The Northwest times. [volume] (Seattle, Wash.) 1947-1955, 1954-09-22


might have agreed Nok, l have no
opinion Drop into his lodgings
and then we'll talk some more. "
He got up stiffly and pointed to
the battered alarm clock. He was
going back. He kept an inflexible
schedule He was going back to his
work.
I was almost to his outer door
when he called after me. The
best time to study the sky is about
dusk, discovered -
"Oh?" I said, and closed the
door. holding the knob for full sec
onds feeling within me for the
purport of his parting adjuration
I finally turned and went down the
steps pulling These people, these
geniuSeS of the sciences, were get
ting as abstruse as the modern
painters In their exact sciences
they were finding irrelevancies and
cacaphonied facts repea tie d
Johnsons last remark, The best
time to study the sky is b o t
dusk hoped I would discern its
import later. 1t pro b bl y had
some thing to do with poor Har-
rods room Most likely.
I went ut into the prosaic cheer
fulness of hot, sunny day and
hailed a taxi. I gave him Harrods'
lodging address.
The house was nondeScript and
the landlady the faded genteel type
who had most likely had had va
pors on lilac scented nights under
southern moons. Many years ago,
of course. Nov she led me up two
flights of creaky stairs to a front
room
zine gentleman, Mr. Harrod,
do hope he comes home soon. He
gives my poor home such an air
f importance She unlocked tn e
door. Don't think l allow ev-
eryone to go in his room It's only
because he spoke of you that I'm
doing this. :"
1 murmured my thanks and al
most brushed past her and then
remembered my manners and
waited util she stepped aside be-
fore entering. She didn't follow, to
my relief, and 1 closed the door
and stood there and looked about
Harrod, the room cried Harrod
lives here. You can smell him You
can feel him in everything. TT e
big. worn leather chair The lit
tered desk, piled high with scien-
French and whatnot In the askew
tific treasures in German n
pictures, the battered lamp, the
stuffed drawers
1t was almost a minute before l
noticed the picture. At first 1
thought it was a map on glossy
Photographic paper but as I stared
at the high wall at the end of the
ROOM I saw what it was 1t was
an enlargement a gigantic en- =
largement of something with spots
and whorlS and attenuated streaks
like islands of an archipelago view
ed from high in the air What was
it? 1t was vaguely familiar but yet
not familiar
walked up close and found that
it didn't help. The clusters on the
huge picture softened' and blurred
and 1 realized that this was a ire
mendous magnification. Or was it?
I backed up, slowly, studying, and
when my back was against tn e
further wall 1 had it OF course,
of course. This wwas the sky it.
self photographed through a tele-
scope. 1t was minute section of
the constellation
walked back to the map and
would have turned away when I
saw the pencilling in Harrods
Grabbed handwriting at the very
bottom. "Eye-highest magnihca-
ton photographable," Again. !
backed up and stared by golly.
1t was. 1t was a human eye, all
right. And I had thought 1t was
the sky. Well, I HAD seen the sky
when 1t looked like this And It
had been at twilight
Somehow, Johnson's voice SEEM
ed to sound in my ear The best
time to study the sky is at dusk,
I discovered" I went to Harrod's