Engineer Garin and his Death Ray-2

Sun, 09 Mar 2008 04:16:00 +0100

A long, suave Rolls Royce with mahogany-panelled body glided noiselessly up to the hotel entrance. The commissionaire, his chain rattling, hurried to the revolving doors.

The first to enter was a man of medium stature with a pale sallow face, a short trimmed black beard, and a fleshy nose with distended nostrils. He wore a long, sack-like coat and a bowler hat tilted over his eyes.

The man stood still, disdainfully awaiting his companion; she had stopped to talk to a young man who had darted out to meet their car from behind a column of the hotel portico. With a nod of her head she passed through the revolving doors, This was the famous Zoya Montrose, one of the smartest woman in Paris. She wore a whit woolen costume and was tall, svelte and handsome.

"Are we going to lunch, Rolling?" she asked the man in the bowler hat.
"Not yet. I'll talk with him before lunch."

Zoya Montrose smiled, condescedingly excusing the sharp tone in which he answered her. The young man who had spoken to Zoya at the car slipped through the revolving doors. His old, worn over coat was unbutton and he carried a stick and soft felt hat in his hand. His excited face was sprinkled with freckles and the thin, stiff moustache looked as if it was glued in place. He apparently intended shaking hands but Rolling, keeping his in overcoat pockets, spoke to him in still shaper tones.

"You are a quarter of an hour late, Semyonov."
"I was detained... On our business... I'm terribly sorry... Everything has been arranged... They agree... Tomorrow they can leave for Warsaw..."
"If you shout at the top of your voice like that you'll be thrown out of the hotel," said Rolling, staring at him with dull eyes that boded no good.
"Excuse me, I'll whisper...Everything is ready in Warsaw, passports, clothing. weapons, and so on. Early in April they will cross the frontier..."
"Mademoiselle Montrose and I are going to lunch now," said Rolling. "You will go to these gentlemen and tell them I wish to see them today a little after four. And tell them that if they think they can double-cross me, I'll hand them over to the police..."

This conservation took place at the begining of March in the year 192...

GLOSSARY:
bode: to be a sign of something that will happen in the future, usually something particularly good or bad
bowler (hat): a man's hat that is black and has a round hard top
condescend: if you condescend to do something, you agree to do something which you do not consider to be good enough for your social position
dart: to move quickly or suddenly:
detain: 1/ to force someone officially to stay in a place
2/ to delay someone for a short length of time:
disdain: when you dislike someone or something and think that they do not deserve your interest or respect
distend: (usually of the stomach or other part of the body) to swell and become large (as if) by pressure from inside
double-cross: to deceive someone by working only for your own advantage in the (usually illegal) activities you have planned together
freckle: a small pale brown spot on the skin, usually on the face, especially of a light-skinned person
frontier: a border between two countries, or (especially in the past in the United States) a border between cultivated land where people live and wild land
glide: to move easily without stopping and without effort or noise
mahogany: a dark red-brown wood used to make furniture
nod: to move your head down and then up, sometimes repeatedly, especially to show agreement, approval or greeting or to show something by doing this
panel: a flat, usually rectangular part, or piece of wood, metal, cloth, etc., that fits into or onto something larger
portico (prl porticoes or porticos): a covered entrance to a building, usually a large and splendid building, which is supported by columns
rattle: to (cause to) make a noise like a series of knocks
sack: a large bag made of strong cloth, paper or plastic, used to store large amounts of something
sprinkle: to scatter a few bits or drops of something over a surface:
suave: charming and usually attractive, often in a way that is slightly false
svelte: attractively thin, graceful and stylish
tilt: to (cause to) move into a sloping position:
trim: to make something tidier or more level by cutting a small amount off it

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Engineer Garin and his Death Ray-1

Fri, 07 Mar 2008 16:28:49 +0100

1.
That season the entire Paris business world assembled for lunch at Hotel Majestic. Men of all nations were to be met there, with the exception of the French.Business talks were conducted between couples and contracts were signed to the accompaniment of orchestral music, the popping of corks and the chattering of women.

A tall, grey-headed, clean-shaven man, a relic of France's heroic past, paced the priceless carpets of the hotel magnificent hall with its gleaming plate-glass revolving doors. He was dressed in a loose-fitting black frock-coat, silk stockings and patent-leather shoes with buckles, and wore a silver chain of office on his chest. This was the chief commissionaire, the personification of the company that operated the Majestic.

His rheumatic hands clapped behind his back, he came to a halt in front of the glass partition behind which the guest were lunching amidst palms and blossoming trees in green tubs. He looked for all the world like a biologist studying plant and insect life through the glass wall of an aquarium.

The women looked lovely, there was no denying it. The young ones were seductive in their youth, in the flash of their eyes - the Anglo-Saxon blue, the French dark violet, the South Amerian black as night. The elder women were toilets that served as a piquant sauce to their fading beauty.

As far as women were concerned all was well. The chief commissionaire, however, could not say the same about the men seated in the restaurant.

From what weed-bed had these fellows emerged in the postwar years - fat, short of stature, with beringed hairy fingers and flush cheeks that defied the razor?

From morning to night they busied themselves with the consumption of all manner of drinks. Their hairy fingers spun money out of the air, money, money, money... In the majority of cases they came from America, that accursed country where people waded up to their knees in gold and were going to buy up the good Old World at a bargain price.

GLOSSARY:
accursed = accurst: very annoying
amidst: in the middle of or surrounded by; among
assemble: to come together in a single place or bring parts together in a single group.
buckle: a piece of metal at one end of a belt or strap, used to fasten the two ends together
chatter: to talk for a long time about things that are not important
commissionaire: a person wearing a uniform who stands at the entrance of a hotel, theatre, etc. and whose job is to open the door for guests and generally be helpful to them when they arrive
cork: a short cylindrical piece of cork, or sometimes plastic or rubber, which is put into the top of a bottle, especially a wine bottle, to close it
defy: to refuse to obey, or to act or be against, a person, decision, law, situation, etc
fading: lose colour, brightness or strength gradually
frock-coat: a short coat with a skirt which reaches the knees, worn by men, especially in the past
gleaming: to produce or reflect a small, bright light
halt: stops moving
partition: a vertical structure like a thin wall which separates one part of a room or building from another
patent-leather: leather that has a very shiny surface
personification: a perfect example of something
piquant : interesting and exciting, especially because mysterious
plate-glass: large sheets of glass used especially as windows and doors in shops and offices
pop: make a short explosive sound, often by bursting something
relic: an object, tradition or system from the past which continues to exist
rheumatic: stiffness and pain in the joints or muscles of the body
seductive: persuade someone to have sex
spin money out of the air: purchase
stature: 1/ the good reputation a person or organization has, based on their behaviour and ability. 2/ height
stockings: a pair of tight-fitting coverings for the feet and legs made of light material
wade up to their knees in gold: (idm) very prosperous

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starsonthesky

Engineer Garin and his Death Ray-2

Engineer Garin and his Death Ray-1