День триффидов
Shadows Before
"Ithink,"Isaid,"thatI’vebeenfairlydenseoverthisbusiness—andprettylucky.IoughttohavemademoreoftheimplicationswhenIsawthatwomanwiththechildinPiccadilly.It’sonlybeenchancethat’sstoppedmefromfallingintothesamekindofmessthatyoudid."
"Anybodywhohashadagreattreasurehasalwaysledaprecariousexistence,"shesaidreflectively.
"I’llgoonbearingthatinmindhenceforth,"Itoldher.
"It’salreadyverywellimpressedonmine,"sheremarked.Wesatlisteningtotheuproarfromtheotherpubforafewminutes.
"Andwhat,"Isaidatlast,"justwhat,doweproposetodonow?"
"Imustgetbackhome.There’smyfather.It’sobviouslynogoodgoingontotrytofindthedoctornow—evenifhehasbeenoneoftheluckyones."
Sheseemedabouttoaddsomething,buthesitated.
"DoyoumindifIcometoo?"Iasked."Thisdoesn’tseemtomethesortoftimewhenanyonelikeusshouldbewanderingaboutonhisorherown."
Sheturnedwithagratefullook.
"Thankyou.Ialmostasked,butIthoughttheremightbesomebodyyou’dhewantingtolookfor."
"Thereisn’t,"Isaid."NotinLondon,atanyrate."
"Imglad.It’snotsomuchthatI’mafraidofgettingcaughtagain—I’llbemuchtoocarefulforthat.But,tohehonest,it’sthelonelinessI’mafraidof.I’mbeginningtofeelso—socutoffandstranded."
Iwasbeginningtoseethingsinanothernewlight.
