But still the dominant idea was of silence.

The light on my book, and the soothing fringe of green silk round the shade intensified, whenever I looked up, the gloom of the sick-room.

With every line I read, this seemed to grow deeper and deeper; so that when my eyes came back to the page the light seemed to dazzle me.

I stuck to my work, however, and presently began to get sufficiently into the subject to become interested in it.
The book was by one Nicholas van Huyn of Hoorn.

In the preface he told how, attracted by the work of John Greaves of Merton College, Pyramidographia, he himself visited Egypt, where he became so interested in its wonders that he devoted some years of his life to visiting strange places, and exploring the ruins of many temples and tombs.