The Man Who Was Thursday by G. K. Chesterton (best novels to read for beginners .txt) ๐
Description
Sometimes described as thrilling, sometimes as comic, and sometimes as metaphysical or spiritual, The Man Who Was Thursday is perhaps a little of each. The tale begins when an undercover policeman infiltrates a mysterious Anarchist group. As the novel progresses, things become more comic and improbable, and eventually evolve in to a sort of abstract, dreamlike state. Filled with Christian allegory, Thursday is a glittering, fascinating exploration of good versus evil and theology through the lens of adventure, wit, and the surreal.
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- Author: G. K. Chesterton
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โI canโt understand why it has grown so dark,โ said the Professor at last in a low voice.
โGoing to be a storm, I think,โ said Dr. Bull. โI say, itโs a pity we havenโt got a light on this car, if only to see by.โ
โWe have,โ said the Colonel, and from the floor of the car he fished up a heavy, old-fashioned, carved iron lantern with a light inside it. It was obviously an antique, and it would seem as if its original use had been in some way semi-religious, for there was a rude moulding of a cross upon one of its sides.
โWhere on earth did you get that?โ asked the Professor.
โI got it where I got the car,โ answered the Colonel, chuckling, โfrom my best friend. While our friend here was fighting with the steering wheel, I ran up the front steps of the house and spoke to Renard, who was standing in his own porch, you will remember. โI suppose,โ I said, โthereโs no time to get a lamp.โ He looked up, blinking amiably at the beautiful arched ceiling of his own front hall. From this was suspended, by chains of exquisite ironwork, this lantern, one of the hundred treasures of his treasure house. By sheer force he tore the lamp out of his own ceiling, shattering the painted panels, and bringing down two blue vases with his violence. Then he handed me the iron lantern, and I put it in the car. Was I not right when I said that Dr. Renard was worth knowing?โ
โYou were,โ said Syme seriously, and hung the heavy lantern over the front. There was a certain allegory of their whole position in the contrast between the modern automobile and its strange ecclesiastical lamp. Hitherto they had passed through the quietest part of the town, meeting at most one or two pedestrians, who could give them no hint of the peace or the hostility of the place. Now, however, the windows in the houses began one by one to be lit up, giving a greater sense of habitation and humanity. Dr. Bull turned to the new detective who had led their flight, and permitted himself one of his natural and friendly smiles.
โThese lights make one feel more cheerful.โ
Inspector Ratcliffe drew his brows together.
โThere is only one set of lights that make me more cheerful,โ he said, โand they are those lights of the police station which I can see beyond the town. Please God we may be there in ten minutes.โ
Then all Bullโs boiling good sense and optimism broke suddenly out of him.
โOh, this is all raving nonsense!โ he cried. โIf you really think that ordinary people in ordinary houses are anarchists, you must be madder than an anarchist yourself. If we turned and fought these fellows, the whole town would fight for us.โ
โNo,โ said the other with an immovable simplicity, โthe whole town would fight for them. We shall see.โ
While they were speaking the Professor had leant forward with sudden excitement.
โWhat is that noise?โ he said.
โOh, the horses behind us, I suppose,โ said the Colonel. โI thought we had got clear of them.โ
โThe horses behind us! No,โ said the Professor, โit is not horses, and it is not behind us.โ
Almost as he spoke, across the end of the street before them two shining and rattling shapes shot past. They were gone almost in a flash, but everyone could see that they were motorcars, and the Professor stood up with a pale face and swore that they were the other two motorcars from Dr. Renardโs garage.
โI tell you they were his,โ he repeated, with wild eyes, โand they were full of men in masks!โ
โAbsurd!โ said the Colonel angrily. โDr. Renard would never give them his cars.โ
โHe may have been forced,โ said Ratcliffe quietly. โThe whole town is on their side.โ
โYou still believe that,โ asked the Colonel incredulously.
โYou will all believe it soon,โ said the other with a hopeless calm.
There was a puzzled pause for some little time, and then the Colonel began again abruptlyโ โ
โNo, I canโt believe it. The thing is nonsense. The plain people of a peaceable French townโ โโ
He was cut short by a bang and a blaze of light, which seemed close to his eyes. As the car sped on it left a floating patch of white smoke behind it, and Syme had heard a shot shriek past his ear.
โMy God!โ said the Colonel, โsomeone has shot at us.โ
โIt need not interrupt conversation,โ said the gloomy Ratcliffe. โPray resume your remarks, Colonel. You were talking, I think, about the plain people of a peaceable French town.โ
The staring Colonel was long past minding satire. He rolled his eyes all round the street.
โIt is extraordinary,โ he said, โmost extraordinary.โ
โA fastidious person,โ said Syme, โmight even call it unpleasant. However, I suppose those lights out in the field beyond this street are the Gendarmerie. We shall soon get there.โ
โNo,โ said Inspector Ratcliffe, โwe shall never get there.โ
He had been standing up and looking keenly ahead of him. Now he sat down and smoothed his sleek hair with a weary gesture.
โWhat do you mean?โ asked Bull sharply.
โI mean that we shall never get there,โ said the pessimist placidly. โThey have two rows of armed men across the road already; I can see them from here. The town is in arms, as I said it was. I can only wallow in the exquisite comfort of my own exactitude.โ
And Ratcliffe sat down comfortably in the car and lit a cigarette, but the others rose excitedly and stared down the road. Syme had slowed down the car
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