Report on Probability A Read Online Free PDF

opposite the house. Nobody was there. Inside the door to the left was a small table covered with a red-and-white squared cloth which S recognized; there was a wooden chair beside the table, on which S sat; the seat of the wooden chair was not cold. S observed the house opposite. He noticed that the red curtain in one of the upper windows had not been drawn back tidily, so that it hung crookedly. He did not see anything move in any of the windows.
    Behind the counter of the shop was a door covered by a poster advertising a circus that had once appeared locally; the circus had a Dozen Huge Untamable Lions performing in it. The door now opened. Through it came a man bearing a tray containing breakfast.
    The man brought this tray round the counter and set the contents of the tray down upon the top of the table where S sat.
    S looked down at a slice of haddock and adjusted it so that it lay in the middle of the white bone china plate. He spoke to the man who had brought the food.
    â€œNo doubt it is a lovely morning in Tahiti this morning.”
    â€œHow do you mean?”
    â€œI said, No doubt it is a lovely morning in Tahiti today.”
    â€œI see. Another strike at the car factory.”
    â€œFish looks nice.”
    â€œConditions are bad there, they tell me.”
    â€œI compliment you on the taste also.”
    â€œA fine piece of poached haddock.”
    â€œWhy are they striking?”
    â€œThey tell me conditions are bad there.”
    â€œHigher wages, I suppose? Does she speak of it?”
    â€œI haven’t seen her this morning; she’s afraid of men hanging about in the streets, so I hear.”
    â€œWhat men? I don’t see any.”
    â€œHow do you mean?”
    â€œThe street is empty.”
    â€œIt’s early yet. Maybe about lunch time.”
    â€œMm, I see what you mean. Still, it is nice fresh fish.”
    The man made no immediate reply to this, standing behind the folding chair on which S sat, resting his hands on the back of it, and gazing out at the road through his shop window.
    S also gazed out of the shop window as he sat eating. He gazed across the road at the house.
    Because the house was directly opposite, only the front of it could be observed from the café. It presented a symmetrical picture, with the window to the left of the front door being balanced by the window to the right of the front door. The door itself was painted with a glossy green paint and had a crescent-shaped fanlight over it; it was reached by two curved steps and sheltered by a heavy stone porch, also curved, and supported by two stone pillars.
    On the first floor there were three windows overlooking the street, the middle one being placed over the front door; and above this middle window was a small dormer window set in the roof with a small flagstaff protruding above it. The flagstaff bore no flag.
    The dormer window, S knew, belonged to an attic room. Of the three windows below, the one on the left belonged to Mr. Mary’s wife’s bedroom, while the other two belonged to Mr. Mary’s bedroom. On the ground floor, the window to the left of the front door belonged to Mr. Mary’s study; the one on the right belonged to the sitting-room.
    In none of these windows was there any movement.
    â€œNot much doing over there this morning?”
    To the south-east of the house, facing onto the road, was a garage, separated from the house only by a couple of metres. Although obviously built at a more recent date than the house, it presented some of the aspects of shabbiness. It was constructed of slabs of asbestos and pillars of reinforced concrete, apparently of a prefabricated pattern. Two double doors of a light metal occupied all the front wall of the garage. Above these doors, set under the peak of the roof, was a small square sealed window, its area of glass divided into four by a pair of crossed bars; from one of these small squares, the glass was missing. There was no movement