It was a bulrush.

He did not laugh; the absurdity was so distressingly unnatural. The

horror of finding a bulrush where he had expected a polished

cane—this hideous and appalling detail held the nameless horror of

the nightmare. It betrayed him utterly. Why had he not always known

really that the stick was not a stick, but a thin and hollow reed…?

Then the cane was safely in his hand, unbroken. He stood looking at

it. The Nightmare was in full swing. He heard another door opening

behind his back, a door he had not touched. There was just time to see

a hand thrusting and waving dreadfully, familiarly, at him through the

narrow crack—just time to realise that this was another Nightmare

acting in atrocious concert with the first, when he saw closely beside

him, towering to the ceiling, the protective, kindly Figure that

visited his bedroom. ln the turning movement he made to meet the

attack, he became aware of her. And his terror passed. It was a

nightmare terror merely. The infinite horror vanished. Only the comedy

remained. He smiled.

He saw her dimly only, she was so vast, but he saw her, the Ruler

of the Other Wing at last, and knew that he was safe again. He gazed

with a tremendous love and wonder, trying to see her clearly; but the

face was hidden far aloft and seemed to melt into the sky beyond the

roof. He discerned that she was larger than the Night, only far, far

softer, with wings that folded above him more tenderly even than his

mother’s arms; that there were points of light like stars among the

feathers, and that she was vast enough to cover millions and millions

of people all at once.

Moreover, she did not fade or go, so far as he could see, but

spread herself in such a way that he lost sight of her. She spread

over the entire Wing … .

And Tim remembered that this was all quite natural really. He had

often and often been down this corridor before; the Nightmare Corridor

was no new experience; it had to be faced as usual.

Once knowing what hid inside the rooms, he was bound to tempt them

out. They drew, enticed, attracted him; this was their power. It was

their special strength that they could suck him helplessly towards

them, and that he was obliged to go.

He understood exactly why he was tempted to tap with the cane upon

their awful doors, but, having done so, he had accepted the challenge

and could now continue his journey quietly and safely. The Ruler of

the Other Wing had taken him in charge.

A delicious sense of carelessness came on him. There was softness

as of water in the solid things about him, nothing that could hurt or

bruise. Holding the cane firmly by its ivory handle, he went forward

along the corridor, walking as on air.

The end was quickly reached: he

stood upon the threshold of the mighty chamber where he knew the owner

of the cane was waiting; the long corridor lay behind him, in front he

saw the spacious dimensions of a lofty hall that gave him the feeling

of being in the Crystal Palace, Euston Station, or St.