'Then I stopped the machine, and saw about me again the old familiar

laboratory, my tools, my appliances just as I had left them. I got

off the thing very shakily, and sat down upon my bench. For several

minutes I trembled violently. Then I became calmer. Around me was

my old workshop again, exactly as it had been. I might have slept

there, and the whole thing have been a dream.

'And yet, not exactly! The thing had started from the south-east

corner of the laboratory. It had come to rest again in the

north-west, against the wall where you saw it. That gives you the

exact distance from my little lawn to the pedestal of the White

Sphinx, into which the Morlocks had carried my machine.

'For a time my brain went stagnant. Presently I got up and came

through the passage here, limping, because my heel was still

painful, and feeling sorely begrimed. I saw the Pall Mall Gazette

on the table by the door. I found the date was indeed to-day, and

looking at the timepiece, saw the hour was almost eight o'clock. I

heard your voices and the clatter of plates. I hesitated--I felt so

sick and weak. Then I sniffed good wholesome meat, and opened the

door on you. You know the rest. I washed, and dined, and now I am

telling you the story.

I know,' he said, after a pause, 'that all this will be absolutely

incredible to you. To me the one incredible thing is that I am here

The Time Machine