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IX . The Morlocks “ It may seem odd to you , but it was two days before I could follow up the new - found clue in what was manifestly the proper way . I felt a peculiar shrinking from those pallid bodies . They were just the half - bleached colour of the worms and things one sees preserved in spirit in a zoological museum . And they were filthily cold to the touch . Probably my shrinking was largely due to the sympathetic influence of the Eloi , whose disgust of the Morlocks I now began to appreciate . “ The next night I did not sleep well . Probably my health was a little disordered . I was oppressed with perplexity and doubt . Once or twice I had a feeling of intense fear for which I could perceive no definite reason . I remember creeping noiselessly into the great hall where the little people were sleeping in the moonlight — that night Weena was among them — and feeling reassured by their presence . It occurred to me even then , that in the course of a few days the moon must pass through its last quarter , and the nights grow dark , when the appearances of these unpleasant creatures from below , these whitened Lemurs , this new vermin that had replaced the old , might be more abundant . And on both these days I had the restless feeling of one who shirks an inevitable duty . I felt assured that the Time Machine was only to be recovered by boldly penetrating these mysteries of underground . Yet I could not face the mystery . If only I had had a companion it would have been different . But I was so horribly alone , and even to clamber down into the darkness of the well appalled me . I don’t know if you will understand my feeling , but I never felt quite safe at my back . “ It was this restlessness , this insecurity , perhaps , that drove me farther and farther afield in my exploring expeditions . Going to the south - westward towards the rising country that is now called Combe Wood , I observed far - off , in the direction of nineteenth - century Banstead , a vast green structure , different in character from any I had hitherto seen . It was larger than the largest of the palaces or ruins I knew , and the façade had an Oriental look : the face of it having the lustre , as well as the pale - green tint , a kind of bluish - green , of a certain type of Chinese porcelain . This difference in aspect suggested a difference in use , and I was minded to push on and explore . But the day was growing late , and I had come upon the sight of the place after a long and tiring circuit ; so I resolved to hold over the adventure for the following day , and I returned to the welcome and the caresses of little Weena . But next morning I perceived clearly enough that my curiosity regarding the Palace of Green Porcelain was a piece of self - deception , to enable me to shirk , by another day , an experience I dreaded . I resolved I would make the descent without further waste of time , and started out in the early morning towards a well near the ruins of granite and aluminium .
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