The House on the Borderland | Page 7

depth of blackness; and wherever
the light struck, it was as though luminous blood had been splashed
over the room.
"Down on the floor, I heard a faint, frightened whimper, and something
pressed itself in between my two feet. It was Pepper, cowering under
my dressing-gown. Pepper, usually as brave as a lion!
"It was this movement of the dog's, I think, that gave me the first
twinge of real fear. I had been considerably startled when the lights
burnt first green and then red; but had been momentarily under the
impression that the change was due to some influx of noxious gas into
the room. Now, however, I saw that it was not so; for the candles
burned with a steady flame, and showed no signs of going out, as
would have been the case had the change been due to fumes in the
atmosphere.
"I did not move. I felt distinctly frightened; but could think of nothing

better to do than wait. For perhaps a minute, I kept my glance about the
room, nervously. Then, I noticed that the lights had commenced to sink,
very slowly; until, presently, they showed, minute specks of red fire,
like the gleamings of rubies, in the darkness. Still, I sat watching; while
a sort of dreamy indifference seemed to steal over me; banishing,
altogether, the fear that had begun to grip me.
"Away in the far end of the huge, old-fashioned room, I became
conscious of a faint glow. Steadily it grew, filling the room with gleams
of quivering green light; then they sank quickly, and changed--even as
the candle-flames had done--into a deep, sombre crimson, that
strengthened, and lit up the room with a flood of awful glory.
"The light came from the end wall, and grew ever brighter, until its
intolerable glare caused my eyes acute pain, and, involuntarily, I closed
them. It may have been a few seconds before I was able to open them.
The first thing I noticed, was that the light had decreased, greatly; so
that it no longer tried my eyes. Then, as it grew still duller, I was aware,
all at once, that, instead of looking at the redness, I was staring through
it, and through the wall beyond.
"Gradually, as I became more accustomed to the idea, I realised that I
was looking out on to a vast plain, lit with the same gloomy twilight
that pervaded the room. The immensity of this plain scarcely can be
conceived. In no part could I perceive its confines. It seemed to
broaden and spread out, so that the eye failed to perceive any
limitations. Slowly, the details of the nearer portions began to grow
clear; then, in a moment almost, the light died away, and the vision--if
vision it were--faded and was gone.
"Suddenly, I became conscious that I was no longer in the chair.
Instead, I seemed to be hovering above it, and looking down at a dim
something, huddled and silent. In a little while, a cold blast struck me,
and I was outside in the night, floating, like a bubble, up through the
darkness. As I moved, an icy coldness seemed to enfold me, so that I
shivered.
"After a time, I looked to right and left, and saw the intolerable

blackness of the night, pierced by remote gleams of fire. Onwards,
outwards, I drove. Once, I glanced behind, and saw the earth, a small
crescent of blue light, receding away to my left. Further off, the sun, a
splash of white flame, burned vividly against the dark.
"An indefinite period passed. Then, for the last time, I saw the earth--an
enduring globule of radiant blue, swimming in an eternity of ether. And
there I, a fragile flake of soul-dust, flickered silently across the void,
from the distant blue, into the expanse of the unknown.
"A great while seemed to pass over me, and now I could nowhere see
anything. I had passed beyond the fixed stars, and plunged into the
huge blackness that waits beyond. All this time, I had experienced little,
save a sense of lightness and cold discomfort. Now, however, the
atrocious darkness seemed to creep into my soul, and I became filled
with fear and despair. What was going to become of me? Where was I
going? Even as the thoughts were formed, there grew, against the
impalpable blackness that wrapped me, a faint tinge of blood. It seemed
extraordinarily remote, and mistlike; yet, at once, the feeling of
oppression was lightened, and I no longer despaired.
"Slowly, the distant redness became plainer and larger; until, as I drew
nearer, it spread out into a great, sombre glare--dull and tremendous.
Still, I fled onward, and, presently, I had come so close, that it seemed
to stretch beneath me, like a