Now, shut
your eyes again."
Julian obeyed.
"I am going to clap my hands presently," said the doctor. "Tell me as
soon as you have heard me do so."
"Yes."
Doctor Levillier made no movement for some time. Then he softly leant
forward, extended his arms in the air, and made the motion of clapping
his hands close to Julian's face. In reality he did not touch one hand
with the other, yet Julian cried out:
"I heard you clap them then."
"I have not clapped them at all," Levillier said.
Julian expressed extreme surprise.
"You see how very easy it is for the senses to be deceived," the doctor
added. "Once stir the nervous system into an acute state of anticipation,
and it will conjure up for you a veritable panorama of sights, sounds,
bodily sensations. But throw it into that state once too often, and the
panorama, instead of passing and disappearing, may remain fixed for a
time, even forever, before your eyes, your ears, your touch. And that
means recurrent or permanent madness. Valentine, I desire you most
especially to remember that."
He uttered the words weightily, with very definite intention. Valentine,
who still seemed to be in an unusually lazy or careless mood, laughed
easily.
"I will remember," he said.
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