Philip Van Doren Stern (ed) (37 page)

of
expectation
about
that
evening
stillness.
The
sky
was
clear,
remote, and
empty
save
for
a
few
horizontal
bars
far
down
in
the
sunset.
Well,
I
hat
night
the
expectation
took
the
colour
of
my
fears.
In
that
darkling calm
my
senses
seemed
pretematurally
sharpened.
I
fancied
I
could even
feel
the
hollowness
of
the
ground
beneath
my
feet:
could, indeed,
almost
see
through
it
the
Morlocks
on
their
ant-hill
going hither
and
thither
and
waiting
for
the
dark.
In
my
excitement
I fancied
that
they
would
receive
my
invasion
of
their
burrows
as
a declaration
of
war.
And
why
had
they
taken
my
Time
Machine?

"So
we
went
on
in
the
quiet,
and
the
twilight
deepened
into
night. 'Ilie
clear
blue
of
the
distance
faded,
and
one
star
after
another
came out.
The
ground
grew
dim
and
the
trees
black.
Weena's
fears
and
her fatigue
grew
upon
her.
I
took
her
in
my
arms
and
talked
to
her
and caressed
her.
Then,
as
the
darkness
grew
deeper,
she
put
her
arms round
my
neck,
and,
closing
her
eyes,
tightly
pressed
her
face
against my
shoulder.
So
we
went
down
a
long
slope
into
a
valley,
and
there in
the
dimness
I
almost
walked
into
a
little
river.
This
I
waded,
and went
up
the
opposite
side
of
the
valley,
past
a
number
of
sleeping houses,
and
by
a
statue—a
Faun,
or
some
such
figure,
minus
the
head. I
Icre
too
were
acacias.
So
far
I
had
seen
nothing
of
the
Morlocks,
but it
was
yet
early
in
the
night,
and
the
darker
hours
before
the
old moon
rose
were
still
to
come.

"From
the
brow
of
the
next
hill
I
saw
a
thick
wood
spreading
wide and
black
before
me.
I
hesitated
at
this.
I
could
see
no
end
to
it,
either to
the
right
or
the
left.
Feeling
tired—my
feet,
in
particular,
were
very sore—I
carefully
lowered
Weena
from
my
shoulder
as
I
halted,
and sat
down
upon
the
turf.
I
could
no
longer
see
the
Palace
of
Green Porcelain,
and
I
was
in
doubt
of
my
direction.
I
looked
into
the
thickness
of
the
wood
and
thought
of
what
it
might
hide.
Under
that
dense tangle
of
branches
one
would
be
out
of
sight
of
the
stars.
Even
were there
no
other
lurking
danger—a
danger
I
did
not
care
to
let
my
imagination
loose
upon—there
would
still
be
all
the
roots
to
stumble
over and
the
tree-boles
to
strike
against.

"I
was
very
tired,
too,
after
the
excitements
of
the
day;
so
I
decided that
I
would
not
face
it,
but
would
pass
the
night
upon
the
open
hill.

"Weena,
I
was
glad
to
find,
was
fast
asleep.
I
carefully
wrapped
her in
my
jacket,
and
sat
down
beside
her
to
wait
for
the
moonrise.
The hillside
was
quiet
and
deserted,
but
from
the
black
of
the
wood
there came
now
and
then
a
stir
of
living
things.
Above
me
shone
the
stars, for
the
night
was
very
clear.
I
felt
a
certain
sense
of
friendly
comfort in
their
twinkling.
All
the
old
constellations
had
gone
from
the
sky, however:
that
slow
movement
which
is
imperceptible
in
a
hundred human
lifetimes
had
long
since
rearranged
them
in
unfamiliar
groupings.
But
the
Milky
Way,
it
seemed
to
me,
was
still
the
same
tattered streamer
of
star-dust
as
of
yore.
Southward
(as
I
judged
it)
was
a
very bright
red
star
that
was
new
to
me;
it
was
even
more
splendid
than our
own
green
Sirius.
And
amid
all
these
scintillating
points
of
light one
bright
planet
shone
kindly
and
steadily
like
the
face
of
an
old friend.