Hell was full of clocks, he was sure of it. There was no torment, after all, that could not be exacerbated by a contemplation of time passing. The large case clock at the end of the corridor had a particularly penetrating tick-tock, audiable above and through all the noises of the house. It seemed to Lord John Grey to echo his own heartbeats, each one a step on the road towards death.
In "Lord John and the Hand of Devils," the protagonist, Lord John Grey, reflects on the nature of time and its relentless progression. He believes that the concept of Hell is closely tied to the passage of time, suggesting that the pain of one's existence can be amplified by constantly being aware of the minutes and hours slipping away. This idea implies that as time moves forward, it brings a gradual approach to death, which can be a source of torment in itself.
The imposing presence of a large clock in the corridor serves as a stark reminder of this relentless ticking. Its sound drowns out other noises in the house, linking the mechanical rhythm to Lord John's own heartbeat. Through this imagery, the author encapsulates the existential dread that can accompany the awareness of mortality, making time not just a marker of life, but a harbinger of inevitable death.
