College students -- Fiction; Murder -- Fiction; Murderers -- Fiction
Swift contrast the fat and shapeless Bunning! As the tremulous and
almost tearful voice of little Erdington continued the solemn and dreary
exposition of the Huns, Olva felt increasingly that Bunning's eye was
upon him. Olva had not seen the creature since the night of the revival,
and he was irritated with himself for the persistence of his interest.
The man's pluck had, in the first place, struck him, but now it seemed
to him that they were, in some undefinable measure, linked together. As
Olva watched him, half contemptuously, half sarcastically, he tried
to pin his brain down to the actual, definite connection. It seemed
ultimately to hang round that dreadful evening when they had been
together; it was almost---although this was absurd--as though Bunning
knew; but, in spite of the certain assurance of his ignorance Olva
felt as he moved uneasily under Bunning's gaze that the man himself was
making some claim upon him. It was evident that Bunning was unhappy;
he looked as though he had not slept; his face was white and puffy, his
eyes dark and heavy. He was paying no attention to the "Huns," but was
trying, obviously, to catch Olva's eye. As the reading progressed Olva
became more and more uneasy. It showed the things that must be happening
to his nerves. He had now that sensation that had often come to him
lately that some one was waiting for him outside the door. He imagined
that the man next to him, a spotty, thin and restless freshman, would
suddenly turn to him and say quite casually--"By the way, you killed
Carfax, didn't you?" Above all he imagined himself suddenly rising in
his place and saying---"Yes, gentlemen, this is all very well, very
interesting I'm sure, but I killed Carfax."
His tortured brain was being driven, compelled to these utterances.
Behind him still he felt that pursuing cloud; one day it would catch him
and, out of the heart of it, there would leap . . .
And all this because Bunning looked at him. It was becoming now a
habit--so general that it was instinctive--that, almost unconsciously,
he should, at a point like this, pull at his nerves. "They are watching
you; they are watching you. Don't let them see you like this; pull
yourself together. . . ."
He did. Little Erdington's voice ceased. Mr. Gregg was heard saying:
"It has always occurred to me that the Huns . . . " and then, after many
speeches: "How does this point of view strike you, Erdington?"
It didn't strike Erdington very strongly, and there was no other person
present who seemed to be struck in any very especial direction. The
discussion, therefore, quickly flagged. Olva escaped Bunning's pleading
eyes, found his gown amongst a heap in the corner, and avoiding Mr.
Gregg's pressing invitation to stay, plunged down the stairs. Behind
him, then, making his heart leap into his mouth, was a slow, thick
voice.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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