He looked out
(15:02):
of the compartment window, relieving Edinburgh. His voice sank to
a sympathetic whisper as Sir c suddenly turned to gaze too,
along with all the rest, upon the shrouded city. The
snow was falling from a leaden sky, and the mantled city,
with its higher buildings here aspire their a monument like
(15:24):
an irregular mound hiding a burial, was indistinctly, very partially seen.
The men and one woman, the Scotch Girl, save that
afternoon from the tomb of snow, were standing in the coaches,
leaning out of the open windows to fathom the dull,
motteling obscurity of the air, to catch, to be forever remembered,
(15:48):
some recognized feature of the great, beautiful habitation, now left
in the oncoming night time, to be buried in the
whirling wreaths, hidden between its hills, imperishable but unseen, and
waiting for its resurrection again into the joy of life
and usefulness. A dead city save for those brigands who,
(16:10):
like wolves or ghouls, dared death to fatten on abandoned
riches amid its solemn, terrifying loneliness, strange vicissitude, and as
Laocraft decried in a blurred exaggeration of its natural size,
the dome of Saint George's Church, opposite the Albert Memorial.
(16:30):
A voice somewhere among the tearful and dumb gazers repeated
this verse from Burns's invocation to the honored and historic site,
with awe struck thought and pitying tears. I view that noble,
stately dome where Scotia's kings of other years famed heroes
(16:51):
had their royal home, alas how changed the times to come,
their royal name low in the dust, their hapless race,
wild wandering rome, though rigid law cries out twas just
though the train made a toilsome way and interrupted progress
(17:13):
with steam sweepers ahead of it, the city soon faded away.
The eye could not long pierce that forest of descending
veils of snow. The sepulcher would soon be accomplished, and
the spectators shuddered at the thought of those voluntarily immured
and hapless wretches who has seized this chance for a
(17:34):
few hours reckless pleasure, and then their own death, murdered
by each other's hand in the furious combat for survival,
or choked with the many fingers of the frost at
their necks. And Laocraft remained at the window, still looking,
while Sir John patiently waited, staring at his map, or
raising his eyes expectantly to Leocraft to resume his attention.
(17:59):
A bitter thought passed through Laycraft's mind. Edinburgh had been faithless.
Dressed in beauty, rich in reputation, nurtured in elegance and culture,
she had been wickedly selfish. Her streets were filled with
embruited men and women, with the vassals of drink and depravity.
(18:19):
Her picturesque quarters hid misery and vulgar need, unsanitary and
simply mean, corners of wretchedness, filled with creatures to whom
life was an uneasy mixture of sleep and drunkenness. She
had done nothing for these. Her life was part of
the life of the whole kingdom, and the word of
that life was selfishness. The stupid adhesion to conventional usage,
(18:42):
which kept the land from the people, which loaded taxes
and rents upon a slaving many for the perpetuation of
an indulgent and luxurious life to the few. The upper
surfaces of society, brilliant and dazzlingly, sleek with pride and
puffed up with the vanity of knowledge, cushioned upon a
(19:02):
contemptuous forgetfulness of duty of sympathy, conceitedly viewing their reflections
in Burke's peerage or Charmer's landed gentry, begrudging every concession,
a modern sense of justice, denying the equality of men,
fostering the silly homage of their inferiors, and rankly gathering
(19:22):
around the idiocy of a futile monarchy. It was a
class life, a class gospel, a class cultists, the arrogance
of a classification of the humans of society, which made
the joy of the world the prerogative of those who,
by birth or fortune, found themselves foreordained to possess it,
(19:46):
and who now God willing, would fight every inch of
their vantage ground to keep that advantage, believing that a
fine suavity of demeanor, a generous support of fashion, a
supercilious deference to education as an aristocratic embellishment, a pretentious
clemency of judgment, and an unfailing church attendants would save
(20:07):
them before any supernatural tribunal, if indeed such a tribunal existed.
Of particular blame, those among them, yet endowed with the
pulses of human feeling, gentle in spirit, and blessed with
the better sentimentalities of religion, visited the poor and dropped
lunch baskets at their doors and assumed the fine benizon
(20:31):
of stooping angels, a shallow thoughtlessness which did nothing for
the regeneration of permanent social outrages. The unemployed might clamour,
the poor might continue to multiply, and the young and
ambitious might sail away on white wings to the new
life of America. But the Lord and Landlord must still remain,
(20:54):
because in the sight of the Lord God Almighty, the
Lord and the Landlord are part and parcel of the
eternal order of things, an appanage of his eternal throne,
and a reflection of the rule of Heaven and beneath
all this was the sickly obsequiousness and snuffling adoration of
ordinary men, which of course the Lord and ladies despised,
(21:17):
but which after all, was helpful in keeping up the
distinguished humbug end of Chapter six, Part one
Chapter six, Part one of the Evacuation of England by L. P.
Gratacap this librivax recording as in the public domain, the
terror of it. Leocraft and Jim reached the hotel at
the Caledonian Station in a crowd of breathless men, all
(00:22):
anxious to escape to more reassuring neighborhoods. Thompson and the
young lady, so opportunely rescued, had availed themselves of the
restorative resources of the hotel, and had largely recovered from
the exposure and scare of their experience. Loocraft met Sir
John c standing at the entrance of the hotel, his
(00:43):
face clouded with grief and anxiety. Strained to the last
limit of endurance by his unwearied exertion to secure the
safety of the people, and almost prostrated by the desolating
sorrow of deserting the great city. The distinguished publisher expressed
in his head looks his intense misery of mind. Layocraft
(01:04):
expressed a few words of condolence, which were hardly noticed,
and then hurried to the former writing room of the hotel,
where he found a fire burning and a hastily prepared luncheon,
around which a dense crowd of men were collected, filling
the room almost to suffocation, greedily devouring the welcome repast,
and muttering doubts of their eventually escaping at all if
(01:27):
they remained any longer. Sir John hates to get away,
commented one. He just can't make up his mind to go.
His heart is broke. But what's the use. We can't
stay here and be buried alive. The trainmen say it's
a hard job now to get through, and all the
way to glen Arkin is full of big drifts. I say,
(01:48):
we must shake this. And it's nobody's right to run
our heads into danger for the whim of a little
love for the old town. Sure, we are all hard
enough up, and it's we that has not got a
roof to our heads, nor a bite to our stomachs
that has the worst to fear. It's a cruel suffering
to think of it at all, but so it is,
and it's no use fashing wheel wheel, said another. It's
(02:13):
an awful plight, and nobody can say what's next. We
want better be dead than to pit our heads in
a pother of snaw and wait for next summer to
melt us out simmer Man is it exclaimed a rough
cartman with a huge ham sandwich in each hand and
his jaws working on the remnants of their predecessor, simmer
It's all up with the Simmers, frying out to the
(02:35):
end of the world. It's Bonnie Scotland, goodbye, and mind
you man. You'll never see Gores again on the Queen's drive,
I'm thinking. And you'll never take your bonnet off on
Arthur's seat, nor pluck the daisy on Holy Rude mead.
You'll never canter to the pentlands, nor hear the sang
of praise, Go up fry the Lawslan Chapel, and you'll
(02:57):
nigh hear the bell toll Fred Grayfriars Kirk, nor mark
time with the Highlanders and Saint Giles. And you'll never
buide the chance when you can see old Hayes shop
in High Street, nor watch the middle and stare there
e'en out of John Knox's aim. It's oer by now,
and the good fellow turned away in a choking effort
(03:17):
to repress his own tears and swallow the generous morsels
he had bitten from his overloaded hands lay a craft
pressed by these disturbed groups, and found, after he had
inducted Jim to the hospitalities of the various tables, his
own strength and composure deserting him. He sank into a
chair and covered his face with his hands. It seemed
(03:39):
as if he had lived through some dreadful nightmare, and
the weird and sickening sense of yet more miseries rising
thick and fast, covering with gloom and nation's happiness, stunned him.
A soft voice awoke him. He looked up hastily and
saw the lady whose arms half an hour before had
clung unred existingly around his neck. She was unquestionably very pretty,
(04:04):
and the returning flush upon her cheeks gave the alabaster's
clearness of her brow a singular effrontery of beauty. Elsewhere,
or under different circumstances, it would have produced in Laocraft
a momentary suspicion of artifice. As it was, it held
his attention long enough for him to notice that the
hair covering her head luxuriantly was a raven black, and
(04:28):
was gathered beneath the hood of a soft brown sealskin
fur which clothed her form. While two wonderful opal bracelets,
relieved with ruby jewels in alternating lynks, most incongruously grazed
her wrists. The gloves on her fingers were evidently distended
by rings, and a superb necklace of diamonds and paridos
(04:50):
circled closely her neck. Seen through the half opened cape,
Leocraft rose mechanically to his feet, still conscious of effort,
and looked wonderingly at the young face and at that
of her companion, mister Thompson, the Scotchman, my cousin, and I.
The voice was exquisitely gentle and expressive, can never repay you.
(05:12):
It is a slight thing to say to you how
much we thank you. But it is not impossible that
we can both yet show you our gratitude in some
manner that will mean more than words, mean as much
for you as your sacrifice meant for us. Is not
that so? Ned She turned to mister Thompson, who advanced
an accosted Licraft with courteous alacrity. I am sure, sir,
(05:36):
you appreciate our sense of devotion to yourself. You extricated
my cousin and myself from a certain and dangerous imprisonment.
It might have been something more dreadful, and perhaps with
a reluctant gaze at the young woman and a smile
of understanding for Liograft, you may wish to understand better
how the perilous predicament you found us in occurred. It
(05:58):
was very simple. This lady, miss ethel Tobitt Liocraft bowed,
was left with myself her cousin, at the home of
her father and mother on Pitt Street, to complete the
packing of a quantity of valuables, which were at the
last moment to be placed in a safe and left
there for recovery later. It does now seem as if
(06:19):
that word was a poor mask, for never we had
brought food for the house and felt no fears of
escaping before the streets became impassable. Then this last storm broke,
and this afternoon late in the day, we started out,
But we had waited too long. My cousin sank under
the exertion. I was disabled by a fall in which
(06:41):
my side was seriously bruised. We took refuge in Saint
Andrew's Church, whose doors stood providently unclosed, though to swing
them out I had to dig with my hands a
crevice for their movement in the rising snow banks, forcing
them constantly back our Vigi began. The city in all
(07:02):
directions around us was deserted. We could hear the workers
on Prince's Street occasionally in the lulls of the hurricane,
and the whistle from the station sent thrills of anguish
through us, as we felt we should soon be alone
in an empty city. It was as impossible for us,
in our crippled state, to return to the house in
(07:22):
Pitt Street as to reach Prince's Street. We then began calling,
and it was you, sir, who responded. I think hunger
and thirst would have made it impossible, even in the
day for us to have left our retreat, and only
the don't ned, cried the quivering girl. Don't don't. It's
(07:43):
too awful to think of We need all our best
spirits as it is, but to think, oh, it's too horrible,
And she hid her face against her cousin's breast and
broke into sobs. Laycraft felt the embarrassment and was ill
at ease, though somehow, at that mournful moment, the sight
(08:03):
of a beautiful woman seemed a compensation, and in this case,
as she lifted her tearful face to Liocraft, piteously struggling
to smile. It awoke in him a kind of ardor
to always be near her. He looked almost tenderly at
her and said, I think I have every reason to
thank my good fortune and this remarkable weather for a
(08:26):
very pleasant adventure. Well, no, he continued, as he caught
the reproachful and grieving glance of Miss Tobitt. That is
too cynical. Heaven knows we are all broken hearted enough
tonight to relinquish any false gaiety, even the appearance of it.
But certainly, miss Tobot, I hope this chance acquaintance will
(08:46):
establish a friendship between us. It will be the only
compensation for this night of agony, and perhaps for all
the other nights of agony that still await us. You
will not refuse it. Miss Tobin turned in distinctively to
her friend, and Laycraft, betrayed into an earnestness, perhaps somewhat
out of place, had a fleeting glance of an evanescent smile,
(09:09):
And then the words, even more sweetly spoken then at
first came to his ears. It would be all your
own fault if we fail to be friends. I am
sure I can keep my side of the contract. Mister
Thompson watched this brief exchange of promises, not altogether with approval,
if the faintly forming frown on his face meant anything,
(09:32):
and the evident inclination to take Miss Tobitt away from
Laycraft's proximity. But he was entirely courteous, and with a
half whispered comment that it would not do now to
tire their benefactor any more, he moved off and drew
the lady with him, And then the summons came from
the other end of the room that all was in readiness,
(09:55):
that Sir John was on the train, and that the
attempt to reach the south was to be made. There
was much confusion in some indecent precipitation to gain the door,
and in the rush, Liacraft lost sight of his newly
made friends, but found, to his great satisfaction Jim at
his side. For Jim had turned out to be that
(10:17):
sort of a fellow that meets predicaments with coolness and
quietly without words, instills confidence. Laircraft was a little nettled
over his seriousness with Miss Tobitt, because it revealed again
to himself that prosaic stiffness of language, which he consciously
recognized as having formed an element of failure with miss Garrett,
(10:40):
whose plastic wit found in it a source of amusement.
He walked towards the door, wondering bitterly why women placed
so much value on a turn of speech or the
accent of a compliment. When his musing discontent was interrupted
by a hand laid on his arm, he turned around
and saw a member of the common Council of the city,
(11:02):
associated with Sir John c in the last days of
the city's government. The stranger accosted him, Mister Leocraft, the
Provost Marshal wishes you to share his compartment. He has
a great desire to speak with you on the affairs
of the city and the dreadful things which seemed to
be before us this way, sir, and he motioned to
(11:23):
a large parlor coach in the center of the train.
Loocraft retained him, placing his hand on Jim's shoulder, he said,
this man goes with me. The councilman, for a moment,
looked puzzled, but almost instantly rejoined, certainly, Sir, your personal
attendants are welcome Liocraft laughed and exclaimed, no, Sir, this
(11:44):
is no personal attendant of mine. This is only a
brave man whom I am proud to call my friend.
And as he turned to Jim, the latter gave him
a glance of the sincerest gratitude and pride. The councilman
waived the privilege of question, and, nodding vigorously, his ascent
led Leocraft and Jim to the car of Sir John.
(12:06):
It was a car of an American type, and comfortably
provided with couches and seats, tables and easy chairs. A
number of men were already in it, and some refreshments.
With the circulation of bottles of Irish whisky showed Leocraft
the unappeasable claims of man's appetite, even in the ruins
of his own fortune. Sir John occupied a chair at
(12:28):
a round table in a further corner of the compartment,
and as Loocraft made his way towards him, the eyes
of the city's chief gazed at him in return with
inexpressible weariness and sadness. Leocraft motioned Jim to a seat
and took the proffered hand of Sir John. Who let
his arm fall heavily on the table and still kept
(12:50):
his eyes fixed on Laocraft, motionless and silent. It was
Leocraft who first spoke. I think, sir John, that it
was a few years ago that I secured your intervention
for a poor fellow who was condemned off hand, and
you were willing to help me turn the law back
in its course, that it might have an opportunity to
(13:12):
find out what it was made for, murder or justice. Yes,
I do recall it. And mister Alecraft, do you know,
replied sir John, that that day seems unmercifully far away.
It seems as if you and I lived then in
another world, and as if we perhaps had died and
were living in a quite different one now, and one
(13:35):
very much worse, however bad the old one was. I
am too dazed with all this. I feel as if
I must wake up and find it all a horrible nightmare.
But there can be no excuse or self deception with me.
I have studied this question. I am one of the
most convinced that Scotland is doomed. Yes, and the speaker
(13:58):
straightened himself with the move of exhaustion that England is
doomed too, that we are about to see primal conditions returning,
which are normal physiographic states, but which will destroy our civilization. Listen,
and as Loocraft sank into a chair near him, he
leaned again upon the table and spoke with a sort
(14:19):
of eager impatience at his own logic, as if he
invited and expected and hoped for contradiction. Listen, the isothermals
as they existed before this calamity were a travesty on
the map. They were an outrage upon meteorological symmetry see here.
And Sir John drew out a portfolio, which he opened
(14:40):
on the table before him. He opened it and displayed
a Mercado projection of the world. He was about to
continue when a shout, which had mingled with it a
throb of grief like a loud wail, entered their ears.
Laocraft noticed at the moment that the train was moving.
It had and moving for some time. He looked out
(15:02):
of the compartment window, relieving Edinburgh. His voice sank to
a sympathetic whisper as Sir c suddenly turned to gaze too,
along with all the rest, upon the shrouded city. The
snow was falling from a leaden sky, and the mantled city,
with its higher buildings here aspire their a monument like
(15:24):
an irregular mound hiding a burial, was indistinctly, very partially seen.
The men and one woman, the Scotch Girl, save that
afternoon from the tomb of snow, were standing in the coaches,
leaning out of the open windows to fathom the dull,
motteling obscurity of the air, to catch, to be forever remembered,
(15:48):
some recognized feature of the great, beautiful habitation, now left
in the oncoming night time, to be buried in the
whirling wreaths, hidden between its hills, imperishable but unseen, and
waiting for its resurrection again into the joy of life
and usefulness. A dead city save for those brigands who,
(16:10):
like wolves or ghouls, dared death to fatten on abandoned
riches amid its solemn, terrifying loneliness, strange vicissitude, and as
Laocraft decried in a blurred exaggeration of its natural size,
the dome of Saint George's Church, opposite the Albert Memorial.
(16:30):
A voice somewhere among the tearful and dumb gazers repeated
this verse from Burns's invocation to the honored and historic site,
with awe struck thought and pitying tears. I view that noble,
stately dome where Scotia's kings of other years famed heroes
(16:51):
had their royal home, alas how changed the times to come,
their royal name low in the dust, their hapless race,
wild wandering rome, though rigid law cries out twas just
though the train made a toilsome way and interrupted progress
(17:13):
with steam sweepers ahead of it, the city soon faded away.
The eye could not long pierce that forest of descending
veils of snow. The sepulcher would soon be accomplished, and
the spectators shuddered at the thought of those voluntarily immured
and hapless wretches who has seized this chance for a
(17:34):
few hours reckless pleasure, and then their own death, murdered
by each other's hand in the furious combat for survival,
or choked with the many fingers of the frost at
their necks. And Laocraft remained at the window, still looking,
while Sir John patiently waited, staring at his map, or
raising his eyes expectantly to Leocraft to resume his attention.
(17:59):
A bitter thought passed through Laycraft's mind. Edinburgh had been faithless.
Dressed in beauty, rich in reputation, nurtured in elegance and culture,
she had been wickedly selfish. Her streets were filled with
embruited men and women, with the vassals of drink and depravity.
(18:19):
Her picturesque quarters hid misery and vulgar need, unsanitary and
simply mean, corners of wretchedness, filled with creatures to whom
life was an uneasy mixture of sleep and drunkenness. She
had done nothing for these. Her life was part of
the life of the whole kingdom, and the word of
that life was selfishness. The stupid adhesion to conventional usage,
(18:42):
which kept the land from the people, which loaded taxes
and rents upon a slaving many for the perpetuation of
an indulgent and luxurious life to the few. The upper
surfaces of society, brilliant and dazzlingly, sleek with pride and
puffed up with the vanity of knowledge, cushioned upon a
(19:02):
contemptuous forgetfulness of duty of sympathy, conceitedly viewing their reflections
in Burke's peerage or Charmer's landed gentry, begrudging every concession,
a modern sense of justice, denying the equality of men,
fostering the silly homage of their inferiors, and rankly gathering
(19:22):
around the idiocy of a futile monarchy. It was a
class life, a class gospel, a class cultists, the arrogance
of a classification of the humans of society, which made
the joy of the world the prerogative of those who,
by birth or fortune, found themselves foreordained to possess it,
(19:46):
and who now God willing, would fight every inch of
their vantage ground to keep that advantage, believing that a
fine suavity of demeanor, a generous support of fashion, a
supercilious deference to education as an aristocratic embellishment, a pretentious
clemency of judgment, and an unfailing church attendants would save
(20:07):
them before any supernatural tribunal, if indeed such a tribunal existed.
Of particular blame, those among them, yet endowed with the
pulses of human feeling, gentle in spirit, and blessed with
the better sentimentalities of religion, visited the poor and dropped
lunch baskets at their doors and assumed the fine benizon
(20:31):
of stooping angels, a shallow thoughtlessness which did nothing for
the regeneration of permanent social outrages. The unemployed might clamour,
the poor might continue to multiply, and the young and
ambitious might sail away on white wings to the new
life of America. But the Lord and Landlord must still remain,
(20:54):
because in the sight of the Lord God Almighty, the
Lord and the Landlord are part and parcel of the
eternal order of things, an appanage of his eternal throne,
and a reflection of the rule of Heaven and beneath
all this was the sickly obsequiousness and snuffling adoration of
ordinary men, which of course the Lord and ladies despised,
(21:17):
but which after all, was helpful in keeping up the
distinguished humbug end of Chapter six, Part one
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