Ansel Crake Answers the Girl
- Quieter than the day
- Passage creeps up
At Rennick Gate a girl with a fish-basket on her hip asked old Ansel Crake why the Lantern looked so dim, and whether it would be dimmer when she was grown. He wiped his hands on his coat. “Dimmer, love. So we keep the glass warm and the wicks trimmed, and we don’t let the dark be the only thing that gets cheaper.” Then he pointed her toward the far bank, where the lamps were coming up one by one through the mist.