The Chaser John Collier

<p>Alan Austen, as nervous as a kitten, went up certain dark and creaky stairs in the neighborhood of Pell Street, and peered about for a long time on the dim landing before he found the name he wanted written obscurely on one of the doors.</p> <p>He pushed open this door, as he had been told to do, and found himself in a tiny room, which contained no furniture but a plain kitchen table, a rocking-chair, and an ordinary chair. On one of the dirty buff-coloured walls were a couple of shelves, containing in all perhaps a dozen bottles and jars. An old man sat in the rocking-chair, reading a newspaper. Alan, without a word, handed him the card he had been given.</p> <p>“Sit down, Mr. Austen,” said the old man very politely.</p> <p>“I am glad to make your acquaintance.”</p> <p>“Is it true,” asked Alan, “that you have a certain mixture that has-er-quite extraordinary effects?”</p> <p>“My dear sir,” replied the old man, “my stock in trade is not very large-I don’t deal in laxatives and teething mixtures-but such as it is, it is varied. I think nothing I sell has effects which could be precisely described as ordinary.”</p> --- Support this podcast: <a href="https://anchor.fm/hmphaudiobooks/support" rel="payment">https://anchor.fm/hmphaudiobooks/support</a>