"Horrible!" said Dr. Bull, and shuddered.
"Horrible is not the word," said Syme. "It was exactly the worst
instant of my life. And yet ten minutes afterwards, when he put his
head out of the cab and made a grimace like a gargoyle, I knew that
he was only like a father playing hide-and-seek with his
children."
"It is a long game," said the Secretary, and frowned at his
broken boots.
"Listen to me," cried Syme with extraordinary emphasis. "Shall I
tell you the secret of the whole world? It is that we have only
known the back of the world. We see everything from behind, and it
looks brutal. That is not a tree, but the back of a tree. That is
not a cloud, but the back of a cloud. Cannot you see that
everything is stooping and hiding a face? If we could only get
round in front—"
