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Zuleika Dobson; Or, An Oxford Love Story
·
Sir Max Beerbohm
240
I
am
loth
to
interrupt
my
narrative
at
this
rather
exciting
moment--a
moment
when
the
quick,
tense
style,
exemplified
in
the
last
paragraph
but
one,
is
so
very
desirable.
But
in
justice
to
the
gods
I
must
pause
to
put
in
a
word
of
excuse
for
them.
They
had
imagined
that
it
was
in
mere
irony
that
the
Duke
had
said
he
could
not
die
till
after
the
bumping-races;
and
not
until
it
seemed
that
he
stood
ready
to
make
an
end
of
himself
had
the
signal
been
given
by
Zeus
for
the
rain
to
fall.
One
is
taught
to
refrain
from
irony,
because
mankind
does
tend
to
take
it
literally.
In
the
hearing
of
the
gods,
who
hear
all,
it
is
conversely
unsafe
to
make
a
simple
and
direct
statement.
So
what
is
one
to
do?
The
dilemma
needs
a
whole
volume
to
itself.
But
to
return
to
the
Duke.
He
had
now
been
under
water
for
a
full
minute,
swimming
down
stream;
and
he
calculated
that
he
had
yet
another
full
minute
of
consciousness.
Already
the
whole
of
his
past
life
had
vividly
presented
itself
to
him--myriads
of
tiny
incidents,
long
forgotten,
now
standing
out
sharply
in
their
due
sequence.
He
had
mastered
this
conspectus
in
a
flash
of
time,
and
was
already
tired
of
it.
How
smooth
and
yielding
were
the
weeds
against
his
face!
He
wondered
if
Mrs.
Batch
had
been
in
time
to
cash
the
cheque.
If
not,
of
course
his
executors
would
pay
the
amount,
but
there
would
be
delays,
long
delays,
Mrs.
Batch
in
meshes
of
red
tape.
Red
tape
for
her,
green
weeds
for
him--he
smiled
at
this
poor
conceit,
classifying
it
as
a
fair
sample
of
merman’s
wit.
He
swam
on
through
the
quiet
cool
darkness,
less
quickly
now.
Not
many
more
strokes
now,
he
told
himself;
a
few,
only
a
few;
then
sleep.
How
was
he
come
here?
Some
woman
had
sent
him.
Ever
so
many
years
ago,
some
woman.
He
forgave
her.
There
was
nothing
to
forgive
her.
It
was
the
gods
who
had
sent
him--too
soon,
too
soon.
He
let
his
arms
rise
in
the
water,
and
he
floated
up.
There
was
air
in
that
over-world,
and
something
he
needed
to
know
there
before
he
came
down
again
to
sleep.
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