Chapter 38: Kings Cross Station, Arrival of the Train
London possesses a certain hue that reveals itself only in winter.
It is the world’s most dismal morning sunlight. The thick smoke from furnaces burning through the night in London homes lingers in the upper air, and by morning, it mingles with the mist to form a murky atmospheric current. This is the very substance that creates that thin film on windows—a membrane that refuses to vanish no matter how diligently one cleans.
From early morning, housekeepers busily scrub windows with cloths, waging their daily battle against the dreary glass. Yet by noon, the windows inevitably turn hazy again. To live in London was to accept this perpetual visual hindrance as part of life.
Still, the sunlight perseveres. Through fog so dense one cannot see a hand before one’s face, it determinedly traverses 150 million kilometers to bestow life even upon the humble weeds growing between London’s pavements.
Such a peculiar light cannot be witnessed anywhere else in the world but London. It is for this very reason that I fell in love with this city. My love, my pride, my second homeland—London.
It was a day in the new year when people were still more accustomed to writing 1895 than 1896.
In my hand rested two letters. Their senders were inscribed thus: “Royal Bethlem Hospital” and “Alice Pleasance Liddell”
By curious coincidence, correspondence regarding two young people I had encountered during last month’s university investigation had arrived on the same day. I opened the first letter, which contained the following:
───────────── January 20, 1896 To Baron Philemon Herbert, benefactor of J.D. We hereby inform you: We remain ever grateful for your generous support of our hospital. The patient under our care has deteriorated as of yesterday and has been transferred to the brain surgery ward for intensive treatment. No additional charges shall be incurred, though visitation is prohibited during the treatment period. May a sound mind dwell within Her Majesty’s loyal subject. Royal Bethlem Hospital ─────────────