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349
The Journal of a Disappointed Man
·
W. N. P. Barbellion
291
Later
on,
I
discovered
an
empty
seat
in
a
compartment
occupied
by
persons
whose
questionable
appearance
my
short
sight
entirely
failed
to
make
me
aware
of
until
I
got
inside
with
them.
They
were
a
family
of
Sheenies,
father,
mother
and
three
children,
whose
joint
emanations
in
a
closed-up
railway
carriage
made
an
effluvium
like
to
kill
a
regiment
of
guards.
They
were
E.
end
pawnbrokers
or
dealers
in
second-hand
clothes.
I
was
too
nervous
to
appear
rude
by
immediately
with-drawing,
so
I
said
politely
to
the
man
clad
in
second-hand
furs:
"Is
that
seat
taken?"
He
affected
to
be
almost
asleep.
So
I
repeated.
He
stared
at
me
and
then
said:
"Oh!
yes
...
but
you
can
have
it
for
a
bit
if
you
like."
I
sat
down
timorously
on
the
extreme
edge
of
the
seat
and
stared
at,
but
could
not
read,
my
newspaper
out
of
sheer
nervous
apprehension.
My
sole
idea
was
to
get
out
as
soon
as
I
decorously
could.
Out
of
the
corner
of
my
eye,
I
observed
the
three
children--two
girls
and
a
boy--all
garbed
in
black
clothes
and
wearing
large
clumsy
boots
with
nails
and
scutes
on
the
soles.
The
girls
had
large
inflorescences
of
bushy
hair
which
they
swung
about
as
they
turned
their
heads
and
made
me
shudder.
The
mother's
face
was
like
a
brown,
shrivelled
apple,
topped
with
a
black
bonnet
and
festooned
on
each
side
with
ringlets
of
curly
dark
hair.
Around
her
neck
a
fur
tippet:
as
I
live--second-hand
clothes
dealers
from
Whitechapel.
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