The surprise which he then experienced was calculated to arouse him had he been indeed dreaming.

His first thought was that she had gone crazy, or else had been drinking wine to raise her spirits; for there was a flush of excitement on either cheek, and her eyes were bright and unsteady.

In one hand she held, with a clasp that crumpled the leaves, a small scientific magazine, which he recognized as having been one of a bundle of periodicals that he had sent her.

With her other hand, instead of taking the hand which he extended, she clutched his arm and almost pulled him inside the door.
"Henry, do you remember what George Bayley said that might in meeting, about the river of Lethe, in which, souls were bathed and forgot the past ?" "I remember something about it," he answered.
"There is such a river.

It was not a fable.