The Wonderful Visit, H. G. Wells [me reader txt] 📗

The Wonderful Visit

By H. G. Wells.

Table of Contents Titlepage Imprint Dedication The Wonderful Visit I: The Night of the Strange Bird II: The Coming of the Strange Bird III: The Hunting of the Strange Bird IV: The Hunting of the Strange Bird (Continued) V: The Hunting of the Strange Bird (Continued) VI: The Vicar and the Angel VII: The Vicar and the Angel (Continued) VIII: The Vicar and the Angel (Continued) IX: Parenthesis on Angels X: At the Vicarage XI: At the Vicarage (Continued) XII: At the Vicarage (Continued) XIII: The Man of Science XIV: The Man of Science (Continued) XV: The Curate XVI: The Curate (Continued) XVII: The Curate (Continued) XVIII: After Dinner XIX: After Dinner (Continued) XX: After Dinner (Continued) XXI: After Dinner (Continued) XXII: Morning XXIII: The Violin XXIV: The Angel Explores the Village XXV: The Angel Explores the Village (Continued) XXVI: The Angel Explores the Village (Continued) XXVII: The Angel Explores the Village (Continued) XXVIII: Lady Hammergallow’s View XXIX: Further Adventures of the Angel in the Village XXX: Further Adventures of the Angel in the Village (Continued) XXXI: Mrs. Jehoram’s Breadth of View XXXII: A Trivial Incident XXXIII: The Warp and the Woof of Things XXXIV: The Angel’s Debut XXXV: The Angel’s Debut (Continued) XXXVI: The Angel’s Debut (Continued) XXXVII: The Angel’s Debut (Continued) XXXVIII: The Trouble of the Barbed Wire XXXIX: The Trouble of the Barbed Wire (Continued) XL: Delia XLI: Doctor Crump Acts XLII: Sir John Gotch Acts XLIII: The Sea Cliff XLIV: Mrs. Hinijer Acts XLV: The Angel in Trouble XLVI: The Angel in Trouble (Continued) XLVII: The Last Day of the Visit XLVIII: The Last Day of the Visit (Continued) XLIX: The Last Day of the Visit (Continued) L: The Last Day of the Visit (Continued) LI: The Last Day of the Visit (Continued) LII: The Last Day of the Visit (Continued) LIII: The Epilogue Colophon Uncopyright Imprint

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To the
memory of my dear friend
Walter Low

The Wonderful Visit I The Night of the Strange Bird

On the Night of the Strange Bird, many people at Sidderton (and some nearer) saw a Glare on the Sidderford moor. But no one in Sidderford saw it, for most of Sidderford was abed.

All day the wind had been rising, so that the larks on the moor chirruped fitfully near the ground, or rose only to be driven like leaves before the wind. The sun set in a bloody welter of clouds, and the moon was hidden. The Glare, they say, was golden like a beam shining out of the sky, not a uniform blaze, but broken all over by curving flashes like the waving of swords. It lasted but a moment and left the night dark and obscure. There were letters about it in Nature, and a rough drawing that no one thought very like. (You may see it for yourself⁠—the drawing that was unlike the Glare⁠—on page 42 of Vol. CCLX of that publication.)

None in Sidderford saw the light, but Annie, Hooker Durgan’s wife, was lying awake, and she saw the reflection of it⁠—a flickering tongue of gold⁠—dancing on the wall.

She, too, was one of those who heard the sound. The others who heard the sound were Lumpy Durgan, the half-wit, and Amory’s mother. They said it was a sound like children singing and a throbbing of harp strings, carried on a rush of notes like that which sometimes comes from an organ. It began and ended like the opening and shutting of a door, and before and after they heard nothing but the night wind howling over the moor and the noise of the caves under Sidderford cliff. Amory’s mother said she wanted to cry when she heard it, but Lumpy was only sorry he could hear no more.

That is as much as anyone can tell you of the Glare upon Sidderford Moor and the alleged music therewith. And whether these had any real connection with the Strange Bird whose history follows, is more than I can say. But I set it down here for reasons that will be more apparent as the story proceeds.

II The Coming of the Strange Bird

Sandy Bright was coming down the road from Spinner’s carrying a side of bacon he had taken in exchange for a clock. He saw nothing of the light but he heard and saw the Strange Bird. He suddenly heard a flapping and a voice like a woman wailing, and being a nervous man and all alone, he was alarmed forthwith, and turning (all a-tremble) saw something large and black against the dim darkness of the cedars up the hill.