I heard her weeping; she had hidden her face in her hands. It seemed to me that the house 
would collapse before I could escape that the heavens would fall upon my head. But nothing 
happened. The heavens do not fall for such a trifle. Would they have fallen I wonder if I had 
rendered Kurtz that justice which was his due? Hadn't he said he wanted only justice? But I 
couldn't. I could not tell her. It would have been too dark too dark altogether. . . ." 
Marlow ceased and sat apart indistinct and silent in the pose of a meditating Buddha. Nobody 
moved for a time. "We have lost the first of the ebb" said the Director suddenly. I raised my 
head. The offing was barred by a black bank of clouds and the tranquil waterway leading to the 
uttermost ends of the earth flowed sombre under an overcast sky seemed to lead into the heart 
of an immense darkness.