human
Life is strange. I was twaindy before Ostrog was a baby. I remember him long before he'd pushed his way to the head of the Wind Vanes Control. I've seen many changes. Eh! I've worn the blue. And at last I've come to see this crush and darkness and tumult and dead men carried by in heaps on the ways. And all his doing! All his doing!
gpt
Let me see, he said,
human
The Sleeper has been asleep--
gpt
Changed,
human
Perhaps. And meanwhile the Sleeper's property grew in the hands of Twelve Trustees, until it swallowed up nearly all the great ownership of the world. The Twelve Trustees--by virtue of this property have become masters of the world. Because they are the paying power--just as the old English Parliament used to be--
gpt
Eh! said the old man.
human
That's so--that's a good comparison. You're not so--
gpt
And now this Ostrog--has suddenly revolutionised the world by waking the Sleeper--whom no one but the superstitious, common people had ever dreamt would wake again--raising the Sleeper to claim his property from the Council, after all these years.
human
It's strange, he said,
gpt
Aye, said Graham,
human
Have you been in a Pleasure City? said the old man.
gpt
All my life I've longed-- He laughed.
human
Even now, he said,
gpt
I could enjoy a little fun. Enjoy seeing things, anyhow.
human
The Sleeper--when did he awake?
gpt
Three days ago.
human
Where is he?
gpt
Ostrog has him. He escaped from the Council not four hours ago. My dear sir, where were you at the time? He was in the hall of the markets--where the fighting has been. All the city was screaming about it. All the Babble Machines. Everywhere it was shouted. Even the fools who speak for the Council were admitting it. Everyone was rushing off to see him--everyone was getting arms. Were you drunk or asleep? And even then! But you're joking! Surely you're pretending. It was to stop the shouting of the Babble Machines and prevent the people gathering that they turned off the electricity--and put this damned darkness upon us. Do you mean to say--?
human
I had heard the Sleeper was rescued, said Graham.
gpt
But--to come back a minute. Are you sure Ostrog has him?
human
He won't let him go,
gpt
And the Sleeper. Are you sure he is not genuine? I have never heard--
human
So all the fools think. So they think. As if there wasn't a thousand things that were never heard. I know Ostrog too well for that. Did I tell you? In a way I'm a sort of relation of Ostrog's. A sort of relation. Through my daughter-in-law.
gpt
I suppose--
human
Well?
gpt
I suppose there's no chance of this Sleeper asserting himself. I suppose he's certain to be a puppet--in Ostrog's hands or the Council's, as soon as the struggle is over.
human
In Ostrog's hands--certainly. Why shouldn't he be a puppet? Look at his position. Everything done for him, every pleasure possible. Why should he want to assert himself?
gpt
What are these Pleasure Cities?
human
That's _too_ much, said he.
gpt
You're poking fun at an old man. I've been suspecting you know more than you pretend.
human
Perhaps I do, said Graham.
gpt
But no! why should I go on acting? No, I do not know what a Pleasure City is.
human
What is more, I do not know how to read your letters, I do not know what money you use, I do not know what foreign countries there are. I do not know where I am. I cannot count. I do not know where to get food, nor drink, nor shelter.
gpt
Come, come, said the old man,
human
I want you to tell me all these things.
gpt
He, he! Well, gentlemen who dress in silk must have their fun. A withered hand caressed Graham's arm for a moment.
human
Silk. Well, well! But, all the same, I wish I was the man who was put up as the Sleeper. He'll have a fine time of it. All the pomp and pleasure. He's a queer looking face. When they used to let anyone go to see him, I've got tickets and been. The image of the real one, as the photographs show him, this substitute used to be. Yellow. But he'll get fed up. It's a queer world. Think of the luck of it. The luck of it. I expect he'll be sent to Capri. It's the best fun for a greener.
gpt
The luck of it, the luck of it! All my life I've been in London, hoping to get my chance.
human
But you don't know that the Sleeper died,
gpt
Men don't live beyond ten dozen. It's not in the order of things, said the old man.
human
I'm not a fool. Fools may believe it, but not me.
gpt
Whether you are a fool or not, he said,
human
Eh?
gpt
You are wrong about the Sleeper. I haven't told you before, but I will tell you now. You are wrong about the Sleeper.
human
How do you know? I thought you didn't know anything--not even about Pleasure Cities.
gpt
You don't know, said the old man.
human
How are you to know? It's very few men--
gpt
I _am_ the Sleeper.
human
There's a silly thing to say, sir, if you'll excuse me. It might get you into trouble in a time like this,
gpt
I was saying I was the Sleeper. That years and years ago I did, indeed, fall asleep, in a little stone-built village, in the days when there were hedgerows, and villages, and inns, and all the countryside cut up into little pieces, little fields. Have you never heard of those days? And it is I--I who speak to you--who awakened again these four days since.
human
Four days since!--the Sleeper! But they've _got_ the Sleeper. They have him and they won't let him go. Nonsense! You've been talking sensibly enough up to now. I can see it as though I was there. There will be Lincoln like a keeper just behind him; they won't let him go about alone. Trust them. You're a queer fellow. One of these fun pokers. I see now why you have been clipping your words so oddly, but--
gpt
As if Ostrog would let the Sleeper run about alone! No, you're telling that to the wrong man altogether. Eh! as if I should believe. What's your game? And besides, we've been talking of the Sleeper.
human
Listen, he said.
gpt
I am the Sleeper.
human
You're an odd man, said the old man,
gpt
It is preposterous, he cried.
human
Preposterous. The dream must end. It gets wilder and wilder. Here am I--in this damned twilight--I never knew a dream in twilight before--an anachronism by two hundred years and trying to persuade an old fool that I am myself, and meanwhile--Ugh!
gpt
Eh! but don't go! cried the old man.
human
I'm an old fool, I know. Don't go. Don't leave me in all this darkness.
gpt
I didn't mean to offend you--disbelieving you, said the old man coming near.
human
It's no manner of harm. Call yourself the Sleeper if it pleases you. 'Tis a foolish trick--