The End of the Affair
Description
Vocal Characteristics
Language
EnglishVoice Age
Middle Aged (35-54)Accents
British (England - Cockney, Estuary, East End) British (Received Pronunciation - RP, BBC)Transcript
Note: Transcripts are generated using speech recognition software and may contain errors.
This is an extract from the end of the affair by Graham Greene. I had tried to work in the morning and failed. I drank too much with my lunch. So the afternoon was wasted after dark. I stood at the window where the lights turned off and could see across the flat dark common, the lit windows of the north side, it was very cold and my gas fire only warmed me if I huddled close and then it scorched. A few flakes of snow drifted across the lamps of the south side and touched the pain with thick damp fingers. I didn't hear the bell ring. My landlady knocked on the door and said, uh Mr Park is to see you thus indicating by a grammatical article, the social status of my caller. I had never heard the name but I told her to show him in. I wondered where I had seen before. Those gentle apologetic eyes that long outdated mustache, damp with the climate. I had only turned on my reading lamp and he came towards it peering shortsightedly. He couldn't make me out in the shadows. He said Mr Hendrix, sir, d he said the name's Park as though that might mean something to me. He added Mr Savage's man, sir. Oh, yes, sit down, have a cigarette. Oh no, sir. He said not on duty except of course for purposes of concealment, but you aren't on duty now in a manner, sir. Yes, I've just been relieved, sir for half an hour while I make my report. Mr Sa said, is say you'd like it weekly with expenses. There is something to report. I wasn't sure whether it was disappointment. I felt her excitement. It's not quite a blank sheet, sir. He remarked complacently and took an extraordinary number of papers and envelopes from his pocket in searching for the right one. Do sit down, you make me uncomfortable as you play son. Sitting down. He could see me a little more closely. Haven't I met you somewhere before sir. I had taken the first sheet out of the envelope. It was the expenses account written in a very neat script as though by a school boy. I said, you write very clearly. That's my boy. I'm training him in the business. He added hastily. I don't put anything down for him, sir. Unless I'll leave him in charge right now. He's in charge. Is he only while I make my reports up? How old is he gone? 12. He said as though his boy were a clock. A youngster can be useful and cost nothing except a comic now and then. And nobody notices him, boys are born lingerers. It seems odd. Work for a boy. Well, Sara, he doesn't understand the real significance. If it came to breaking into a bedroom, I'd leave him behind.