"The quiet elegance of the restaurant was like a fortress against night-gangers." (p. 166)
See the image and here.
I could not find "night-gangers" by googling. Neil Gaiman's immortal Englishman, Hob Gadling, saw the "night-walkers" kill one of John Constantine's ancestors in a church-yard in Essex.
Anderson's pov character, Conrad Lauring, has reason to believe that he is being stalked by a night walking "draug." Whether we are inclined to believe in such beings depends on whether we are alone out of doors at night or are surrounded by "quiet elegance," as in the Cliff House restaurant.
Addendum: See the combox and Words and its combox.
4 comments:
Kaor, Paul!
I think "night-gangers" is best thought of as a term coined by Poul Anderson. And the baffling way Anderson so often used "glades" was a kind of reverse creation of that word.
Ad astra! Sean
Paul and Sean:
A reference to night-gangers came up in "Words," Thursday, 15 October 2015, and in the combox for that post I reported finding a use of that term from the 1800s, so no, it isn't a PA coinage.
Blog archivist, indeed.
Kaor, DAVID!
Even if Anderson did not coin "night-gangers," he seems to be the only writer I know of who ever uses that term.
Ad astra! Sean
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