The night wore away; nay, speeded were the better word, for no one
felt any suggestion even of weariness or satiety. Then suddenly the
rose glow grew dimmer; little by little the laughter died away and
the voices were hushed. A few of the bolder spirits set themselves
to stem the receding tide, but their blasphemies quickly trailed
away into weak incoherencies, and again silence conquered all. And
darkness fell.
A servant crossed the room and drew aside the heavy velvet curtains
draping the false windows; the pure, colorless light streamed in,
but it disclosed a world in tinge all blue and green and indigo.
Our eyes, so long deprived of the rays emanating from the violet
end of the spectrum, were now affected by them alone; every object
was horribly transformed by the bluish-green bands surrounding and
outlining it. A man brushed carelessly past me; it was Colman Hoyt,
and his face was of a man already dead; his lips moved, but no
sound issued from them. He passed into the model-room connecting on
the west with the central hall; there was the sound of a fall, and
Indiman and I followed quickly. Yet not quickly enough, for across
the great globe upon which were traced the records of his four
unsuccessful expeditions lay the body of Colman Hoyt.
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