"Herbert George Wells. When the Sleeper Wakes" - читать интересную книгу автора

"Oh!" said Graham, and became quiet.

It was all very puzzling, but apparently these people in unfamiliar dress
knew what they were about. Yet they were odd and the room was odd. It
seemed he was in some newly established place. He had a sudden flash of
suspicion. Surely this wasn't some hall of public exhibition! If it was he
would give Warming a piece of his mind. But it scarcely had that character.
And in a place of public exhibition he would not have discovered himself
naked.

Then suddenly, quite abruptly, he realised what had happened. There was no
perceptible interval of suspicion, no dawn to his knowledge. Abruptly he
knew that his trance had lasted for a vast interval; as if by some
processes of thought reading he interpreted the awe in the faces that
peered into his. He looked at them strangely, full of intense emotion. It
seemed they read his eyes. He framed his lips to speak and could not. A
queer impulse to hide his knowledge came into his mind almost at the moment
of his discovery. He looked at his bare feet, regarding then silently. His
impulse to speak passed. He was trembling exceedingly.

They gave him some pink fluid with a greenish fluorescence and a meaty
taste, and the assurance of returning strength grew.

"That-that makes me feel better," he said hoarsely, and there were murmurs
of respectful approval. He knew now quite clearly. He made to speak again,
and again he could not.

He pressed his throat and tried a third time.

"How long? " he asked in a level voice. "How long have I been asleep? "

"Some considerable time," said the flaxen-bearded man, glancing quickly at
the others.

"How long? "

"A very long time."

"Yes-yes," said Graham, suddenly testy. "But I want- Is it-it is-some
years? Many years? There was something-I forget what. I feelconfused. But
you-" He sobbed. "You need not fence with me. How long-?"

He stopped, breathing irregularly. He squeezed his eyes with his knuckles
and sat waiting for an answer.

They spoke in undertones.

"Five or six?" he asked faintly. "More?"

"Very much more than that."