“Have you ever heard of the 39 steps?”
Mr. Richard Hannay, a stoic and calm narrator, recalls for us the days of old—the year 1914, to be exact—and the trying times everyone, himself especially, lived through both at home and abroad.
As he weaves us back through his memory, he takes us to where it all began—when a nervous, short man in a bowler hat met him outside his home, and during their exchange asked Hannay if he may seek shelter in his home—since he was on the run from German spies, otherwise known as The Black Stone.
This moment, unbeknownst to the narrator, marks the threshold between the life he was familiar with and a new life full of danger and paranoia. Before departing for bed, the perfect stranger informs Hannay of his worries, “Believe me, Mr. Hannay, unless I am alive on the 5th, your country will be at war."
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