Hello there and welcome to episode 20 of Down to Sleep, the podcast of softly spoken classic stories to help you get a good night's rest.

Thank you for joining me for our 20th episode. It's a pleasure to read to you and help you get down to sleep.

Tonight I am reading The Time Machine by H.G. Wells. If you would like to support the podcast,

get episodes that are twice as long and a bonus episode every single week, then you can do so

by supporting the podcast on the Patreon at patreon.com slash down to sleep. That's the place to join

our little book club where I continue the reading. So the

bonus readings in the week, we sometimes continue reading books that we have already read on these

episodes. We've finished Alice in Wonderland. We've finished the wonderful Wizard of Oz. We're

continuing the picture of Dorian Gray and more. And you get to vote on what I read next. So come on over

and join me at patreon.com slash down to sleep.

Without further ado, let's begin, The Time Machine by H.G. Wells.

Chapter 1. Introduction.

The time traveller, for so it will be convenient to speak of him, was expounding

a recondite matter to us. His pale grey eyes shone and twinkled, and his usually pale face was

flushed and animated. The fire burnt brightly and the soft radiance of the incandescent lights in the lilies of silver caught the bubbles that flashed and passed in our glasses.

Our chairs, being his patents, embraced and caressed us rather than submitted to be sat upon.

And there was that luxurious after-dinner atmosphere, when thought runs gracefully

free of the trammels of precision. And he put it to us in this way, marking the points with a lean

forefinger, as we sat and lazily admired his earnestness over this new paradox as we thought it, and his

fecundity.

You must follow me carefully, I shall have to controvert one or two ideas that are almost

universally accepted.

...