"Olaf Stapledon - A Man Divided" - читать интересную книгу автора (Stapledon Olaf)

could feel them blaming me for Victor's shocking deed. Victor's father looked at his son, then back at me, and the look said as
clearly as words could have done, "My boy, why did you get tangled up with this fellow? He's not one of us. And now, see where
he has led you!" At this point Edith brought the scene to a close by imploring her parents to take her home.

2 - VICTOR'S EARLY LIFE
From 1890 to 1912

THAT SAME AFTERNOON, while I was in my bedroom at the hotel, packing my hired clothes, and wondering how Victor was
dealing with the parents, he came in dressed in an old tweed coat and flannels. He flung himself into the easy chair and said,
"Thank God, oh, thank God, that's over I How wise of me, quite unconsciously wise, to fetch you along to be best man. You were
a sort of touchstone, or the alarm clock that woke me."




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A Man Divided




While I was pondering this, and mechanically packing, he changed the subject. "Harry, old man," he said, "don't go home yet,
unless you must. The least I can do after getting you into this mess is to tell you more about myself. It's rather urgent, because I
may go back into my sleep-life at any minute. If you can spare a few hours, let's walk somewhere."

This suggestion itself was surprising, Victor normally despised the humblest form of physical exercise. Tennis, rugger,
swimming, he enjoyed; and in all of them he was competent, in some brilliant. Walking he regarded as a mug's game. It was a
means of transport to be resorted to only when his sports car was off the road.

And now, though the car was available to take us quickly into open country, he asked me, rather sheepishly, if I should mind
going by bus. Sensing my surprise, he added, "You see, the car means the other life, the sleep-walker's life, and so it--well, it
gives me the creeps."

How I remember that bus journey of nearly thirty years ago! The bus was crowded, and we had to stand. The solid tyres chattered
our teeth together like dice in a box. When the conductor came for our fares, Victor surprised me by muddling the transaction.
The conductor, with unspoken contempt, handed back the superfluous coins. Victor looked at them, not with the shame of the
business man who had fallen short of the sacred virtue of business efficiency, but with a laugh which seemed to express relief at
his own carelessness. He then became entirely absorbed in watching our fellow passengers, with the same wide-eyed fascination
as he had displayed in the vestry. He stared so hard and so unselfconsciously that people began to grow restive and resentful. He
was particularly attentive to a comfortable body with an amiable face, who finally remarked with an attempt at severity, "Young
man, control your eyes!" Suddenly realizing that he was not behaving correctly, Victor chuckled and said in a breezy voice,
"Sorry I You mustn't mind me. I've been--well I've been asleep for several months, and it's so exciting to see people again; real
people, and not just dreams." A florid man, who evidently considered himself a wag, remarked, "They've let you out too soon,
lad. If I were you I'd take the next bus back." There was a general titter. Victor grinned; then winked, as he nudged me and said,
"It's all right. My keeper's with me."

At the terminus we set out along a suburban street that presently became more like a country road. Then came a path through
woods and fields. At last Victor began to tell me the strange facts about himself which threw light not only on his conduct at the
church but also on my earlier relations with him. But while part of his mind was occupied with recounting his biography, another
part seemed to be intensely concentrated in his senses. With alert eyes he looked about him at the scenery. Sometimes he would