WEBVTT 1 00:00:00.400 --> 00:00:03.919 Section nine of nineteen eighty four by George Orwell. This 2 00:00:04.040 --> 00:00:07.000 Legami's recording may be freely distributed and had apted for 3 00:00:07.080 --> 00:00:13.759 any purpose. Part two, Chapter one. It was the middle 4 00:00:13.800 --> 00:00:15.919 of the morning, and Winston had left the cubicle to 5 00:00:15.960 --> 00:00:19.719 go to the lavatory. A solitary figure was coming towards 6 00:00:19.760 --> 00:00:22.239 him from the other end of the long, brightly lit corridor. 7 00:00:23.519 --> 00:00:26.879 It was the girl with dark hair. Four days had 8 00:00:26.879 --> 00:00:29.039 gone past since the evening when he had run into 9 00:00:29.039 --> 00:00:32.439 her outside the junk shop. As she came nearer, he 10 00:00:32.479 --> 00:00:35.159 saw that her right arm was in a sling, not 11 00:00:35.159 --> 00:00:37.320 noticeable at a distance because it was of the same 12 00:00:37.359 --> 00:00:41.039 color as her overalls. Probably she had crushed her hand 13 00:00:41.039 --> 00:00:43.479 while swinging round one of the big kaleidoscopes on which 14 00:00:43.479 --> 00:00:46.479 the plots of novels were ruffed in. It was a 15 00:00:46.520 --> 00:00:50.759 common accident in the fiction department. There were perhaps four 16 00:00:50.840 --> 00:00:53.439 meters apart. When the girl stumbled and fell almost flat 17 00:00:53.479 --> 00:00:56.359 on her face. A sharp cry of pain was wrung 18 00:00:56.399 --> 00:00:58.799 out of her. She must have fallen right on the 19 00:00:58.840 --> 00:01:02.920 injured arm. Winston stopped short. The girl had risen to 20 00:01:02.960 --> 00:01:05.879 her knees. Her face had turned a milky yellow color, 21 00:01:05.879 --> 00:01:09.239 against which her mouth stood out redder than ever. Her 22 00:01:09.280 --> 00:01:11.959 eyes were fixed on his with an appealing expression that 23 00:01:12.000 --> 00:01:16.959 looked more like fear than pain, a curious emotion stirred 24 00:01:16.959 --> 00:01:19.680 in Winston's heart. In front of him was an enemy 25 00:01:19.719 --> 00:01:22.200 who was trying to kill him. In front of him 26 00:01:22.200 --> 00:01:24.680 also was a human creature in pain, and perhaps with 27 00:01:24.719 --> 00:01:28.959 a broken bone. Already, he had instinctively started forward to 28 00:01:29.000 --> 00:01:31.680 help her. In the moment when he had seen her 29 00:01:31.680 --> 00:01:33.920 fall on the bandage at arm, it had been as 30 00:01:33.959 --> 00:01:37.439 though he felt the pain in his own body. You're hurt, 31 00:01:37.519 --> 00:01:41.400 he said, It's nothing, my arm, It'll be all right. 32 00:01:41.439 --> 00:01:44.799 In a second, she spoke as though her heart were fluttering. 33 00:01:45.159 --> 00:01:50.480 She had certainly turned very pale. You haven't broken anything. No, 34 00:01:50.680 --> 00:01:53.000 I'm all right. It hurt for a moment, that's all. 35 00:01:54.000 --> 00:01:55.879 She held out her free hand to him, and he 36 00:01:55.879 --> 00:01:58.799 helped her up. She had regained some of her color 37 00:01:58.840 --> 00:02:03.200 and appeared very much better. It's nothing, she repeated shortly. 38 00:02:03.599 --> 00:02:05.319 I only gave my wrist a bit of a bang, 39 00:02:05.959 --> 00:02:09.800 thanks comrade. And with that she walked on in the 40 00:02:09.800 --> 00:02:12.280 direction in which she had been going, as briskly as 41 00:02:12.280 --> 00:02:15.680 though it had really been nothing. The whole incident could 42 00:02:15.680 --> 00:02:18.360 not have taken as much as half a minute. Not 43 00:02:18.520 --> 00:02:20.639 to let one's feelings appear in one's face was a 44 00:02:20.680 --> 00:02:23.520 habit that had acquired the status of an instinct, And 45 00:02:23.639 --> 00:02:25.719 in any case, they had been standing straight in front 46 00:02:25.719 --> 00:02:29.080 of a telescreen when the thing happened. Nevertheless, it had 47 00:02:29.120 --> 00:02:32.199 been very difficult not to betray a momentary surprise, for 48 00:02:32.240 --> 00:02:34.120 in the two or three seconds while he was helping 49 00:02:34.120 --> 00:02:36.280 her up, the girl had slipped something into his hand. 50 00:02:37.520 --> 00:02:39.800 There was no question that she had done it intentionally. 51 00:02:40.759 --> 00:02:44.199 It was something small and flat. As he passed through 52 00:02:44.199 --> 00:02:46.520 the lavatory door, he transferred it through his pocket and 53 00:02:46.520 --> 00:02:49.439 felt it with the tips of his fingers. It was 54 00:02:49.479 --> 00:02:53.800 a scrap of paper folded into a square. While he 55 00:02:53.800 --> 00:02:56.000 stood at the urinal, he managed, with a little more 56 00:02:56.039 --> 00:02:59.159 fingering to get it unfolded. Obviously, there must be a 57 00:02:59.159 --> 00:03:02.199 message of some kind and written on it. For a moment, 58 00:03:02.240 --> 00:03:03.719 he was tempted to take it into one of the 59 00:03:03.719 --> 00:03:06.400 water closets and read it at once, but that would 60 00:03:06.439 --> 00:03:09.199 be shocking folly, as he well knew there was no 61 00:03:09.360 --> 00:03:11.680 place where you could be more certain that the telescreens 62 00:03:11.680 --> 00:03:17.039 were watched continuously. He went back to his cubicle, sat down, 63 00:03:17.360 --> 00:03:19.879 threw the fragment of paper casually among the other papers 64 00:03:19.919 --> 00:03:22.479 on the desk, put on his spectacles, and hitched the 65 00:03:22.520 --> 00:03:26.840 speak right towards him. Five minutes, he told himself, five 66 00:03:26.879 --> 00:03:29.879 minutes at the very least. His heart bumped in his 67 00:03:29.960 --> 00:03:33.719 breast with frightening loudness. Fortunately, the piece of work he 68 00:03:33.800 --> 00:03:36.599 was engaged on was mere routine, the rectification of a 69 00:03:36.639 --> 00:03:41.560 long list of figures, not needing close attention. Whatever was 70 00:03:41.599 --> 00:03:43.400 written on the paper, it must have some kind of 71 00:03:43.439 --> 00:03:46.240 political meaning. So far as he could see, there were 72 00:03:46.280 --> 00:03:49.520 two possibilities. One much the more likely, was that the 73 00:03:49.560 --> 00:03:51.680 girl was an agent of the thought Police, just as 74 00:03:51.680 --> 00:03:54.560 he had feared. He did not know why the thought 75 00:03:54.560 --> 00:03:57.240 Police should choose to deliver their messages in such a fashion, 76 00:03:57.520 --> 00:04:00.759 but perhaps they had their reasons. The thing that was 77 00:04:00.759 --> 00:04:03.080 written on the paper might be a threat, a summons, 78 00:04:03.280 --> 00:04:05.960 an order to commit suicide, a trap of some description. 79 00:04:07.400 --> 00:04:10.520 But there was another wilder possibility that kept raising its head, 80 00:04:10.599 --> 00:04:13.879 though he tried vainly to suppress it. This was that 81 00:04:13.960 --> 00:04:16.279 the message did not come from the thought Police at all, 82 00:04:16.920 --> 00:04:21.279 but from some kind of underground organization. Perhaps the Brotherhood 83 00:04:21.319 --> 00:04:24.399 existed after all, perhaps the girl was part of it. 84 00:04:25.439 --> 00:04:27.839 No doubt, the idea was absurd, but it had sprung 85 00:04:27.879 --> 00:04:29.839 into his mind in the very instant of feeling the 86 00:04:29.839 --> 00:04:32.839 scrap of paper in his hand. It was not till 87 00:04:32.839 --> 00:04:35.199 a couple of minutes later that the other, more probable 88 00:04:35.240 --> 00:04:39.040 explanation had occurred to him. And even now, though his 89 00:04:39.120 --> 00:04:42.519 intellect told him that the message probably meant death, still 90 00:04:42.560 --> 00:04:46.079 that was not what he believed, and the unreasonable hope persisted, 91 00:04:46.120 --> 00:04:48.600 and his heart banged, and it was with difficulty that 92 00:04:48.639 --> 00:04:51.120 he kept his voice from trembling as he murmured his 93 00:04:51.120 --> 00:04:55.639 figures into the speak right, he rolled up the completed 94 00:04:55.680 --> 00:04:57.959 bundle of work and slid it into the pneumatic tube. 95 00:04:58.680 --> 00:05:02.120 Eight minutes had gone by. He readjusted his spectacles on 96 00:05:02.160 --> 00:05:05.360 his nose, sighed, and drew the next batch of work 97 00:05:05.399 --> 00:05:07.800 towards him. With the scrap of paper on top of it, 98 00:05:08.480 --> 00:05:11.639 he flattened it out on it was written in a large, 99 00:05:11.759 --> 00:05:17.639 unformed handwriting I Love you. For several seconds, he was 100 00:05:17.680 --> 00:05:20.000 too stunned even to throw the incriminating thing into the 101 00:05:20.000 --> 00:05:23.079 memory hole. When he did so, although he knew very 102 00:05:23.120 --> 00:05:25.680 well the danger of showing too much interest, he could 103 00:05:25.680 --> 00:05:28.160 not resist reading it once again, just to make sure 104 00:05:28.160 --> 00:05:32.680 that the words were really there. For the rest of 105 00:05:32.720 --> 00:05:35.800 the morning, it was very difficult to work. What was 106 00:05:35.839 --> 00:05:37.839 even worse than having to focus his mind on a 107 00:05:37.920 --> 00:05:40.480 series of niggling jobs was the need to conceal his 108 00:05:40.560 --> 00:05:43.759 agitation from the tele screen. He felt as though a 109 00:05:43.800 --> 00:05:47.360 fire were burning in his belly. Lunch in the hot, crowded, 110 00:05:47.439 --> 00:05:50.879 noise filled canteen was torment. He had hoped to be 111 00:05:50.920 --> 00:05:53.319 alone for a little while during the lunch hour, but 112 00:05:53.399 --> 00:05:56.279 as bad luck would have it, the imbecile Parsons flopped 113 00:05:56.279 --> 00:05:59.160 down beside him, the tang of his sweat almost defeating 114 00:05:59.199 --> 00:06:01.839 the tiny smell ofs and kept up a stream of 115 00:06:01.879 --> 00:06:05.519 talk about the preparations for Hate Week. He was particularly 116 00:06:05.680 --> 00:06:08.480 enthusiastic about a papier mache model of Big Brother's head 117 00:06:08.759 --> 00:06:11.399 two meters wide, which was being made for the occasion 118 00:06:11.399 --> 00:06:15.240 by his daughter's troop of spies. The irritating thing was 119 00:06:15.279 --> 00:06:17.639 that in the racket of voices, Winston could hardly hear 120 00:06:17.680 --> 00:06:20.680 what Parsons was saying, and was constantly having to ask 121 00:06:20.759 --> 00:06:24.360 for some fatuous remark to be repeated. Just once he 122 00:06:24.399 --> 00:06:26.120 caught a glimpse of the girl at a table with 123 00:06:26.160 --> 00:06:27.959 two other girls at the far end of the room. 124 00:06:28.959 --> 00:06:31.000 She appeared not to have seen him, and he did 125 00:06:31.079 --> 00:06:36.639 not look in that direction again. The afternoon was more bearable. 126 00:06:37.480 --> 00:06:40.720 Immediately after lunch there arrived a delicate, difficult piece of 127 00:06:40.759 --> 00:06:44.040 work which would take several hours and necessitated putting everything 128 00:06:44.040 --> 00:06:48.160 else aside. It consisted in falsifying a series of production 129 00:06:48.240 --> 00:06:50.680 reports of two years ago in such a way as 130 00:06:50.759 --> 00:06:53.199 to cast discredit on a prominent member of the inner 131 00:06:53.199 --> 00:06:56.439 Party who was now under a cloud. This was the 132 00:06:56.519 --> 00:06:58.759 kind of thing that Winston was good at, and for 133 00:06:58.839 --> 00:07:01.000 more than two hours, he said, succeeded in shutting the 134 00:07:01.040 --> 00:07:04.279 girl out of his mind altogether. Then the memory of 135 00:07:04.279 --> 00:07:07.279 her face came back, and with it a raging, intolerable 136 00:07:07.279 --> 00:07:10.720 desire to be alone. Until he could be alone, it 137 00:07:10.800 --> 00:07:14.360 was impossible to think this new development out to night 138 00:07:14.480 --> 00:07:17.160 was one of his nights at the community center. He 139 00:07:17.199 --> 00:07:20.199 wolfed another tasteless meal in the canteen, hurried off to 140 00:07:20.240 --> 00:07:22.720 the center, took part in the solemn foolry of a 141 00:07:22.759 --> 00:07:26.759 discussion group, played two games of table tennis, swallowed several 142 00:07:26.800 --> 00:07:29.319 glasses of gin, and sat for half an hour through 143 00:07:29.360 --> 00:07:33.279 a lecture entitled Ingsock in relation to Chess. His soul 144 00:07:33.360 --> 00:07:36.120 writhed with boredom, but for once he had had no 145 00:07:36.199 --> 00:07:39.439 impulse to shirk his evening at the center. At the 146 00:07:39.480 --> 00:07:41.920 sight of the words I love you, the desire to 147 00:07:41.959 --> 00:07:44.519 stay alive had welled up in him, and the taking 148 00:07:44.560 --> 00:07:48.360 of minor risks suddenly seemed stupid. It was not till 149 00:07:48.399 --> 00:07:50.519 twenty three hours, when he was home and in bed, 150 00:07:50.920 --> 00:07:53.360 in the darkness, where you were safe even from the telescreen, 151 00:07:53.439 --> 00:07:55.639 so long as you kept silent, that he was able 152 00:07:55.680 --> 00:08:00.360 to think continuously. It was a physical problem had to 153 00:08:00.360 --> 00:08:02.680 be solved. How to get in touch with the girl 154 00:08:02.680 --> 00:08:06.000 and arrange a meeting. He did not consider any longer 155 00:08:06.000 --> 00:08:08.240 the possibility that she might be laying some kind of 156 00:08:08.279 --> 00:08:10.879 trap for him. He knew that it was not so 157 00:08:11.079 --> 00:08:14.279 because of her unmistakable agitation when she handed him the note. 158 00:08:15.120 --> 00:08:17.240 Obviously she had been frightened out of her wits as 159 00:08:17.240 --> 00:08:20.360 well she might be. Nor did the idea of refusing 160 00:08:20.360 --> 00:08:23.920 her advances even cross his mind. Only five nights ago 161 00:08:23.959 --> 00:08:26.639 he had contemplated smashing her skull in with the cobblestone, 162 00:08:26.879 --> 00:08:30.160 but that was of no importance. He thought of her naked, 163 00:08:30.240 --> 00:08:32.960 youthful body as he had seen it in his dream. 164 00:08:33.720 --> 00:08:35.840 He had imagined her a fool like all the rest 165 00:08:35.879 --> 00:08:38.759 of them, her head stuffed with lies and hatred, a 166 00:08:38.799 --> 00:08:42.399 belly full of ice. A kind of fever seized him 167 00:08:42.440 --> 00:08:44.320 at the thought that he might lose her, the white, 168 00:08:44.360 --> 00:08:48.039 youthful body, might slip away from him. What he feared 169 00:08:48.080 --> 00:08:50.159 more than anything else was that she would simply change 170 00:08:50.159 --> 00:08:51.679 her mind if he did not get in touch with 171 00:08:51.720 --> 00:08:55.240 her quickly. But the physical difficulty of meeting was enormous. 172 00:08:56.240 --> 00:08:58.080 It was like trying to make a move at chess 173 00:08:58.080 --> 00:09:01.399 when you were already mated. Whichever way you turned, the 174 00:09:01.440 --> 00:09:05.720 telescreen faced you. Actually, all the possible ways of communicating 175 00:09:05.720 --> 00:09:07.600 with her had occurred to him within five minutes of 176 00:09:07.639 --> 00:09:10.240 reading the note, But now, with time to think, he 177 00:09:10.279 --> 00:09:12.639 went over them one by one, as though laying out 178 00:09:12.679 --> 00:09:17.080 a row of instruments on the table. Obviously, the kind 179 00:09:17.080 --> 00:09:19.759 of encounter that had happened this morning could not be repeated. 180 00:09:20.440 --> 00:09:22.720 If she had worked in the records department, it might 181 00:09:22.759 --> 00:09:25.840 have been comparatively simple. But he had only a very 182 00:09:25.840 --> 00:09:28.799 dim idea whereabouts in the building the fiction department lay, 183 00:09:29.080 --> 00:09:31.799 and he had no pretty text for going there. If 184 00:09:31.840 --> 00:09:33.879 he had known where she lived and at what time 185 00:09:33.960 --> 00:09:36.480 she left work, he could have contrived to meet her 186 00:09:36.480 --> 00:09:39.320 somewhere on her way home. But to try to follow 187 00:09:39.320 --> 00:09:42.159 her home was not safe because it would mean loitering 188 00:09:42.200 --> 00:09:44.960 about outside the ministry, which was bound to be noticed. 189 00:09:46.120 --> 00:09:48.039 As for sending a letter through the mails, it was 190 00:09:48.080 --> 00:09:50.639 out of the question by her routine that was not 191 00:09:50.720 --> 00:09:54.600 even secret. All letters were opened in transit. Actually, few 192 00:09:54.639 --> 00:09:57.639 people ever wrote letters. For the messages that it was 193 00:09:57.639 --> 00:10:01.080 occasionally necessary to send. There were printed post cards with 194 00:10:01.159 --> 00:10:03.559 long lists of phrases, and you struck out the ones 195 00:10:03.559 --> 00:10:07.000 that were inapplicable. In any case, he did not know 196 00:10:07.039 --> 00:10:11.000 the girl's name, let alone her address. Finally, he decided 197 00:10:11.000 --> 00:10:14.039 that the safest place was the canteen, if he could 198 00:10:14.039 --> 00:10:16.279 get her at a table by herself, somewhere in the 199 00:10:16.279 --> 00:10:19.399 middle of the room, not too near the telescreens, and 200 00:10:19.480 --> 00:10:22.960 with a sufficient buzz of conversation all round. If these 201 00:10:23.000 --> 00:10:26.399 conditions endured for say thirty seconds, it might be possible 202 00:10:26.440 --> 00:10:30.679 to exchange a few words. For a week. After this, 203 00:10:30.799 --> 00:10:33.799 life was like a restless dream. On the next day, 204 00:10:33.879 --> 00:10:35.679 she did not appear in the canteen until he was 205 00:10:35.799 --> 00:10:39.639 leaving it, the whistle having already blown. Presumably she had 206 00:10:39.679 --> 00:10:43.240 been changed on to a later shift. They passed each 207 00:10:43.240 --> 00:10:46.120 other without a glance. On the day after that, she 208 00:10:46.200 --> 00:10:48.480 was in the canteen at the usual time, but with 209 00:10:48.559 --> 00:10:52.440 three other girls and immediately under a telescreen. Then for 210 00:10:52.480 --> 00:10:56.000 three dreadful days she did not appear at all. His 211 00:10:56.080 --> 00:10:58.320 whole mind and body seemed to be afflicted with an 212 00:10:58.399 --> 00:11:02.480 unbearable sensitivity, a sort of transparency which made every movement, 213 00:11:02.759 --> 00:11:05.440 every sound, every contact, every word that he had to 214 00:11:05.440 --> 00:11:09.320 speak or listen to an agony. Even in sleep, he 215 00:11:09.360 --> 00:11:11.960 could not altogether escape from her image. He did not 216 00:11:12.039 --> 00:11:15.399 touch the diary during those days. If there was any relief, 217 00:11:15.399 --> 00:11:17.519 it was in his work, in which he could sometimes 218 00:11:17.559 --> 00:11:20.879 forget himself for ten minutes at a stretch. He had 219 00:11:20.919 --> 00:11:23.080 absolutely no clue as to what had happened to her. 220 00:11:23.879 --> 00:11:26.679 There was no inquiry he could make. She might have 221 00:11:26.720 --> 00:11:30.120 been vaporized. She might have committed suicide. She might have 222 00:11:30.120 --> 00:11:33.320 been transferred to the other end of Oceania. Worse, and 223 00:11:33.559 --> 00:11:36.000 likeliest of all, she might simply have changed her mind 224 00:11:36.000 --> 00:11:40.799 and decided to avoid him. The next day she reappeared. 225 00:11:41.360 --> 00:11:43.000 Her arm was out of the sling, and she had 226 00:11:43.000 --> 00:11:46.120 a band of sticking plaster around her wrist. The relief 227 00:11:46.120 --> 00:11:48.080 of seeing her was so great that he could not 228 00:11:48.120 --> 00:11:52.000 resist staring directly at her for several seconds. On the 229 00:11:52.000 --> 00:11:54.519 following day, he very nearly succeeded in speaking to her. 230 00:11:55.279 --> 00:11:57.159 When he came into the canteen, she was sitting at 231 00:11:57.200 --> 00:11:59.600 a table well out from the wall and was quite alone. 232 00:12:00.360 --> 00:12:02.320 It was early and the place was not very full. 233 00:12:03.080 --> 00:12:05.840 The coue edged forward till Winston was almost at the counter, 234 00:12:06.240 --> 00:12:08.200 then was held up for two minutes because some one 235 00:12:08.200 --> 00:12:10.200 in front was complaining that he had not received his 236 00:12:10.279 --> 00:12:13.720 tablet of saccharin. But the girl was still alone. When 237 00:12:13.720 --> 00:12:16.559 Winston secured his tray and began to make for her table, 238 00:12:17.519 --> 00:12:20.080 he walked casually towards her, his eyes searching for a 239 00:12:20.120 --> 00:12:23.440 place at some table beyond her. She was perhaps three 240 00:12:23.480 --> 00:12:26.440 meters away from him. Another two seconds would do it. 241 00:12:27.440 --> 00:12:30.799 Then a voice behind him called Psmith. He pretended not 242 00:12:30.879 --> 00:12:35.200 to hear Smith repeated the voice more loudly. It was 243 00:12:35.200 --> 00:12:38.759 no use. He turned round. A blond headed, silly faced 244 00:12:38.759 --> 00:12:42.159 young man named Wilshire, whom he barely knew, was inviting 245 00:12:42.279 --> 00:12:44.600 him with a smile to a vacant place at his table. 246 00:12:45.720 --> 00:12:49.399 It was not safe to refuse after having been recognized. 247 00:12:49.440 --> 00:12:50.919 He could not go and sit at a table with 248 00:12:50.960 --> 00:12:55.360 an unattended girl. It was too noticeable. He sat down 249 00:12:55.360 --> 00:12:58.679 with a friendly smile. The silly blond face beamed into 250 00:12:58.720 --> 00:13:02.000 his Winston and had a hallucination of himself smashing a 251 00:13:02.000 --> 00:13:05.159 pickaxe right into the middle of it. The girl's table 252 00:13:05.200 --> 00:13:08.759 filled up a few minutes later, but she must have 253 00:13:08.759 --> 00:13:10.960 seen him coming towards her, and perhaps she would take 254 00:13:11.000 --> 00:13:14.360 the hint. Next day, he took care to arrive early. 255 00:13:15.559 --> 00:13:17.480 Surely enough, she was at a table in about the 256 00:13:17.480 --> 00:13:21.480 same place, and again alone. The person immediately ahead of 257 00:13:21.559 --> 00:13:24.039 him in the queue was a small, swiftly moving beetle 258 00:13:24.159 --> 00:13:26.759 like man with a flat face and tiny, suspicious eyes. 259 00:13:27.919 --> 00:13:30.320 As Winston turned away from the counter with his tray, 260 00:13:30.360 --> 00:13:32.240 he saw that the little man was making straight for 261 00:13:32.320 --> 00:13:36.320 the girl's table. His hopes sank again. There was a 262 00:13:36.360 --> 00:13:39.039 vacant place at a table further away, but something in 263 00:13:39.039 --> 00:13:41.480 the little man's appearance suggested that he would be sufficiently 264 00:13:41.519 --> 00:13:44.480 attentive to his own comfort to choose the emptiest table. 265 00:13:46.000 --> 00:13:48.879 With eyes at his heart, Winston followed. It was no 266 00:13:49.039 --> 00:13:52.519 use unless he could get the girl alone. At this moment, 267 00:13:52.559 --> 00:13:56.120 there was a tremendous crash. The little man was sprawling 268 00:13:56.120 --> 00:13:58.919 on all fours. His tray had gone flying, two streams 269 00:13:58.919 --> 00:14:02.279 of soup and coffee were flowing across the floor. He 270 00:14:02.320 --> 00:14:04.799 started to his feet with a malignant glance at Winston, 271 00:14:04.879 --> 00:14:08.080 whom he evidently suspected of having tripped him up. But 272 00:14:08.159 --> 00:14:11.399 it was all right. Five seconds later, with a thundering heart, 273 00:14:11.600 --> 00:14:15.720 Winston was sitting at the girl's table. He did not 274 00:14:15.799 --> 00:14:19.159 look at her. He unpacked his tray and promptly began eating. 275 00:14:20.240 --> 00:14:22.960 It was all important to speak at once before any 276 00:14:22.960 --> 00:14:25.519 one else came. But now a terrible fear had taken 277 00:14:25.559 --> 00:14:28.600 possession of him. A week had gone by since she 278 00:14:28.639 --> 00:14:31.360 had first approached him. She would have changed her mind. 279 00:14:31.519 --> 00:14:34.480 She must have changed her mind. It was impossible that 280 00:14:34.519 --> 00:14:37.799 this affair should end successfully. Such things did not happen 281 00:14:37.840 --> 00:14:41.720 in real life. He might have flinched altogether from speaking 282 00:14:41.720 --> 00:14:44.000 if at this moment he had not seen Ampleforth, the 283 00:14:44.039 --> 00:14:47.240 hairy eared poet wandering limply round the room with a tray, 284 00:14:47.480 --> 00:14:50.679 looking for a place to sit down. In his vague way, 285 00:14:50.679 --> 00:14:53.799 Ampleforth was attached to Winston and would certainly sit down 286 00:14:53.799 --> 00:14:56.759 at his table if he caught sight of him. There 287 00:14:56.799 --> 00:14:59.519 was perhaps a minute in which to act. Both Winston 288 00:14:59.559 --> 00:15:02.159 and the girl were eating steadily. The stuff they were 289 00:15:02.200 --> 00:15:05.440 eating was a thin stew, actually a soup of harricot beans. 290 00:15:06.399 --> 00:15:10.000 In a low murmur, Winston began speaking. Neither of them 291 00:15:10.000 --> 00:15:13.799 looked up steadily. They spooned the watery stuff into their mouths, 292 00:15:14.080 --> 00:15:17.279 and between spoonfuls exchanged the few necessary words in low 293 00:15:17.279 --> 00:15:23.039 expressionless voices. What time do you leave work? Eighteen thirty? 294 00:15:23.960 --> 00:15:28.480 Where can we meet? Victory Square near the monument. It's 295 00:15:28.519 --> 00:15:32.200 full of telescreens. It doesn't matter if there's a crowd, 296 00:15:32.639 --> 00:15:36.279 any signal. No, don't come up to me until you 297 00:15:36.320 --> 00:15:38.879 see me among a lot of people, and don't look 298 00:15:38.879 --> 00:15:43.879 at me. Just keep somewhere near me. What time nineteen hours? 299 00:15:44.600 --> 00:15:49.600 All right? Ampleforth failed to see Winston and sat down 300 00:15:49.639 --> 00:15:52.600 at another table. They did not speak again, and so 301 00:15:52.679 --> 00:15:54.600 far as it was possible for two people sitting on 302 00:15:54.600 --> 00:15:57.120 opposite sides of the same table, they did not look 303 00:15:57.159 --> 00:16:00.240 at one another. The girl finished her lunch quickly and 304 00:16:00.320 --> 00:16:06.200 made off, while Winston stayed to smoke a cigarette. Winston 305 00:16:06.320 --> 00:16:09.440 was in Victory Square before the appointed time. He wandered 306 00:16:09.480 --> 00:16:11.919 round the base of the enormous fluted column at the 307 00:16:11.960 --> 00:16:14.799 top of which Big Brother's statue gazed southward towards the 308 00:16:14.799 --> 00:16:18.399 skies where he had vanquished the Eurasian aeroplanes the East 309 00:16:18.399 --> 00:16:21.440 Asian aeroplanes. It had been a few years ago in 310 00:16:21.519 --> 00:16:24.600 the Battle of Airstrip I. In the street in front 311 00:16:24.639 --> 00:16:26.679 of it there was a statue of a man on horseback, 312 00:16:26.679 --> 00:16:30.480 which was supposed to represent Oliver Cromwell. At five minutes 313 00:16:30.519 --> 00:16:33.879 past the hour, the girl had still not appeared again. 314 00:16:33.919 --> 00:16:37.039 The terrible fear seized upon Winston. She was not coming, 315 00:16:37.120 --> 00:16:40.200 she had changed her mind. He walked slowly up to 316 00:16:40.279 --> 00:16:42.039 the north side of the square and got a sort 317 00:16:42.080 --> 00:16:46.240 of pale colored pleasure from identifying Saint Martin's Church, whose bells, 318 00:16:46.320 --> 00:16:50.320 when it had bells, had chimed you owe me three farthings. 319 00:16:51.320 --> 00:16:53.159 Then he saw the girl standing at the base of 320 00:16:53.200 --> 00:16:55.480 the monument, reading or pretending to read, a poster which 321 00:16:55.559 --> 00:16:58.919 ran spirally up the column. It was not safe to 322 00:16:58.960 --> 00:17:02.000 go near her until some more people had accumulated. There 323 00:17:02.000 --> 00:17:05.680 were telescreens all round the pediment, but at this moment 324 00:17:05.759 --> 00:17:07.359 there was a din of shouting and a zoom of 325 00:17:07.400 --> 00:17:11.079 heavy vehicles from somewhere to the left. Suddenly everyone seemed 326 00:17:11.079 --> 00:17:14.079 to be running across the square. The girl nipped nimbly 327 00:17:14.160 --> 00:17:16.119 round the lions at the base of the monument and 328 00:17:16.200 --> 00:17:20.000 joined in the rush. Winston followed. As he ran, he 329 00:17:20.039 --> 00:17:22.880 gathered from some shouted remarks that a convoy of Eurasian 330 00:17:22.880 --> 00:17:27.480 prisoners was passing. Already, a dense mass of people was 331 00:17:27.480 --> 00:17:31.039 blocking the south side of the square. Winston, at normal times, 332 00:17:31.079 --> 00:17:33.279 the kind of person who gravitates to the outer edge 333 00:17:33.279 --> 00:17:37.079 of any kind of scrimmage, shoved, buttered, squirmed his way 334 00:17:37.079 --> 00:17:39.880 forward into the heart of the crowd. Soon he was 335 00:17:39.920 --> 00:17:42.119 within arm's length of the girl, but the way was 336 00:17:42.119 --> 00:17:45.240 blocked by an enormous proll with an almost equally enormous woman, 337 00:17:45.559 --> 00:17:48.960 presumably his wife, who seemed to form an impenetrable wall 338 00:17:49.000 --> 00:17:53.839 of flesh. Winston wriggled himself sideways, and with a violent lunge, 339 00:17:53.880 --> 00:17:57.640 managed to drive his shoulder between them. For a moment, 340 00:17:57.680 --> 00:17:59.559 it felt as though his entrails were being ground to 341 00:17:59.599 --> 00:18:03.079 pulp between the two muscular hips. Then he had broken through, 342 00:18:03.200 --> 00:18:06.400 sweating a little. He was next to the girl. There 343 00:18:06.400 --> 00:18:10.359 were shoulder to shoulder, both staring fixedly in front of them. 344 00:18:10.680 --> 00:18:13.519 A long line of trucks with wooden faced guards armed 345 00:18:13.519 --> 00:18:17.000 with submachine guns standing upright in each corner, was passing 346 00:18:17.039 --> 00:18:20.319 slowly down the street. In the trucks, little yellow men 347 00:18:20.319 --> 00:18:24.640 in shabby greenish uniforms were squatting, jammed close together. Their 348 00:18:24.680 --> 00:18:27.759 sad Mongolian faces gazed out over the sides of the trucks, 349 00:18:27.799 --> 00:18:31.640 utterly and curious. Occasionally, when a truck jolted, there was 350 00:18:31.680 --> 00:18:34.720 a clank, clank of metal. All the prisoners were wearing 351 00:18:34.759 --> 00:18:38.839 leg irons. Truckload after truckload of the sad faces passed. 352 00:18:39.400 --> 00:18:42.119 Winston knew they were there, but he saw them only intermittently. 353 00:18:43.079 --> 00:18:45.720 The girl's shoulder and her arm right down to the elbow, 354 00:18:45.759 --> 00:18:49.319 were pressed against his. Her cheek was almost near enough 355 00:18:49.319 --> 00:18:52.400 for him to feel its warmth. She had immediately taken 356 00:18:52.480 --> 00:18:54.440 charge of the situation, just as she had done in 357 00:18:54.480 --> 00:18:58.240 the canteen. She began speaking in the same expressionless voice 358 00:18:58.240 --> 00:19:01.920 as before, with lips barely moving, a mere murmur, easily 359 00:19:02.000 --> 00:19:04.839 drowned by the dinner voices and the rumbling of the trucks. 360 00:19:05.559 --> 00:19:11.039 Can you hear me. Yes, can you get Sunday afternoon off? Yes? 361 00:19:12.000 --> 00:19:15.480 Then listen carefully, You'll have to remember this. Go to 362 00:19:15.559 --> 00:19:20.000 Paddington station. With a sort of military precision that astonished him, 363 00:19:20.000 --> 00:19:22.799 she outlined the route that he was to follow, a 364 00:19:22.880 --> 00:19:26.480 half hour railway journey. Turn left outside the station, two 365 00:19:26.519 --> 00:19:29.720 kilometers along the road, a gate with the top bar missing, 366 00:19:30.079 --> 00:19:33.079 a path across a field, a grass grown lane, a 367 00:19:33.160 --> 00:19:36.839 track between bushes, a dead tree with moss on it. 368 00:19:36.839 --> 00:19:39.319 It was as though she had a map inside her head. 369 00:19:39.680 --> 00:19:44.400 Can you remember all that? She murmured finally, Yes, you 370 00:19:44.519 --> 00:19:47.079 turn left, then right, then left again, and the gate's 371 00:19:47.079 --> 00:19:52.720 got no top bar. Yes, what time about fifteen? You 372 00:19:52.799 --> 00:19:55.480 may have to wait. I'll get there by another way. 373 00:19:56.160 --> 00:20:00.519 Are you sure you remember everything? Yes? Then get away 374 00:20:00.519 --> 00:20:03.599 from me as quick as you can. She need not 375 00:20:03.680 --> 00:20:06.240 have told him that, but for the moment they could 376 00:20:06.240 --> 00:20:09.599 not extricate themselves from the crowd. The trucks were still 377 00:20:09.640 --> 00:20:14.039 filing past, the people still insatiably gaping at the start. 378 00:20:14.039 --> 00:20:16.200 There had been a few boos and hisses, but it 379 00:20:16.279 --> 00:20:18.519 came only from the party members among the crowd, and 380 00:20:18.599 --> 00:20:23.839 had soon stopped. The prevailing emotion was simply curiosity. Foreigners, 381 00:20:23.880 --> 00:20:26.359 whether from Eurasia or from East Asia, were a kind 382 00:20:26.359 --> 00:20:29.839 of strange animal. One literally never saw them except in 383 00:20:29.880 --> 00:20:32.559 the guise of prisoners, and even as prisoners, one never 384 00:20:32.599 --> 00:20:35.720 got more than a momentary glimpse of them, nor did 385 00:20:35.759 --> 00:20:37.920 one know what became of them. Apart from the few 386 00:20:37.960 --> 00:20:41.160 who were hanged as war criminals, the others simply vanished, 387 00:20:41.200 --> 00:20:45.319 presumably into forced labor camps. The round Mongol faces had 388 00:20:45.319 --> 00:20:48.359 given way to faces of a more European type, dirty 389 00:20:48.440 --> 00:20:52.599 bearded and exhausted from over scrubby cheek bones. Eyes looked 390 00:20:52.599 --> 00:20:56.759 into Winstons, sometimes with strange intensity, and flashed away again. 391 00:20:58.000 --> 00:21:01.119 The convoy was drawing to an end. In the last truck, 392 00:21:01.160 --> 00:21:03.519 he could see an aged man, his face a mass 393 00:21:03.519 --> 00:21:06.599 of grizzled hair, standing upright, with wrists crossed in front 394 00:21:06.640 --> 00:21:08.599 of him, as though he were used to having them 395 00:21:08.599 --> 00:21:11.920 bound together. It was almost time for Winston and the 396 00:21:11.960 --> 00:21:14.640 girl to part, but at the last moment, while the 397 00:21:14.640 --> 00:21:17.440 crowd still hemmed them in, her hand felt for his 398 00:21:17.559 --> 00:21:21.480 and gave it a fleeting squeeze. It could not have 399 00:21:21.519 --> 00:21:23.839 been ten seconds, and yet it seemed a long time 400 00:21:23.880 --> 00:21:27.319 that their hands were clasped together. He had time to 401 00:21:27.400 --> 00:21:31.160