Tales of the Unexpected
Roald Dahl
Language: English
Pages: 480
ISBN: 0679729895
Format: PDF / Kindle (mobi) / ePub
Dahl is a master at introducing readers to a new sense of what lurks beneath the ordinary.
But I don’t wish you to go any further than that. Do you understand me, Louisa?’ ‘Further than what?’ ‘I don’t want to hear any more of this crazy talk. You’re acting like a lunatic.’ Louisa put the cat slowly down on the sofa. Then slowly she raised herself to her full small height and took one pace forward. ‘Damn you, Edward!’ she shouted, stamping her foot. ‘For the first time in our lives something really exciting comes along and you’re scared to death of having anything to do with it
eighteenth century by a Frenchman called Beaumont, the same fellow who did Levens, in Westmorland. For at least a year he had two hundred and fifty men working on it.’ The woman in the red dress had been joined now by a man, and they were standing face to face, about a yard apart, in the very centre of the whole garden panorama, on this little circular patch of lawn, apparently conversing. The man had some small black object in his hand. ‘If you’re interested, I’ll show you the bills that
farewell from William? Probably, yes. A formal letter. It was bound to be formal – stiff and formal. The man was incapable of acting otherwise. He had never done anything informal in his life. My dear Mary, I trust that you will not permit my departure from this world to upset you too much, but that you will continue to observe those precepts which have guided you so well during our partnership together. Be diligent and dignified in all things. Be thrifty with your money. Be very careful that
the world could possibly make a mistake about a thing like that? Admittedly it was painted white, but that made not the slightest difference. Some idiot had done that. The paint could easily be stripped off. But good God! Just look at it! And in a place like this! At this point, Mr Boggis became aware of the three men, Rummins, Bert, and Claud, standing together in a group over by the fireplace, watching him intently. They had seen him stop and gasp and stare, and they must have seen his face
to suck ravenously with a rapid powerful action. ‘Oh, Albert, isn’t it wonderful?’ she said, laughing. ‘It’s terrific, Mabel.’ In seven or eight minutes, the entire contents of the bottle had disappeared down the baby’s throat. ‘You clever girl,’ Mrs Taylor said. ‘Four ounces again.’ Albert Taylor was leaning forward in his chair, peering intently into the baby’s face. ‘You know what?’ he said. ‘She even seems as though she’s put on a touch of weight already. What do you think?’ The mother