I laughed aloud like one mad, whose mind had suddenly gone from him--I stared vacantly around me, like one alienated from common perceptions.
But I was young at that time, and the impression became gradually weakened as I mingled in the business of life.

It is now _ten years_ since these events took place, and I sometimes think of them as unreal.

Allan Clare was a dear friend to me--but there are times when Allan and his sister, Margaret and her grand-daughter, appear like personages of a dream--an idle dream.
* * * * *.