Just William by Richmal Crompton CH 1 William Goes to the Pictures Public Domain Free Kids Books. chapter 1 of just william this is a librivox recording all librivox recordings are in the public domain for more information or to volunteer please visit librivox.org recording by david wales just william by rickmill crompton chapter one william goes to the pictures it all began with william's aunt who was in a good temper that morning and gave him a shilling for posting a letter for her and carrying her parcels from the grocers buy some sweets or go to the pictures she said carelessly as she gave it to him william walked slowly down the road gazing thoughtfully at the coin after deep calculations based on the fact that a shilling is the equivalent of two six-pence's he came to the conclusion that both luxuries could be indulged in in the matter of sweets william frankly upheld the superiority of quantity over quality moreover he knew every sweet shop within a two miles radius of his home whose proprietor added an extra suite after the scale had descended and he patronized these shops exclusively with solemn face and eager eye he always watched the process of weighing and stingy shops were known and banned by him he wandered now to his favorite confectioner and stood outside the window for five minutes torn between the rival attractions of gooseberry eyes and marble balls both were sold at four ounces for two pence william never purchased more expensive luxuries at last his frowning brow relaxed and he entered the shop sixpence worth of gooseberry eyes he said with a slightly self-conscious heir the extent of his purchases rarely exceeded a penny hello said the shopkeeper an amused surprise got her bit of money this morning explained william carelessly with the heir of a roster he watched the weighing of the emerald green dainties with silent intensity saw with satisfaction the extra one added after the scale had fallen received the precious paper bag and putting two sweets into his mouth walked out of the shop sucking slowly he walked down the road towards the picture palace william was not in the habit of frequenting picture palaces he had only been there once before in his life it was a thrilling program first came the story of desperate crooks who on coming out of any building glanced cautiously up and down the street in huddled crouching attitudes then crept ostentatiously on their way in a manner guaranteed to attract attention and suspicion at any place and time the plot was involved they were pursued by police they left on to a moving train and then for no accountable reason leapt from that onto a moving motor car and from that they plunged into a moving river it was thrilling and william thrilled sitting quite motionless he watched with wide fascinated eyes though his jaws never ceased their rotatory movement and every now and then his hand would go mechanically to the paper bag on his knees and convey a gooseberry eye to his mouth the next play was a simple country love story in which figured a simple country maiden wooed by the squire who was marked out as the villain by his mustachioes after many adventures the simple country maiden was won by a simple country son of the soil in picturesque rustic attire whose emotions were faithfully portrayed by gestures that must have required much gymnastic skill the villain was finally shown languishing in a prison cell still indulging in frequent eyebrow play next came another love story this time of a noble-hearted couple consumed with mutual passion and kept apart not only by a series of misunderstandings possible only in a picture play but also by maidenly pride and reserve on the part of the heroine and manly pride and reserve on the part of the hero that forced them to hide their ardor beneath a cold and haughty exterior the heroine's brother moved through the story like a good fairy tender and protective towards his orphan sister and ultimately explained to each the...