ve face and accentuated the pallor of his skin.

"All those who are bound on the wheel of desire will fall asleep," he
murmured. A smile flickered on his lips and he turned and looked at me.

"Harden," he said, "it's really very funny. It's infinitely humorous,
isn't it?"

"I see nothing humorous in anything," I replied. "I've lost all sense of
humour."

He raised his eyebrows.

"Of humour?" he queried. "Surely not. Humour is surely immortal."

CHAPTER XXX

THE GREAT SLEEP

On that day the animals in London fell asleep with few exceptions. The
exceptions were, I believe, all dogs. I do not pretend to explain, how
it came about that dogs remained awake longer than other animals. The
reason may be that dogs have some quality in them which is superior even
to the qualities found in man, for there is a sweetness in the nature of
dogs that is rare in men and women.

Many horses were overcome in the streets and lay down where they were.
No attempt was made to remove them. They were left, stretched out on
their sides, apparently unconscious.

And many thousands of men and women fell asleep. In some cases men were
overcome by the sleep before their dogs, which has always seemed strange
to me. It was Thornduck who told me this, for he remained awake during
this period that the germ reigned supreme. He tells me that I fell
asleep the next evening in my chair in the study and that he carried me
upstairs to my room. I had just returned from visiting Leonora, whom I
had found unconscious. He made a tour of London next morning. In the
City there was a profound stillness.

In the West End matters were much the same. In Cavendish Square he
entered many houses and found silence and sleep within. Everywhere doors
and windows were wide open, giving access to any who might desire it. He
visited the Houses of Parliament only to find a few comatose
blue-stained men lying about on the benches. For the sleep had overtaken
people by stealth. One day, passing by the Zoo, he had climbed the fence
and made an inspection of the inmates. With the exception of an elephant
that was nodding drowsily, the animals lay motionless in their cages,
deep in the trance that the germ induced.

From time to time he met a man or woman awake like himself and stopped
to talk. Those who still retained sufficient individuality to continue
existence were the strangest mixture of folk, for they were of every
class, many of them being little bette