1 00:00:01,600 --> 00:00:09,160 Speaker 1: Vera's First Christmas Adventure by Arnold Bennett. One. Five days 2 00:00:09,160 --> 00:00:13,000 before Christmas, Cheswardine came home to his wife from a 3 00:00:13,039 --> 00:00:17,280 week's sojourn in London on business. Vera, in her quality 4 00:00:17,320 --> 00:00:19,920 of the best dressed woman in Bersley, met him on 5 00:00:19,960 --> 00:00:23,719 the doorstep or thereabouts of their charming but childless home, 6 00:00:24,039 --> 00:00:26,559 attired in a tea gown that would have ravished a 7 00:00:26,600 --> 00:00:30,920 far less impressionable male than her husband, while he, in 8 00:00:31,000 --> 00:00:35,719 his quality of a prosaic and flourishing earthenware manufacturer, pretended 9 00:00:35,719 --> 00:00:37,799 to take the tea gown as a matter of course, 10 00:00:38,359 --> 00:00:41,200 and gave her the sober, solid kiss of a man 11 00:00:41,240 --> 00:00:44,200 who has been married six years and is getting used 12 00:00:44,200 --> 00:00:47,880 to it. Still, the tea gown had pleased him, and 13 00:00:47,920 --> 00:00:51,719 by certain secret symptoms, Vera knew that it had pleased him. 14 00:00:52,520 --> 00:00:55,399 She hoped much from that tea gown. She hoped that 15 00:00:55,479 --> 00:00:57,840 he had come home in a more pacific temper than 16 00:00:57,880 --> 00:01:00,439 he had shown when he left her, and she would 17 00:01:00,479 --> 00:01:06,480 carry her point after all. Now, Naturally, when a husband 18 00:01:06,519 --> 00:01:10,640 in easy circumstances the possessor of a pretty and pampered wife, 19 00:01:11,040 --> 00:01:14,680 spends a week in London and returns five days before Christmas, 20 00:01:15,280 --> 00:01:18,760 certain things are rightly and properly to be expected from him. 21 00:01:19,439 --> 00:01:22,439 He would need outstanding courage an amazing lack of a 22 00:01:22,519 --> 00:01:25,519 sense of the amenity of conjugal existence in such a 23 00:01:25,599 --> 00:01:31,359 husband to enable him to disappoint such reasonable expectations. And Cheeswerdine, 24 00:01:31,519 --> 00:01:34,120 though capable of pulling the curb very tight on the 25 00:01:34,159 --> 00:01:37,640 caprices of his wife, was a highly decent fellow. He 26 00:01:37,719 --> 00:01:42,239 had no intention to disappoint. He knew his duty, so 27 00:01:42,359 --> 00:01:45,680 that during afternoon tea, with the tea gown, in a 28 00:01:45,719 --> 00:01:49,400 cozy corner of the great Chippendale drawing room, he began 29 00:01:49,439 --> 00:01:52,599 to unfasten a small wooden case which he had brought 30 00:01:52,599 --> 00:01:55,480 into the house in his own hand, opened it with 31 00:01:55,599 --> 00:01:59,239 considerable precaution, making a fine mess of packing stuff on 32 00:01:59,280 --> 00:02:02,480 the carpet, and gradually drew to light a pair of 33 00:02:02,599 --> 00:02:08,319 vases of Venetian glass. He put them on the mantel piece. There, 34 00:02:09,000 --> 00:02:13,080 he said, proudly and with a virtuous air. They were 35 00:02:13,199 --> 00:02:18,280 obviously costly antique vases, exquisite in form, exquisite in the 36 00:02:18,360 --> 00:02:23,560 graduated tints of their pale blue and rose seventeenth century. 37 00:02:24,120 --> 00:02:28,919 He said, they're very nice Vera agreed with a show 38 00:02:28,919 --> 00:02:35,479 of enthusiasm. What are they for your Christmas present? Cheswardine explained, 39 00:02:35,840 --> 00:02:42,840 and added, my dear, oh Stephen, She murmured, A kiss 40 00:02:42,879 --> 00:02:47,199 on these occasions is only just, and Cheswardine had one. 41 00:02:47,759 --> 00:02:51,199 Juvenes told me they were quite unique, he said, modestly, 42 00:02:51,360 --> 00:02:55,319 and I believe them. You might imagine that a pair 43 00:02:55,360 --> 00:02:59,319 of Venetian vases of the seventeenth century, stated by Juvenes 44 00:02:59,319 --> 00:03:02,280 to be unique, would have satisfied a woman who had 45 00:03:02,280 --> 00:03:06,120 a generous dress allowance and lacked absolutely nothing that was essential. 46 00:03:06,960 --> 00:03:10,879 But Vera was not satisfied. She was, on the contrary, 47 00:03:10,919 --> 00:03:15,560 profoundly disappointed, for the presence of those vases proved that 48 00:03:15,680 --> 00:03:19,439 she had not carried her point. They deprived her of hope. 49 00:03:19,960 --> 00:03:23,479 The unpleasantness before Chezwudine went to London had been more 50 00:03:23,599 --> 00:03:27,360 or less apropos of a Christmas present. Vera had seen 51 00:03:27,400 --> 00:03:31,039 in Bostock's vast Emporium in the neighboring town of Hanbridge, 52 00:03:31,280 --> 00:03:34,479 a music stool in the style known as Art nouveaux, 53 00:03:34,919 --> 00:03:38,520 which had enslaved her fancy. She had taken her husband 54 00:03:38,520 --> 00:03:41,680 to see it, and it had not enslaved her husband 55 00:03:41,800 --> 00:03:46,159 fancy in the slightest degree. It was made in light woods, 56 00:03:46,240 --> 00:03:49,240 and the woods were curved and twisted, as though they 57 00:03:49,280 --> 00:03:52,960 had recently spent seven years in a purgatory for sinful trees. 58 00:03:53,840 --> 00:03:57,159 Here and there in the design onyx stones had been 59 00:03:57,159 --> 00:04:00,639 set in the wood. The seat itself was beauty soft. 60 00:04:01,319 --> 00:04:04,120 What captured Vera was chiefly the fact that it did 61 00:04:04,159 --> 00:04:07,879 not open at the top, as most elaborate music stools do, 62 00:04:08,280 --> 00:04:12,280 but at either side you pressed a button onix and 63 00:04:12,360 --> 00:04:16,040 the panel fell down, displaying your music in little compartments 64 00:04:16,160 --> 00:04:19,839 ready to hand. And the eastern moiety of the music 65 00:04:19,879 --> 00:04:24,279 stool was for piano pieces, and the Western moiety for songs. 66 00:04:24,319 --> 00:04:27,319 In short, it was the last word of music stools. 67 00:04:27,560 --> 00:04:32,240 Nothing could possibly beneure. But Cheswardine did not like it, 68 00:04:32,439 --> 00:04:35,680 and did not conceal his opinion. He argued that it 69 00:04:35,720 --> 00:04:39,319 would not go with the Chippendale furniture, and Vera said 70 00:04:39,360 --> 00:04:43,720 that all beautiful things went together, and Cheswardine admitted that 71 00:04:43,800 --> 00:04:47,560 they did rather dryly. You see, they took the matter 72 00:04:47,680 --> 00:04:51,079 seriously because the house was their hobby. They were always 73 00:04:51,160 --> 00:04:53,879 changing its interior, which was more than they could have 74 00:04:53,920 --> 00:04:55,879 done for a child, even if they had had one, 75 00:04:56,439 --> 00:05:00,600 and Cheeswardine's finer and soberer taste was always fire against 76 00:05:00,720 --> 00:05:05,040 Vera's predilection for the novel and the bizarre. Apart from clothes, 77 00:05:05,199 --> 00:05:07,759 Vera had not much more than the taste of a mouse. 78 00:05:08,920 --> 00:05:11,720 They did not quarrel in Bostocks. Indeed, they did not 79 00:05:11,800 --> 00:05:15,480 quarrel anywhere. But after Vera had suggested that he might 80 00:05:15,519 --> 00:05:17,839 at any rate humor her by giving her the music 81 00:05:17,879 --> 00:05:20,800 stool for a Christmas present, she seemed to think that 82 00:05:20,920 --> 00:05:23,399 this would somehow help it to go with the Chippendale, 83 00:05:23,879 --> 00:05:27,680 and Cheswardine had politely but firmly declined there had been 84 00:05:27,680 --> 00:05:32,279 a certain cool nurse, and quite six tears. Vera had 85 00:05:32,279 --> 00:05:35,120 caused it to be understood that even if Cheswardine was 86 00:05:35,199 --> 00:05:37,839 not interested in music, and even if he did hate 87 00:05:37,920 --> 00:05:41,279 music and did call the broadwood ebony grand ugly, that 88 00:05:41,439 --> 00:05:43,720 was no reason why she should be deprived of a 89 00:05:43,759 --> 00:05:47,560 pretty and original music stool that would keep her music tidy, 90 00:05:47,680 --> 00:05:51,439 and that would be hers. As for it not going 91 00:05:51,480 --> 00:05:56,920 with the Chippendale, that was simply an excuse, et cetera. Hence, 92 00:05:56,959 --> 00:05:59,600 it is not surprising that the Venetian vases of the 93 00:05:59,639 --> 00:06:03,560 seven teenth century left Vera cold, and that the domestic 94 00:06:03,639 --> 00:06:08,600 prospects for Christmas were a little cold. However, Vera, with 95 00:06:08,759 --> 00:06:12,240 wifely and submissive tact, made the best of things, and 96 00:06:12,279 --> 00:06:15,360 that evening she began to decorate the hall, dining room, 97 00:06:15,360 --> 00:06:19,040 and drawing room with holly and mizzletoe. Before the pair 98 00:06:19,160 --> 00:06:22,839 retired to rest. The true Christmas feeling slightly tinged with 99 00:06:22,879 --> 00:06:26,600 a tender melancholy permeated the house, and the servants were 100 00:06:26,600 --> 00:06:30,360 growing excited in advance. The servants weren't going to have 101 00:06:30,399 --> 00:06:33,040 a dinner party with crackers and port and a table 102 00:06:33,120 --> 00:06:36,959 center unmatched in the five towns. The servants weren't going 103 00:06:37,000 --> 00:06:40,480 to invite their friends to an evening's jollity. The servants 104 00:06:40,480 --> 00:06:43,560 were merely going to work somewhat harder and have somewhat 105 00:06:43,600 --> 00:06:46,959 less sleep. But such is the magical effect of holly 106 00:06:47,000 --> 00:06:50,800 and mistletoe twined round picture cords and hung under chandeliers, 107 00:06:51,279 --> 00:06:55,759 that the excitement of the servants was entirely pleasurable. And 108 00:06:55,800 --> 00:06:59,199 as Vera shut the bedroom door, she said, with a delightful, 109 00:06:59,240 --> 00:07:04,920 forgiving smile, I saw a lovely cigar cabinet at Bostox yesterday, 110 00:07:06,319 --> 00:07:11,439 oh said Cheswodine touched he had no cigar cabinet, and 111 00:07:11,519 --> 00:07:15,639 he wanted one, and Vera knew that he wanted one, 112 00:07:16,000 --> 00:07:20,199 and Vera slept in the sweet consciousness of her thoughtful wifeliness. 113 00:07:21,000 --> 00:07:26,079 The next morning, at breakfast, Cheswudine demanded, getting pretty hard up, 114 00:07:26,120 --> 00:07:29,360 aren't you Maria? He called her Maria when he wished 115 00:07:29,399 --> 00:07:32,839 to be arch well. She said, as a matter of fact, 116 00:07:32,959 --> 00:07:35,639 I am what with thee? And he gave her a 117 00:07:35,680 --> 00:07:40,519 five pound note. It happened so every year he provided 118 00:07:40,560 --> 00:07:42,839 her with the money to buy him a Christmas present. 119 00:07:43,439 --> 00:07:45,759 But it is, I hope unnecessary to say that the 120 00:07:45,800 --> 00:07:48,680 connection between her present to him and the money he 121 00:07:48,720 --> 00:07:53,319 furnished was never crudely mentioned. She made an opportunity before 122 00:07:53,360 --> 00:07:56,199 he left for the works to praise the Venetian vases, 123 00:07:56,680 --> 00:07:59,240 and she insisted that he should wrap up well because 124 00:07:59,240 --> 00:08:01,759 he was showing some kines of one of his bad colds. 125 00:08:04,079 --> 00:08:09,079 Two in the early afternoon, she went to Bosstock's emporium 126 00:08:09,160 --> 00:08:11,680 at Hambridge to buy the cigar cabinets and a few 127 00:08:11,720 --> 00:08:15,759 domestic trifles. Bostocks is a good shop. I do not 128 00:08:15,839 --> 00:08:18,480 say that it has the classic and serene dignity of 129 00:08:18,519 --> 00:08:21,959 Brunts over the way where one orders one's dining room 130 00:08:22,000 --> 00:08:25,360 suites and one's flocks for the January dances. But it 131 00:08:25,439 --> 00:08:28,000 is a good shop and one of the chief glories 132 00:08:28,000 --> 00:08:31,360 of the Paris of the five towns. It has frontages 133 00:08:31,399 --> 00:08:33,840 in three streets, and it might be called the shop 134 00:08:33,919 --> 00:08:37,360 of the hundred windows. You can buy pretty nearly anything 135 00:08:37,360 --> 00:08:40,159 at Boss Stocks, from an art nouveau music stool up 136 00:08:40,200 --> 00:08:43,440 to the highest cheese, for there is a provision department. 137 00:08:43,960 --> 00:08:48,799 You can't get cheese at Brunt's. Vera made her uninteresting 138 00:08:48,879 --> 00:08:52,480 purchases first in the basement, and then she went upstairs 139 00:08:52,559 --> 00:08:56,919 to the special Christmas department, which certainly was wonderful. A 140 00:08:56,960 --> 00:09:00,799 blaze and splendor of electric light, a glitter of gilded, 141 00:09:00,840 --> 00:09:06,159 iridescent toys and knickknacks, A smiling, excited pushing multitude of faces, 142 00:09:06,399 --> 00:09:09,960 young and old, and the cashiers in their cages gathering 143 00:09:09,960 --> 00:09:12,279 in money as fast as they could lay their tired 144 00:09:12,320 --> 00:09:16,679 hands on it. A joyous, brilliant scene calculated to bring 145 00:09:16,840 --> 00:09:19,960 soft tears of satisfaction to the board of directors that 146 00:09:20,039 --> 00:09:23,639 presided over Boss Stocks. It was a record Christmas for 147 00:09:23,679 --> 00:09:27,120 Boss Stocks. The electric cars were thundering over the frozen 148 00:09:27,159 --> 00:09:29,919 streets in all the five towns to bring customers to 149 00:09:29,960 --> 00:09:34,240 boss Stocks. Children dreamt of boss Stocks. Fathers went to 150 00:09:34,279 --> 00:09:39,120 scoff and remained to pay. Brunce was not exactly alarmed, 151 00:09:39,159 --> 00:09:42,320 for nothing could alarm Bruns. But there was just a 152 00:09:42,360 --> 00:09:45,120 sort of suspicion of something in the air at Brunce 153 00:09:45,159 --> 00:09:49,039 that did not make for odious self conceit. People seemed 154 00:09:49,039 --> 00:09:52,240 to become intoxicated when they went into boss Stocks to 155 00:09:52,279 --> 00:09:56,519 close their heads in a frenzy of buying, and there 156 00:09:56,600 --> 00:10:00,440 the art nouveaux music stools stood in the corner. Had 157 00:10:00,440 --> 00:10:04,279 originally seen it, she approached it, not thinking of the 158 00:10:04,360 --> 00:10:08,720 terrible danger. The compartments for music lay inviting the open 159 00:10:10,240 --> 00:10:13,519 four pounds nine and six missus chest were dying, said 160 00:10:13,519 --> 00:10:18,279 a shop walker who knew her. She stopped to finger it. Well, 161 00:10:18,440 --> 00:10:21,720 of course, everybody is acquainted with that peculiar ecstasy that 162 00:10:21,879 --> 00:10:26,360 undoubtedly does overtake you in good shops, sometimes especially at Christmas. 163 00:10:27,000 --> 00:10:30,159 I prefer to call it ecstasy rather than an intoxication, 164 00:10:30,279 --> 00:10:33,440 but I have heard it called even drunkenness. It is 165 00:10:33,480 --> 00:10:38,080 a magnificent and overwhelming experience like good wine. A blind 166 00:10:38,120 --> 00:10:40,720 instinct seizes your reason and throws her out of the 167 00:10:40,759 --> 00:10:44,200 window of your soul, and then assumes entire control of 168 00:10:44,200 --> 00:10:47,360 the volition or machinery. You listen to, no arguments, you 169 00:10:47,440 --> 00:10:50,559 care for, no consequences. You want a thing, you must 170 00:10:50,559 --> 00:10:54,559 have it. You do have it. Vera was caught unawares 171 00:10:54,600 --> 00:10:58,440 by this magnificent and overwhelming experience, just as she stooped 172 00:10:58,440 --> 00:11:01,960 to finger the music stool, a fig for the cigar cabinet, 173 00:11:02,000 --> 00:11:05,159 a fig for her husband's objections. After all, she was 174 00:11:05,200 --> 00:11:07,919 a grown up woman in twenty nine or thirty and 175 00:11:08,159 --> 00:11:11,440 entitled to a certain freedom. She was not and would 176 00:11:11,480 --> 00:11:14,039 not be, a slave. It would look perfect in the 177 00:11:14,120 --> 00:11:19,159 drawing room. I'll take it, she said, yes, missus Jeswuddine. 178 00:11:19,399 --> 00:11:24,679 The unique thing, quite unique. Pinkethmann and Vera followed Penkethman 179 00:11:24,759 --> 00:11:27,480 to a cash desk and received half a guinea out 180 00:11:27,480 --> 00:11:30,639 of a five pound note. I want it carefully packed, 181 00:11:30,720 --> 00:11:34,440 said Vera, Yes, ma'am, it will be delivered in the morning. 182 00:11:35,320 --> 00:11:37,919 She was just beginning to realize that she had been 183 00:11:38,039 --> 00:11:41,279 under the sinister influence of the ecstasy, and that she 184 00:11:41,360 --> 00:11:44,240 had not bought the cigar cabinet, and that she had 185 00:11:44,240 --> 00:11:48,080 practically no more money, and that Stephen's rule against credit 186 00:11:48,279 --> 00:11:51,120 was the strictest of all his rules. When she caught 187 00:11:51,200 --> 00:11:54,399 sight of mister Charles Woodruff buying toys doubtless for his 188 00:11:54,519 --> 00:11:59,039 nephew's nieces. Mister Woodruff was the bachelor friend of the family. 189 00:11:59,519 --> 00:12:02,519 He had loved Vera before Stephen loved her, and he 190 00:12:02,600 --> 00:12:05,759 was still attached to her. Stephen and he were chums 191 00:12:05,759 --> 00:12:09,080 for the most advanced kind. Why Stephen and Vera thought 192 00:12:09,120 --> 00:12:12,159 nothing of bickering in front of mister Woodruff, who rated 193 00:12:12,159 --> 00:12:17,360 them both and sided with neither. Hello, said Woodruff, flushing 194 00:12:17,399 --> 00:12:20,240 and moving his long, clumsy limbs when she touched him 195 00:12:20,279 --> 00:12:23,639 on the shoulder. I'm just buying a few toys. She 196 00:12:23,759 --> 00:12:26,440 helped him to buy toys, and then he asked her 197 00:12:26,480 --> 00:12:28,360 to go and have tea with him at the newly 198 00:12:28,399 --> 00:12:32,720 opened sub Rosa Tea Rooms in Machin Street. She agreed, 199 00:12:33,120 --> 00:12:36,080 and in passing the music stool, gave a small parcel 200 00:12:36,159 --> 00:12:38,799 which she was carrying to Penkuthman and told him he 201 00:12:38,879 --> 00:12:41,480 might as well put it in the music stool. She 202 00:12:41,600 --> 00:12:44,519 was glad to have tea with Charlie Woodruff, it would 203 00:12:44,519 --> 00:12:48,679 distract her, prevent her from thinking. The ecstasy had almost 204 00:12:48,720 --> 00:12:52,120 died out, and she had a violent desire not to think. 205 00:12:54,200 --> 00:12:58,559 Three A terrible blow fell upon her. The next morning. 206 00:12:59,200 --> 00:13:02,720 Stephen had one of his bad colds, one of his worst. 207 00:13:03,320 --> 00:13:06,399 The mere cold she could have supported with fortitude, but 208 00:13:06,480 --> 00:13:09,720 he was forced to remain indoors, and his presence in 209 00:13:09,759 --> 00:13:12,879 the house she could not support with fortitude. The music 210 00:13:12,919 --> 00:13:15,679 stool would be sure to arrive before lunch, and he 211 00:13:15,679 --> 00:13:19,600 would be there to see it arrive. The ecstasy had 212 00:13:19,639 --> 00:13:22,600 fully expired now, and she had more leisure to think 213 00:13:22,639 --> 00:13:26,240 than she wanted. She could not imagine what mad instinct 214 00:13:26,360 --> 00:13:29,919 had compelled her to buy the music stool once out 215 00:13:29,919 --> 00:13:33,679 of the shop. These instincts are always difficult to imagine. 216 00:13:34,240 --> 00:13:37,519 She knew that Stephen would be angry. He might perhaps 217 00:13:37,559 --> 00:13:39,960 go to the length of returning the music stool whence 218 00:13:40,000 --> 00:13:43,360 it came for Though she was a pretty and pampered woman, 219 00:13:43,840 --> 00:13:46,440 Stephen had a way in the last resort of being 220 00:13:46,519 --> 00:13:49,360 master of his own house, and she could not even 221 00:13:49,399 --> 00:13:52,480 placate him with the gift of a cigar cabinet. She 222 00:13:52,519 --> 00:13:55,159 could not buy a five guineas cigar cabinet with ten 223 00:13:55,200 --> 00:13:57,879 and six. She had no other money in the world. 224 00:13:58,279 --> 00:14:00,720 She never had money yet much and he was always 225 00:14:00,799 --> 00:14:05,120 running through her fingers. Stephen treated her generously gave her 226 00:14:05,159 --> 00:14:09,399 an ample allowance, but he would under no circumstances permit credit, 227 00:14:09,799 --> 00:14:12,799 nor would he pay her allowance in advance. She had 228 00:14:12,840 --> 00:14:17,000 nothing to expect till the new year. She attended to 229 00:14:17,039 --> 00:14:19,799 his cold and telephoned to the works for a clock 230 00:14:19,879 --> 00:14:22,720 to come up, and she refrained from telling Stephen that 231 00:14:22,759 --> 00:14:25,399 he must have been very careless while in London to 232 00:14:25,480 --> 00:14:28,639 catch a cold like that her self. Denial in this 233 00:14:28,759 --> 00:14:31,840 respect surprised Stephen, but he put it down to the 234 00:14:31,879 --> 00:14:37,600 beneficent influence of Christmas and the Venetian vases. Boss Stock's 235 00:14:37,679 --> 00:14:40,879 pear horse van arrived before the garden gate, earlier than 236 00:14:40,919 --> 00:14:44,320 her worst fears had anticipated, and boss Stock's men were 237 00:14:44,320 --> 00:14:47,399 evidently in a tremendous hurry that morning. In quite an 238 00:14:47,440 --> 00:14:50,759 abnormally small number of seconds, the wooden case containing the 239 00:14:50,799 --> 00:14:54,120 fragile music stool was lying in the inner hall waiting 240 00:14:54,159 --> 00:14:58,480 to be unpacked. Having signed a delivery book. Vera stood 241 00:14:58,480 --> 00:15:02,279 staring at the accusatory p package. Stephen was lounging over 242 00:15:02,279 --> 00:15:05,639 the dining room fire, perhaps dozing, she would have the 243 00:15:05,639 --> 00:15:09,000 thing swiftly transported upstairs and hidden in an attic for 244 00:15:09,039 --> 00:15:13,039 a time. But just then Stephen popped out of the 245 00:15:13,080 --> 00:15:17,360 dining room. Stephen's masculine curiosity had been aroused by the 246 00:15:17,440 --> 00:15:21,200 advent of Bostoc's van. He had observed the incoming of 247 00:15:21,200 --> 00:15:24,080 the package from the window, and he had ventured to 248 00:15:24,120 --> 00:15:27,039 the hall to inspect it. The event had roused him 249 00:15:27,080 --> 00:15:30,519 wonderfully from the heavy torpor which a cold induces. He 250 00:15:30,559 --> 00:15:34,159 wore a dressing gown, the pockets of which bulged with handkerchiefs. 251 00:15:34,879 --> 00:15:38,639 You oughtn't to be out here, Stephen, said his wife. Nonsense, 252 00:15:38,679 --> 00:15:41,320 he said, why upon my soul, this steam heat is 253 00:15:41,360 --> 00:15:45,360 warmer than the dining room fire. Vera, silenced by the 254 00:15:45,399 --> 00:15:49,879 voice of truth, could not reply. Stephen bent his great 255 00:15:49,919 --> 00:15:54,080 height to inspect the package. It was an appetizing Christmas package. 256 00:15:54,279 --> 00:15:57,039 Straw escaped from between its ribs, and it had an 257 00:15:57,080 --> 00:16:01,960 air of being filled with something at once large and dead. Oh, 258 00:16:02,039 --> 00:16:06,639 observed Stephen humorously. Ah so this is it? Is it? Ah? Oh? 259 00:16:07,120 --> 00:16:11,679 Very good? And he walked round it. How on earth 260 00:16:11,720 --> 00:16:14,080 had he learnt that she had bought it. She had 261 00:16:14,080 --> 00:16:18,480 not mentioned the purchase to mister Woodruff. Yes, Stephen, she 262 00:16:18,559 --> 00:16:22,399 said timidly, that's it, and I hope he ought to 263 00:16:22,440 --> 00:16:26,559 hold a tidy few cigars. That ought, remarked Stephen complacently. 264 00:16:27,519 --> 00:16:31,360 He took it for the cigar cabinet. She paused, struck. 265 00:16:32,120 --> 00:16:34,480 She had to make up her mind in an instant. 266 00:16:35,080 --> 00:16:41,639 Oh yes, she murmured. A thousand, Yes, a thousand, she said, 267 00:16:42,399 --> 00:16:46,000 I thought so, murmured Stephen. I mustn't kiss you because 268 00:16:46,039 --> 00:16:48,440 I've got a cold, said he. But all the same, 269 00:16:48,480 --> 00:16:51,840 I'm awfully obliged. VERA suppose we have it open now, eh, 270 00:16:52,120 --> 00:16:54,120 Then we could decide where it is to go, and 271 00:16:54,159 --> 00:16:57,879 I could put my cigars in it. Oh no, she protested, 272 00:16:57,919 --> 00:17:00,600 don't know, Stephen, that's not fair. It must be opened 273 00:17:00,600 --> 00:17:05,039 before Christmas morning. But I gave you my vases yesterday. 274 00:17:05,759 --> 00:17:10,039 That's different, she said, Christmas is Christmas. Oh very well, 275 00:17:10,079 --> 00:17:13,720 he yielded, that's all right, my dear. Then he began 276 00:17:13,799 --> 00:17:17,880 to sniff. There's a deuced, odd smell from it. He said. 277 00:17:19,039 --> 00:17:23,160 Perhaps it's the wood. She faltered, I hope it isn't, 278 00:17:23,240 --> 00:17:26,519 he said, I expect it's the straw. A deuced odd's smell. 279 00:17:27,079 --> 00:17:29,079 We'll have the thing put in the side hall next 280 00:17:29,079 --> 00:17:30,880 to the clock. It'll be out of the way there 281 00:17:31,319 --> 00:17:32,960 and I can come and gaze at it when I 282 00:17:33,000 --> 00:17:37,000 feel depressed, eh Maria. He was undoubtedly charmed at the 283 00:17:37,039 --> 00:17:40,440 prospect of owning so large and precious a cigar cabinet, 284 00:17:41,599 --> 00:17:44,519 considering that the parcel which he had given to Penkethman 285 00:17:44,599 --> 00:17:47,759 to put in the music stool comprised a half pound 286 00:17:47,799 --> 00:17:51,519 of Bosstoc's very ripest gorgan Zola cheese, brought at the 287 00:17:51,559 --> 00:17:55,680 cook's special request. The smell, which proceeded from the mysterious 288 00:17:55,720 --> 00:17:58,799 inwards of the packing gase, did not surprise Verra at all, 289 00:17:59,319 --> 00:18:02,799 but its inserted her none the less, and she wondered 290 00:18:02,839 --> 00:18:06,680 how she could get the cheese out. For thirty hours, 291 00:18:06,720 --> 00:18:09,920 the smell from the unopened packing case waxed in vigor 292 00:18:09,960 --> 00:18:14,119 and strength. Stephen's cold grew worse and prevented him from 293 00:18:14,160 --> 00:18:17,640 appreciating its full beauty, But he saved enough of it 294 00:18:17,759 --> 00:18:20,799 to induce him to compare it facetiously with the effluvium 295 00:18:20,839 --> 00:18:24,039 of a dead rat, and he said several times that 296 00:18:24,160 --> 00:18:28,319 Bostocks really ought to use better straw. He was frequently 297 00:18:28,359 --> 00:18:31,279 to be seen in the hall gloating over his cigar cabinet. 298 00:18:32,039 --> 00:18:34,279 Once he urged Vera to have it opened and so 299 00:18:34,319 --> 00:18:37,480 get rid of the straw, but she refused and found 300 00:18:37,519 --> 00:18:40,279 the nerve to tell him that he was exaggerating the odor. 301 00:18:41,200 --> 00:18:43,680 She was at a loss what to do. She could 302 00:18:43,680 --> 00:18:45,200 not get up in the middle of the night and 303 00:18:45,319 --> 00:18:48,799 unpack the package and hide its guilty secret. Indeed, to 304 00:18:48,920 --> 00:18:52,440 unpack the package would bring about her ruin instantly, or 305 00:18:52,519 --> 00:18:56,200 the package unpacked, Stephen would naturally expect to see the 306 00:18:56,240 --> 00:18:59,960 cigar cabinet, and so the hours crept on to Christmas 307 00:19:00,400 --> 00:19:04,720 and Vera's undoing. She gave herself a headache. It was 308 00:19:04,880 --> 00:19:07,839 just thirty hours after the arrival of the package when 309 00:19:07,920 --> 00:19:11,880 mister Woodruff dropped in for tea. Stephen was asleep in 310 00:19:11,880 --> 00:19:16,039 the dining room, which apartment he particularly affected during his colds. 311 00:19:16,720 --> 00:19:19,599 Woodruff was shown into the drawing room where Vera was 312 00:19:19,640 --> 00:19:23,519 having her head ache. Vera brightened, In fact, she suddenly 313 00:19:23,519 --> 00:19:27,039 grew very bright, and she gave Woodruff tea and took 314 00:19:27,079 --> 00:19:31,839 some herself, and Woodruff passed an enjoyable twenty minutes. The 315 00:19:31,880 --> 00:19:35,920 two Venetian vases were on the mantelpiece. Vera rose into 316 00:19:35,960 --> 00:19:39,599 ecstasies about them and called upon Charlie Woodruff to rise too. 317 00:19:40,440 --> 00:19:43,000 He got up from his chair to examine the vases, 318 00:19:43,079 --> 00:19:46,000 which Vera had placed close together, side by side, at 319 00:19:46,000 --> 00:19:49,240 the corner of the mantelpiece nearest to him. Vera and 320 00:19:49,279 --> 00:19:53,400 Woodrooff also stood close together, side by side, and just 321 00:19:53,480 --> 00:19:56,880 as Woodruff was about to handle the vases, Vera knocked 322 00:19:56,880 --> 00:20:01,079 his arm. His arm collided with bon vase. That vase 323 00:20:01,119 --> 00:20:04,519 collided with the next, and both fell to earth to 324 00:20:04,640 --> 00:20:11,039 the hard, unfeeling, unyielding tiles of the hearth. Four they 325 00:20:11,079 --> 00:20:15,240 were smashed to atoms. Vera screamed, She screamed twice and 326 00:20:15,319 --> 00:20:19,359 ran out of the room. Stephen, Stephen, she cried hysterically, 327 00:20:19,519 --> 00:20:22,480 Charlie has broken my vases, both of them. It is 328 00:20:22,599 --> 00:20:25,880 too bad of him, He's really too clumsy. There was 329 00:20:25,920 --> 00:20:29,920 a terrific pother. Stephen wakened violently, and in a moment 330 00:20:30,000 --> 00:20:33,200 all three were staring in effectually at the thousand crystal 331 00:20:33,240 --> 00:20:38,480 fragments on the hearth. But began Charlie Woodruff, and that 332 00:20:38,599 --> 00:20:42,039 was all he did say. He and Vera and Stephen 333 00:20:42,119 --> 00:20:44,960 had been friends since infancy, so she had the right 334 00:20:45,039 --> 00:20:48,240 not to conceal her feelings before him. Stephen had the 335 00:20:48,240 --> 00:20:54,119 same right, and they both exercised it, but began Charlie again, Oh, 336 00:20:54,319 --> 00:20:58,440 never mind, Stephen stopped him curtly. Accidents can't be helped. 337 00:20:58,880 --> 00:21:02,200 I shall get another pair, said Woodruff. No you won't, 338 00:21:02,519 --> 00:21:07,039 replied Stephen. You can't. There isn't another pair in the world. See. 339 00:21:07,519 --> 00:21:11,200 The two men simultaneously perceived that Vera was weeping. She 340 00:21:11,319 --> 00:21:14,119 was very pretty in tears, but that did not prevent 341 00:21:14,160 --> 00:21:18,440 the masculine world from feeling awkward and self conscious. Charley 342 00:21:18,519 --> 00:21:23,359 had notions about going out and burying himself. Come Vera, come, 343 00:21:23,640 --> 00:21:28,000 her husband enjoined, blowing his nose with unnecessary energy, bad 344 00:21:28,039 --> 00:21:31,640 as his cold was. I I like those vases more 345 00:21:31,640 --> 00:21:35,839 than anything you've you've ever given me. Vera blubbered charmingly, 346 00:21:36,039 --> 00:21:41,440 patting her eyes. Stephen glanced at Woodruff as who should say, well, 347 00:21:41,519 --> 00:21:44,039 my boy, you uncork those tears. I'll leave you to 348 00:21:44,119 --> 00:21:47,279 deal with them. You see, I'm an invalid and addressing gown. 349 00:21:47,799 --> 00:21:52,480 I leave you and went no, no, but look here, 350 00:21:52,680 --> 00:21:57,000 look here, I say, Charlie. Woodruff expostulated to Vera. When 351 00:21:57,039 --> 00:22:00,519 he was alone with her, he often started and expostulation 352 00:22:00,720 --> 00:22:03,960 with that singular phrase, I'm awfully sorry. I don't know 353 00:22:04,039 --> 00:22:06,799 how it happened. You must let me give you something else. 354 00:22:08,000 --> 00:22:12,279 Vera shook her head. No, she said, I wanted Stephen 355 00:22:12,359 --> 00:22:14,759 awfully to give me that music stool that I told 356 00:22:14,759 --> 00:22:17,720 you about a fortnight ago, but he gave me the 357 00:22:17,799 --> 00:22:20,559 vases instead, and I like them ever so much better. 358 00:22:21,960 --> 00:22:24,240 I shall give you the music stool if you wanted 359 00:22:24,240 --> 00:22:26,640 it a fortnight ago, you want it now. It won't 360 00:22:26,680 --> 00:22:29,440 make up for the vases, of course. But no, no, 361 00:22:29,920 --> 00:22:33,920 said Vera positively. Why not? I do not wish you 362 00:22:34,000 --> 00:22:37,839 to give me anything. It wouldn't be quite nice. Vera insisted. 363 00:22:38,599 --> 00:22:42,880 But I give you something every Christmas, do you, asked 364 00:22:43,000 --> 00:22:49,119 Vera innocently. Yes, and you and Stephen give me something. Besides, 365 00:22:49,279 --> 00:22:53,079 Stephen doesn't quite like the music stool. What's that got 366 00:22:53,079 --> 00:22:54,799 to do with it? You like it, I'm giving it 367 00:22:54,799 --> 00:22:57,240 to you, not him. I shall go over to Bostocks 368 00:22:57,279 --> 00:23:00,880 tomorrow morning and get it. I forbid you to I shall. 369 00:23:01,720 --> 00:23:06,960 Woodruff departed within five minutes. The Cheswudine coachman was driving 370 00:23:07,000 --> 00:23:09,640 off in the dog cart, a hanbridge, with the packing 371 00:23:09,680 --> 00:23:11,880 case in the back of the cart and a note. 372 00:23:12,480 --> 00:23:16,119 He brought back the cigar cabinet. Stephen had not stirred 373 00:23:16,119 --> 00:23:20,480 from the dining room, afraid to encounter a tearful wife. Presently, 374 00:23:20,599 --> 00:23:23,799 his wife came into the dining room bearing the vast 375 00:23:23,880 --> 00:23:27,880 load of the cigar cabinet in her delicate arms. I 376 00:23:27,920 --> 00:23:30,400 thought it might amuse you to fill it with your cigars, 377 00:23:30,640 --> 00:23:35,599 just to pass the time, she said. Stephen thought was well, 378 00:23:35,759 --> 00:23:39,279 women take the cake. It was a thought that occurs 379 00:23:39,319 --> 00:23:44,000 frequently to the husband's of Vera's. There was ripe gorgan 380 00:23:44,079 --> 00:23:47,720 zola at dinner. Stephen met it as one meets a 381 00:23:47,759 --> 00:23:51,640 person whom one fancies one has met somewhere but cannot 382 00:23:51,759 --> 00:23:56,440 remember where. The next afternoon, the music stool came for 383 00:23:56,519 --> 00:23:59,640 the second time into the house. Charlie brought it in 384 00:23:59,720 --> 00:24:04,279 his dogcart. It was unpacked ostentatiously by the radiant Vera. 385 00:24:04,680 --> 00:24:07,839 What could Stephen say in depreciation of this gift from 386 00:24:07,920 --> 00:24:11,599 their oldest and best friend? As a fact, he could 387 00:24:11,599 --> 00:24:14,119 and did say a great deal. But he said it 388 00:24:14,160 --> 00:24:16,079 when he happened to be all alone in the drawing 389 00:24:16,160 --> 00:24:18,920 room and had observed the appalling way in which the 390 00:24:19,000 --> 00:24:23,440 music stool did not go with the Chippendale. Look at 391 00:24:23,480 --> 00:24:28,720 the deep thing, he exclaimed to himself. Look at it. However, 392 00:24:29,240 --> 00:24:32,720 the Christmas dinner party was a brilliant success, and after 393 00:24:32,799 --> 00:24:36,279 it Vera sat on the Art nouveaux music stool and 394 00:24:36,359 --> 00:24:39,279 twittered songs. And what with her being so attractive and 395 00:24:39,359 --> 00:24:41,960 bird like, and what with the Christmas feeling in the 396 00:24:42,000 --> 00:24:49,279 air well, Stephen resigned himself to the music stool. End 397 00:24:49,319 --> 00:24:51,799 of Vera's first Christmas adventure.