The last book of wonder . We arenot the members! There was such reproof in his voice thatI said no more, I looked at him question-ingly, perhaps my lips moved, I may have 198 The Last Book °f Wonder said What are you? A great surprisehad come on me at their attitude. We are the waiters, he said. That I could not have known, here atleast was honest ignorance that I had noneed to be ashamed of, the very opulence oftheir table denied it. Then who are the members? I asked. Such a hush fell at that question, such ahush of genuine awe, that all of a sudden awild thought entered my head, a thoughtstr
The last book of wonder . We arenot the members! There was such reproof in his voice thatI said no more, I looked at him question-ingly, perhaps my lips moved, I may have 198 The Last Book °f Wonder said What are you? A great surprisehad come on me at their attitude. We are the waiters, he said. That I could not have known, here atleast was honest ignorance that I had noneed to be ashamed of, the very opulence oftheir table denied it. Then who are the members? I asked. Such a hush fell at that question, such ahush of genuine awe, that all of a sudden awild thought entered my head, a thoughtstrange and fantastic and terrible. Igripped my host by the wrist and hushedmy voice. Are they too exiles? I asked. Twice as he looked in my face he gravelynodded his head. I left that club very swiftly indeed, neverto see it again, scarcely pausing to say fare-well to those menial kings, and as I left thedoor a great window opened far up at thetop of the house and a flash of lightningstreamed from it and killed a dog. 109. The Three Infernal Jokes [his is the story that the des-iolate man told to me on theI lonely Highland road one au-tumn evening with wintercoming on and the stags roar-ing. The saddening twilight, the mountainalready black, the dreadful melancholy ofthe stags voices, his friendless mournfulface, all seemed to be of some most sorrow-ful play staged in that valley by an outcastgod, a lonely play of which the hills werepart and he the only actor. For long we watched each other drawingout of the solitudes of those forsaken when we met he spoke. I will tell you a thing that will make youdie of laughter. I will keep it to myself no 200 The Last Book of Wonder longer. But first I must tell you how Icame by it. I do not give the story in his words withall his woeful interjections and the misery ofhis frantic self-reproaches for I would notconvey unnecessarily to my readers thatatmosphere of sadness that was about all hesaid and that seemed to go with him wh
Size: 1519px × 1646px
Photo credit: © The Reading Room / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No
Keywords: ., bookcentury1900, bookdecade1910, bookidcu3192401297, bookyear1916
