His mind was in a whirl, a fever of excitement.
The result was that when, late in the night, he locked himself in his room his brain was full of odd fancies; he was on the high road to mental disturbance.

He lay down on his bed in the dark, still brooding over the mystery of the closed trunk.
Gradually he yielded to the influences of silence and darkness.

After lying there quietly for some time, his mind became active again.

But this time there were round him no disturbing influences; his brain was active and able to work freely and to deal with memory.

A thousand forgotten--or only half-known--incidents, fragments of conversations or theories long ago guessed at and long forgotten, crowded on his mind.