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.

.

She continued to be conscious of these vast masses of substance for a long stretch of time, the clock still ticking in the midst of the universal silence.
"Come in," she said mechanically, for a string in her brain seemed to be pulled by a persistent knocking at the door.

With great slowness the door opened and a tall human being came towards her, holding out her arm and saying: "What am I to say to this ?" The utter absurdity of a woman coming into a room with a piece of paper in her hand amazed Rachel.
"I don't know what to answer, or who Terence Hewet is," Helen continued, in the toneless voice of a ghost.