Welcome to Part Thirty-Five of our current Tale for Our Time: the biggest-selling novel of Jack London's lifetime - Burning Daylight. In tonight's episode Daylight's romantic frustration is increasing his Martini consumption:
Every day brought its problems, and when he had solved them in his masterful way, he left the office in his big car, almost sighing with relief at anticipation of the approaching double Martini. Rarely was he made tipsy. His constitution was too strong for that. Instead, he was that direst of all drinkers, the steady drinker, deliberate and controlled, who averaged a far higher quantity of alcohol than the irregular and violent drinker. For six weeks hard-running he had seen nothing of Dede except in the office, and there he resolutely refrained from making approaches. But by the seventh Sunday his hunger for her overmastered him. It was a stormy day.
A heavy southeast gale was blowing, and squall after squall of rain and wind swept over the city. He could not take his mind off of her, and a persistent picture came to him of her sitting by a window and sewing feminine fripperies of some sort. When the time came for his first pre-luncheon cocktail to be served to him in his rooms, he did not take it.
Filled with a daring determination, he glanced at his note book for Dede's telephone number, and called for the switch...
- ie, for the placement of the call by the operator (see top right). But is Daylight's switch in time?
Members of The Mark Steyn Club can hear Part Thirty-Five of our adventure simply by clicking here and logging-in. Earlier episodes of Burning Daylight can be found here, and previous Tales for Our Time here.
If you'd like to join us in The Mark Steyn Club, we'd love to have you: please see here. And, if you've a chum who enjoys classic fiction, we've introduced a special Steyn Gift Membership: you'll find more details here. Oh, and we also do video poetry.
Please join me back here tomorrow evening for Part Thirty-Six of Burning Daylight - and, earlier in the day, a brace of Songs of the Week, one right here, the other on Serenade Radio at 5.30pm London time/12.30pm New York.
