For there came a time, after ten breathless years, when I paused to consider." He raised his glass to his lips and drained it.

The wine was powerful, but it brought no tinge of colour to his cheeks, nor any lustre to his eyes.

He continued in the same firm, expressionless tone.
"There came a night when I found myself thinking, and I knew then that a new terror was stealing into my life.

I made my way up to the roof of the house where that old man had first taken me, and I leaned once more over the palisading and looked eastwards.

I fancied that I could still hear the echoes of his frenzied words, and for the first time I heard the note of mockery ringing clearly through them.