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“ 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 today , 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 . XVI . After the Story “ I know , ” he said , after a pause , “ that all this will be absolutely incredible to you , but to me the one incredible thing is that I am here tonight in this old familiar room looking into your friendly faces and telling you these strange adventures . ” He looked at the Medical Man . “ No . I cannot expect you to believe it . Take it as a lie — or a prophecy . Say I dreamed it in the workshop . Consider I have been speculating upon the destinies of our race , until I have hatched this fiction . Treat my assertion of its truth as a mere stroke of art to enhance its interest . And taking it as a story , what do you think of it ? ” He took up his pipe , and began , in his old accustomed manner , to tap with it nervously upon the bars of the grate . There was a momentary stillness . Then chairs began to creak and shoes to scrape upon the carpet . I took my eyes off the Time Traveller’s face , and looked round at his audience . They were in the dark , and little spots of colour swam before them . The Medical Man seemed absorbed in the contemplation of our host . The Editor was looking hard at the end of his cigar — the sixth . The Journalist fumbled for his watch . The others , as far as I remember , were motionless .
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