Philip Van Doren Stern (ed) (36 page)

Without
further
delay
I
determined
to
make
myself
arms
and
a
fastness
where
I
might
sleep.
With
that
refuge
as
a
base,
I
could
face
this strange
world
with
some
of
that
confidence
I
had
lost
in
realising
to what
creatures
night
by
night
I
lay
exposed.
I
felt
I
could
never
sleep again
until
my
bed
was
secure
from
them.
I
shuddered
with
horror to
think
how
they
must
already
have
examined
me.

"I
wandered
during
the
afternoon
along
the
valley
of
the
Thames, but
found
nothing
that
commended
itself
to
my
mind
as
inaccessible. All
the
buildings
and
trees
seemed
easily
practicable
to
such
dexterous climbers
as
the
Morlocks,
to
judge
by
their
wells,
must
be.
Then
the tall
pinnacles
of
the
Palace
of
Green
Porcelain
and
the
polished
gleam of
its
walls
came
back
to
my
memory;
and
in
the
evening,
taking Weena
like
a
child
upon
my
shoulder,
I
went
up
the
hills
towards
the south-west.
The
distance,
I
had
reckoned,
was
seven
or
eight
miles, but
it
must
have
been
nearer
eighteen.
I
had
first
seen
the
place
on
a moist
afternoon
when
distances
are
deceptively
diminished.
In
addition,
the
heel
of
one
of
my
shoes
was
loose,
and
a
nail
was
working through
the
sole—they
were
comfortable
old
shoes
I
wore
about indoors—so
that
I
was
lame.
And
it
was
already
long
past
sunset
when I
came
in
sight
of
the
palace,
silhouetted
black
against
the
pale
yellow of
the
sky.

"Weena
had
been
hugely
delighted
when
I
began
to
carry
her,
but after
a
time
she
desired
me
to
let
her
down,
and
ran
along
by
the
side of
me,
occasionally
darting
off
on
either
hand
to
pick
flowers
to
stick in
my
pockets.
My
pockets
had
always
puzzled
Weena,
but
at
the
last she
had
concluded
that
they
were
an
eccentric
kind
of
vase
for
floral decoration.
At
least
she
utilised
them
for
that
purpose.
And
that reminds
me!
In
changing
my
jacket
I
found
.
.
."

The
Time
Traveller
paused,
put
his
hand
into
his
pocket,
and
silently
placed
two
withered
flowers,
not
unlike
very
large
white
mallows, upon the little table. Then he
resumed
his
narrative.

"As
the
hush
of
evening
crept
over
the
world
and
we
proceeded over
the
hill
crest
towards
Wimbledon,
Weena
grew
tired
and
wanted to
return
to
the
house
of
grey
stone.
But
I
pointed
out
the
distant pinnacles
of
the
Palace
of
Green
Porcelain
to
her,
and
contrived
to make
her
understand
that
we
were
seeking
a
refuge
there
from
her Fear.
You
know
that
great
pause
that
comes
upon
things
before
the dusk?
Even
the
breeze
stops
in
the
trees.
To
me
there
is
always
an
air