Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad (top 10 books to read TXT) 📕

pree on shore suffices to unfold for himthe secret of a whole continent, and generally he finds the secretnot worth knowing. The yarns of seamen have a direct simplicity,the whole meaning of which lies within the shell of a cracked nut.But Marlow was not typical (if his propensity to spin yarns beexcepted), and to him the meaning of an episode was not insidelike a kernel but outside, enveloping the tale which brought itout only as a glow brings out a haze, in the likeness of one ofthese misty halos that sometimes are made visible by the spectralillumination of moonshine.

His remark did not seem at all surprising. It was just like Marlow. It wasaccepted in silence. No one took the trouble to grunt even; and presentlyhe said, very slow--

"I was thinking of very old times, when the Romans first came here,nineteen hundred years ago--the other day. . . . Light cameout of this river since--you say Knights? Yes; but it is like arunning blaze on a plain, like a flash of lightning in the clou