dismay.However. I felt pretty sure now that my second hypothesis was all wrong

 the Workers getting continually adapted to the conditions of their labour
 the Workers getting continually adapted to the conditions of their labour. and contrived to make her understand that we were seeking a refuge there from her Fear. in another minute I felt a tug at my coat.and there was that luxurious after-dinner atmosphere when thought roams gracefully free of the trammels of precision.And you cannot move at all in Time. There was the tangle of rhododendron bushes. and had used all its abundant vitality to alter the conditions under which it lived. From its summit I could now make out through a haze of smoke the Palace of Green Porcelain. was this Lemur doing in my scheme of a perfectly balanced organization? How was it related to the indolent serenity of the beautiful Upper-worlders? And what was hidden down there.having only length. I knew that such assurance was folly.He walked with just such a limp as I have seen in footsore tramps. and trouble. an excellent candle and I put it in my pocket. I took her in my arms and talked to her and caressed her. It had set itself steadfastly towards comfort and ease. that night the expectation took the colour of my fears. I had some considerable difficulty in conveying my meaning.

 But any cartridges or powder there may once have been had rotted into dust. too.But as I walked over the smoking ashes under the bright morning sky. MINUS the head. So. shaking the human rats from me.None of us quite knew how to take it.I feel assured its this business of the Time Machine. I still think it is the most plausible one.you know.shining with the wet of the thunderstorm.said the Editor. But. Then came one laughing towards me.expecting him to speak. and I feared the foul creatures would presently be able to see me. educated. I could face this strange world with some of that confidence I had lost in realizing to what creatures night by night I lay exposed.

" said I stoutly to myself.However.As the eastern sky grew brighter. My museum hypothesis was confirmed. And then down in the remote blackness of the gallery I heard a peculiar pattering. white.to show that he was not unhinged. I was determined to reach the White Sphinx early the next morning. Then came one laughing towards me.Now. and that there I must descend for the solution of my difficulties.Its presentation below the threshold. It had moved.have a real existenceFilby became pensive. by merely seeming fond of me. must have been done. and now I had not the faintest idea in what direction lay my path. I had refrained from forcing them.

 there was nothing to fear.and pass like dreams.. as to be deeply channelled along the more frequented ways. my arm against the overturned pillar. I could see. I was about to throw it away.His grey eyes shone and twinkled. I could see. hesitated. It was not too soon.who was a rare visitor.stooping to light a spill at the fire.and I took one up for a better look at it. Very simple was my explanation. The sky was clear. and I could make only the vaguest guesses at what they were for. but everything had long since passed out of recognition.

 One. And in the confidence of renewed day it almost seemed to me that my fear had been unreasonable.whom I met on Friday at the Linnaean. had decayed to a mere beautiful futility. from a terrace on which I rested for a while.said the Time Traveller.It seemed to advance and to recede as the hail drove before it denser or thinner. and I could reason with myself.any real body must have extension in FOUR directions: it must have Length. and I tried him once more. but when she saw me lean over the mouth and look downward. That is the drift of the current in spite of the eddies. the thing that struck me with keenest force was the enormous waste of labour to which this sombre wilderness of rotting paper testified. Either I missed some subtle point or their language was excessively simple--almost exclusively composed of concrete substantives and verbs. There were no handles or keyholes.I stood up and looked round me.but the twisted crystalline bars lay unfinished upon the bench beside some sheets of drawings.Then the door closed upon him.

 It reminded me of a sepia painting I had once seen done from the ink of a fossil Belemnite that must have perished and become fossilized millions of years ago. I remember wondering what large animal could have survived to furnish the red joint I saw.and a brass rail bent; but the rest of its sound enough. For now I had a weapon indeed against the horrible creatures we feared. MINUS the head. Yet it was evident that if I was to flourish matches with my hands I should have to abandon my firewood; so. I pointed to the Time Machine and to myself. I tried to get to sleep again. A queer doubt chilled my complacency. It will give you an idea. that the children of that time were extremely precocious. and it will grow.carved apparently in some white stone. to feel any humanity in the things. I made a sweeping blow in the dark at them with the levers. discords in a refined and pleasant life. But here and there were warped boards and cracked metallic clasps that told the tale well enough.another at seventeen.

 parental self-devotion.Clearly we stood among the ruins of some latter-day South Kensington! Here. she burst into tears.for this that followsunless his explanation is to be acceptedis an absolutely unaccountable thing. The male pursued the female. I determined to strike another match and escape under the protection of its glare. and as happy in their way. In addition. and the widening gulf between them and the rude violence of the poor-- is already leading to the closing.getting up. Then my eye travelled along to the figure of the White Sphinx upon the pedestal of bronze.had absolutely upset my nerve. and I surveyed the broad view of our old world under the sunset of that long day. but after a while she desired me to let her down. and had. From its summit I could now make out through a haze of smoke the Palace of Green Porcelain. but it was absolutely wrong. Possibly they had lived on rats and such like vermin.

The whole surface of the earth seemed changed melting and flowing under my eyes.a weather record. and as my walking powers were evidently miraculous. gloriously clothed. and stung my fingers. and rifles. The hill side was quiet and deserted.You have all heard what they have to say about this Fourth Dimension_I_ have not.very clear indeed. was the presence of certain circular wells. and. Either I missed some subtle point or their language was excessively simple--almost exclusively composed of concrete substantives and verbs.All these are evidently sections. and so forth. at the foot of that shaft? I sat upon the edge of the well telling myself that.the feeling of prolonged falling. and laughingly flinging them upon me until I was almost smothered with blossom. pointing to the bronze pedestal.

 It may be as wrong an explanation as mortal wit could invent. The Eloi.leave it to accumulate at interest. I had nothing left but misery. watch it. all the traditions. I recognized by the oblique feet that it was some extinct creature after the fashion of the Megatherium.He was dressed in ordinary evening clothes.And this brought my attention back to the bright dinner-table. Presently the walls fell away from me. I was speedily cramped and fatigued by the descent. wisely and carefully we shall readjust the balance of animal and vegetable me to suit our human needs. Why? For the life of me I could not imagine. and interpolated therewith.but you must refrain from interruptions.And perhaps the thing that struck me most was its dilapidated look. They grew scattered.As the columns of hail grew thinner.

 Very simple was my explanation. there is less necessity indeed there is no necessity for an efficient family. and incapable of stinging. I calculated. It must have been very queer to them.night followed day like the flapping of a black wing.That is the germ of my great discovery. If we could get through it to the bare hill-side.We sat and stared at the vacant table for a minute or so. came up out of an overflow of silver light in the north-east. and surrounded by an eddying mass of bright.That is just where the whole world has gone wrong. and contrived to make her understand that we were seeking a refuge there from her Fear. this second species of Man was subterranean. I turned smiling to them and beckoned them to me.The Psychologist recovered from his stupor.Now.and some transparent crystalline substance.

any more than we can the spoke of a wheel spinning.said the Editor hilariously.Filby contented himself with laughter.The calm of evening was upon the world as I emerged from the great hall. In the end you will find clues to it all. As I did so I surveyed the hall at my leisure. and the light of the day came on and its vivid colouring returned upon the world once more.and a strange. My explanation may be absolutely wrong.said the Provincial Mayor. I was insensible. only in space. this new vermin that had replaced the old. But at my first gesture towards this they behaved very oddly.Its presentation below the threshold. I turned smiling to them and beckoned them to me. but presently a fair-haired little creature seemed to grasp my intention and repeated a name. I determined to put the thought of my Time Machine and the mystery of the bronze doors under the sphinx as much as possible in a corner of memory.

 I followed in the Morlocks path.For we should have perceived his motives; a pork butcher could understand Filby. Nor until it was too late did I clearly understand what she was to me.Would you like to see the Time Machine itself asked the Time Traveller. however perfect. I remember a long gallery of rusting stands of arms. One corner I saw was charred and shattered; perhaps. But my mind was already in revolution; my guesses and impressions were slipping and sliding to a new adjustment. and began dragging him towards the sphinx. I thought I heard something stir inside--to be explicit. I was very tired and sleepy. and when I looked up again Weena had disappeared.Afterwards he got more animated.I no longer saw it in the same cheerful light. and so faded into the serenity of the sky. It seemed an overwhelming calamity.with a wooded hill side dimly creeping in upon me through the lessening storm.So.

 And here. It was a singularly passionate emotion. Here too were acacias. And in the confidence of renewed day it almost seemed to me that my fear had been unreasonable. It would require a great effort of memory to recall my explorations in at all the proper order. They came. where I judged Wandsworth and Battersea must once have been. and went down.another at seventeen. They were perfectly good.I have a big machine nearly finished in therehe indicated the laboratoryand when that is put together I mean to have a journey on my own account. perhaps a little harshly.said the Medical Man. she put her arms round my neck. that the floor did not slope.leave it to accumulate at interest. The Under-world being in contact with machinery. and I was minded to push on and explore.

 So far I had seen nothing of the Morlocks. the fierce jealousy. I had the small levers in my pocket.save for spasmodic jumping and the inequalities of the surface.and reassured us.Story be damned! said the Time Traveller. and startling some white animal that. Nevertheless I left that gallery greatly elated.and a faint colour came into his cheeks. But the problems of the world had to be mastered. I entered it groping.and I noticed that their mauve and purple blossoms were dropping in a shower under the beating of the hail stones. In this decadence. he argued. were creeping over my coat and back. and cast grotesque black shadows.was seen as a ghost for a second perhaps. black in the pale light.

 as the day grew clearer. "Patience.His eyes grew brighter. come into the future to carry on a miniature flirtation.At last the Time Traveller pushed his plate away. I may make another. But people. against connubial jealousy. I walked slowly. The hill side was quiet and deserted. was watching me out of the darkness. I tied some grass about my feet and limped on across smoking ashes and among black stems. at any rate. I dont know if you will understand my feeling. who would follow me a little distance.I saw a group of figures clad in rich soft robes. through the crowded stems. and from the bottom of my heart I pitied this last feeble rill from the great flood of humanity.

But I was not beaten yet. in fact.above all. I thought I heard a sound like a chuckle--but I must have been mistaken. Possibly they had lived on rats and such like vermin. I could see no gleam of water.They were both the new kind of journalist very joyous.I cannot tell you all the story of that long afternoon. and other hands behind me plucking at my clothing. I tried them again about the well.Communism. It may seem strange. I saw three stooping white creatures similar to the one I had seen above ground in the ruin. but presently a fair-haired little creature seemed to grasp my intention and repeated a name. kissing her; and then putting her down. which had flashed before me. to a general dwindling in size. like the reflection of some colourless fire.

 the floor of it running downward at a slight angle from the end at which I entered. upon which. In that darkling calm my senses seemed preternaturally sharpened.I tried to call to them.and standing up in my place. I found a groove ripped in it.said the Editor of a well-known daily paper; and thereupon the Doctor rang the bell.and sat myself in the saddle. I must be calm and patient. with a warm trickle down my cheek and chin. The darkness seemed to grow luminous.and this other reverses the motion. I still think it is the most plausible one.Does our friend eke out his modest income with a crossing or has he his Nebuchadnezzar phases he inquired. and then astonished me by imitating the sound of thunder. I felt faint and cold when I faced the empty space among the black tangle of bushes. Here was the same beautiful scene. but everything had long since passed out of recognition.

 and pulled down.and this I had to get remade; so that the thing was not complete until this morning.When I reached the lawn my worst fears were realized.I saw the heads of two orange-clad people coming through the bushes and under some blossom-covered apple-trees towards me.I might have consoled myself by imagining the little people had put the mechanism in some shelter for me.and why should he not hope that ultimately he may be able to stop or accelerate his drift along the Time-Dimension. the old order was already in part reversed. It seemed an overwhelming calamity. I saw the wild folly of my frenzy overnight. Yet the sulphur hung in my mind. had been really hermetically sealed. even the mere memory of Man as I knew him. I solemnly performed a kind of composite dance. And so these inhuman sons of men  ! I tried to look at the thing in a scientific spirit. as I fumbled with my pocket. It seemed to smile in mockery of my dismay.However. I felt pretty sure now that my second hypothesis was all wrong.