It was like living with one's ear to a key-hole.
In his dismay his first idea was to seek medical advice--the best in London.

He turned instantly in the direction of Harley Street.

There, he determined, to the most skilled alienist in town he would explain his strange plight.

For only as a misfortune did the miracle appear to him.
But as he made his way through the streets his pace slackened.
Was he wise, he asked himself, in allowing others to know he possessed this strange power?
Would they not at once treat him as a madman?
Might they not place him under observation, or even deprive him of his liberty?
At the thought he came to an abrupt halt His own definition of the miracle as a "power" had opened a new line of speculation.

If this strange gift (already he was beginning to consider it more leniently) were concealed from others, could he not honorably put it to some useful purpose?
For, among the blind, the man with one eye is a god.