Algernon Blackwood

Name: Ten Minute Stories — The Second Generation
Author: Algernon Blackwood

Ten Minute Stories — The Second Generation

Summary

“Ten Minute Stories — The Second Generation”, is a work by Algernon Blackwood. It explores elements such as ladyship, tea and backwoodsman.

Quotes from Ten Minute Stories — The Second Generation (Algernon Blackwood)

Algernon Blackwood, Ten Minute Stories — The Second Generation

“ In a flash, then, came the dreadful shock that overwhelmed him⁠—the abrupt realization of the truth that was somehow horrible⁠—that Time, all these years, had left no mark upon her and that she had not changed. Her face was as young as when he saw her last.
With it there came cold and darkness into the great room. He shivered with cold, but an alien, unaccountable cold. Some great shadow dropped upon the entire earth, and though but a second could have passed before the handle actually turned, and the other person entered, it seemed to him like several minutes. ”

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Source: Wikisource

Algernon Blackwood, Ten Minute Stories — The Second Generation

“ In desperation, then, before he could change his mind, he touched the bell. But he did not hear it ring⁠—mercifully; that irrevocable sound must have paralyzed him altogether. If no one came to answer, he might still leave a card in the letter-box and slip away. Oh, how utterly he despised himself for such a thought! A man of thirty with such a chicken heart was not fit to protect a child, much less a woman. ”

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Source: Wikisource

Algernon Blackwood, Ten Minute Stories — The Second Generation

“ With ice in his blood he heard the butler saying that her ladyship would be “pleased” to see him if he had finished his tea and would be “so good as to bring the papers and documents upstairs with him.” He had just sufficient control of certain muscles to stand upright and murmur that he would come. He rose from a sofa that held no one but himself. ”

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Source: Wikisource

Algernon Blackwood, Ten Minute Stories — The Second Generation

“ And almost immediately the butler returned, still expressionless, and showed him into the large drawing-room on the ground floor that he knew so well. Tea was on the table⁠—tea for one. He felt puzzled. “If you will have tea first, sir, her ladyship will see you afterwards,” was what he heard. And though his breath came thickly, he asked the question that forced itself out. Before he knew what he was saying he asked it, “Is she ill?” “Oh, no, her ladyship is quite well, thank you, sir. If you will have tea first, sir, her ladyship will see you afterwards.” ”

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Source: Wikisource

Algernon Blackwood, Ten Minute Stories — The Second Generation

“ The sudden attack, the faintness, the collapse!⁠ ⁠... He vaguely remembered afterwards⁠—with amazement too⁠—the suavity of the butler as he suggested telephoning for a doctor, and that he just managed to forbid it, refusing the offered glass of brandy as well, remembered contriving to stumble into the taxicab and give his hotel address with a final explanation that he would call another day and “bring the papers.” ”

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Source: Wikisource

Algernon Blackwood, Ten Minute Stories — The Second Generation

“ Sometimes, in a moment of sharp experience, comes that vivid flash of insight that makes a platitude suddenly seem a revelation⁠—its full content is abruptly realized. “Ten years is a long time, yes,” he thought, as he walked up the drive to the great Kensington house where she still lived. ”

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Source: Wikisource

Algernon Blackwood, Ten Minute Stories — The Second Generation

“ He felt like a backwoodsman, he was a backwoodsman.
For one thing only was he duly prepared, though he thought about it little enough⁠—she would, of course, have changed. The photograph he owned, cut from an illustrated paper, was not true now. It might even be a little shock perhaps. He must remember that. Ten years cannot pass over a woman without⁠—
Before he knew it the door was open, and she was advancing quietly towards him across the thick carpet that deadened sound. ”

Algernon Blackwood

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Quotes from Ten Minute Stories — The Second Generation (Algernon Blackwood)

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