On matters of detail he was increasingly obliging, but the bearing of Graham on the great issues that were evidently being contested so closely beyond the sound-proof walls that enclosed him, he would not elucidate.

He evaded, as politely as possible, every question on the position of affairs in the outer world.
And in those three days Graham's incessant thoughts went far and wide.
All that he had seen, all this elaborate contrivance to prevent him seeing, worked together in his mind.

Almost every possible interpretation of his position he debated--even as it chanced, the right interpretation.
Things that presently happened to him, came to him at last credible, by virtue of this seclusion.

When at length the moment of his release arrived, it found him prepared....
Howard's bearing went far to deepen Graham's impression of his own strange importance; the door between its opening and closing seemed to admit with him a breath of momentous happening.

His enquiries became more definite and searching.