[Vwoolf] The store detective's account

[Stuart N. Clarke]

Oh dear, I’ve done it again.  I never think that I’ll be taken seriously!


>From Gibbon’s Decline and Fall



When rumours were bruited that the Nazarene had survived the crucifixion, Pontius Pilate interpreted this as a slur on the efficiency of his administration.  He attempted to dismiss such claims with inappropriate levity.  If men sealed a cave with a stone, he said, there was nothing sinister in the dexterity with which other men might remove it.  As for the concubine in the garden, he considered that her wits had been softened in the course of her profession.  As the rumours increased, however, he sought the assistance of the Sadducees, Pharisees and Samaritans, but unfortunately their internecine hatreds overpowered their evidentiary abilities, thus destroying the confidence and exciting the resentment of Pilate.  When he heard several weeks later that the supposed survivor had ascended into the empyrean leaving no trace behind, his relief was tempered with anxiety, for he knew that it is easier to behead a man than a chimera.




Stuart


From: kllevenback at att.net 
Sent: Wednesday, October 03, 2012 12:08 PM
To: Stuart N. Clarke ; vwoolf at lists.service.ohio-state.edu 
Subject: Re: [Vwoolf] The store detective's account

How curious, Stuart.

Where and when was this recorded?

Cheers--
Karen Levenback

 


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
From: Stuart N. Clarke <stuart.n.clarke at btinternet.com>
To: vwoolf at lists.service.ohio-state.edu
Sent: Wed, October 3, 2012 6:33:24 AM
Subject: [Vwoolf] The store detective's account



“Another theft to-day. This woman—obviously a lady even tho’ she looked as if she’d been dragged through a hedge backwards—was trying on a jacket. The daft thing put her handbag under her mangy fur coat for a minute and then turned back. Of course it had gone. We had seen you-know-who, but it was too late to catch her. This Mrs. Woolf doesn’t have an account with Marshall & Snelgrove’s, so we couldn’t advance her anything officially. More fool me, but I took pity on the poor soul and lent her ten shillings. Hope she doesn’t lose my address—she seemed as if she’d lose her head if it wasn’t screwed on! Talk about vague and odd-looking. Anyway, I found her in the tel. book. She’s something to do with publishing in Tavistock Sq., apparently.”
Stuart 
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