Programming note: Tomorrow, Wednesday, I'll be keeping my midweek date with Tucker Carlson, live on Fox News at 8pm Eastern/5pm Pacific. Hope you'll tune in if you're in the vicinity of the receiving apparatus.
One of the suspects in last Friday's Parsons Green bombing was captured attempting to flee Britain. It is the first instinct even of paradise-minded terrorists - to get out of the country, to somewhere else. And so it was for the anarchists of Joseph Conrad's days, in The Secret Agent. In tonight's penultimate episode of this Tale for Our Time, Winnie Verloc and Comrade Ossipon determine to head for the Continent ...except that the latter suspects a trap:
He did not believe the woman, or rather he was incapable by now of judging what could be true, possible, or even probable in this astounding universe. He was terrified out of all capacity for belief or disbelief in regard of this extraordinary affair, which began with police inspectors and Embassies and would end goodness knows where—on the scaffold for someone. He was terrified at the thought that he could not prove the use he made of his time ever since seven o'clock, for he had been skulking about Brett Street. He was terrified at this savage woman who had brought him in there, and would probably saddle him with complicity, at least if he were not careful. He was terrified at the rapidity with which he had been involved in such dangers—decoyed into it. It was some twenty minutes since he had met her—not more.
Nevertheless, they hail a cab for Waterloo Station...
Members of The Mark Steyn Club can hear me read Part Nineteen of The Secret Agent simply by clicking here and logging-in. Earlier episodes can be found here.
If you've yet to hear any of our Tales for Our Time, you can do so by joining The Mark Steyn Club. For more details, see here - and don't forget our new Gift Membership. Please join me tomorrow evening for our final episode - and in the coming days we'll also have a special Book Club Q&A, in which I'll endeavor to answer your questions on this and our other audio adventures.
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