Page 134 - Real English 2024 Book 8

REAL ENGLISH 8

The young man sat forward hurriedly, felt rapidly in the pockets
of his overcoat, and then jumped to his feet.
‘I must have lost it,’ he muttered angrily.

‘To lose a hotel as well as a cake of soap on the same afternoon
suggests wilful carelessness,’ said Gortsby, but the young man did
8
not wait to hear the end of this remark. He hurried away down the
path, his head held high, with an expression of well-practised anger

and pride.
‘It was a pity,’ thought Gortsby to himself; ‘The bit about going
out to buy one’s own soap was the one convincing part of the whole
story, and yet it was just that little detail that brought him to grief.
9
If he had the brilliant forethought to provide himself with a newly-
bought cake of soap, he would have been a genius in his particular

profession.’
With these thoughts, Gortsby rose to
go. As he did so, he gave a cry of surprise
and anxiety. Lying on the ground by the side
of the bench was a small packet. It was a

newly-bought cake of soap. It had obviously
fallen out of the young man’s overcoat pocket
when he threw himself down on the seat. In
another moment, Gortsby was rushing along
the half-dark path anxiously looking for a
youthful figure in a light overcoat. He had

nearly given up the search when he caught
sight of the young man standing uncertainly
on the border of the road, evidently trying to
decide which way to go. When Gortsby called
him, he turned sharply with an expression

of challenge. ‘The important witness to the truth of your story has
now appeared,’ said Gortsby, holding out the cake of soap; ‘It must
have slipped out of your overcoat pocket when you sat down on the
seat. I saw it on the ground after you left. You must excuse my earlier

intentional disbelief, but appearances were really rather against you. And now, if
8.
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careful planning in advance the loan of a sovereign is any good to you . . .’
9.
a British gold coin worth The young man replied by taking the coin hastily and pocketing
10.
one pound, now rarely used it.

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