The Left Hand One Shall Be For Attempting The Road
At The Risk Of Illness Or Very Dangerous Failure; The Right Hand One
Shall Stand For My Going By Rail Till I Come To That Point On The
Railway Where One Franc Eighty Will Take Me, And Thence Walking Into
Milan:
- And heaven defend the right.'
They were a long time going out, and they fell evenly. At last the
right hand one shot up the long flame that precedes the death of
candles; the contest took on interest, and even excitement, when, just
as I thought the left hand certain of winning, it went out without
guess or warning, like a second-rate person leaving this world for
another. The right hand candle waved its flame still higher, as though
in triumph, outlived its colleague just the moment to enjoy glory, and
then in its turn went fluttering down the dark way from which they say
there is no return.
None may protest against the voice of the Gods. I went straight to the
nearest railway station (for there are two), and putting down one
franc eighty, asked in French for a ticket to whatever station that
sum would reach down the line. The ticket came out marked Milan, and I
admitted the miracle and confessed the finger of Providence. There was
no change, and as I got into the train I had become that rarest and
ultimate kind of traveller, the man without any money whatsoever -
without passport, without letters, without food or wine; it would be
interesting to see what would follow if the train broke down.
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