The History of Mr. Polly

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Герберт Уэллс. The History of Mr. Polly

Chapter the First

Beginnings, and the Bazaar

I

II

III

IV

V

Chapter the Second

The Dismissal of Parsons

I

II

III

Chapter the Third

Cribs

I

II

III

Chapter the Fourth

Mr. Polly an Orphan

I

II

III

IV

V

Chapter the Fifth

Mr. Polly Takes a Vacation

I

II

III

IV

V

VI

VII

Chapter the Sixth

Miriam

I

II

III

IV

V

VI

VII

VIII

Chapter the Seventh

The Little Shop at Fishbourne

I

II

III

IV

V

VI

VII

Chapter the Eighth

Making an End to Things

I

II

III

IV

V

Chapter the Ninth

The Potwell Inn

I

II

III

IV

V

VI

VII

VIII

IX

X

XI

XII

Chapter the Tenth

Miriam Revisited

I

II

III

Отрывок из книги

“Hole!” said Mr. Polly, and then for a change, and with greatly increased emphasis: “’Ole!” He paused, and then broke out with one of his private and peculiar idioms. “Oh! Beastly Silly Wheeze of a Hole!”

He was sitting on a stile between two threadbare looking fields, and suffering acutely from indigestion.

.....

The Three Ps took the utmost interest in each other and found no other company so good. They talked about everything in the world, and would go on talking in their dormitory after the gas was out until the other men were reduced to throwing boots; they skulked from their departments in the slack hours of the afternoon to gossip in the packing-room of the warehouse; on Sundays and Bank holidays they went for long walks together, talking.

Platt was white-faced and dark, and disposed to undertones and mystery and a curiosity about society and the demi-monde. He kept himself au courant by reading a penny paper of infinite suggestion called Modern Society. Parsons was of an ampler build, already promising fatness, with curly hair and a lot of rolling, rollicking, curly features, and a large blob-shaped nose. He had a great memory and a real interest in literature. He knew great portions of Shakespeare and Milton by heart, and would recite them at the slightest provocation. He read everything he could get hold of, and if he liked it he read it aloud. It did not matter who else liked it. At first Mr. Polly was disposed to be suspicious of this literature, but was carried away by Parsons’ enthusiasm. The Three Ps went to a performance of “Romeo and Juliet” at the Port Burdock Theatre Royal, and hung over the gallery fascinated. After that they made a sort of password of: “Do you bite your thumbs at Us, Sir?”

.....