The 39 Steps 1935 quotes, page 2

Now, Mr. Hannay - I suppose it's safe to call you by your real name now. What about our mutual friend, Annabella?

Hannay

She's been murdered.

Murdered? Oh, the Portland Mansions affair. What our friends outside are looking for you for.

Hannay

I didn't do it.

Of course you didn't. But why come all this way to Scotland to tell me about it?

Hannay

I believe she was coming to see you about some Air Ministry secret. She was killed by a foreign agent who is interested too.

Did she tell you what the foreign agent looked like?

Hannay

There wasn't time. Oh, there was one thing. Part of his little finger was missing.

Which one?

Hannay

This one, I think. [He holds up his hand.]

Sure it wasn't...this one?

Well, Mr. Hannay, I'm afraid I've been guilty of leading you down the garden path - or should it be up? I never can remember.

Hannay

It seems to be the wrong garden, all right. Well, what are you going to do about it?

That's just the point. What are we going to do about it? You see, I live here as a respectable citizen. And you must realize that my whole existence would be jeopardized if it became known that I'm not - what shall I say? - not what I seem. Oh, Mr. Hannay, why have you come here? Why have you forced me into this difficult position? I can't lock you up in a room or anything like that?...What makes it doubly important that I shouldn't let you go is, that I'm just about to, uh, convey some very vital information out of the country. Oh yes, I've got it. I'm afraid poor Annabella would have been too late in any case.

Put a pretty girl inside those and she needn't be ashamed of herself anywhere.

All right. Bring it back to me when it's filled.

Smith

Listen, I'm going to tell you something which is not very healthy to know, but now that they have followed me here, you are in it as much as I am. Have you ever heard of the Thirty-Nine Steps?

Hannay

No, what's that - a pub?

Smith

Never mind. But what you are laughing at just now is true. These men will stick at nothing. I am the only person who can stop them. If they are not stopped, it is only a matter of days, perhaps hours, before the secret is out of the country.

Hannay

Well, why don't you phone the police or something?

Smith

'Cause they wouldn't believe me any more than you did. And if they did, how long do you think it would take to get them going. These men act quickly. You don't know how clever their chief is. He has a dozen names, and he can look like a hundred people, but one thing he cannot disguise - this: part of his little finger is missing - so if ever you should meet a man with no top joint there, be very careful, my friend.

Richard Hannay

Hello, what are we stopping for? Oh it's a whole flock of detectives.

Richard Hannay

I was desperate. I'm terribly sorry. I had to do it. Look here, my name is Hannay. They're after me. I swear I'm innocent. You've got to help me. I've got to keep free for the next few days.

Richard Hannay

Ladies and gentlemen, I apologize for my hesitation in rising just now, but to tell you the simple truth, I'd entirely failed, while listening to the chairman's flattering description of the next speaker, to realize he was talking about me. As for you, may I say, from the bottom of my heart and with the utmost sincerity, how delighted and relieved I am to find myself in your presence at this moment. Delighted, because of your friendly reception, and relieved, because as long as I stand on this platform, I'm delivered from the moment - from the cares and anxieties which must always be the lot of a man in my position. When I journeyed up to Scotland a few days ago, traveling on the Highland Express, over that magnificent structure, the Forth Bridge, that monument to Scottish engineering and Scottish muscle, I had no idea that within a few days' time, I should find myself addressing an important political meeting. No idea. I planned a different program for myself. A very different program.

Professor Jordan

As soon as I've picked up - you-know-what, I'll clear out of the country.

Richard Hannay

He murdered three wives and got away with it, but his third mother-in-law got the goods on him and tried to have him arrested. Did she succeed? No! He was too quick for her. Took her for a walk to Land's End and shoved her over into the Atlantic Ocean. He's in Mme. Tussaud's all right, and there's no doubt about his department. We must go down and see him sometime. Can't mistake him. Third on the left as you go in. Red whiskers and a hare-lip. And that, lady, is the sad story of my life. A poor orphan boy who never had a chance.

Richard Hannay

I've got it! I've got it! Of course, there are no papers missing. All the information's inside Memory's head...Don't you see? The details of the Air Ministry secrets were borrowed, memorized by this little man, and then replaced before anyone could find out. That's why he's here tonight to take Memory out of the country after the show.

Professor Jordan

Oh, he's gone to London already, has he?...The girl handed him over to us thinking we were detectives...He's cleared out already...He thought it too dangerous with Hannay on the loose. He's warning the whole Thirty-Nine Steps. Has he got the, uh, you-know? Yes. He's picking up our friend at the London Palladium on the way out.

Richard Hannay

The idle rich? That's kind of an old-fashioned topic these days, especially for me because I'm not rich and I've never been idle. I've been very busy all my life and I expect to be much busier quite soon....And I know what it is to feel lonely and helpless and to have the whole world against me, and those are things that no man or woman ought to feel. And I ask your candidate and all those who love their fellow men to set themselves resolutely to make this world a happier place to live in, a world where no nation plots against nation. Where no neighbor plots against neighbor, where there is no persecution or hunting down, where everybody gets a square deal and a sporting chance, and where people try to help and not to hinder. A world from which suspicions of cruelty and fear have been forever banished. That is the sort of world I want! Is that the sort of world you want.

Richard Hannay

What are the Thirty-Nine Steps? Come on! Answer up! What are the Thirty-Nine Steps?