Protection by W.R. Burnett

Author:W.R. Burnett [Burnett, W.R.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 0101-01-01T00:00:00+00:00

HARWORTH sat in the library trying to compose his mind. Stein was in bed. The place was quiet.

It was a disagreeable morning and, although it was five o’clock, the window, panes were but faintly gray. A hard, steady wind was blowing in from the lake.

Harworth finally got to his feet, selected a book, fixed a reading light above his chair and began to read. But he hadn’t been reading fifteen minutes when he closed the book and sat looking off across the room. The book was a little life of Caesar which had been recommended to him by his bookseller.

As a rule the reading of history eased him, but tonight war disgusted him; the role of conqueror seemed criminal. He wanted relief from the bitter lust of living; he wanted something beyond life, something he could hold at a. distance and admire.

Getting up, he put the book back on its shelf and walked to the window. The sun was just coming up in a gray, cloudy sky. The lake was very dark, nearly black in the gray light, and covered with whitecaps. He saw a freighter toiling in past the pier.

A few lines began to run through his head:

“Wynken, Blynken and Nod one night

Sailed off in a wooden shoe . . .”

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