slow-retreating

Updated: May 24, 2025

Thus night at length with slow-retreating steps departs, and the lamp-lighter going his rounds, like an executioner to a despotic king, strikes off the little heads of fire that have aspired to lessen the darkness. Thus the day cometh, whether or no. And the day may discern, even with its dim London eye, that the court has been up all night.

Charles Dickens - Bleak House