The darkness set his own
mind free from clouds of excitement and from mists of unreason. That was
the first step. But it did more. It developed in him this marvellous
faculty of the hearing of silence, called by some divination. All his
senses were rendered amazingly acute. A perfectly distinct impression of
the precise feelings of Cuckoo, of Valentine, and of Julian respectively
came to him as he sat there, although he could neither see nor hear them.
Each of them seemed to pour his or her thoughts into the doctor's mind.
Thus, at first, did his empty room become furnished with the thoughts of
his companions. He was sitting in the circle between Julian and Valentine
and held their hands. And it was Valentine who forged the first link in
this strange chain of unuttered communication. As the darkness cleared
the doctor's mind, and set him once more on his feet--although in a new
world--an aroma of triumph floated to him softly, like a scent in a damp
wood at night. He heard then the mind of Valentine murmuring in the
stillness the Litany of its glory, a long and an ornate Litany, deep and
full, and he knew that he had been right in supposing that Valentine had
invited him to witness that glory. But the doctor became aware, too, that
at moments the Litany faltered, hesitated, as if the mind of Valentine
grew uncertain or was assailed by vague fears.
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