Recognition
Just as Richard Hannay was steeling himself to report failure in the hunt for a German agent, a stranger’s eye caught his own.
1915
King George V 1910-1936
Just as Richard Hannay was steeling himself to report failure in the hunt for a German agent, a stranger’s eye caught his own.
1915
King George V 1910-1936
On the eve of the Great War, Richard Hannay has gone to Sir Walter Bullivant’s house in Queen Anne’s Gate to report failure in the search for the ‘Black Stone’ — a German spy and master of disguise whom Hannay alone can identify. Sir Walter, however, is closeted with Lord Alloa, head of the Navy.
abridged
THE door of the back room opened, and the First Sea Lord came out. He walked past me, and in passing he glanced in my direction, and for a second we looked each other in the face.
Only for a second, but it was enough to make my heart jump. I had never seen the great man before, and he had never seen me. But in that fraction of time something sprang into his eyes, and that something was recognition. It came involuntarily, for in a moment it died, and he passed on. In a maze of wild fancies I heard the street door close behind him.
I picked up the telephone book and looked up the number of his house. We were connected at once, and I heard a servant’s voice.
‘Is his Lordship at home?’ I asked.
‘His Lordship returned half an hour ago,’ said the voice, ‘and has gone to bed. He is not very well tonight. Will you leave a message, Sir?’
I rang off and almost tumbled into a chair. My part in this business was not yet ended.
abridged
1. What is the author aiming to achieve in writing this?
2. Note any words, devices or turns of phrase that strike you. How do they help the author communicate his ideas more effectively?
3. What impression does this passage make on you? How might you put that impression into words?
Based on The English Critic (1939) by NL Clay, drawing on The New Criticism: A Lecture Delivered at Columbia University, March 9, 1910, by J. E. Spingarn, Professor of Comparative Literature in Columbia University, USA.