Prithee how long ?" "Not long.

Half an hour--maybe an hour." There were a thousand pathetic protests, but I couldn't shorten up any, for I couldn't remember how long a total eclipse lasts.

I was in a puzzled condition, anyway, and wanted to think.

Something was wrong about that eclipse, and the fact was very unsettling.
If this wasn't the one I was after, how was I to tell whether this was the sixth century, or nothing but a dream?
Dear me, if I could only prove it was the latter! Here was a glad new hope.

If the boy was right about the date, and this was surely the 20th, it _wasn't_ the sixth century.