But Mwres did not display any great interest either in his breakfast or

the music; his eye wandered incessantly about the hall, as though he

expected a belated guest. At last he rose eagerly and waved his hand,

and simultaneously across the hall appeared a tall dark figure in a

costume of yellow and olive green. As this person, walking amidst the

tables with measured steps, drew near, the pallid earnestness of his

face and the unusual intensity of his eyes became apparent. Mwres

reseated himself and pointed to a chair beside him.

"I feared you would never come," he said. In spite of the intervening

space of time, the English language was still almost exactly the same as

it had been in England under Victoria the Good. The invention of the

phonograph and suchlike means of recording sound, and the gradual

replacement of books by such contrivances, had not only saved the human

eyesight from decay, but had also by the establishment of a sure

standard arrested the process of change in accent that had hitherto been

so inevitable.

"I was delayed by an interesting case," said the man in green and

yellow. "A prominent politician--ahem!--suffering from overwork." He

glanced at the breakfast and seated himself. "I have been awake for

forty hours."

Eh dear!" said Mwres: "fancy that! You hypnotists have your work to

do."

135

Tales of Space and Time