Page 55 - THE TIME MACHINE

The Time Machine

V

‘As I stood there musing over this too perfect triumph
of man, the full moon, yellow and gibbous, came up out
of an overflow of silver light in the north-east. The bright
little figures ceased to move about below, a noiseless owl
flitted by, and I shivered with the chill of the night. I
determined to descend and find where I could sleep.
‘I looked for the building I knew. Then my eye
travelled along to the figure of the White Sphinx upon the
pedestal of bronze, growing distinct as the light of the
rising moon grew brighter. I could see the silver birch
against it. There was the tangle of rhododendron bushes,
black in the pale light, and there was the little lawn. I
looked at the lawn again. A queer doubt chilled my
complacency. ‘No,’ said I stoutly to myself, ‘that was not
the lawn.’
‘But it WAS the lawn. For the white leprous face of
the sphinx was towards it. Can you imagine what I felt as
this conviction came home to me? But you cannot. The
Time Machine was gone!
‘At once, like a lash across the face, came the possibility
of losing my own age, of being left helpless in this strange

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