96. Jahresbericht des Bundes-Realgymnasiums Steyr 1978/79

16 8. B-Kl.asse (Prof. Klotz) The following passage is taken from " AN INSPECTOR CALLS". BIRLJNG (lifting the receiver) . Of course. (Into the telep/10ne .) Brumle.y eight-seven-five-two. (To tlre ot/1ers). I w,as going to do this anyhow. l've had my suspicions all along. (Into the te lep/1one). Colonel Ro 1 berts, plea,se. Mr. Arthur Birling here ... Oh, Roberts - Birling here. Sorry to ri ng you up so late, hut can you teil me if an Inspector Goole has joined your s.taff lately . .. Gool,e, GO O L E ... . . . a ne,w man .. . (He describes t/1e appearance of t/1e actor playing the part of the l11spector.) I see ... yes ... we1·J, ~hat settles it ... No, just a little argument we were having here ... Good-niight . (He puts down the telephone and loohs at the ot/1ers.) There's 110 Inspector Goole on the police now. There's nobody who even looiks like the man who came he re. That man definitely wasn't a Police Inspector. As Gera ld says - we've been ihad . MRS. BIRLING. I feit it all the time. He never talked liike one. He never even looked hke one. BIRLJNG. This rnakes a •diff erence, y'know. In fact, it makes all the difference. SHEILA. I suppose we're all nice people now. BIRLJNG. lf you've nothing more ,sensib le than to say, Sheila, you 'd better keep quiiet. ERTC. She's ri,ght, though. BIRLING (angrily). And you'd better keep quiet anyhow. If that had been a Police lnspecto-r and he'd heard you confess - MRS. BIRLING (warningly). Arthur - carefol! BIRLING (hastily) . Yes, yes. SHEIL A. YO 'u see, Gerald, you're not all owed to know the vest oif our crimes a.nd i,diocies. GERALD. That's all right, I don ' t want to. (He t11rns to BIRLING.) What ,do you ma•ke oif this busi:ness now? Was it a :hoax? BIRLING. Of course. Somebody put that fello,w up to com-ing here a·n'd hoaxi 1lg us. Tohere are people in this town who ,dislike me enough to do that . We ough t to have seen t hrou gih it from the first . In rhe ordinary way, 1 believe I woul d ha.ve done. But com ing like that, bang on top of our litt le celebration, just when we were aII f.eelirng so pleased with ourselves, naturally it took me •by surprise. MRS. BIRLING. I wish l 'd been her,e when that man fir.st arri.ved. l 'd have asked hi111 a f.ew questions before I a llowed him to ask us any. SHEILA. It 's all righ t s•aying that now. MRS . BIRLING. I was the only one of you who 1did11't give in to him. And now I say we nmst discuss tlüs hus,iness quietly and sensibly and decide if there ' s anythi ng to be done about it. BIRLING (with hearty approval). You're abso.Jutely ri·ght, my ,dear. Already we' ve discovered one important fact - that rhat fellow was