And now this senseless picture blotted all else, and remained,--each outline sharper in memory, the smoky lamp brighter, the blow of the hilt louder, the smell of peanut oil more pungent.

The episode, to him, was a disconnected, unnecessary fragment, one bloody strand in the whole terrifying snarl.

But his companion stalked on in silence, like a man who saw a pattern in the web of things, and was not pleased..