When I came into the room where he was, and introduced myself, he took me by the shoulder, and turned my face round to the light, and said, after a sharp scrutiny, "But Madam Mina told me you were ill, that you had had a shock." It was so funny to hear my wife called 'Madam Mina' by this kindly, strong-faced old man.

I smiled, and said, "I was ill, I have had a shock, but you have cured me already." "And how ?" "By your letter to Mina last night.

I was in doubt, and then everything took a hue of unreality, and I did not know what to trust, even the evidence of my own senses.

Not knowing what to trust, I did not know what to do, and so had only to keep on working in what had hitherto been the groove of my life.

The groove ceased to avail me, and I mistrusted myself.