Books › Blue Book v073-n03 [1941-07], 1941 › scan 53
Scan 53
Blue Book v073-n03 [1941-07], 1941
34 lines. Read by computer on 18 September 2026. No printed page number was found. See the scan on archive.org.
1ized, and this was bad for him. He was one of those men who can fight through hell and high water so long as the soul-nucleus of home exists intact, but who go to pieces when flung adrift. He was now drifting fast, toward one end.
3He had never loved anyone but Caroline; he did not seek elsewhere; he wanted no one else. Since her going, the weight of his handicap had become crushing. A crippled man has no chance, he told himself, these days. And always, night after night, the flare of fires, the drone of bombers, the screaming sirens of bombs, the tremendously increasing anti-aircraft barrage—all had helped wear him down. He was not himself; his anchors were dragging. Small wonder that he got out his old service Browning and loaded it, and left it on the mantel at home. He felt that he was no use to himself or anyone else, alive.
5He was at this brink of the abyss when he next encountered the violinist.
7THESE night raids seldom started before eight. He stopped in for a bite downtown and took the tube home. But tonight Knightsbridge was catching it full force. Moore was leaving the underground as the alarm sounded—a wailing horror sweeping the skies, tautening the nerves, and sending the brain into a shrinking spasm. Close upon it rose the barrage, a drumming, bursting, deafening roar of sound, and then a bomb fell somewhere close and shattered the world.
9Moore stood hesitant; it was only three blocks to his apartment building, but he knew better than to chance it. He turned and joined the stream of people flooding down into the refuge of the tunnel below. Many of them were prepared for the night; there had been a good crowd here ahead of time, and space was going to be at a premium. The near-by Hyde Park and its shelters had not absorbed the populace by a good deal, he reflected.
11People were sprawled everywhere; some had been here for hours. Moore, warmed by his dinner-drinks, picked his way to an empty spot, removed his top-coat, and made himself as comfortable as possible. He sat drowsily, while the babble of tongues reverberated along the air; the roar outside had dwindled to a mere background, people were singing, talking, working hard to keep up spirit. An accordion was pumping away somewhere down the platform, and gusts of laughter rose from a group near by.
13Here and there appeared staring misery, but in general, in the mass, a cheerful resignation and an impersonal effort to be helpful were evident on all sides. It was infectious. Moore found himself stirring to make a place for a couple of old people, late arrivals; there were the ever-present children to look after, and presently he had a group of them around him and was launching into stories that held them breathless—the old, old stories of goblins and sprites and of the fairyland that now more than ever was a place of enchanted unreality.
15A wave of voices, of delighted greetings and hails, lifted his gaze, and he saw Haldon far down the platform and thinly heard the violin. He went on with his stories, and half an hour later Haldon had worked his way along to Moore's vicinity. The fiddle, however, was decidedly not the same; it was harsh and rasping; the old smooth, silky tone was gone.
17Moore rose, and the player saw him and nodded, smilingly. When he had finished, he came to Moore and shook hands, beaming.
19"Is that another violin you have?" Moore asked.
21"Yes." Haldon's face changed; the man looked old and broken, all in a moment. "The Amati—there was an accident. It was smashed. This was all I could get to replace it; two and ten, and not worth that."
23The blow must have driven deep; Moore could appreciate what it meant. He caught Haldon by the arm.
25"Look here! Come along home with me when we get a chance. I've a violin there, and you're welcome to it. Not an Amati by a long shot, but it's a Betts, and a good one. Only two or three blocks from here. What say?"
27INCREDOULOUSLY Haldon stared at him. Just then a train came rumbling and crashing along, and the man's words were lost; but there was no need of words. The look in Haldon's face was enough. When the train was gone again, Moore heard his voice:
29"All the difference in the world! I can't tell you what it means—you'll have a blessing for this."
31"No use for blessings," said Moore, and laughed harshly. "You can finish the night at my place too; there's a good basement shelter."
33Haldon shook his head. "Thank you, I'd best keep at work. Of late, an idea
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