Arthur Machen

The Red Hand Arthur Machen

'There can be no doubt whatever, ' said Mr. Phillipps, 'that my theory is the true one; these flints are prehistoric fish-hooks.''I dare say; but you know that in all probability the things were forged the other day with a door-key.''Stuff!' said Phillipps; 'I have some respect, Dyson, for your literary abilities, but your knowledge of ethnology is insignificant, or rather non-existent. These fish-hooks satisfy every test; they are perfectly genuine.''Possibly, but as I said just now, you go to work at the wrong end. You neglect the opportunities that confront you and await you, obvious, at every corner; you positively shrink from the chance of encountering primitive man in this whirling and mysterious city, and you pass the weary hours in your agreeable retirement of Red Lion Square fumbling with bits of flint, which are, as I said, in all probability, rank forgeries.'Phillipps took one of the little objects, and held it up in exasperation.'Look at that ridge, ' he said. 'Did you ever see such a ridge as that on a forgery?'Dyson merely grunted and lit his pipe and the two sat smoking in rich silence, watching through the open window the children in the square as they flitted to and fro in the twilight of the lamps, as elusive as bats flying on the verge of a dark wood.'Well, ' said Phillipps at last, 'it is really a long time since you have been round. I suppose you have been working at your old task.''Yes, ' said Dyson, 'always the chase of the phrase. I shall grow old in the hunt. But it is a great consolation to meditate on the fact that there are not a dozen people in England who know what style mea