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Wells, H. G. (Herbert George), 1866-1946

"Secret Places of the Heart"


"But what is this Avebury?" asked V.V. "I've never heard of the place."
"I thought it was a lord," said Belinda.
Sir Richmond, with occasional appeals to Dr. Martineau, embarked upon
an account of the glory and wonder of Avebury. Possibly he exaggerated
Avebury....
It was Dr. Martineau who presently brought this disquisition upon
Avebury to a stop by a very remarkable gesture. He looked at his watch.
He drew it out ostentatiously, a thick, respectable gold watch, for
the doctor was not the sort of man to wear his watch upon his wrist. He
clicked it open and looked at it. Thereby he would have proclaimed his
belief this encounter was an entirely unnecessary interruption of his
healing duologue with Sir Richmond, which must now be resumed.
But this action had scarcely the effect he had intended it to have. It
set the young lady who was called Belinda asking about ways and means of
getting to Salisbury; it brought to light the distressing fact that V.V.
had the beginnings of a chafed heel. Once he had set things going they
moved much too quickly for the doctor to deflect their course. He
found himself called upon to make personal sacrifices to facilitate the
painless transport of the two ladies to Salisbury, where their luggage
awaited them at the Old George Hotel.


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