in the yard. He noticed that he badly wanted to
urinate, and felt a faint surprise, because he had done so only two or
three hours ago. He noticed that the clock on the mantelpiece said nine,
meaning twenty-one. But the light seemed too strong. Would not the light be
fading at twenty-one hours on an August evening? He wondered whether after
all he and Julia had mistaken the time -- had slept the clock round and
thought it was twenty-thirty when really it was nought eight-thirty on the
following morning. But he did not pursue the thought further. It was not
interesting.
There ws another, lighter step in the passage. Mr. Charrington came
into the room. The demeanour of the black-uniformed men suddenly became
more subdued. Something had also changed in Mr. Charrington's appearance.
His eye fell on the fragments of the glass paperweight.
'Pick up those pieces,' he said sharply.
A man stooped to obey. The cockney accent had disappeared; Winston
suddenly realized whose voice it was that he had heard a few moments ago on
the telescreen. Mr. Charrington was still wearing his old velvet jacket,
but his h