Contents
CHAPTER
I. "THERE ARE HEROISMS ALL ROUND US" II. "TRY YOUR LUCK WITH PROFESSOR CHALLENGER" III. "HE IS A PERFECTLY IMPOSSIBLE PERSON" IV. "IT'S JUST THE VERY BIGGEST THING IN THE WORLD" V. "QUESTION!" VI. "I WAS THE FLAIL OF THE LORD" VII. "TO-MORROW WE DISAPPEAR INTO THE UNKNOWN" VIII. "THE OUTLYING PICKETS OF THE NEW WORLD" IX. "WHO COULD HAVE FORESEEN IT?" X. "THE MOST WONDERFUL THINGS HAVE HAPPENED" XI. "FOR ONCE I WAS THE HERO" XII. "IT WAS DREADFUL IN THE FOREST" XIII. "A SIGHT I SHALL NEVER FORGET" XIV. "THOSE WERE THE REAL CONQUESTS" XV. "OUR EYES HAVE SEEN GREAT WONDERS" XVI. "A PROCESSION! A PROCESSION!"
THE LOST WORLD
The Lost World
CHAPTER I
"There Are Heroisms All Round Us"
Mr. Hungerton, her father, really was the most tactless person uponearth,--a fluffy, feathery, untidy cockatoo of a man, perfectlygood-natured, but absolutely centered upon his own silly self. Ifanything could have driven me from Gladys, it would have been thethought of such a father-in-law. I am convinced that he reallybelieved in his heart that I came round to the Chestnuts three days aweek for the pleasure of his company, and very especially to hear hisviews upon bimetallism, a subject upon which he was by way of being anauthority.
For an hour or more that evening I listened to his monotonous chirrupabout bad money driving out good, the token value of silver, thedepreciation of the rupee, and the true standards of exchange.
"Suppose," he cried with feeble violence, "that all the debts in theworld were called up simultaneously, and immediate payment insistedupon,--what under our present conditions would happen then?"
I gave the self-evident answer that I should be a ruined man, uponwhich he jumped from his chair, reproved me for my habitual levity,which made it impossible for him to discuss any reasonable subject inmy presence, and bounced off out of the room to dress for a Masonicmeeting.
At last I was alone with Gladys, and the moment of Fate had come! Allthat evening I had felt like the soldier who awaits the signal whichwill send him on a forlorn hope; hope of victory and fear of repulsealternating in his mind.
She sat with that proud, delicate profile of hers outlined against thered curtain. How beautiful she was! And yet how aloof! We had beenfriends, quite good friends; but never could I get beyond the samecomradeship which I might have established with one of myfellow-reporters upon the Gazette,--perfectly frank, perfectly kindly,and perfectly unsexual. My instincts are all against a woman being toofrank and at her ease with me. It is no compliment to a man. Wherethe real sex feeling begins, timidity and distrust are its companions,heritage from old wicked days when love and violence went often hand inhand. The bent head, the averted eye, the faltering voice, the wincingfigure--these, and not the unshrinking gaze and frank reply, are thetrue signals of passion. Even in my short life I had learned as muchas that--or had inherited it in that race memory which we call instinct.
Gladys was full of every womanly quality. Some judged her to be coldand hard; but such a thought was treason. That delicately bronzedskin, almost oriental in its coloring, that raven hair, the largeliquid eyes, the full but exquisite lips,--all the stigmata of passionwere there. But I was sadly conscious that up to now I had never foundthe secret of drawing it forth. However, come what might, I shouldhave done with suspense and bring matters to a head to-night. Shecould but refuse me, and better be a repulsed lover than an acceptedbrother.
So far my thoughts had carried me, and I was about to break the longand uneasy silence, when two critical, dark eyes looked round at me,and the proud head was shaken in smiling reproof. "I have apresentiment that you are going to propose, Ned. I do wish youwouldn't; for things are so much nicer as they are."
I drew my chair a little nearer. "Now, how did you know that I wasgoing to propose?" I asked in genuine wonder.
"Don't women always know? Do you suppose any woman in the world wasever taken unawares? But--oh, Ned, our friendship has been so good andso pleasant! What a pity to spoil it! Don't you feel how splendid itis that a young man and a young woman should be able to talk face toface as we have talked?"
"I don't know, Gladys. You see, I can talk face to face with--with thestation-master." I can't imagine how that official came into thematter; but in he trotted, and set us both laughing. "That does notsatisfy me in the least. I want my arms round you, and your head on mybreast, and--oh, Gladys, I want----"
She had sprung from her chair, as she saw signs that I proposed todemonstrate some of my wants. "You've spoiled everything, Ned," shesaid. "It's all so beautiful and natural until this kind of thingcomes in! It is such a pity! Why can't you control yourself?"
"I didn't invent it," I pleaded. "It's nature. It's love."
"Well, perhaps if both love, it may be different. I have never feltit."